Indiana, December 2012 (1 Viewer)

It has been some time since I've written a trip report. Too busy, too lazy or too apathetic, whatever...call it a New Year resolution, here's one from a place few people think of birding:

Sometime in this past fall, Liz and I planned a December trip to northern Indiana to spend the holidays with family in Lafayette. It had been years since our last visit and also there was an underlying desire to see some of the wintering species of the midwest. I lurked on INBIRDS, the birding list serve for the state hosted by Purdue University, emailed Wes Homoya of Sycamore Audubon (http://sycamoreaudubon.org/) and Birding Pal member (http://www.birdingpal.org/) and studied our potential new species while the seasons changed to winter.
We left on the 19th of December, stopping once on our 9 hour drive to look for reported White-winged Crossbills at Eagle Creek Park in NW Indianapolis. After an hour, we had a good leg stretch and a taste of Indiana’s winter chill but no Crossbills.
The following morning, I connected with Delano Arvin who owns a good sized piece of Indiana woodland not far from Lafayette, including a few small groves of cedar trees. He regularly has Northern Saw-whet Owls using the groves as a winter roost and that morning confirmed there were several to be seen. An owl species we have heard on rare occasions in North Carolina’s higher elevations, seeing one would be another sensation altogether.
Within 30 minutes of reaching his property, we were looking at the first of two Saw-whets. They were both alert to our close presence but allowed us to get a few difficult pictures in the dull morning light. We also saw a Barred Owl who had less patience with us and flew off fairly quickly.
The balance of the day was spent catching up with family and paying attention to fresh winter storm warnings for the northern half of the state.
Nightfall brought an inch of snow to Lafayette. We were headed further north that day but reports were for limited snow cover there as well. Leaving in early afternoon, we stopped halfway to our destination at Jasper-Pulaski Fish and Wildlife Area, where the main attraction was a large number of wintering Greater Sandhill Cranes (Grus canadensis tabida). The view from the observation tower was of a low-lying, dry field, evidence of the severe drought conditions ongoing in this part of the country. We did see a good many small flocks of cranes flying, ostensibly to some hidden roost site. Other bird life was non-existent with the exception of a talkative Hairy Woodpecker.
We gained an hour as we crossed into the Central time zone as we drove but the elevation changed little in our two hour drive. Generally speaking, Lafayette is around 630 ft and Chesterton, our destination, is also 630 ft. After traveling past mile after mile of flat soybean and corn fields, we’re guessing the land between those towns is also 630 ft. Not long after dark, we reached the Spring House Inn
(www.springhouseinn.com/), just a few miles from the southern end of Lake Michigan.

Saturday morning, at dawn, we met with John Cassady and Randy Pals and the four of us became the sole participants in the regular Saturday bird walk, normally hosted by Ken Brock, who was ill. With a light breeze blowing the 20 degree air across my skin, I was glad to hear much of our walk would be driving to various locations along the lake. We generally hide by our wood stove from this sort of birding weather. These were a tough breed of birders we were with today.
Generally, John started us at the west end of the lake, a baseball pitcher’s throw from Chicago, spending time at various locations as we worked our way east. Locations we visited included Whiting Refinery Beach, Hammond Marina, Miller Beach, Forsythe Park, Mineral Springs Road, Beverly Shores, Indiana Dunes State Park and we finished our lake exploration at Michigan City harbor. Previous to our visit, some great birds had been reported in the lake shore area , including a Snowy Owl, Slaty-backed Gull and Black-legged Kittiwake. We were not able to find these rarities but there were some new birds for us. Our first was American Tree Sparrow, so common in brushy habitat that we were able to see them from the car as we drove between our lake side locations. Next, at Hammond Marina, was a single Iceland Gull, which we had seen only once before years ago on the North Carolina coast. Not my best digiscoping effort; we were some distance away, on top of a private parking garage! Common Goldeneyes were our next lifers at Miller Beach. Earlier in 2012, we found Barrow’s Goldeneye in the Tetons of Wyoming so this sighting gave us the other half of the Goldeneye clan.
At Beverly Shores marsh, there were two Northern Shrikes and at the Indiana Dunes Nature Center feeders, we watched four Common Redpolls mingle with other feeder birds. We stayed a while, hoping for a Hoary Redpoll but despite a return visit, none were seen. Pictures we were able to get were taken through the glass of the viewing room. The Chickadees seen at the feeders were Black-capped, according to John and we could see the extra white in the wings that is one of their field marks, though the calls did not seem particularly different from the Carolina Chickadee that is common around our yard in western North Carolina.
Our early morning wakeup and the seemingly luxurious warmth of the motel room had us asleep early that evening.

