Beverlybaynes
Mod Squad
Today was Soarin' Hawk's annual Raptor Cruise to Steuben County, Indiana, for raptors. And it turned into the most incredible raptor day (and very nearly the best birding day ever) for a group of fairly serious birders!!
Steuben County is Indiana's northeasternmost county, bordering the states of Michigan and Ohio. It's main town, Angola, lies about 45 miles north of the city. It's a resort center for the area, with 101 lakes (and a bazillion smaller ponds and wetlands all over the place) and extensive open farm fields and grasslands. It's rolling countryside, shaped by the retreating glaciers of the last ice age, and quite beautiful in a midwestern way. It's nothing but a small, rural-community feeling in the winter, but explodes with visitors to the lakes in the summer (usually quadrupling the population). Although a long-time summer destination for folks in northern Indiana and southern Michigan, it's but 3 hours from both Chicago and Detroit, and has become quite a mecca for folks from the big city as well.
Six of us met up at 8 a.m. here in town and headed north. We picked up one additional birder along the way (a master taxidermist, by the way, with a five-year German apprenticeship in the art under his belt, and an incredibly keen-eyed spotter). Upon our arrival in the small hamlet of Hamilton, after a trip up quite slick roads, thanks to last night's skiff of snow and ice, one more couple joined us, for a total of 4 vehicles in our little caravan.
We headed for the open agricultural lands of the southeastern part of the county, where there are nice stretches of grasslands interspersed with woods and grain fields.
While the start was relatively slow, about 10 a.m., things really blew up with sightings of Rough-Legged Hawks (both light and dark morph, with the light at about 2-3:1) and Red-Tailed Hawks. We found several stretches of dirt road where we could occasionally get 3 and 4 hawks in a single scope view!
While the day was relatively warm, reaching perhaps 40F, it was quite cloudy (helping with spotting against the sky, actually) and VERY windy. We'd spot the occasional Kestrel, but were seeing very few songbirds -- a couple of Cardinals, some Juncos at a feeder, one or two Flickers, etc. The songbirds were smarter than us, we decided, and staying out of the wind. So our birding was done from the car, with occasional jaunts outside to scope something.
Just past noon, we ventured into Angola and found the "Utopia Diner", locally-owned, and NOT a chain! Wonderful food (who can argue with latkes and sausage or a plate brimming with Turkey Divan?), and an hour in the warm, relaxing with conversation that was NOT over little hand-held radios!
Back out into the countryside, we found a few more Rough-Legged hotspots, with a constant sprinkling of Red-tails -- courtship is starting and seeing two together in a tree was not unusual. The Rough-Legs seemed to be enjoying the sharp wind, and several different ones, both light and dark, gave us some superb displays of flying on the wind. One delightful sight was a beautiful male Kestrel on a telephone wire, a vole hanging limp from his talons.
Another wonderful sight was a huge Red-tail along the side of the road, carefully guarding and eating a freshly-killed opposum! She finally took exception to our view of her dining, and flew away, trying to haul the possum with her, but dropped it. She flew into a nearby tree line, waiting for us to pass on. I spotted her one last time, as we pulled away, heading like a bullet back to dinner!
The number of Kestrels picked up slightly, and we started seeing small flocks of Horned Larks in the corn fields, much to the delight of one of the birders in my vehicle -- they were lifers for her!
Through the late afternoon, things quieted down, and radio crackles slowed down to nothing for about an hour. I know I closed my eyes for a minute or two -- although the companions in my car swore it was more like 20 minutes! LOL! Rest assured, I was NOT driving at the time!
Late afternoon found us at a grassland in the southern part of the county, stretching for at least a half-mile along a small road. We were seeing Red-tails and Rough-Legs all over the place, and at last, some Northern Harriers. Harriers have been very scare in this part of the world for the last month, because of the heavy snow/ice crust over everything. Smarter than us, they leave for points south, where they can find open grasslands for cover. But we were heartened by seeing them -- if there are Harriers, can Short-Eared Owls be far behind? And really, is there much that is more beautiful than a beautiful silvery male Harrier dancing on a sharp wind?
Hawks everywhere were taking advantage of the brisk winds -- we saw many gorgeous displays of kiting.
It was still an hour of so til dusk, so we wandered the couple of miles of road adjacent to this area, and managed to turn up a nice flock of 6 Pheasant cocks (another lifer for my friend who scored the Horned Larks earlier). Native or not, they are gorgeous birds, and it was quite interesting to watch them head for brushy cover along a railroad track when a dark-morph Roughie came scouting overhead.
Around 6:15 p.m., we found ourselves back at the Harrier grassland, waiting for dark. The wind had picked up and was sharper than ever. We'd stand outside our cars, scoping a Roughie or still another Red-tail or having a quick smoke, and then head back to the warmth of the cars. Dark seemed to take forever, as the day-long cloud cover started to break up.
Finally at about 6:35 p.m., a pair of buffy wings appeared over the top of a small hillock across from the car, and I screamed, "OWL!" Sure enough, we had a Short-eared Owl! Then a second one appeared! We piled out of the cars, glasses up, and promptly heard the call of a Barred Owl! Could it get much better?
Apparently, so. On the way back to town, we got the last bird of the day, in nearly completely darkness: a Great Horned Owl seen in silhouette against a mercury-vapor light in a barnyard!
I don't have the complete breakdown of the count -- I'll get it off IN-BIRD tomorrow when John posts a trip report there.
But I do know that we ended up a total count of 125 individuals: more than 50 Red-tails, dozens of Rough-legs, and assorted other feathered wonders of the raptor persuasion.
