Barry / Calhoun on Sunday, 29 Apr 07

[Dmcwhir513@aol.com]

Chatters -

We had a nice morning out on Sunday, birding Barry and Calhoun counties, 
although we actually ended up at Fort Custer SRA.

As mentioned in the mich-listers e-mail, we found 1-3 Henslow's Sparrow in a 
nice field on the SW corner of Butler / M66.  Had Yellow-throated Vireo and 
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher calling on the adjacent slopes to the west.

There is a very nice marsh area further west on Butler, maybe 0.2 to 0.7 
miles west of M66 on both sides of the road.  We had a great mid-dawn chorus there 
with many Swamp Sparrows, Sandhill Cranes, a few Yellow Warblers, Common 
Yellowthroat, etc.  We also heard Soras and Virginia Rails and I'm sure you could 
call the rails right to the edge of the road, particularly the Virginias, 
during the next 2-3 weeks.

Most interesting, I believe we had a Least Bittern call at least once.  I 
haven't heard this species very often and it wasn't the straight cu-cu-cu call, 
but on-line resources had a call similar to what we heard - a bit slower with 
more notes - apparently a rarer call the male can make.

There are other fields further west along Butler that could hold Henslow's.

I also birded Saturday morning and had over 100 species for the two days 
including 5 species of warbler, two vireos, and other indications that migration 
is proceeding.

Take care.    - Doug McWhirter


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