Priorities (A May Retrospective)

Mike Timmons
2 hours ago
9 min read

6/4/2025

Every year, I get excited for migration. I head out to the same spots and track down a lot of the same birds with varying degrees of success. I do enjoy it, and I enjoy seeing the beautiful wood-warblers, waterthrush, vireos, and flycatchers that call our state home for the summer or are just a stopping-over on their longer peregrinations. Catching them is always a little tricky and relies a lot on timing. Many a year, I have been stuck at work while watching the reports of fallouts pour in on social media. Some years the timing works out right. This year, I did things a little differently.

I did not head off to the migrant hotspots - like Magee Marsh, High Island, or Point Pelee. Instead, I left the country to head to Finland for a chunk of migration. It is a big world, and with 11,000+ species of birds, there is a lot to see. May is not just a good time to be in the US.

Not that I did not go out at all. Before my trip, I made a very early April trip to look for some of our state breeding migrants. This was far from my only local outing in April/May. I got a couple more outings in in April and was out for nearly every weekend in May after I returned. Photography was not my only priority during these trips, though. My niece has been interested in birding for a while, and I finally got around to asking her if she would be interested in tagging along to see some birds. While she was not excited about the early departure times, she was happy to go look for some birds she had not seen before. This included a mix of the typical spring migrants and some of the grassland birds that I love.

Speaking of grassland birds, I finally prioritized looking for a state breeding sparrow that I have not photographed before. This would be the beautiful Lark Sparrow, and I would spend a day in mid-May devoted to looking for just this one bird.

So, I had a lot of competing priorities this spring, but I am happy with the choices I made. It was good to break out of the usual, spend some time with my niece, and tick another country and most-wanted bird off of my list. If this all sounds like I am setting up an excuse for not having a lot of warbler, etc. pics to share, you are right. Of the outings I had for tracking down migrants, we did pretty good on seeing them but not so good on shooting them. As for sparrows, if you have ever tried to sneak up on a sparrow, you know how difficult they can be to approach. Two people approaching is at least twice as hard. Regardless, it is always nice to be out, and sometimes, there are more important things than pictures. Unless you are trying to entertain people with a photography blog - still....

Here is a recap of my April/May birding-

In April, there was the early trip I mentioned above. I managed to make it out two other times in April. The first was a trip on 4/20 with my niece. We were on a mission to find her some of the birds I had seen earlier that month down in Morgan-Monroe SF. Having primarily birded in Madison Co. and Florida, she had a few easy gaps on her list to fill. The day was overcast and pretty quiet, at first. I was afraid we were going to bomb out on our first outing together. As the morning progressed, the birds got more active. Before long, I had her tromping up and down the hillsides chasing bird calls. Not everything was new for her, but we had Hooded Warbler, Northern Parula, Common Yellowthroat, White-eyed Vireo, Yellow-throated Warbler, Blue-winged Warbler, Louisiana Waterthrush, Chipping Sparrow, and Eastern Phoebe. I thought I heard an Ovenbird, but we did not get it tracked down. We finished up the morning by collecting some geodes and taking them home to split them.

The day before I left for Finland, I headed out to Eagle Creek Park for some quick birding. Birding was a bit slow, but the common early migrants were plentiful. Palm Warbler, Northern Parula, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and Yellow-rumped Wabler were crawling through the honeysuckle at the marina. I pished out a few birds, but it was chilly, and the birds were much more interested in feeding than me.

When I got back from Finland, it was mid-May. The weather was warm and pleasant, and I did not have high expectations for a lot of activity at the park. I made the call to go look for my Lark Sparrow. The entire time I am heading up to Kankakee, I am thinking that I need to stop by the buffalo viewing area and check out the buffalo. It is something I always talk about but never do. I got up to Kankakee and immediately spotted a flock of Wild Turkey sitting in a field. There were a few toms displaying. They moved to the back of the field as I edged the car up; so, the shots were a bit distant. The field across the road was just lighting up. Grasshopper, Field, and Henslow's Sparrow were calling from the field, but none were perched up. I slowly drove up and down the road and found some birds to shoot. What I could not locate was a Lark Sparrow. I finally found some, but they were on the wrong side of the road (against the sun) and flighty. I was able to park and wait for a bit (spotting a pair of Blue Grosbeak as I did) before relocating them in a field. There were two of them, and they were slowly working their way up the corn rows. I got out of the car and moved over in front of them and laid down. With the amount of plants growing in the rows, it was tough to get a clean shot. One bird walked up within 20 feet of me before spooking and flying. I am not going to say they are the best shots of Lark Sparrows, but they are some of the best that I have. I was pretty happy about my morning until I was half way home and realized I forgot to go to the overlook to see the buffalo. I was even sadder when a Burrowing Owl was reported from the overlook shortly after I got home. That would have been a great state bird. Evening plans with family kept me from from heading back out. At least I got some Lark Sparrow shots.

