Every other summer my side of the family holds a small reunion of sorts on Madeline Island, the flagship island of Wisconsin’s Apostle Islands on the south shore of Lake Superior. It is a beautiful place to rest, reunite, and play–a place where boys can be boys.
Of course, no boys take this more seriously than the male Warblers of the island. With nearly twenty different species being present on the island, one cannot escape these singing sensations as they belt out their territorial songs telling rival males and the whole world that this is their house.
Northern Parula
The Warblers are so thick on Madeline Island that one may escape a particular Warbler’s territory only to immediately land in another’s. Or sometimes, several different species all have territories in the same spot, tolerating each other’s different songs but ready to battle any male of their same species. While I enjoyed a great number of Warbler species, this was not a birding trip and so the camera was rarely raised. Besides, none were new for me. One Warbler that always feels new, that I feel compelled to photograph every time, is the Blackburnian Warbler. Such a looker! And he knows it.
Photographing Warblers in their natural habitat is the best. Here this Blackburnian is posing where he is most comfortable–atop a Black Spruce in a decent-sized (and only) bog on the island.
Though I did not photograph all the Warbers I encountered, I detected many different species:
- Yellow-rumped Warbler
- Black-and-white Warbler
- Northern Parula
- Blackburnian Warbler
- Pine Warbler
- Yellow Warbler
- Common Warbler
- Cape May Warbler
- Black-throated Green Warbler
- Ovenbird
- Common Yellowthroat
- American Redstart
- Mourning Warbler
- Chestnut-sided Warbler
- Nashville Warbler
Naturally I have saved the best for last. This was my big Madeline Island souvenir, a male Black-throated Blue Warbler.
Two years ago I searched for this species when I saw appropriate habitat of mature maple forests on the eastern end of the 14-mile long island. Trying that same area again this year, I stopped at a spot along North Shore Road that looked good–a deep ravine in the Maple/Hemlock woods which created a relatively open understory that BTBWs like. Immediately I was rewarded that sweet zoo-zoo-zoo-zoo-zoo-ZEE! Making this sighting even sweeter was that I had been participating in Wisconsin’s Breeding Bird Atlas project, and this bird was right in the corner of one of the priority blocks on the underbirded island. BTBW is a very good atlas bird for Wisconsin.
As fun as the Warblers were, they were merely a distraction to bide my time while I anxiously waited to get back to the mainland in Minnesota where all kinds of birds–life birds–were popping up. Stay tuned for the fully-loaded lifer post next.
My first lifer for 2015 was a Townsend’s Solitaire, but that’s not why this bird is here. The reason this bird made the cut is that I found one on my own in the old hometown. That’s a pretty sweet feeling on multiple levels.
I had five Owl lifers in 2015. In an ordinary year, they’d all deserve one of the top 10 slots. Spotted Owl should probably occupy this slot because of its threatened status, but I just really enjoyed seeing this Pygmy in Hunter Canyon. This tiny Owl was cool just by itself, but the experience made it even better. This is just one of the dozens of life birds that Tommy DeBardeleben and Gordon Karre found for us. Just as much fun as seeing these birds was becoming friends with these guys. There is no doubt that we will have many more adventures together in 2016.
This is probably one of the most common Owls of all my Owl lifers. But rarity status alone does not make for the best experiences. What made this bird so fun was the context in which it occurred. First, night-birding with flashlights adds a whole new level excitement to this hobby. Chris Rohrer said it best when he said it makes you feel like a little kid again to be outside after dark past bedtime. Second, this Owl was so cooperative for Tommy DeBardeleben and me that we got to pose for some laughter-inducing selfies. This is probably the most fun I’ve ever had birding.
Wow. Just wow. Seeing them at my feet? Unbelievable.
The Rufous-capped Warbler beat out the Pygmy Owl and the Oriole that day in Hunter Canyon. This rare Mexican visitor was the main target of AZ trip #2. I can’t believe I saw one. I can’t believe I got a photo.
