Dickcissel Mason County 6/11/2017

    Dave Dister called this afternoon with a tip on some singing male Dickcissels in nearby Custer.  I was able to get to the location about an hour later and heard up to a half dozen of the birds in the area of Johnson and Schoenher Rd.
   The first one that flew into view ended up on the power lines over 100 yds away.  It made for an aesthetically unpleasing ID shot.

  A short while later while parked on Schoenher a bird landed right across the road from my car and alternated between posing and hawkwatching. 

Eye on the sky

Couldn't Be More Pacific 6/8/2017

   

   A wayward, breeding-plumaged Pacific Loon was found by Stan Lilley earlier this week in Littlefield Lake in Isabella County.  I was unable to breakaway from life's obligations to chase after this striking bird until today.

  Many birders previously reported the bird at the DNR boatlaunch off of West Stevenson Lake Road.  When I got to that spot the bird was nowhere to be found.  Luckily another birder came by and directed me to the location where the bird was being seen from Birch Rd on the most eastern edge of the southern portion of the lake.  Here are the locations marked on a Google Map

Today's location marked with an x in the circle

 

Location in zoomed detail

  Here is an unedited video that I was able to shoot.

Kirtland's Warbler, Grayling Michigan. 5/27/2017 (with video)

    Made a quick trip to the Jack Pine forest area near Grayling yesterday to view Kirtland's Warblers. This rare recovering songbird is an easy find in this area.  I heard 5 or 6 singing males along a half mile stretch road. A couple of them were cooperative enough to pose for some decent photos.  

  Here is the video

Osprey

  This afternoon I noticed an Osprey flying over my yard.  Luckily my camera was handy and I was able to get a couple of shots as it flew across the patch of sky not blocked out by trees.

    As I checked the photos I noticed it had a firm grip on a hearty meal.

Yellow Perch?

   Five minutes later it passed by again like a new kid trying to find a welcoming table in the lunchroom.

   But by this time most of the front half of the fish was gone.

  This is the second Osprey that I've seen from my deck in three years.  More noteworthy is that my yardfish list is no longer blank.

Shorebirds on South Pier 5/23/2017

Ruddy Turnstone

     Dave Dister alerted me to a nice mix of shorebirds that appeared on the south pier of Ludington Harbor yesterday.

No stone left unturned

Dunlin

Saving some leftovers

  

Least Sandpiper

Spotted Sandpiper

Semi-palmated Plover

Sanderlings

Great Blue Heron

Tawas Point State Park

   

  Drove across the state this morning to the shores of Lake Huron unsuccessfully chasing a Fork-tailed Flycatcher. According to more punctual birders I missed the Fork-tail by 2 hours.  In the three hours that I searched for the target bird I saw some more pedestrian neotropic migrants.

Immature Summer Tanager

Scarlet Tanager

Orchard Oriole

Female Baltimore Oriole

Northern Parula

Blackburnian Warbler

Indigo Bunting

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

  Of course a late report from Marc North this evening reveals that the Forktailed Flycatcher has been refound in Tawas State Park.  I think that I'm living on the wrong side of the state because while I was over on the sunrise side a Painted Bunting was found in the same (Iosco) county and in nearby Bay County  a Laughing Gull, a Eurasian Wigeon as well as both Marble and Hudsonian Godwits were found.

Golden-crowned Sparrow 5/9/2017 Whitefish Point

Seventh State record Golden-crowned Sparrow

     My third attempt over the past six years to see a Golden-crowned Sparrow in Michigan was successful, even though it took two days to cross paths with it.  I had spent about an hour and a half , off and on throughout the day on Monday without any luck.  But early Tuesday morning the target bird showed up after about a ten minute wait.  It ducked in and out of the brush as it warily avoided migrating Sharp-shinned Hawks that passed over.
  It had lots of sparrow company around the feeders behind the Point Gift Shop.

White-crowned

Lincoln's

Clay-colored

American Tree Sparrow

   The Siskins were fueling up for their trip across the big lake they call Gitche Gumee.

Purple Finch

Ruffed Grouse

    Other migrants passing Whitefish Point include....

Broad-winged Hawks

Common Loon

     Some birds were content to hang around a little longer

Common Loon

Red-necked Grebe