Northerly Treks: What Else Is In Crawford?

The date was June 1st, 2020 and it was getting close to being mid-morning.  I had just completed the biggest goal of my trip in getting great looks and observations of the Kirtland's Warbler.  And considering the date, my trip was still in it's very early stages.  I was pumped, and I still had plenty of targets left to see.  The addition of Kirtland's Warbler made it official that the last regularly occurring warbler that I had left to see and photograph in North America was the Cape May Warbler.  By looking at the Cape May's range map, they occur in the northern boreal regions of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.  As I got my Connecticut Warbler in Wisconsin and Kirtland's Warbler in Michigan, I thought it would be pretty cool if I got Cape May Warbler in Minnesota.  Although Minnesota would hold the greatest opportunities, getting one in Michigan was thought to be awesome too.  I also had good potential in getting Mute Swan as a life bird in Michigan, if I put the effort in for it.  Mute Swan is an established introduced bird, not native to North America.  As they are more widely established and have more numbers further east in North America, I decided that they were not a priority.  If I happened to encounter some of them by chance, that was thought of to be cool!  As it was mid-morning, it was time to bird around Crawford County.  I had close to ten more hours of birding time, and what I liked about it was that the locations were close to one another.  It would be a day of more birding and less driving, hardly any driving at all!  I asked myself, "What else is in Crawford County?"

I went to the Crawford County main overview page on eBird and looked at hotspots and species of interest.  One of the species of interest that I had in mind was Alder Flycatcher.  I figured that with all of the remaining ground that I had remaining to cover throughout the rest of my trip that Alder Flycatchers would be extremely common.  But I was still craving to see my first one, as well as go to a productive birding area on top of that.  I found a recent report from a location called Dyer Swamp, which is northeast of Grayling and was a 15 minute drive from Staley Lake Road.  Dyer Swamp seemed like a good location to see a variety of birds, and a guy had reported four Alder Flycatchers a few days prior.  I went for Dyer Swamp, parked at the entrance to the road that goes along the location, and walked for about a mile through swamp and bog habitat, as well as mixed deciduous and coniferous forest.  My efforts lasted for 1.5 hours, and I hiked for over a mile.  I didn't have any problems finding Alder Flycatchers.  There were at least eight of them detected, and I obtained solid views of them, and I really got to listen to their distinctive song and several different calls.  Alder Flycather looks almost identical to Willow Flycatcher, and the two species used to be one.  But Alder Flycatcher averages more of a greenish tint to it's back than Willow Flycatcher, and some Alders may be identifiable based on that.  In the long run, most birds have to be safely identified by voice where there is range overlap.  Alder Flycatcher's range is further north than that of Willow Flycatcher, and Willow would be absent from most of the areas I would be covering on the trip.

Throughout their range, Alder Flycatchers prefer bogs, alder thickets, damp brushy habitats, and wet woodland edges as the habitat choice.  I also took video of them vocalizing, give them a listen.

Other than Alder Flycatchers, I recorded a total of 37 species at the Swamp.  An Eastern Kingbird was another bird that I photographed.

Lastly, here are a few pictures of Dyer Swamp, which turned out to be a fun location to bird at.

Up next, I looked on eBird again at hotspots that were close by.  The next spot that caught my attention was another neighboring location called Wakeley Lake.  I thought that the location seemed to be a promising one by looking at eBird data.  When I pulled up to the parking lot to the area, it was a walk-in only area that had miles of interconnecting hiking trails.  I was pumped about all the different trails, and it was a location that was "my kind" of location.  By looking at the trails and glancing at the habitat, it seemed to be a spot where one could spend an entire day.  Quickly after starting to walk on the main trail through the woods and to the lake, I heard a Winter Wren singing.  I managed to get a view of the tiny songbird.

As I continued to the lake, a variety of birds were present, mainly detected by their many songs and calls.  When I got out to Wakeley Lake, I could see that there was a flock of swans out on the water.  When I raised my binoculars up I thought that they were gonna be Trumpeter Swans, but when I looked through my binoculars, I could see that they were a flock of Mute Swans.  This was a lifer that I was not expecting to get on the hike!

Mute Swans are a European species who have been introduced into North America.  The northeastern United States along the Atlantic Coast is a strong area where the species has become established, and so has the Great Lakes region.  When looking at a Mute Swan, it's curved necks and orange bills with a black base to them are distinctive.  These swans are known for being aggressive and protective in their territories.  They will attack most intruders who come near nests or territories, and those intruders do include humans.

I caught sight of the Mute Swans immediately upon accessing Wakeley Lake.  Once I viewed the lake, I saw that it was beautiful and added a lot to the hike.

