SW Iowa

Ashley and I went down to SW Iowa to work on some BBA blocks. On top of that, I had a couple target state birds in mind. Turns out, it was a very HOT ordeal (heat index above 105) but worth it in the end.

Our first stop was in Council Bluffs to see the LEAST TERNS. It wasn't hard, there were 20+.

Many parts of the state are still under a lot of water, including this road:

At Rapp Park north of Shenandoah, the NEOTROPIC CORMORANT is still present. This bird has been here since April, I believe:

Also in Shenandoah, the WHITE-WINGED DOVE nest is still active and producing. Most recently, there are 2 chicks on the nest with the adult.

Later that night, we successfully found both CHUCK-WILL'S-WIDOW and WHIP-POOR-WILL'S near Waubonsie State Park. In fact, the WHIP was a new ABA photo bird:

The next morning, we worked on some BBA blocks in Fremont county. Our best block, although mostly agriculture, yielded 50 species in less than 2 hours. Highlights included:

Loggerhead Shrike (5)

Blue Grosbeak (3)

Black-billed Cuckoo (1)

Northern Bobwhite (1)

And you know me, anytime I see a dragonfly that even I can identify, well, I get excited. Here is one of the many TWELVE-SPOTTED SKIMMERS we saw:

Although this didn't happen this weekend, you know you're in the midwest when you see a funnel cloud forming over the interstate!

Michigan

I recently spun over to SW Michigan for a quick weekend trip. The focus was actually to find a couple target butterfly species and maybe a couple target birds as well. Tim and I did fairly well and kudos to him for birding the county harder than anyone else does.

At first light, we had this distant AMERICAN AVOCET at Tiscornia:

Maybe the most interesting sighting of the trip was of a WORM-EATING WARBLER feeding a young fledgling. As you can see from the head pattern, the fledgling was also a Worm-eating Warbler:

As a bonus bird, we ended up finding another WORM-EATING WARBLER at Warren Dunes State Park! I don't recall ever seeing 3 WEWA's in the state in one day before. As a side note, WEWA was a new ABA photo bird for me. Here he is singing:

There has been a reliable SUMMER TANAGER also at Warren Dunes. This was actually a state bird for me despite living in Berrien County for 7 years. Here he is behind the leaves (which are in focus, too bad he isn't!):

Another new ABA photo bird was this ALDER FLYCATCHER at Lincoln Township beach:

I also kept an eye open for butterflies throughout the weekend. I tried making this fritillary into an Aphrodite Fritillary but alas, I suspect it's the more common GREAT SPANGLED FRITILLARY instead:

The following pictures aren't great. In fact, they're crap. They were both taken down among the sedges at Sarett Nature Center. Personally, I think they're both BLACK DASHES. Anyone out there have any opinions? Here they are in all their glory:

Also down in the sedge wetlands at Sarett Nature Center was this skipper. I'm not exactly sure which species but I suspect Delaware Skipper, European Skipper, or Two-spotted Skipper:

I originally thought these were both EYED BROWNS since they're apparently common down in the sedgy wetlands at Sarett Nature Center. However, I'm not 100% convinced at this point. How about Appalachian Brown?

But saving the best for last, perhaps my main goal of my visit was to find a small, brown butterfly. This very limited and federally endangered butterfly is only known from 3 or so states and is never common. This MITCHELL'S SATYR was among the sedge wetlands at Sarett Nature Center:

I have no pictures of the FISH CROW(S) I heard while at the Forest Lawn Landfill in southern Berrien County back on the 11th. However, I suppose the more important fact is that there is still at least ONE of them there. It took about 30 minutes but I eventually heard one around 10:00 AM from Basswood Rd. What a neat way to get a state bird... get it right before I drive straight back to Iowa!

Random stuff

Anyone know dragonflies? I photographed this darner up in NW Iowa. Is it just a Shadow Darner or maybe a Lance-tipped Darner?

And hey, I followed this sign hoping to find one (or maybe because I work with curlews)... but 3 miles to the right just let me to a dinky, backcountry town here in northern Iowa:

Working slowly but surely on my Iowa state list, I headed down to downtown Des Moines to see the local MISSISSIPPI KITES at Ashworth Park. It took about 30 minutes to find any but around 10:15 AM, a couple kites quickly rose to the west. Here is one:

Say's

It wasn't too hard of a decision to make. Drive 3 hours for 3 state birds? Not bad odds, right? Well, the main bird I was after was a SAY'S PHOEBE... and it didn't take more than 10 minutes to spot it:

Taking even less time though was another target species of mine; BLUE GROSBEAK. I saw this guy driving in:

The last target species was the easiest to find. CLAY-COLORED SPARROWS were fairly common during my short stay. I even saw a couple carrying food! Here is one that perched on a fence for me:

BBA work & Missouri

We finally were able to sneak away for some Breeding Bird Atlas work here in Iowa several days ago. We actually started by birding at Shimek State Forest and camping there before working some atlas blocks in the morning. Many of the usual suspects were around including:

White-eyed Vireo

Summer Tanager

Whip-poor-will (7+)

Worm-eating Warbler

Hooded Warbler

Northern Parula

Yellow-breasted Chat

Louisiana Waterthrush

Kentucky Warbler:

On the atlas blocks, we were pleased to find multiple fields with HENSLOW'S SPARROWS. Where I grew up in SW Michigan, HESP's weren't exactly common. Here in SE Iowa though, it looks like they really aren't that hard.

We also stumbled on NORTHERN BOBWHITE several times. This bird decided to walk around on the street in front of us:

While in northeastern Missouri, I snapped a couple shots of some insects including this female EASTERN PONDHAWK:

This Pipevine Swallowtail was obliging: