Our group of 18 met in the pre-dawn hours on Saturday, May 3rd – along White River Road in White River State Wildlife Area. The temperature was 42, the winds were light from the NE, and the skies were nearly entirely cloudy.
We soon started to hear a few birds starting to call in the dim light of early morning, including CANADA GOOSE, SANDHILL CRANE, BARRED OWL, SORA, and SWAMP SPARROW, with AMERICAN WOODCOCK and WILSON’S SNIPE beginning to perform their aerial courtship displays. An AMERICAN BITTERN called in the distance, and SONG and WHITE-THROATED SPARROW, COMMON YELLOWTHROAT and YELLOW WARBLER started added their voices to the chorus.
We hiked along this gravel roadway for a couple of hours, down to the White River bridge, and found lots of birds along the way. A PILEATED WOODPECKER called off to the south, along with a couple of RING-NECKED PHEASANTS, a NORTHERN HARRIER drifted by in the distance, and WOOD DUCKS and MALLARDS winged by.
A couple of VIRGINIA RAILS called from a nearby marsh, and one of them provided great looks as it walked along the edge of the vegetation. Nearby, a SEDGE WREN sang and soon popped up for us. Also heard were ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK, GRAY CATBIRD, AMERICAN HOUSE WREN, BLUE JAY and AMERICAN CROW, and we saw RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD, BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD, TREE and BARN SWALLOWS, and AMERICAN GOLDFINCH. At one point an adult BALD EAGLE flapped right over us.
Virginia Rail by Jennie Lazendorf
From there we continued to Big Island Road, where we started to find a few grassland birds, including HENSLOW’S SPARROW, BOBOLINK and EASTERN MEADOWLARK. A few farms along the way helped us add PURPLE MARTIN, CLIFF and BARN SWALLOWS, PURPLE MARTIN, HOUSE FINCH, and WHITE-THROATED and WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS. A few other species along the way included WILD TURKEY, KILLDEER, GREAT BLUE HERON, MERLIN and YELLOW WARBLER.
We headed west on Hwy. D, crossing through the White River SWA, and spotted a couple small groups of LESSER YELLOWLEGS in flooded fields. Turning north on Marsh Road and east on South Road we soon encountered more grassland birds, including HENSLOW’S SPARROW, BOBOLINK, EASTERN MEADOWLARK and SEDGE WREN, along with a couple of EASTERN MEADOWLARKS, TREE SWALLOWS, SWAMP SPARROWS, and two BALD EAGLES that were perched in a large tree.
Lesser Yellowlegs by Tom Schultz
Proceeding west on Hwy. D again, we parked near the White River bridge and walked along the road. A VEERY called from the adjacent woods, and a NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH sang from a wet area. Other warblers included two AMERICAN REDSTARTS, and YELLOW, PALM and YELLOW-RUMPED. Another ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK serenaded us from the trees, and we also found WOOD DUCK, MOURNING DOVE, RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER and NORTHERN FLICKER.
Rose-breasted Grosbeak by Tom Schultz
We meandered our way south to Princeton, where we enjoyed a short restroom break, and an OSPREY was spotted on its nest near the high school. Our group then continued south to the village of Marquette, where we parked and scanned the waters of Lake Puckaway. We noted that a long line of rocky rip-rap had been added, which provided perches for BLACK, FORSTER’S and COMMON TERNS, along with quite a few BONAPARTE’S GULLS. Swimming nearby were COMMON and RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS, LESSER SCAUP, DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT and AMERICAN COOTS.
Elsewhere around the lake were AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN, GREAT EGRET and GREAT BLUE HERON, PIED-BILLED GREBE and a couple of distant YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS. Lots of SWALLOWS were flying about, and included TREE, NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED, BARN and PURPLE MARTIN, and SPOTTED and SOLITARY SANDPIPERS were along the banks. Other nearby birds included RED-HEADED WOODPECKER, WARBLING and YELLOW-THROATED VIREOS, and BALTIMORE ORIOLE.
Sedge Wren by Jennie Lazendorf
Our next stop was Lake Maria County Park, where we viewed the lake from the boat landing. A SOLITARY SANDPIPER was walking along the shoreline as we approached, and we soon spotted a nice variety of waterfowl on the lake. Lots of NORTHERN SHOVELERS were present, along with WOOD DUCK, GADWALL, MALLARD and GREEN-WINGED TEAL. Diving ducks included LESSER SCAUP, BUFFLEHEAD, COMMON MERGANSER and RUDDY DUCK. Once again, there were quite few SWALLOWS flying about, including BANK, TREE, NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED, CLIFF and PURPLE MARTIN. In the nearby trees were NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH, PALM and YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS.
Sandhill Crane by Tom Schultz
Our final stop was at the big pond on Lake Maria Road, but even though the water levels were quite low, with lots of mudflats exposed, the only shorebirds we could find were single KILLDEER, SPOTTED SANDPIPER and GREATER YELLOWLEGS.
Some of the field trip attendees by Tom Schultz
We concluded the field trip about 12:15, with the temperature only up to 46 degrees – still under mostly cloudy skies. It had been a very successful morning, with our bird list totaling 98 species – which was pretty amazing, since we’d found only a total of 6 warblers. Thanks to Jeff Baughman and Wendy Schultz for co-leading. Here’s our trip report for the morning:
https://ebird.org/tripreport/362269
Tom Schultz, WSO Field Trips Committee
