Midwest Trek: Wisconsin to (almost) Montana

 June 12

I flew in to Minneapolis midday on the 12th, picked up my rental car ($100/day is now the standard price for a compact or economy car…), and headed to camp at Perrot State Park, where I found one of only two campsites in all of southeastern Wisconsin State Parks available for the Saturday night. I situated my tent, showered, went for a short walk, and called it a night. I’d have an early morning ahead of me - up at dawn and a two hour drive to Kirtland’s Warbler. 

Year List: 636 

June 13

Now, let me tell you about Kirtland’s Warblers. I spent two field seasons while in college surveying for them on the Chequamegon National Forest, and not I, nor anyone else on the field crew, heard or saw a Kirtland’s Warbler either season. There had been a pair found the previous year, presumed breeding, so they increased their survey efforts ten-fold, and it was marginal habitat. 

Somehow, in the twelve years that passed since, I never went to see this species on their breeding grounds. It’ll be a lifer for me! 

I arrived around 7:30 am to coordinates along a public road, that someone who had seen them last year had given me. (Before anyone asks, no, I’m sorry - due to the high publicity of my blog and the sensitivity of the species, I’m not sending along coordinates.) I heard two individuals singing before I even got out of the car. It took me over 30 minutes to finally see one, and over an hour to get any good digiscoped footage. Eventually, I realized there was a distant third bird singing. Two males squabbled back and forth for a while in a territory dispute. I managed to get identifiable video of the colored bands on two of the birds: Red over red; silver over green and orange over blue; silver over green. I'll be reporting them to the bird banding lab! 

I headed to Buckhorn State Park where I would be camping for two nights, meeting my youngest brother, who I hadn’t seen in eight years - since he was in high school. 

Year List: 639

June 14

I returned with my brother to the Kirtland’s Warbler spot, just 20 minutes from where we were camping. He’s always been into nature, and I was extra excited to see how eager he was to see these birds! Having repped Swarovski in Maine, I still had three extra pairs of Swarovski binoculars in tow, so I lent him a pair for the day. 

After going to see Kirtland’s Warblers, we headed over to Necedah National Wildlife Refuge, where Whooping Cranes nest. We saw several pairs of Whooping Cranes, and I pointed out Eastern Phoebes and Red-eyed Vireos to my brother as well. When we got back to our campsite he said, “Well, I guess I should start an eBird account…” 

We sat around the fire that evening, made “hobo pockets” - a new concept for me - and caught up on the last eight years, and it felt great to reconnect with him. 

June 15 

Up at 5:00 am to scoop up my friend Alex up in Minneapolis around 8:00, to head north to Sax-Zim Bog! We went for a known Connecticut Warbler and got him within 15 minutes. 

Tried a spot for LeConte’s Sparrow, and dipped. Headed over toward tiny town Inguadona where we finally got Canada Warbler after trying in various places early afternoon. 

Next, we headed to Lake of the Woods County where we scouted a site in daylight for Yellow Rail (checking visually to see which areas the habitat is best), went and set up camp at a city campground 20 minutes away, went back for Yellow Rail near sunset - and heard it calling immediately upon leaving the vehicle! How crazy lucky and unlikely. I took a few video clips for audio. We spent about 30 minutes listening and driving down the road in search of LeConte’s Sparrow - dipped again. Once darkness had settled in, we headed back to our campsite. It had been a long day! 

June 16

North Dakota bound! Lots of Big Year planning is about weighing pros and cons, internally conducting cost/benefit analyses and risk factors, and I’d decided that going for Baird’s Sparrow in western North Dakota seemed a better bet - and cheaper - than flying to Denver and driving to southern Wyoming to try to get them there. There’s been a massive drought in so many parts of the United States this year - and I’ve been seeing it for myself in many places already this year. Birds are not in some of the places they “should” be, and many are much more restricted in their breeding range this year, Baird’s Sparrow being one of them. 

On our trek to Almost Montana, we picked up Red-necked Grebe (after dipping on a few spots, they were everywhere we looked later on, also par for the course for a Big Year), Ferruginous Hawk (after expecting to see one at a known nest, and dipping, one flew right by the road later in the day), and finally we made it to Little Missouri National Grassland mid-afternoon. 

We had tried to come up with a camping plan that was convenient, but the truth is, there was no campground within 30 minutes of the grassland where we could easily access after sunset and come back again for the Baird’s at sunrise. So, we winged it, killing a few late afternoon hours on two mile hike in Teddy Roosevelt National Park, and sitting around at a pavilion there doing some computer work. (Alex, amongst many others - Christian, Dorian, too many others to keep track, have helped me with tweaks in the remainder of my Big Year planning, and I am very thankful - it takes a village!)  

We got to the grasslands around 7:00 pm - it was pretty windy, but winds had died a little in the last few hours. Sunset was 8:40 - we’d have to work quickly, driving down the road and listening at various points — driving fast enough to cover the distances we needed to, but not driving too fast or stopping to quickly to hear the birds. Sometime around 8:00 pm, we heard a bird singing not too far from the road. We walked a bit off the road, and it flushed to a nearby grassy area - half-buried and half-teed-up, singing its little heart out. 

Whew. Once again, a moment that could have or might have been pure joy, slightly dampened by the sense of stress relief. I was getting anxious about Baird's Sparrow- I did not have a backup plan to get it elsewhere, should we miss it on this trip. Slightly dampened joy does not make it less of an amazing experience, just a different one. The last 5.5 months have been so absolutely incredible (I was only “knowingly” doing a Big Year for the last four months), but as with anything truly incredible, it includes a myriad of emotions interspersed throughout. It was a life bird for me! I’d tried for a wintering one a decade ago in Patagonia, Arizona with no luck. 

We camped at a campground near Dickenson, North Dakota, arriving after sunset and leaving at sunrise. We were heading back to Minneapolis, with one final, fairly stress-free target. Sprague’s Pipits had been seen recently, displaying, just two miles off of the highway back to Minneapolis. They winter in a park 20 minutes from my home, but if I could get them now, that would just be one less bird to worry about, come chase season in the fall. 

Year List: 642

June 17

Sprague’s Pipit took just a handful of minutes to find, five minutes off our path back to Minneapolis. The distant, twinkling song came raining from the sky. I’ve never gotten great looks at this bird - in the Rio Grande Valley, protocol is to walk through a field and flush them - and I wouldn’t today either. 

We stopped by a Le Conte’s Sparrow spot, where third time was a charm! I’d never gotten great looks at this bird- the other two times I’ve seen it were fleeting looks at an Orange-ish bird. This one perched up, singing his heart so long from the same place, that after enjoying it for half an hour, we had to leave him while he was still right there giving amazing looks. 

Off we headed to Minneapolis. 

Year List: 644