Birding the St. Joseph River

Lindsay and I joined Brian Miller and other South Bend-Elkhart Audubon Society members on a "river run" along the St. Jospeh River on Saturday, January 28, 2012.  As we've heard from those who've been in our chapter for many years more than we have, this used to be a very productive field trip, with large rafts of waterfowl observed at various locations along the river.  These days, unfortunately, there is little waterfowl diversity on the river, but it still makes for a fun morning (despite the biting wind).

Lindsay and other SBEAS members looking at distant Buffleheads on the St. Joseph River

The battle for most abundant species on the river in the past several years always seems to be between Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) and Canada Goose (Branta canadensis).  During this trip, we saw more Mallards. Because Mallards are so common, I rarely take the time to look at them in detail.  If we didn't have Mallards around here and I saw one in an exotic place on a birding trip, I would probably think that the males, with their iridescent green heads, yellow beaks, and chocolate brown chests were superbly attractive birds.
 

Mallards (male and female)

Although Canada Geese aren't as colorful, there is still good reason to search through gaggles of geese, as there are some more uncommon species that can sometimes be found amongst them.  Although we didn't see any similar species on Saturday, I was watching for Cackling Geese (the smaller version of the Canada Goose), Greater White-fronted Geese, and even for Brants.

Canada Geese

Along the river at Eberhart Golf Course we saw the highlight of the morning.  Lindsay and I were in the last car in a line of members entering the property.  We were following the group and watching the river when a duck that was clearly not a Mallard flew in front of us.  Lindsay quickly identified the bird in flight as a Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula).  I hit the brakes and fumbled for the camera; meanwhile, the bird landed and swam farther and farther away from us.  By the time I was able to get photos, he was contently as far away from us as possible on the opposite bank of the river.  Common Goldeneye is one of the duck species that used to be much more common on the St. Joseph River in winter.  They are said to spend winters as far north as possible, so long as there is open water.  I wonder if the large rafts that we once had here now winter further north as a result of a warming climate.

A distant Common Goldeneye (male) 

Another surprise of our outing was seeing several Herring Gulls (Larus argentatus) in a wet spot along the road at the Mishawaka Riverwalk.  The two common inland gulls around here are Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis) and Herring Gull, with the former being much more common than the latter.  The typical parking lot gull is the Ring-billed Gull, and that's what I expected to see as we got closer and saw a flock of gulls along the road, but a good proportion of the gulls we saw at this location were Herring Gulls.

Herring Gull

For comparison, below is a shot of Ring-billed Gulls from the same location.  Herring Gulls are larger and have thicker bills.  They also have pink legs (as compared to the yellow-green legs of Ring-billed Gulls).

Ring-billed Gulls

Thanks to Brian Miller for leading another successful field trip.

History Repeats Itself

Scott: "Wasn't it two years ago at Notre Dame that we saw a Merlin?"
Lindsay: "Yeah... I was at work, so I didn't get to see it."
Scott: "It was just as we pulled into the parking lot."

(Pulling into parking lot...)
Scott: "The Merlin was on that small tree."

(Passing the small tree...)
Scott: "Look! There's the Merlin!"


When Lindsay and I headed to University of Notre Dame this morning to join South Bend-Elkhart Audubon Society on a field trip to look at waterfowl, seeing a Merlin (Falco columbarius) never even crossed my mind. I was pretty sure that the one we saw in the parking lot off of Dorr Road (Scott: "You make a better Dorr than a Road!) two years ago was a freak occurrence. I guess not. Now, I wonder if this bird winters here every year. What a great first bird for a field trip!

In the photograph below, note two of the identifying characteristics on this otherwise somewhat nondescript raptor: the weak mustache and the white eyebrow.


But we weren't done. Brian Miller and I later joked that had the weather been like it was the past couple of days, we would probably have been the only two to show up for the field trip, and we probably would have left after seeing the Merlin. The mid-30 degree Farenheit temperatures on this sunny February day were perfect for a two-hour walk around St. Joseph's Lake.


Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos, in the background of the photograph above) were by far the most abundant species on the lake, but one of our highlight birds was the migrant in the foreground above, Redhead (Aythya americana). Interestingly, female Redheads lay their eggs in the nests of other Redheads or other ducks, supposedly often in the nests of the somewhat similar looking and related Canvasbacks (Aythya valisineria).


The number of Common Mergansers (Mergus merganser, in the photograph above) on the lake was quite impressive. I counted 81, but I am sure that I missed some. We often see Common Mergansers on St. Joseph's Lake in the winter, but not in these numbers. When Brian, Lindsay, and I did the Indiana Mid-winter Waterfowl Count at Notre Dame earlier this year, we didn't see any Common Mergansers.


One of the most handsome ducks, in my opinion, is the Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus, above). It must be the afro, as Lindsay calls it. This species is somewhat of a staple at St. Joseph's Lake.


The most common gull that we saw on the lake today was Herring Gull (Larus argentatus, or L. smithsonianus, if you choose to split the European Herring Gull from the American Herring Gull). The immature Herring Gull in the photograph above has the characteristic pink legs and thick bill. Adult Herring Gulls have a white body with a gray back and wings, black and white wingtips, and a yellow bill with a red spot on the lower mandible.


We only saw one Mute Swan (Cygnus olor, above) on the lake. Visiting St. Joseph's Lake, you can usually count on seeing at least one of this attractive Eurasian species.

Our complete list of species observed during the field trip follows:

Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Domestic Duck
American Black Duck
Mallard
Redhead
Lesser Scaup
Common Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Pied-billed Grebe
Horned Grebe
Great Blue Heron
Cooper's Hawk
Merlin
American Coot
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
American Robin
Cedar Waxwing
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
House Finch