Can you believe a year in which Elegant Trogon doesn’t get the top slot? I mean, seriously? This was the main target for AZ trip #1. We were successful on the last morning. Tommy led us to victory that day. What a thrill it was to chase this bird up the mountainside in Madera Canyon. The Elegant Trogon Fantastic Four made for an epic team. A huge thanks goes out to these two guys for being responsible for most of the birds seen in this list, but this one especially. Any other year guys and it would have been tops!
2. Gyrfalcon
Now here’s one that I wasn’t expecting, as in at all, as in ever. 2015 was the year of the Gyrfalcon. I picked up my lifer in Superior, WI early in the year, but what catapulted this bird near the top of this list was when I accidentally stumbled on the bird pictured above right here in Kandiyohi County, giving me my state and county bird in one sweet shot with a good photo op to boot. Considering one hadn’t been seen in Minnesota in nearly three years, I was just a little excited when Bob Dunlap and a host of birding experts told me my misidentified Peregrine was actually a Gyr.
This bird had the top spot locked down before 2015 even began. This was a very special bird that Evan and I made a special trip to Montana to see. We got this lifer in the company of my dad who researched this bird extensively in the 1970s for the Montana Fish&Game Department (presently called the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks). We didn’t just see this bird. From a blind we got to observe the males doing their elaborate courtship displays on the lek. There was no better way to add this bird to the life list. The Greater Sage-Grouse was hands-down the best bird of 2015. A special thanks goes out to John Carlson for setting up the adventure, Charlie Eustace for joining us, Leo and Jo Jurica for hosting us, and to my dad for humoring my idea. It was a pleasure to meet John and Charlie and go on a very memorable outing together.
We shall see if AZ makes the next post, but it’s looking doubtful as the vagrant party just won’t stop. ABWCH will hopefully have a tidy little write-up from South Dakota after the weekend. Keep your fingers crossed everybody.
Kudos to Big Bay Town Park and Big Bay State Park for this awesome boardwalk and kudos to the PIWA for having the best habitat preference of all the northwoods Warblers.
Not only did the Madeline Island Black-throated Greens have a preference for the lesser song, but they also preferred the lesser light, always perching underneath the leaves’ shade and casting them in weird, greenish light. 
Black-bearded Green Warbler would probably be a more appropriate and much cooler name.
The Black-throated Greens were nice, but they really just whet my appetite for a much, much better Warbler with a black throat. Because of its stunning beauty and scarcity, the Black-throated Blue Warbler was one that I was yearning to see again since my initial viewing in 2013. It was one of my two main birding goals for the trip with the other being the Piping Plovers. I tried real hard to find one on the under-birded Madeline Island. Area birder Nick Anich had described the very particular habitat choice this species likes: mature Maple forests with a high canopy, a fairly open midstory, and a thick understory full of saplings. I’m not sure what it is they like about the Maples, but that is the same type of habitat where the Black-throated Blues are found on Oberg Mountain in Minnesota. Schoolhouse Road on Madeline Island seemed the best I could find to match this habitat description, but I just couldn’t pick out a zoo-zoo-zoo-zoo-zee from the zee-zee-zee-zoo-zees or the zoo-zee-zoo-zoo-zees of the Black-throated Greens.
Just as presidential hopefuls are emerging left and right declaring their intentions, I, too, am now making a bold announcement: the Black-throated Blue Warbler is my favorite Warbler. Though I was hooked by the Chestnut-sided, though I’ve stood in awe of the Blackburnian, and though I’ve been dazzled by Painted Redstarts at my feet, the Black-throated Blue is simply the best in my book. I have yet to see the Red-faced, but I don’t even think that beauty could change my mind. My wardrobe is disproportionately blue after all.
There are more Warblers on the horizon as I have since made two post-MI trips to northern MN with a third one coming this weekend. But first, what could make a Woodpecker chase so compelling?