The next day (5/11) I picked up my niece and headed to Eagle Creek Park to try and track down some migrants. We had a fairly good day. Birds were a bit high, but we managed a decent list. Her favorite from the day was a Blackburnian Warbler. I could hear the bird calling and was pishing and looking up into the trees near the Ornithology Center. A variety of birds were coming in, and I was scanning through them when she called out the Blackburnian. I missed it, and it disappeared. So, she was one up on me for the day. We ran into a couple nice birders who told us about the branching Barred Owlets nearby, and she was happy to see them. They, stubbornly, did not look down and kept their heads pointed straight up. All you could see was some mottled brown fuzzballs up in the trees. We had been hearing Tennessee Warbler all morning, but they can be stubborn and difficult to locate. Being a common migrant, we both assumed that she had one on her list from around home. My highlight for the day was the Baltimore Oriole we found at the Skating Pond. We had just tracked down Warbling Vireo when I heard the oriole singing nearby. We moved over to a honeysuckle bush, and the bird was there feeding on nectar from the flowers. It totally ignored us and continued to feed. I looked at her and said, "this never happens". I do not recall all the birds we got this day. I do remember that Kentucky and Pine Warblers were new for her. Surprisingly, Tennessee would have been, too. We would have to track that down another weekend.

The following weekend I was back at Eagle Creek Park both days. I am not sure why, but I did not call my niece to come bird. I should have. While I did not have much luck with photos, I had a lot better luck with seeing some of the more skulky migrants: Canada, Mourning, and Wilson's Warblers. I also had a handful of Least Flycatcher and a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. A Connecticut was reported in the park, but it was being heard-only, and I did not chase it. While waiting for a Canada to pop back out, my favorite flycatcher (Great-crested) came by and perched for some photos. I also had a decent mixed flock at the marina. The flock included Blackpoll, Bay-breasted, and Chestnut-sided Warblers along with a beautiful Philadelphia Vireo. While I did see a good number of the Canada and Mourning Warblers, I did not get anything worth sharing of the Mourning. I also continue to struggle with Canada. I do not know why I cannot get a decent photo of this bird. I had one bird that pished up and sat in cover. I shot it through a "hole" in the brush, but the quality shows it. I had one pish out onto a perch and stare at me for a few moments. I happily snapped away and praised my luck - only to realize there was a stick over the top if its head the entire time.... Next year goals. While waiting to see if a Canada would pop out, and beautiful Great-crested Flycatcher came by an hunted for bugs. I love these birds.

Memorial Day weekend was the last I headed out in May. The weekend started with a trip to Atterbury to look for sparrows and bobolinks with my niece. I bought her some rain paints and then trudged her through waist-high grass for a few hours while I tried to get photos of birds. The birds were not having much of it. I am not sure what is going on with this location. The past couple years, there has been a lot of activity there in what appears to be an effort to turn it into a bobwhite and pheasant hunting area. In fact, last year, I had both species there; obviously having been released. This year - nothing. No bobwhite or pheasant calling. No mowing or discing of the grounds. Just really thick grasses throughout the fields. The rain pants saved us from getting soaked. Like the past couple of years, Grasshopper Sparrow was absent this morning. I am not sure why they have abandoned the field. I will have to find my niece one elsewhere. Henslow's were everywhere. We got there a bit early and walked out into the field. I could not hear any Bobolink calling, and I was afraid they also had abandoned the field this year. After a few moments, I heard the tell-tale, "droid-like" calls of a Bobolink. Before the morning was over, I think we had 4 males and at least 1 (but probably 2) females. Other birds here included Common Yellowthroat, Indigo Bunting, Blue Grosbeak, and Yellow-breasted Chat. We slowly drove the road back out and found her a Field Sparrow, Great-crested Flycatcher, and a Willow Flycatcher. I am still surprised that Prairie Warbler are no longer found along this road. I, of course, checked the spot where I once had a bobcat. No joy. We finished the morning like we have finished every other birding trip together - we got donuts. Although, I accidentally at one of hers. It looked the same as mine.

On Memorial Day, we headed out for one last trip in May. We were only heading to Eagle Creek Park for the morning. The morning started quiet, and we hit a lot of the park before the day was over. I was hoping that a few skulkers were still hanging around. My initial rounds of the park did not turn up any, though. We re-covered one of my favorite areas to look and hit upon a Canada Warbler loudly singing. I pished the bird out right in front of us, but it quickly flitted back into cover. While I was trying to get it to come back out again, focusing on the area it disappeared in, my niece pointed to my right. The bird was sitting on an exposed perch and staring at us. As quickly as I noticed it, it bounced away - laughing, I am sure. We did not see much this day. We did, however, score her a couple Tennessee Warblers for her list. The camera just served as an paperweight this day, and I got zero pics.

I still have a trip or two for some grassland species planned for her. She will be starting summer school soon, though, and then college will start back up. Maybe she will still have time for humoring her old uncle when next spring comes around.

Thanks for reading,

Mike