Ohio - September 2023 - Day 2 - Indiana and Michigan

I started the day with a seawatch at Marquette Park, Gary. Actually that's not true, I started the day at a 24h Denny's with a wonderful all-American breakfast with limitless coffee. Then I went seawatching. Not the sea obviously, but Lake Michigan is so massive that it might as well be, and like seawatching here the same theories with regards to weather apply. The prior few days had been excellent, with Skuas blown close to shore, and I joined a number of other birders for about an hour. No luck, whatever particular conditions had brought the Skuas in wasn't the same today, even though the breeze was onshore and quite stiff. I had to make do with a small flock of Sanderling and a Semipalmated Sandpiper. Still, it was my first eBird list in Indiana which was very exciting an one more step towards my goal of filling in the entire country. 

Next stop Miller Woods, part of Indiana Dunes NP. This is a tract of scrubby forest on sandy soils that gradually transitions into dunes and pools before hitting the shore. I started at the part furthest away from the water and gradually headed north. The first pools near the Douglas Center held a good number of Wood Duck, five Solitary Sandpiper and a Wilson's Snipe. Most notable were the high numbers of Red-headed Woodpecker and Eastern Wood-Pewee, but as I picked my way along sandy paths I found Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Least Flycatcher and Eastern Phoebe. Swainson's Thrush and Eastern Bluebird were also fairly numerous, and at the pools closest to the lake I found Belted Kingfisher and a Great Blue Heron. It was already mid-morning when I hit the beach and I had a long way to go, including wanting to make a side-trip into Michigan, another State tick.

Galien River County Park wasn't too far off my route to Ohio, and was a site for Yellow-bellied Flycatcher which would be an ABA tick. I ended up hearing one but not seeing it so it remains a target! Three Sandhill Crane were impressive, as were a very close Broad-winged Hawk cruising past as head height as I spend some time stood at the end of a raised walkway that stretched out over the steep-banked valley. I should at this point mention that I didn't have a camera with me as this wasn't a birdng trip (even though I am probably making it sound like one), so just like Colombia there are going to be no avian illustrations. At this point in 2023 I wasn't really feeling it anyway, and only recently in mid-2024 have I rediscovered my mojo. Anyhow, you will just have to imagine how fantastic it was.

View from the walkway

Galien was a really nice spot and I would have like to have had more time here. The walkway over the valley was at tree height, and it was here that I heard the Flycatcher I was looking for several times but try as I might I couldn't find it. I even have a recording of it! One day! 

I tried some close-by sewage ponds to try and up my fledging Michigan list. This was pretty successful with Cedar Waxwing, American Goldfinch, a few Shoveler and a Blue Jay, but with time pressing I had to leave. This leaves my Michigan list on a meagre 20 species, and Indiana on 36, but it does ink in both States I suppose which was my primary intent. Stupid intent. With Ohio still nearly four hours away I refound the main road, the I90 that crosses the State east-west, and made tracks. I wanted to be Megan's for when she wrapped up work. In the event it took around three and a half hours, still a long stint but driving in the USA is supremely easy. I saw my first Bald Eagle of the trip shortly before Toledo - the Ohio list was underway!