Folks,
On the morning of Friday, June 30 I stopped west of Kingsville where I
last had the Dickcissel on June 25. The field where the bird was at the
northwest corner of McCain Sideroad and Essex Road 20 (formerly Highway
18) has been mowed, a "For Sale"sign erected, and a backhoe was noisily
making some "improvement". I heard no Dickcissel. I then walked west
on the public trail which runs east-west a short distance north of the
field. Approximately 300 meters from McCain Sideroad on this trail, I
heard a Dickcissel singing south of me from the successional field west
of the cut field and close to the highway. I then drove back to the
highway just east of and opposite the white House # 1119 (the first
house on the south side of the highway west of McCain Sideroad that
fronts on the highway), and soon heard the Dickcissel singing closeby in
a broken hedgerow o the north side of the highway between the property
with the cut field and the successional field to the west. Seconds
later I heard a second Dickcissel singing from near the northwest corner
of the field. Several times, during lulls in the highway traffic, both
birds could be heard singing simultaneously and/or overlapping. I
observed the closer bird, and it appeared to have less yellow on the
breast, a paler face, and much more chestnut (extending into the greater
coverts) than the bird that I had observed last week in the field next
door. A wall of Phragmites along the north side of the highway here
hampers one's view of the field but the field is mostly visible opposite
the broken hedgerow at the southeast corner of the field. Fortunately,
the close Dickcissel (at least this morning!) perched fairly high in
some small trees so it was quite visible.
Also of note this morning was a Yellow-breasted Chat vocalizing from
brush at the southwest intersection of the 5th Concession and Ferriss
Road approximately 100-200 meters off the road. This intersection near
Harrow is approximately 3.4 km north of Essex Road 20 and approximately
2.2 km east of Essex Road 11 (Queen Street).
Blessings,
Michael Carlson
Royal Oak, MI
Dickcissel Directions: From the corner of Division Road and Essex Road
20 in downtown Kingsville go approximately 3.8 km west on Essex Road 20
to the field approximately 300 meters west of the intersection of McCain
Sideroad and on the north side of the road just east of House #1119.
From the corner of Queen Street (Essex Road 11) and King Street (Essex
Road 20) in downtown Harrow, go approximately 11.2 km east on Essex Road
20 to the field on the north side of the road just east of House #1119.
