Birders challenge each other in March
- Bruce Glick: Gone Birding
- March 24, 2019
- 1214
Birding in March can be slow at times, but it also can be interesting because lots of ducks and geese are making their way north. Here in Northern Indiana, birders have found a way to make it even more interesting.
For a number of years there has been a spring birding challenge going on. Teams of four adult birders, plus younger members of the families, try to find as many birds as possible during the months of March, April and May.
The rules are interesting. All birds must be seen by two members of a team. Heard-only birds don’t count. This is a good way to learn, even though it may be a bit frustrating to more advanced birders who are used to birding mainly by ear.
It’s important to get out early in March to find as many winter birds as possible. Our team got off to a slow start for a variety of reasons. We started out by looking for a northern shrike that had been reported at Potato Creek State Park. Although we couldn’t find the shrike, there were several pine siskins at the nature center. On the way back to Goshen we stopped at the local landfill, where we found both glaucous and Iceland gulls.
There have been lots of ducks in the area with over 200 lesser scaup and 160 common goldeneye comprising the majority of the ducks at Fidler Pond. We missed a Ross’ goose there last week. On March 18 Gary Keister and I drove to the Rome City Wetlands. This is a place I hadn’t visited before, probably because it involves getting permission to walk through private land to a hillside with a view over a large wetland.
We were rewarded with good views of four white pelicans and 10 greater white-fronted geese. Our first blue-winged teal and a late northern pintail added to the list of new birds for the day. Among the dozen or so mute swans was one tundra swan. Earlier in the week we had seen two trumpeter swans at Pigeon River Fish and Wildlife Area. Unfortunately we couldn’t find any golden eagles there. Last year there were at least three different golden eagles that were seen quite regularly. This year there have only been a couple sightings.
This winter there also have been very few snowy owls and snow buntings in Northern Indiana. Fortunately we recently heard several snow buntings had been discovered in a field east of Goshen. Gary and I drove out to the location and walked out across the field with the birders who live there and had found the buntings. Sure enough there were four snow buntings perched on the huge irrigation rig, located on a strip of grass and weeds that the buntings evidently liked well enough to stay around for a few days.
One of the good things about being part of a spring birding challenge is getting outside when the weather is still not too inviting. It also provides motivation to keep track of what birds are coming through on any given day. It’s going to be a lot of fun.
Good birding.
Reach Bruce Glick at bglick2@gmail.com or 330-317-7798.