144,178
That is the total of bird species identified during the month of March from the Indiana Dunes Longshore Tower. That’s a good total considering we haven’t been out there much lately. In fact, 2 out of 3 flights counted last month occurred in the first 12 days of the month. Spring totals from the tower have ranged from 185,000- 430,000 birds each spring, with an annual average of 265,000. So we’re just past halfway, with 2/3 of the season left. Maybe we’ll see 500,000 birds this year! Yes, that’s nearly 1/2 million birds identified to SPECIES!
Probably more notable than the annual totals are the number of state high counts that have come from the Indiana Dunes Longshore Tower. They include:
- Sandhill Cranes: 39,790 birds on March 3, 2024
- American Robin: 15,753 birds on March 16, 2015
- Cedar Waxwing: 11,373 birds seen on May 29, 2013
- Blue Jay: An incredible 7,264 jays seen on May 1, 2013
- Pine Siskin: 3,922 siskins flew past on May 4, 2015
- Northern Flicker: 1,260 undulated past on April 7, 2019
- Baltimore Oriole: Imagine seeing 635 in one day like they did on May 15, 2021
- Yellow-bellied Sapsucker: 346 flew past on April 7, 2013 (also a National Spring Record)
- Cape May Warbler: 202 Cape Mays will live in many birders memory from May 15, 2020
- Scarlet Tanagers: 70 on May 15, 2020
- And 77 others species whose Indiana state record is held at the Indiana Dunes Longshore Tower!
Today we counted Zero. Poor conditions look to bring north winds for the next 3-4 days, but we’re hopeful the weather will start to take a turn for the better by this weekend!
As we also reflect on the prior month, which you can see on the March eBird Dunes Longshore Tower Trip Report, we’re declaring the March bird of the month as the 39,790 Sandhill Cranes that flew past on March 3, beating the old state record, and knocking Jasper-Pulaski FWA as the Indiana site where more cranes have been seen in a single day!
Honorable mention certainly goes to the pair of Smith’s Longspurs that were beautifully (as beautiful as you can get with March tower conditions) photographed by Woody Goss below on March 25. They were not first site records, but not a species that is recorded annually, and the first in nearly two years.
Indiana Dunes Migration Birding 