Birding 2025

6/16 Delano Homestead Source Pond & Headwaters Trails, Kalamazoo Nature Center, Kalamazoo Co., MI:

• Baltimore Oriole
• Barn Swallows
• Blue Jays
• Cardinals
• Catbird
• Chickadees
• Crows
• Goldfinches
• Mourning Doves
• Nuthatches
• Pewee (Eastern Wood) - peee-ooh-wEEEE
• Pileated Woodpeckers (2)
• Red-winged Blackbirds
• Robins
• Sandhill Crane

Heard calls:

• Acadian Flycatcher (whip sound!)
• Common Yellowthroat Warbler
• Wood Thrush

Nonbirds: Bullfrogs!

5/26 Wolf Tree Nature Trails, Oshtemo Township, Kalamazoo Co., MI:

• Red-eyed Vireo (heard and seen!)
• Indigo Bunting (heard and seen!)
• Great Crested Flycatcher (hc)
• Eastern Wood Pewee (hc)

5/24 Oswalt Farm, east of Vicksburg, southern Kalamazoo Co., MI

Went birding in a Audubon Society of Kalamazoo caravan yesterday in southern-most Kalamazoo county:

• Wild Turkey running fast in a field, parallel to the road 
• Kingbirds 
• Barn Swallows 
• Great Blue Heron taking off from a ditch 
• Turkey vultures lined up roosting on fence posts, some with wings outstretched to warm them in the sun 
• Bobolinks 
• Yellow Warbler
• Great-crested Flycatchers 
• Song Sparrow 
• Meadowlark females 
• Willow Flycatcher

Also, 6 deer running and playing.

5/22 Asylum Lake Preserve, Kalamazoo Co., MI:

• Barn Swallows
• Tree Swallows
• Catbird
• Indigo Bunting (hc)
• Baltimore Oriole (hc)
• Red-eyed Vireo (hc)
• Oven Bird (? - acted like it, white circle around eye)

5/14 Kleinstuck Nature Preserve, Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo Co., MI:

• Green Herons (3)
• Olive-sided Flycatcher
• Magnolia Warbler (female)

5/13 Kal-Haven Trail (trailhead to F), Kalamazoo Co., MI:

• Wood Thrush (heard call)
• Red-eyed Vireo
• Red-shouldered hawk (hc)
• Pileated Woodpecker
• Rose-breasted Grosbeak
• Catbird
• American Redstart !
• Bluebird nesting in a cavity
• Barred Owl !
• Yellow-throated Vireo (hc)

5/9 Home, Kalamazoo Co., MI:

• Rose-breasted Grosbeak (male)

5/4 Kleinstuck Nature Preserve, Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo Co., MI:

• Black-throated Green Warblers
• Black-and-white Warbler
• Northern Waterthrushes (pair)
• Palm Warbler
• Yellow-rumped Warbler (2)
• Common Yellowthroat
• Orange-crowned Warbler
• American Redstart
• Gray Catbird

5/3 Arthur & Mildred Woollam Nature Preserve, Texas Township, Kalamazoo Co., MI:

• Yellow-rumped Warbler
• 8 Great Blue Herons sitting on nests in a rookery at Scouter's Pond!

5/2 Travelling I-94 westbound, mile 179:

• Great Egret

5/1 Asylum Lake Preserve, Kalamazoo Co., MI:

• Baltimore Oriole
• Catbird
• Bluebirds

4/30 Home, Kalamazoo Co., MI:

• Baltimore Oriole

4/29 Kal-Haven Trail (trailhead to F and 8th), Kalamazoo Co., MI:

• Nashville Warbler 
• Wild Turkey
• Trumpeter Swans (pair)
• Wood Ducks (pair)
• Indigo Bunting
• Palm Warbler
• Yellow-rumped Warbler
• Common Yellowthroat (warbler with the black mask)
• Yellow-throated Vireo (raspy dog whistle)
• Baltimore Oriole
• Bluebird
• Sandhill Cranes (pair)

4/27  Kalamazoo Nature Center, Maple Beech Trail, Kalamazoo Co., MI:

• Tree Swallow 
• Yellow-throated Vireo (hc) 
• Pileated Woodpeckers (pair)
• Louisiana Waterthrush (hc) 

