Indiana Big Day for Amos Butler Audubon Birdathon

Rob writes: Last Friday, my Wild Birds Unlimited Birdathon team and I completed our annual big day in Indiana to raise funds for the Amos Butler Audubon Birdathon. I've participated in the Birdathon for many years and am always amazed at the conservation projects that are funded by this incredible event. Each of the past 2 years, this event has raised over $35,000 for conservation projects both in Indiana and around the world. One of the projects that I'm always most excited about is the Cerulean Warbler Reserve in Columbia. The birdathon has been donating to this cause for a long time and has made a major impact on American Bird Conservancy's ability to purchase this property.

Our team (R-L - John Schaust, Brian Cunningham, Rob Ripma, Amy Hodson

Our team was a bit different this year with Eric and Landon both being away doing field work. We added Amy Hodson to the team this time around and she fit right in! We were also forced to do our big day later than we ever have on May 22. While we couldn't scout as much as we did last year for our record count (184) we know the route well and were confident that we could post another good number.

We started at Kingsbury FWA in Northwest Indiana in the middle of the night and got off to another quick start. by the time we left the area around 4 am, we already had nearly 25 species including a very surprising King Rail! We kept up our momentum as we crossed the Lake Michigan shoreline from east to west. Kankakee Sands and Willow Slough FWA were fantastic as always and Willow Slough produced a surprising Common Loon.

At this point, we had a decision to make. Due to the late date, we had missed some of the early migrants and our warbler total was not nearly as high as we needed to break out total from 2014. Since this was the case, we decided to modify our route and not push ourselves to make it all the way to Goose Pond FWA again this year.

After a few stops, we ended our day at a newly discovered shorebird spot in Noblesville. This was a fantastic decision and helped us add 8 species to our count including great looks at 3 Red-necked Phalaropes!

Our total of 164 for the day was enough to win the high count award of the Birdathon! We are still accepting donations for our team to support the wonderful work that is done through this event. You can donate by following this link. Thanks to everyone that has donated and we all look forward to doing another big day in 2016!

My Time at the Biggest Week in American Birding

Rob writes: The last few weeks have been extremely busy and I've not done a very good job of keep all of our readers up-to-date with everything that's been happening. Early in May, I made the 3.5 hour drive to Northwest Ohio for the Biggest Week in American Birding. I'm part of the planning committee for festival and am in charge of all of the field trips that go on during the festival so I spend a lot of time in the area during the first 2 weeks of May.

Each year I enjoy watching the Prothonotary Warblers that nest along the boardwalk at Magee Marsh.

This year, I arrived a few days early so that I could lead a private tour for a couple from Massachusetts that wanted to see as many warblers as possible during their stay. We lucked out and hit one of the best days of the whole spring while they were there! They saw several lifers and our views of all the warblers and other migrants that day were spectacular.

Once the festival got underway, it was a whirlwind of activity. One the first day, I helped lead a fundraising hike for the Ohio Young Birders Club that was sponsored by Birds & Blooms Magazine (which I write for). The hike featured Kenn and Kim Kaufman as the main leaders and was a blast.

Everyone on the hike enjoyed getting great looks at Baltimore Orioles.

My commitments with Birds & Blooms continued the next day when I participated in their Bird Day competition. My team and I spent 3 hours finding as many species as we could and ended up winning the competition and helping Black Swamp Bird Observatory get a nice donation in the process.

After a few days of light birding, my next group of birders arrived from the Cincinnati Nature Center to spend the next 2.5 days birding with Sabrewing Nature Tours. We ended with over 125 species during their time with us and had such a fantastic time with this group.

The rest of my time was spent leading a few trips for the festival and keeping all of our other field trips on schedule. As always, I love the birding at Biggest Week but it's really the people that attend that make the festival so special. I got to spend time with many old friends and made just as many new ones. You can read more about my thoughts on the Biggest Week and its effect on people and the local economy in my post from the 2014 festival by clicking here.

I hope that all of our readers will consider joining us at the 2016 Biggest Week from May 6 - 15. The festival is held at Maumee Bay State Park Lodge each year. Be sure to get your reservations early as the lodge sells out every year. Stay up to day with Biggest Week news by signing up for our eNewsletter here.

Quivira NWR Birding

Greetings from Great Bend, KS

If you've never been to Quivira, you should make the time to visit during shorebird migration.  Thousands of shorebirds use this Kansas refuge each year during migration; with more than 20 species possible on any given day it's a must-visit refuge for a birder.  It's a very well birded refuge but portions of it are relatively unbirded, except by one of the park staff.  Luckily he gave us tips on some of the better woodlots and drove us around the refuge roads that are closed to the public.

Now, off to Colorado.  There's never enough time, always on the road . . .

For a rarity at Quivira, a Pine Warbler has to be one of the more boring
options.  

Snowy Plover-a common nesting species at Quivira

Quivira NWR Massacre

A Peregrine was doing it's thing . . .

Texas Birds and Bars

For a couple weeks in late April, I was traveling around the, birdy, state of Texas.  I didn't have a chance to hit the coast, so it may not have been as birdy as it could have been, however there were many birds with some nice highlights.  I spent most of my time conducting breeding bird surveys in Lyndon Johnson NHP and Lake Meredith NRA but was able to make a quick stop at Balcones Canyonlands for Golden-cheeked Warblers and Black-capped Vireos.

One of many, this is the unmistakable Scissor-tailed Flycatcher.

An almost albino Northern Mockingbird.  Not 1 but 2 were present at
Lyndon Johnson NHP

This picture was taken a few years ago due to the rainy conditions I
encountered at Balcones.  I did have many Golden-cheeks though!

Birding doesn't have to be all serious . . . here is what I was introduced to
as a "real" Texas bar.

-Eric