30 sp. of warbs, Berrien Co.

We went over to Berrien County, Michigan for a half-day to bird my former haunts.  Sure, it was a lot of driving for such a brief trip but it was well worth it. 

If you're unfamiliar with Berrien County, it sits in the southwestern most corner of Michigan:

View Berrien County, Michigan in a larger map

Topping the highlights for me was the 30 species of warblers we tallied including a state bird (Kentucky) and an early Connecticut Warbler.

We started at Forest Lawn Road:  

View Forest Lawn Road in a larger map

We heard/saw:

Northern Parula

Black-and-white Warbler

American Redstart

Nashville Warbler

Yellow-throated Warbler

Louisiana Waterthrush

Northern Waterthrush

Acadian Flycatcher

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Red-shouldered Hawk

I was itching for some Cerulean Warblers though so we skipped northwest over to the Lakeside Road bridge:  

View Lakeside Road bridge in a larger map

CERULEAN WARBLERS were singing everywhere, jostling between themselves, and even coming down to eye-level.  This was most-likely the best views I've ever had of this species in my life.  The numbers really surprised me, we had SIX in our view at once.

Here is a distant male:

Here is a male that came even farther down:

Females were around as well:

Perhaps the best bird at the Lakeside Road bridge was an early singing CONNECTICUT WARBLER.  This actually represents only the third time I've ever had this species.

Another surprise at the Lakeside Road bridge was this PROTHONOTARY WARBLER that made a brief appearance.  Thinking back, this might have been the first time I've seen this species at this location:

Some other sightings from the bridge included WHITE-EYED VIREO and various warblers.

The next stop was Floral Lane at the north edge of Warren Dunes State Park:

View Floral Lane in a larger map
  

It didn't take long before the many HOODED WARBLERS made themselves obvious along the trails:

Similarly, BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLERS were present in good numbers and we saw several at eye-level and even singing:

Here is a BLUE-WINGED WARBLER that was perched up and singing:

A highlight of the trip was being in the right place at the right time (for once).  While on the boardwalk at Floral Lane, we actually HEARD a Kentucky Warbler singing (a first for Michigan this year).  A couple of minutes later, we got brief but good looks at this male:

Floral Lane provided us with these 24 species of warblers:

Blue-winged Warbler

Golden-winged Warbler

Tennessee Warbler

Orange-crowned Warbler

Nashville Warbler

Northern Parula

Yellow Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Magnolia Warbler

Cape May Warbler

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Black-throated Green Warbler

Blackburnian Warbler

Prairie Warbler

Palm Warbler

Black-and-white Warbler

American Redstart

Ovenbird

Northern Waterthrush

Kentucky Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

Hooded Warbler

Wilson's Warbler

We saw a lot more than warblers including 3 species of thrushes (Wood, Swainson's, and Gray-cheeked).

Here is a SWAINSON'S THRUSH:

And here is a GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH for comparison:

Some other sightings included 4 species of vireos:

Red-eyed Vireo

Warbling Vireo

Yellow-throated Vireo

White-eyed Vireo

Five species of flycatchers:

Least Flycatcher

Acadian Flycatcher

Great Crested Flycatcher

Olive-sided Flycatcher

Eastern Phoebe

We ended the morning at a local cemetery where we had this singing PINE WARBLER, our 30th warb species for the day:

So the total run-down of warbler species (and estimation of how many) we had follows:

1) Blue-winged Warbler (4)

2) Golden-winged Warbler (4)

3) Tennessee Warbler (2)

4) Orange-crowned Warbler (1)

5) Nashville Warbler (10+)

6) Northern Parula (5)

7) Yellow Warbler (3)

8) Chestnut-sided Warbler (3)

9) Magnolia Warbler (4)

10) Cape May Warbler (5)

11) Black-throated Blue Warbler (3)

12) Yellow-rumped Warbler (10+)

13) Black-throated Green Warbler (4)

14) Blackburnian Warbler (5)

15) Yellow-throated Warbler (2)

16) Pine Warbler (1)

17) Prairie Warbler (2)

18) Palm Warbler (2)

19) Cerulean Warbler (7)

20) Black-and-white Warbler (5)

21) American Redstart (3)

22) Prothonotary Warbler (1)

23) Ovenbird (5)

24) Northern Waterthrush (5)

25) Louisiana Waterthrush (1)

26) Kentucky Warbler (1)

27) Connecticut Warbler (1)

28) Common Yellowthroat (5)

29) Hooded Warbler (4)

30) Wilson's Warbler (3)