September 25, 1993
Windy and cool

This Audubon Society field trip to the Indiana Dunes on the edge of Lake Michigan was led by some very experienced birders, including Ken Brock. Fall migration was in progress, which was the impetus for this trip to the aptly-named “Migrant Trap” near Gary, Indiana. It was windy and cool on the lakeshore, but we saw a lot of birds, mostly foraging in scrubby vegetation that ran along a fence.

On Lake Michigan, I saw a flock of about 20 ☆Blue-winged Teal☆, and a winter-plumage ☆Lesser Black-backed Gull☆ was on the beach in the midst of a flock of Herring Gull. I wouldn’t have been able to identify the Lesser Black-backed on my own, but Ken Brock was certain about the ID.

In the “Migrant Trap” area, we saw loads of birds along the fence, including my first ☆Gray Catbird☆ and ☆Fox Sparrow☆. I caught a very quick glimpse of a tiny ☆Winter Wren☆, and had good views of several Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in the wooded area. There were abundant warblers moving through, as well. I’d never seen many of these species before, and would have been hard-pressed to identify them in their autumn plumage, so I didn’t count some of these as first sightings. I’m going to list them all here, however, as they were identified by expert birders.

Species List

Blue-winged Teal (Spatula discors), Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larus fuscus graellsii), American Great Egret (Ardea alba egretta), Winter Wren (Troglodytes hiemalis hiemalis), Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis), Red Fox Sparrow (Passerella iliaca iliaca/zaboria), American Kestrel (Northern) (Falco sparverius sparverius), Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) (Setophaga coronata coronata), Yellow-shafted Flicker (Colaptes auratus luteus), Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos platyrhynchos), Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura carolinensis), Great Blue Heron (Great Blue) (Ardea herodias herodias), Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon), Herring Gull (American) (Larus argentatus smithsonianus), Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius), Eastern Wood-Pewee (Contopus virens), Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe), Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum), Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis), European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris), Least Flycatcher (Empidonax minimus), Northern Parula (Setophaga americana), Magnolia Warbler (Setophaga magnolia), Cape May Warbler (Setophaga tigrina), Black-throated Blue Warbler (Setophaga caerulescens), Black-throated Green Warbler (Setophaga virens), Palm Warbler (Setophaga palmarum), Blackpoll Warbler (Setophaga striata), American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla), Connecticut Warbler (Oporornis agilis), Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas), Swamp Sparrow (Melospiza georgiana), White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis)