My Fantasy Birding adventure got a little away from me this month. I made the realization in February that I needed to spend more time at hotspots during the week and not jump from hotspot to hotspot every day. This has more to do with folks out birding and reporting to eBird than for any other reason. Because of this, I stopped checking my account daily. To be honest, the better weather outside also contributed to my lowered enthusiasm for Fantasy Birding.
In the last two weeks, I’ve gotten back into regularly checking my account and updating my daily locations more frequently. Although I’ve still been spending consecutive days at hotspots to get the most out of my time, I can see the difference in both the number of birds being seen and the number of people birding.
I’m looking forward to exploring and learning about more hotspots next month as migration increases across the state.
Featured photo: Great Egret by Patricia McGuire | APA
Species Highlight:
Osprey
I added Osprey to my list on March 28 at Kensington Metropark in Milford. The Michigan Young Birders Network has been actively talking about the Osprey returning in their areas, near where nesting structures are available. Nesting platforms have become an essential tool in reestablishing Ospreys in areas where they had disappeared.
Photo: Osprey by Ly Dang | APA
Biggest Day
Sunday, March 28, at Kensington Metropark in Milford, was my biggest day of the month with a total of 69 species. I added two new species to my Michigan Big Year list that day, Osprey and Great Egret. I was able to see more than half of the species I’ve seen so far this year in one day!
You Can Help My Virtual Big Year!
I’m always up for suggestions on places to go on certain days, especially if people are going out birding. I don’t get to add any species if no one is reporting to eBird in the location I pick on that given day. You can email me your birding plans at lcain@michiganaudubon.org.
Hotspot Highlight
I chose to bird Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge in hopes of adding some new species to my list on Sunday, March 21. I was only able to add one species, Greater Yellowlegs, to my year list that day, but I saw a total of 58 species, making it my second biggest day of the year so far!
Lindsay Cain is Michigan Audubon’s education coordinator. If you are interested in learning more about our events, workshops, presentations, or event sponsorship opportunities, please contact Lindsay at 517.580.7364 or lcain@michiganaudubon.org.
You can follow Lindsay’s virtual big year journey through her monthly blog posts or start your Fantasy Birding adventure and look for her on the scoreboards. You can find her under the username “lcain” with a Turkey Vulture as her avatar.