I continued along the trail after looking at the lake and photographing the swans further.  Two Ruffed Grouse flushed off a clump of logs and went further back into the woods.  I wanted to follow them further, but bushwhacking in any eastern forest is a lot more difficult than bushwacking in a western forest.  After letting them be, I continued on the trail, and deciduous forest had become the dominant landscape during a stretch.  Things got exciting when I heard the call of a Black-billed Cuckoo.  In 2017, I had this bird for the first time right by Gretchen's cabin, and it was a heard only bird.  As I walked quickly up the trail for this bird, I was hoping to catch a glimpse of my second Black-billed Cuckoo detection.  When I got in the area, the bird vocalized some more, and I was able to see it move and therefore, locate it!

For starters, the Black-billed Cuckoo is well named, and it has a black bill.  I've seen a share of it's cousin, the Yellow-billed Cuckoo.  Like the Yellow-billed Cuckoo, the Black-billed Cuckoo is a secretive bird that lurks inside forests.  If the bird doesn't vocalize, it is hard to locate.  As you can see here, this bird also has a red eye-ring, and a grayish tail that has small white tips on it.  The Black-billed Cuckoo does have a smaller and thinner bill than  the Yellow-billed Cuckoo does.

Nest parasitism is the way of life for most Old World Cuckoos, as they lay their eggs in the nests of other birds for the other birds to raise their young.  While Black and Yellow-billed Cuckoos incubate their own eggs and raise their own most of the time, they will at times but rarely lay eggs in the nests of other birds, including each other.  Young cuckoos rear quickly and it doesn't take long for them to appear adult-like.  Seeing a brood with both species in it would be interesting.

Getting a visual of this species for the first time and a detection of the species for only the second time was a huge accomplishment for me, and before the trip started, seeing a Black-billed Cuckoo was one of my major trip targets.

After the cuckoo, I started to head back to the truck and had about a mile ahead of me.  I didn't have lunch with me and decided to go back to Grayling to get Subway.  When I got back to the parking lot and trailhead of Wackeley Lake, I noticed another trail that went along the south side of the lake.  This trail would bring me to the lake much more quickly than the other trail did, and I decided to check it out.  Something remarkable about the trail was it's change in habitat.  The understory was thicker and there were more coniferous trees, and even somewhat of a boggy area.  In this area, the trail turned into a boardwalk.

As I officially started to head back to the trailhead to drive to Grayling for lunch, I ran into one more neat bird.  And that was the awesome Canada Warbler!

After lunch, I didn't photograph many birds, but I went to several more awesome places near Grayling.  The weather became cloudy and overcast, and at times rain would come at a light drizzle.  I explored an area called Mason Tract, which had the AuSable River nearby.  I didn't know what I was doing when I birded this area, but it was still fun.  One stand of aspens had what I thought was a young Northern Goshawk calling from, and I entered the stand.  I couldn't find a Goshawk, but I did find a few Porcupines instead.

I hiked up a road near Mason Tract, and it was awesome.  With thick stands of woods in all directions that had regular openings to the forest in the mix, it reminded me of a place where I could find wolves on the hunt.  Even though it's rare to get lucky enough to see a Gray Wolf, my eyes were always on the lookout for my favorite animal.

The next place I went to was this place called Hartwick Pines State Park, which is one of the top birding hotspots in Crawford County.  While the overcast conditions continued as I entered the park, I could see that the park was awesome.  I decided to hike this epic loop trail called the Old Growth Forest Trail.  This trail went through impressive stands of old growth forest, which in Michigan is one of a few remaining stands of such forest.  It was worth the hike.

Near the entrance to the trail and at the park headquarters where a pair of Great-crested Flycatchers.

A stop at two small lakes within the park gave me a singing Northern Waterthrush, and more scenes to enjoy.

In the last hour of light, I stopped at Goose Creek Road west of Grayling.  This was one of the roads that I had mapped out for Kirtland's Warblers.  Like Staley Lake Road, Goose Creek also has a lot of Kirtland's Warblers.  By this time rain was coming down periodically, and there wasn't much left for birding.  A stop along Goose Creek itself was fun to bird for a few minutes, and driving out of Goose Creek Road I stopped and listened along a young stand of jack pines.  It didn't take me long to hear my last Kirtland's Warbler of the trip sing a couple more times, and it was a good conclusion to the day.

Crawford County was a fun place to bird and explore for a day and a half.  The following day, June 2nd, was planned out to be a travel day back to Spooner.  But the day would include a few stops in Michigan's upper peninsula, and one of those stops would be very good!  Northerly Treks will have more of that story next time.