Spring Migration is Upon Us!

It may still seem like winter out there, but the birds have already begun their annual spring migration back north to their breeding grounds! I had an awesome weekend witnessing some early spring migration!

You may not know that my current job is working as an intern for local photographer, David FitzSimmons. This past weekend, he was leading a bird photography workshop in Linton, Indiana, and invited me to go along to help identify and point out birds to the groups he was leading. If you haven't heard of Dave, you should definitely check out his amazing photography in his Curious Critters book series, that he wrote and published! They are wonderful books for children to learn about and begin to appreciate nature and wildlife while having fun and reading! I have given copies of Curious Critters Volume One to two of my nephews and they both absolutely love it!! If you live in Ohio, specifically, central Ohio, you should consider going to the ODNR Wildlife Diversity conference THIS Wednesday in Columbus!! Dave is the Keynote speaker, and I will be there too!

Goose Pond Wildlife Area, located in Linton, Indiana

Anyway, back to the weekend: On Friday morning, we left Ohio and headed southwest to Linton to get some scouting done, and good thing we did! Birding on Friday evening was SPECTACULAR!! The field location for the workshop was Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife Area, which is an integral stopover site for birds migrating in the Mississippi Flyway. Evidence of migration was everywhere and Dave and I estimated nearly 20,000 Sandhill Cranes on Friday evening!

Sandhill Cranes in the morning fog

Throughout the weekend, we also estimated around 5,000 Snow Geese, several thousand Greater White-fronted Geese and Canada Geese, at least a thousand individuals in mixed flocks of blackbirds, including Red-winged Blackbids, Brown-headed Cowbirds, Common Grackles, and European Starlings. I even saw and heard some early migrating individuals: a tree swallow, field sparrows, and several American Woodcocks, American White Pelicans, and Killdeer, to name a few.

Snow Geese

We spent the majority of Saturday and Sunday in the field sharing this wonderful experience with nearly 50 other people! The best part of the trip was being able to share my knowledge of birds with all of the people. The photographers came with various experience levels but across the board, nearly all were interested in, but knew very little about birds. I was able to point out life birds to many of the folks who were then able to document their finds with their images!

Sandhill Cranes forage in fields before continuing their migration north.

It was a blast seeing the excitement from photographers seeing their first Northern Pintails and American Wigeons through my scope and hearing their interest when I explained things such as how Northern Harriers and Short-eared Owls inhabit the same areas and nearly fill the same niche other than the time of day that they are active. One of the most exciting events was when we had one of the small groups watching an easily accessible Bald Eagle nest. The nest could be clearly seen from the roadside without disturbing the pair who seemed to be sitting on eggs. While I had the sitting eagle in my scope for everyone to easily see her, three migrating Bald Eagles circled above. The eagle in the nest began calling incessantly; warning the migrating birds that this was HER territory and that they should keep moving. While she warned the intruders, her mate flew in to preen in a nearby tree. This was a great treat for the photographers to witness this behavior and gain a better understanding of the eagles' interactions!

A Bald Eagle sitting on eggs

We tallied 59 species of birds for the weekend at Goose Pond and even had a chance to observe a highly endangered species, which was absolutely incredible and also a life bird for me! If you ever find yourself in Linton, Indiana or Goose Pond, I recommend stopping by Monical's Pizza Restaurant in Linton. Their specialty is their thin crust pizza, and it is some of the best pizza I have ever had (and I love pizza and eat it frequently, but I'm picky!) It was so good that after having it on Friday, we decided to go back for more on Sunday before heading out of Linton!

Sandhill Cranes