The following page is devoted to my roadtrip photos of birds from various birding hotspots in the Great Lakes region. Clearly, I did not photograph every kind of bird that can be found at these locations, but I have provided a selection of some of my favorite photos of the birds I did happen to see as I passed through.

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From Cape May, I headed west towards the area around the Great Lakes. The area around the Great Lakes sees birds travelling on both the Atlantic and Mississippi Flyways, and therefore has a spectacular volume and variety of birds passing through during migration. My primary destination in this area was the popular warbler hotspot at Magee Marsh Wildlife Area (also known as Crane Creek) on the southwest end of Lake Erie in Ohio. As I continued my westward travels, I stopped briefly at a number of other great birding locals in the area around the Great Lakes. These included Whitefish Point in Michigan (known for its raptor and shorebird migration); Seney National Wildlife Refuge in Michigan (a nice midday stop to stretch the legs); Nicolet National Forest in Wisconsin (to find some rare Wisconsin specialties which I never found); Fish Creek in Wisconsin (where I stayed with my grandparents for a few days, and found plenty of birds at the nearby Peninsula State Park); and Crex Meadows Wildlife Area in northwest Wisconsin (to add some brush prairie and wetland birds to my growing road trip list). Overall, my species list for the Great Lakes was second only to my list for southern Texas.

My primary birding destination in the Great Lakes area was Magee Marsh Wildlife Area (also known as Crane Creek). Birds often congregate at the lush forest and marshland of Magee Marsh before continuing north across Lake Erie (or, if the winds are favorable for flight, they might instead continue over the lake and congregate at Point Pelee on the north side). I spent most of my time walking on the popular boardwalk in the patch of forest near the beach.Warblers (and warbler-watchers) were everywhere. Often the ever-constant warbling symphony would be interrupted by an enthusiastic stampeed to a recently-sighted Mourning or Connecticut Warbler or a good-natured argument over the identification of a specific bird call or a nondescript juvenile. In the four days I was at Magee Marsh, I saw most of the 28 different warblers I saw around the Great Lakes (I saw 41 different warblers on my entire trip). One day, I found a particularly active tree along the edge of the parking lot; within the hour, I had spotted 17 different warblers in this tree-needless to say, that day I never left the parking lot! Of course, there were many other kinds of birds too, and I generated quite a species list while I was in the area. I also spent a day each at the nearby Oak Openings Preserve Metropark in Ohio (to find a red-headed woodpecker and hooded warbler) and Point Pelee in Ontario (another spring migration hotspot located just north of Magee Marsh, on the Canadian side of Lake Erie).

I was told I could find Red-Headed Woodpeckers (one of the birds I wanted to photograph on my trip) at the nearby Oak Openings Preserve Metropark just west of Lake Erie. I knew I'd been given a good tip when the minute I stepped out of my car in the park, a Red-Headed Woodpecker flew out of the tree beside my car. Having achieved my goal within minutes of my arrival in the park, I set about looking for a Hooded Warbler, known to nest in the area. I heard it's call but could not find it, but when I returned to that spot in the evening, I achieved my second goal of the day with a nice photograph of a Hooded Warbler.

(A highlight of this area on the west side of Lake Erie that I went to, especially in the Spring, is all the different species of warblers that pass through on their migration path. I saw 28 different kinds of warblers in the area around the Great Lakes(compare this to the total of 41 for the entire trip), and for the warbler fans out there I've separated my photos from this area into "warblers" and "non-warblers".)

Primary Stop: Birds I saw at Magee Marsh / Crane Creek, Ohio

(and a few photos from the nearby Oak Openings Metropark, Ohio (Quick Stop #1) and Point Pelee, Ontario (Quick Stop #2)))

May 15-20, 2008

Quick Stop #3: The search for Kirtland's Warbler near Grayling, Michigan

May 21, 2008

By the time I left the area around Magee Marsh, I had caught warbler fever. One of the few warblers I had yet to photograph was the Kirtland's Warbler. This is a rare bird that nests exclusively in jack pine forests of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. Fire suppression and nest parasitism by Brown-headed Cowbirds has led to a drastic decline in the species. Although recent habitat management has improved the bird's population, in 2007 it was estimated that there were no more than 5,000 Kirtland's Warblers. The best way to see it is on (free!) tours conducted by the US Fish and Wildlife Service or Forest Service out of Grayling or Mio, Michigan. An hour of standing in the rain and wind in a jack pine forest near Grayling, and I had my photo of Warbler #40!

Quick Stop #4: Birds I saw at Whitefish Point, Michigan

May 22, 2008

On my drive through the area around the Great Lakes, I stopped at a few other birding locations. One of these locations included Whitefish Point in Michigan, a popular raptor and shorebird migration site on the south side of Lake Superior. It was rather windy and cold while I was here, discouraging bird activity, but I added a few new species to my growing list of birds I had seen on my roadtrip, such as the Purple Finch, Red-Necked Grebe, and Red-Breasted Merganser.

Quick Stop #5: Birds I saw at Seney NWR, Michigan

May 22, 2008

After leaving the cold and wind of Whitefish Point, I stopped at the nearby Seney National Wildlife Refuge to see if I could find a Yellow Rail (the refuge is known for this bird). I did not find a Yellow Rail, but I was happy to add the Ring Necked Duck to my roadtrip list (I had seen it home in the Pacific Northwest, but not yet during my travels). I also found a Pine Warbler, which I had seen at Cape May, but not in the Midwest yet.

Quick Stop #6: Birds I saw at Nicolet National Forest, Wisconsin

May 23, 2008

My travels also brought me past Nicolet National Forest in Michigan, so I decided to stop and see if I could find any more birds for my list. I saw a Ruffed Grouse, a specialty of the area, but I was unable to get a photograph before it flew off in a fluster of ruffled feathers. The forest seemed filled with flycatchers - had I known their calls better, I would have been able to confidently identify them, but from my photos the white breasts and eye-rings (one had a bold eye-ring, one had a fainter eye-ring) suggest they were Alder and Least Flycatchers.

Quick Stop #7: Birds I saw at my Grandparents' House in Fish Creek, Wisconsin

May 24-26, 2008

Since my grandparents live in Fish Creek, Wisconsin (which lies on Green Bay), I took the opportunity to stop and visit them for a couple of days. Although I took a break from the photography for awhile, I did sneak out the camera for a few quick shots of some birds I saw at the nearby Peninsula State Park. There was a good showing of warblers and flycatchers at Welcker's Point on the north end of the park, and I also added a American White Pelican and Northern Flicker to my roadtrip list.

Quick Stop #8: Birds I saw at Crex Meadows Wildlife Area, Wisconsin

May 27-28, 2008

My last stop in the Great Lakes area was Crex Meadows Wildlife Area in NW Wisconsin, which comprises 30,000 acres of brush-prairie and wetlands. I spent an evening and morning driving around on the dirt roads photographing marsh birds out of my window. I also spent the night in my car parked in the middle of the meadows, enjoying the alien calls of the bitterns, grouse, and rails. Although I heard the grouse and rails, I unfortunately didn't see any, but I did add a number of birds to my roadtrip list, such as the American Bittern, Sandhill Crane, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Common Nighthawk, Ring-necked Pheasant, Green-winged Teal, and Black Tern.