Migration is just kicking up here. I made an early grassland run to Kankakee Sands and then spent Sunday at Eagle Creek Park looking for migrants.

I have finally come out of hibernation and made it out to photograph some of the state migrant birds.

A recap of my fall migration experience and a couple of outings for my favorite time of year. There is nothing better than sparrow season.

A summary of my spring birding with my niece as we hunt for migrants warblers and sparrows around the state.

A Harris's Sparrow hanging out at The Burn makes for a long week of work, but I was able to get out and see it and a few other sparrows.

A brief summary of a shortened month of local birding around Indiana for some of my favorite birds - sparrows.

A summary of my July birding experiences in the grasslands of Indiana.

A couple of trips to Goose Pond to look for some late fall LeConte's Sparrows.

I start my search for Prairie Warbler while visiting various locations in search of summertime breeders.

10/18/2022 I have to admit, the first time I heard that phrase, I was quite taken with it. What is this "Blackburnian of the Prairie"? Well, it is a LeConte's Sparrow. It is a beautiful one, too. Shockingly, it is orange. One of two "orange" sparrows we get here in Indiana. "Get" is a bit of an overstatement. This is a bird that nests in the central plains of Canada and northern Minnesota and Wisconsin. It winters in the central, southern portion of the US. We are re

10/12/2022 Who knew? I thought is was sparrow season. Last weekend was the first weekend in October and that (looking at calendar of events)... yes, that is when you start looking for orange sparrows. I packed up my camera this last weekend and headed off to Goose Pond. It is the best place I know to look for LeConte's and Nelson's Sparrows that does not involve questions around trespassing. At this time of year, even if you do not find one of the infamous "orange" sparr

6/6/2022 Social commitments limited me to one day of birding this weekend. I knew I was not going to make it up at 4 AM to head up to Kankakee Sands; so, I headed to Atterbury. I got to Atterbury right at sunrise. That is actually about 20 minutes too early. It takes about that long for the sun to clear the trees in the East and light the field. Honestly, that was not my first concern. Looking at the field, I wondered if I would have anything to shoot. To say it looked

10/16/2021 A bit of a retrospective post. Migration died down and immediately bled into one of my other favorite seasons - sparrows. Around the first of October, sparrows start moving in mass through the state. It is also a good time to start looking for the infamous "orange" sparrows (LeConte's and Nelson's). I made two separate trips down to Goose Pond on successive weekends. Neither time was overly successful. It seems that species are moving a week to two weeks late

Weekends of 5/22/2021 and 5/29/2021 In spite of what I said, I did make another warbler hunt the weekend of 5/22. I did go look for grassland birds first, though. By Memorial Day weekend, I was fully into grassland birding. The first weekend, I headed to Atterbury FWA to track down Bobolinks. It is nice to have a place where they are accessible, and I wanted to get into the field for a few shots. When I arrived, it was quite obvious that most of the field had been burned

2/20/2021 - 2/21/2021 What did I do? Well, I failed to do the things I know should do. Two very simple things, really. 1) Check your camera battery before you leave the house. 2) Carry a spare battery. That is all. Nothing magical. I assumed I had a full battery in the camera when I left Saturday morning. I guess I forgot I had used it to shoot with during lunch on Friday. I also had not replaced the spare battery in my pack that I keep my camera in. Needless to s

10/12/2020 - 10/17/2020 This is the first time I have taken a vacation and not gone somewhere. May it be the last. Thankfully, I had something to occupy my time. It is the start of what I call "sparrow season". As migration winds down for the more colorful passerines, the shy but curious little brown ones start moving through. As I say about many, many birds, I love these guys. The colors and patterns of these birds are spectacular. With October starting, sparrows have

8/8/2020 I only made it out for one day of birding this weekend. I headed to Prophetstown, again. I had dreams of good lighting and all the wonderful birds I saw the previous weekend. I was half right. Lots of great light. I did not find nearly as many birds, though. The down-side to good morning light is that it quickly turns to harsh mid-morning light. I was done shooting by 10. On the plus side, that meant I had time for a longer nap. I had one Sedge Wren in the s

8/1/2020 - 8/2/2020 The forecast for the weekend was not great. They almost got it right. I got some birding in anyway. Back to what I know for a couple weekends, and then I am going to make another pass at some night photography. Saturday was supposed to be rainy. For the most part, it was. I headed over to Eagle Creek Park in the middle of the day to squeeze in some shooting between rain showers. My timing was not perfect, but a little rain is not going to hurt anythi

7/11/2020 Well, and other birds. Bobolink were my main target, though. I have very few pictures of Bobolink, and they are such a cool bird. Bobolink are a long-distance migrant from north and central South America. They nest in colonies in the upper plains areas all the way up into Canada. As social nesters, they do not really establish territories. They win mates with aerial courtship displays. Unfortunately, the time to capture them in display flights has passed. I

10/18/2019 - 10/20/2019 I made a little time Friday morning to head to a local park for some photos. The next two mornings were spent further afield (pun intended). It's sparrow season here in Indiana, and I spent my mornings pacing and sitting in various fields around the state. Friday was a quick run at daybreak to visit Daubenspeck Community Park. It's remembered (by me and at least one other) as a great place to catch Orange-crowned Warblers in the fall. It's also a g