Chris Izworski's daily Michigan birding report focuses on Kalamazoo County this Tuesday morning, where 130 species have turned up across the region in the past two weeks. The county is deep in breeding season, and while May's warbler wave has crested, the birds settling in for nesting are now more predictable and localized than they were during migration.
What's Showing Up Right Now
Morrow Lake at the Plaza Ave. access has become the reporting hotspot over the past 14 days, with Mute Swans leading the count at 32 individuals as recently as today. That is the dominant sighting in the county by far. Red-winged Blackbirds, American Robins, Common Grackles, Tree Swallows, and Double-crested Cormorants round out the regulars there, all seen within the last 24 hours. These are breeding birds settling into summer patterns around open water and marshy edges.
The Kalamazoo River Valley Trail between Mills Street and King Highway is delivering Bank Swallows, 12 counted as of June 14. Purple Martins, another breeding specialist, have also been recorded there with five individuals seen on June 15. This stretch of river corridor offers the insect populations and aerial foraging space that both species need through breeding season.
The two county hotspots with the deepest all-time species lists, Fort Custer State Recreation Area and Kellogg Bird Sanctuary, remain your best bets for variety. Fort Custer in particular has hosted some of the more interesting recent reports: Eastern Whip-poor-wills, three of them on June 8, plus a Cerulean Warbler, and a Lawrence's Warbler hybrid also on the 8th. The Kellogg Experimental Forest logged Pine Warblers on June 8, showing the sandier upland habitats in the county are holding breeding woodland birds.
Noteworthy Records This Period
Clay-colored Sparrows have appeared twice in the eBird data, both times at or near the AUFL-M2 location, with a third record from Augusta Floodplain Forest on June 10. This is unusual for Kalamazoo County in mid-June and worth flagging. These birds breed more typically in the Great Plains and northern Great Lakes dunes, so a June presence in Kalamazoo warrants documentation if you relocate one. A Northern Harrier was noted at E X Bridge on June 10, and a Merlin was recorded in Kalamazoo proper on June 8 at 528 Village Street. Neither is common here in summer, so these remain worth keeping in mind if you are working the county.
The Lillian Anderson Arboretum has turned in American Redstarts and Ovenbirds recently, indicating that this location is holding breeding forest warblers and ground-nesting migrants well into the season. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds continue at feeders, with five reported as of June 15.
Weather and Timing
Today brings showers and thunderstorms with a 77 percent rain chance, temperatures around 73 degrees, and 15 mph winds from the southwest. Tonight clears toward partly cloudy with lows near 52. Tomorrow the pattern repeats: showers and thunderstorms return. This is not ideal for field time, but if you manage an early outing before the rain heavies, the southwest winds and 15-hour daylight mean the dawn chorus window stretches from 5:34 to 7:34 AM. Breeding birds are vocal through mid-June; an overcast morning with wet grass and available insects often brings better singing effort than clear, cool dawns.
Where to Go
If conditions allow a sortie today or early tomorrow before storms settle in, Fort Custer SRA remains the highest-probability target for multiple breeding warblers, shorebirds, and possible rarities given its 215 all-time species count. The Kalamazoo River Valley Trail offers faster access and is excellent for swallows and river-edge species. Morrow Lake is the safest bet if you are working the water birds and commoners; you will see birds there with minimal effort.
The data from the past two weeks is solid but not dense. If you are new to Kalamazoo County or working toward a county list, this is a reasonable time to bird here, though expect breeding season behavior: territorial singing in early morning, reduced afternoon activity, and birds tied to nesting habitat rather than roaming. Visit https://birding.chrisizworski.com for the live map and full county data.