

Other breeding warblers include: Black-and-white, Black-throated Green, and Pine Warblers, American Redstart, and Northern Parula. In this wooded habitat, we will have our best chance of seeing all of the ‘southern’ warblers including: Swainson’s, Hooded, Prothonotary, Worm-eating, Cerulean, and Yellow-throated Warblers as well as Louisiana Waterthrush. We will be sure to look for Black Vulture and Common Nighthawk as evening falls.Īfter an early breakfast (05:30), we will spend the day visiting the beautiful Red River Gorge. We will visit other local parks (Raven Run Nature Sanctuary, Hisle Farm Park, Spindletop Research Farm) as time permits looking for Prairie Warbler and other early successional/field birds such as Northern Bobwhite, Blue Grosbeak, Northern Mockingbird, and Grasshopper Sparrow with the possibility of Dickcissel and Henslow’s Sparrow. After lunch, we will visit a local park (Veterans Park) with hopes of finding Mississippi Kite and our first warbler, Yellow-breasted Chat, with the possibility of other ‘southern’ birds like Summer Tanager and Blue Grosbeak. Participants will arrive in Lexington, KY at Blue Grass Airport for late morning pick-up.

NEXT DEPARTURE DATE: To be confirmed ITINERARY – GRAND TOUR OF THE BREEDING BIRDS OF THE MIDWESTĭAY 1: Arrive in Lexington, KY Grassland/early successional birds

With the focus on breeding birds, participants have a greater certainty of finding singing males in appropriate habitat compared to the uncertainties of migration. The main focus of the trip will be to find all of the warblers that breed in the East, south of Canada (32 species), but we will try and find all the breeding birds and hopefully a few late migrants. Starting in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in Kentucky, this trip will traverse several different ecosystems, including three Great Lakes, as we move north finishing in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The Midwest of the United States, often known for its industry and agriculture, also abounds in breeding bird diversity in its natural areas.