Before 8am the next morning, we were in Indiana Dunes State Park again, stopping at the Nature Center Feeders first, then going for an extended cold weather hike that included woodlands, marshes, lake front beach and of course, the impressive dunes. In the woodlands, which were mature trees with little undergrowth, we saw a great many Red-headed Woodpeckers, including some in juvenile plumage with brownish heads. Despite their numbers, we failed to get good photos. We were finding it difficult to operate cameras with two pairs of gloves on.
Except for the Woodpeckers, including one Pileated, and a few Tufted Titmice, we saw few birds possibly due in some part to the numerous hardy joggers in on the trails. Out on the beach, I walked through the dune grass, hoping to flush some Lapland Longspurs or Snow Buntings, until I saw a sign requesting me to find my birds some other way and quit trashing the dunes. Judging by the various trails and footprints that I saw, others had made the same mistake repeatedly.
The beach itself was pretty quiet, aside from a few Herring and Ring-billed Gulls. Nothing at all was seen as we crossed the dunes until we were back into the woodlands and the domain of the Red-headed Woodpeckers.
That afternoon, our birding efforts were concentrated on the lake front, first at patches of cedars and pines at Ogden Dunes, hoping to find a roosting Long-eared or Short-eared Owl. Our last stop was back at Miller Beach. There were groups of gulls scattered along the sand and we worked our way past them with our scope, eventually finding our target bird, a Glaucous Gull, this one a 1st year bird. Actually, our real target was the Snowy Owl that was reported here a few weeks back but we were satisfied to find the Gull.

Twas the day before Christmas. Our plans were to spend a good bit of the day south and west in the Willow Slough and Kankakee Sands areas of north western Indiana. We ate a predawn breakfast at the Inn and arrived just over an hour later at our destination. For next 5-6 hours, we explored the grid of roads that bisected the level countryside, starting out at the Beaver Lake Prairie Chicken Refuge and working our way south. The target birds here were Short-eared Owl, expected mainly in the early morning, Lapland Longspur and Snow Bunting in the agricultural fields. At one point in our slow drive method of searching, we startled a group of backlit 50-60 birds that wheeled overhead briefly, flying and landing beyond binocular view. We suspected they were Longspurs but no field marks could be picked out. As it turned out, that was the best we were able to do. A Rough-legged Hawk and a pair of Rusty Blackbirds were added to our list of more common birds and Tree Sparrow was becoming distractingly common. Red-tailed Hawks, by the way, were seen regularly every day.
Back in Lafayette, we spent the evening with family.

On Christmas morning, we learned of a major snow storm on track to hit Indiana that night. Begging forgiveness for my birding fever (well, I did wake up with laryngitis), I soon drove the back roads southwest of Lafayette, searching once again for yesterday’s field birds but with no success. Hordes of Starlings, a good number of Red-tailed Hawks and Kestrels were all I could come up with. Two hours later, I rejoined Liz and family for Christmas dinner while the weather forecast got worse. Late that afternoon, Liz and I left again for Prophetstown State Park, just minutes away, to cruise through the park’s grasslands to find Short-eared Owls.
Though the Owls had not been seen here yet this season, we knew we were in the right place as we counted over 10 Northern Harriers, at one point seeing four in a single binocular view. By dark, we gave up, a little disappointed by the lack of an Owl Christmas present from the birding gods.

Four inches of snow fell through the night, somewhat vindicating our absence the day before. My laryngitis had left me with only a whisper and I was able to forget about missed lifers as the day was taken up by getting cars out of ditches, unstopping plugged plumbing and playing board games. At some point, I managed to get a dim view of a Red-tailed Hawk in the back yard, probably hunting for a Gray Squirrel lunch.