What an INCREDIBLE day!! Woooo HOOO!
Steuben County is Indiana's northeasternmost county, bordering the states of Michigan and Ohio. It's main town, Angola, lies about 45 miles north of the city. It's a resort center for the area, with 101 lakes (and a bazillion smaller ponds and wetlands all over the place) and extensive open farm fields and grasslands. It's rolling countryside, shaped by the retreating glaciers of the last ice age, and quite beautiful in a midwestern way. It's nothing but a small, rural-community feeling in the winter, but explodes with visitors to the lakes in the summer (usually quadrupling the population). Although a long-time summer destination for folks in northern Indiana and southern Michigan, it's but 3 hours from both Chicago and Detroit, and has become quite a mecca for folks from the big city as well.
Six of us met up at 8 a.m. here in town and headed north. We picked up one additional birder along the way (a master taxidermist, by the way, with a five-year German apprenticeship in the art under his belt, and an incredibly keen-eyed spotter). Upon our arrival in the small hamlet of Hamilton, after a trip up quite slick roads, thanks to last night's skiff of snow and ice, one more couple joined us, for a total of 4 vehicles in our little caravan.
We headed for the open agricultural lands of the southeastern part of the county, where there are nice stretches of grasslands interspersed with woods and grain fields.
While the start was relatively slow, about 10 a.m., things really blew up with sightings of Rough-Legged Hawks (both light and dark morph, with the light at about 2-3:1) and Red-Tailed Hawks. We found several stretches of dirt road where we could occasionally get 3 and 4 hawks in a single scope view!
While the day was relatively warm, reaching perhaps 40F, it was quite cloudy (helping with spotting against the sky, actually) and VERY windy. We'd spot the occasional Kestrel, but were seeing very few songbirds -- a couple of Cardinals, some Juncos at a feeder, one or two Flickers, etc. The songbirds were smarter than us, we decided, and staying out of the wind. So our birding was done from the car, with occasional jaunts outside to scope something.
Just past noon, we ventured into Angola and found the "Utopia Diner", locally-owned, and NOT a chain! Wonderful food (who can argue with latkes and sausage or a plate brimming with Turkey Divan?), and an hour in the warm, relaxing with conversation that was NOT over little hand-held radios!
Back out into the countryside, we found a few more Rough-Legged hotspots, with a constant sprinkling of Red-tails -- courtship is starting and seeing two together in a tree was not unusual. The Rough-Legs seemed to be enjoying the sharp wind, and several different ones, both light and dark, gave us some superb displays of flying on the wind. One delightful sight was a beautiful male Kestrel on a telephone wire, a vole hanging limp from his talons.
Another wonderful sight was a huge Red-tail along the side of the road, carefully guarding and eating a freshly-killed opposum! She finally took exception to our view of her dining, and flew away, trying to haul the possum with her, but dropped it. She flew into a nearby tree line, waiting for us to pass on. I spotted her one last time, as we pulled away, heading like a bullet back to dinner!
The number of Kestrels picked up slightly, and we started seeing small flocks of Horned Larks in the corn fields, much to the delight of one of the birders in my vehicle -- they were lifers for her!
Through the late afternoon, things quieted down, and radio crackles slowed down to nothing for about an hour. I know I closed my eyes for a minute or two -- although the companions in my car swore it was more like 20 minutes! LOL! Rest assured, I was NOT driving at the time!
Late afternoon found us at a grassland in the southern part of the county, stretching for at least a half-mile along a small road. We were seeing Red-tails and Rough-Legs all over the place, and at last, some Northern Harriers. Harriers have been very scare in this part of the world for the last month, because of the heavy snow/ice crust over everything. Smarter than us, they leave for points south, where they can find open grasslands for cover. But we were heartened by seeing them -- if there are Harriers, can Short-Eared Owls be far behind? And really, is there much that is more beautiful than a beautiful silvery male Harrier dancing on a sharp wind?
Hawks everywhere were taking advantage of the brisk winds -- we saw many gorgeous displays of kiting.
It was still an hour of so til dusk, so we wandered the couple of miles of road adjacent to this area, and managed to turn up a nice flock of 6 Pheasant cocks (another lifer for my friend who scored the Horned Larks earlier). Native or not, they are gorgeous birds, and it was quite interesting to watch them head for brushy cover along a railroad track when a dark-morph Roughie came scouting overhead.
Around 6:15 p.m., we found ourselves back at the Harrier grassland, waiting for dark. The wind had picked up and was sharper than ever. We'd stand outside our cars, scoping a Roughie or still another Red-tail or having a quick smoke, and then head back to the warmth of the cars. Dark seemed to take forever, as the day-long cloud cover started to break up.
Finally at about 6:35 p.m., a pair of buffy wings appeared over the top of a small hillock across from the car, and I screamed, "OWL!" Sure enough, we had a Short-eared Owl! Then a second one appeared! We piled out of the cars, glasses up, and promptly heard the call of a Barred Owl! Could it get much better?
Apparently, so. On the way back to town, we got the last bird of the day, in nearly completely darkness: a Great Horned Owl seen in silhouette against a mercury-vapor light in a barnyard!
I don't have the complete breakdown of the count -- I'll get it off IN-BIRD tomorrow when John posts a trip report there.
But I do know that we ended up a total count of 125 individuals: more than 50 Red-tails, dozens of Rough-legs, and assorted other feathered wonders of the raptor persuasion.
What an INCREDIBLE day!! Woooo HOOO!
