Dickcissels, Henslow's, etc. - Ionia Co

[Dmcwhir513 at aol.com]

Listers -

Had a fine group of 5-7 calling Dickcissels this morning near Ionia in Ionia 
Co.

Get off I-96 at the M-66 exit and head north towards Ionia (DeLorme, pg 37, 7 
A-B).  Go about 5 miles north to Tuttle Rd (a traffic light, not too well 
signed).  Turn west (left) and go about 0.5 miles to an unsigned blacktop 
entrance road going to the north (right).  This shortly turns into gravel and goes 
back towards some ball fields and the water tower.  At about 0.1 to 0.2 miles 
the road comes to a fork of sorts where you can pull over.  The birds were 
singing loudly all about.  There was a single Grasshopper Sparrow calling 
sporadically in the distance.

You can continue west on Tuttle.  It becomes gravel, winds around, turns into 
Ainsworth going north (right) for a short distance before ending at 
Riverside.  Turn west (left) on Riverside and you are going through Ionia SRA.  Go 1.0 
miles and there is a parking lot on the left which is used as a staging area 
for Field Trials.  Continue on to the second lot on the left at 1.8 - 1.9 
miles.  It is a mowed grass lot with largish rocks around it in a bit of a grassy 
bowl.  There is a sign saying "Range Closed".  A single Grasshopper Sparrow 
called consistently on the slope to the east and a Henslow's called on and off  
further on in the same direction.  There may be other Henslow's in the fields 
between the two lots, but it's hard to hear from the main road when cars are 
passing by.

I also stopped at Lakewood Sewage near Lake Odessa and had no lingering 
shorebirds, but did have 10 Ruddy Ducks and maybe (not sure) 3 Ruddy ducklings.

Have a good weekend!

Doug McWhirter
10112 W Holt
Dimondale, MI 48821
517-646-8151


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