On our last day, Liz’s sister, Cathi, joined us for a short walk at Celery Bog in west Lafayette. Here, we finally found a target bird, a Greater White-fronted Goose, feeding with more than a hundred Canada Geese on a nearby golf course. At the Bog itself, we saw several Tundra Swans, an amusing circle of feeding Northern Shovelers, several Ruddy Ducks, Gadwalls and a single Merlin with a small bird breakfast.
We separated from Cathi, stopped for hot bagels, coffee and tea on our north way to Benton County, in our ever hopeful quest for Longspurs and Buntings. Our first stop was at the Pine Creek Game Bird Habitat,which seemed too brushy for our field birds. Two hours of driving and walking various agricultural fields only produced more Kestrels and Red-tails and our first small flocks of Horned Larks.
Despite a call from Del Arvin, who had been kindly keeping us posted with rare bird alerts throughout our stay, of a Varied Thrush just miles away, we were beginning to look like barely controlled fanatics to the rest of the family. What can I say... it was true!
The remainder of the day, we packed our luggage and hung out with the family. I couldn’t resist scanning INBIRD one more time that night. A ongoing report of Lapland Longspurs at the Indy Regional Airport was reissued. I checked the mileage. It wasn’t far out of our way, just an hour’s extra diversion. I went to bed with a fanatic birder’s hope.

We left early on the 28th, before all of the family was awake, and drove through predawn darkness south, arriving on the east side of Indy not long after there was supposed to be light. However, there was no rising sun, just cold and gray conditions that seemed to promise little. The directions provided by Don Gorney were perfect; we drove down a flat (naturally), gravel road adjacent to the airport fence, locating a flock of small birds coming to a sprinkling of corn that someone had thrown down. Scope and hopes were up immediately but we couldn’t really see the field marks of the Lapland Longspurs until we were within 50 feet, scaring the birds into the air several times as we approached. They were feeding on the corn (thank you, someone!) with Horned Larks. At one time, the flock consisted of over a hundred mixed species.

All birding trips should end this way. The long drive home was so much easier to bear. It was 50 degrees in our house when we arrived at dark. In the morning, with the wood stove cranking out the heat, hot coffee in my hand and birds coming to the feeders, I was already thinking of when we might try again for Indiana Snow Buntings.

Thanks to the birders of Indiana who were all of immense help:
Del Arvin, Ken Brock, John Cassady, John Dunning, Don Gorney, Jed Hertz, Wes Homoya, Randy Pals, Leland Shaum, Randy Pals and to all those who posted to INBIRD.

Sounds like a fun trip!
Nice pic of the Glauc btw. It's strikingly small, and also has quite an Iceland-like jizz to it (paticulary the small, rounded head), i wonder if it could be a barrovianus from Alaska...

My experience with Glaucous Gulls is the one bird, jogresh. They're very uncommon on the North Carolina coast and I'm even more uncommon there.
Could they be leuceretes, from Canada? Is it possible to tell on a first year bird?

Steve

A nice report in bitter weather. Enjoyed the commentary on topography too!

Cheers
Mike

Pleased you got your reward eventually.

BTW, 10 Northern Harriers (Hen Harriers to us!)............a wonderful sight that must have been!

MKinHK said:

A nice report in bitter weather. Enjoyed the commentary on topography too!
Cheers
Mike

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Thanks, Mike. Many of the North American birds we have yet to see are in the colder places and most easily seen at the coldest times. I'm afraid there's more bitter weather birding in the years ahead.

Steve

wolfbirder said:

Pleased you got your reward eventually.
BTW, 10 Northern Harriers (Hen Harriers to us!)............a wonderful sight that must have been!

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The Harriers were a distracting sight, wolfbirder. We enjoyed how they almost floated over the grasslands in the fading light. I've read that they will sometimes chase Short-eared Owls from their territory when their hunting "schedule" conflicts. That number of Harriers could be one reason why the Owls were not seen that evening.
Still a few target birds there for us and the help from the birding community was terrific. We'd look forward to a return trip someday.

Steve

I too love SE Owls, but male hen harriers (Northern Harriers more or less), are probably my favourate bird of all. Always makes my day when I see either species.