4/22  Home, Kalamazoo Co., MI:

• Chipping Sparrows
• White-throated Sparrows
• Carolina Wren

4/22  Kal-Haven Trail (trailhead to F and 8th), Kalamazoo Co., MI:

• Hermit Thrush (reddish tail, 1st of thrushes to arrive in spring, pumps tail) 
• Trumpeter Swans 
• Barred Owl 
• Brown Creepers 
• Sandhill Cranes
• Pileated Woodpecker 
• Black and White Warbler 
• Bluebird (male)
• Blue Gray Gnatcatcher (hc)
• Red-shouldered hawk (hc)
• Towhee (hc)

Not a bird: Mourning Cloak Butterfly!

4/18  Kleinstuck Nature Preserve, Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo Co., MI:

• Ruby-crested Kinglet 
• White-throated Sparrows (heard calls)
• Great Blue Heron

4/17  Willard Rose Prairie, Kal Nature Center, Kalamazoo Co., MI:

• American Woodcocks 8:30-9:00 p.m.! 20 years since the last time I saw one while sitting on a bench at Blandford Nature Center when I heard rustling and it came out right beside me. First sighting: 1998 at Pelee Island, when I saw the mating ritual for the first time.

4/3  Fort Custer Recreation Area, Blue Trail, Augusta, Kalamazoo Co., MI:

• Heard Phoebe

4/1  Kal-Haven Trail (trailhead to F and 8th), Kalamazoo Co., MI:

• Pair Trumpeter swans
• 1 Carolina wren
• 2 Canada Goose
• 1 Wood Duck
• 1 Mallard
• 1 Wild Turkey
• 1 Mourning Dove
• 1 Turkey Vulture
• 4 Red-bellied Woodpeckers (2 pair)
• 3 Downy Woodpeckers
• 1 Hairy Woodpecker
• 1 Pileated Woodpecker
• 2 Northern Flickers
• 6 Blue Jays
• 4 American Crows
• 4 Black-capped Chickadees
• 7 Tufted Titmice
• 6 Golden-crowned Kinglets
• 3 White-breasted Nuthatches
• 2 Brown Creepers
• 6 American Robins
• 1 House Finch
• 4 American Goldfinches
• 5 Dark-eyed Juncos
• 2 White-throated Sparrows
• 7 Song Sparrows - "dee dee dee" lead in
• 6 Red-winged Blackbirds
• 8 Northern Cardinals

3/30 Home, Kalamazoo Co., MI:

• Yet another flock of 25 or so Sandhill Cranes ascending in circles over the house before flying onward

3/19 Home, Kalamazoo Co., MI:

• Flock of 24 Sandhill Cranes ascending in circles before flying onward

3/17 Bishop's Bog Preserve Trail, Portage, Kalamazoo Co., MI:

• Red-shouldered Hawk
• Grackles

2/1, Kalamazoo Nature Center, Kalamazoo, MI

• pair of Northern Flickers

1/26, southern Kalamazoo Co., MI

Went birding in a Audubon Society of Kalamazoo caravan yesterday in southern-most Kalamazoo county (Schoolcraft, Vicksburg). Thanks to Amy Ranger for driving and scribing! Species listed in order of sighting:

• Red tailed hawk
• Mute swans
• Juncos
• Bluebirds: several different flocks!
• Downy woodpeckers
• Red bellied woodpecker
• Cardinal male
• Goldfinches
• Hooded merganser
• Canada geese
• Mallards
• American Tree Sparrows (a flock)
• Great blue heron (in a drainage ditch)
• Bald eagles: 2 (one a juvenile, still in dark plumage)
• Northern harrier male
• Sandhill cranes

We also saw a red fox dancing (aka hunting) in a field and loads of white tailed deer.

1/28, traveling in MI, OH

Near Galesburg and Battle Creek on I-94:

• 2 Turkey Vultures at each place

OH, along I-80:

• 2 Bald Eagles (1 adult, 1 juvenile); a 3rd one in a huge nest at the top of a tree, further along

1/30, traveling along I-80 in OH

Flock of Snow Geese flying over