Lesser Black-backed Gulls 5/17/2022

 

  For the second year in May in a row, I've photographed a Lesser Black-backed Gull flying past my bluff.

Composite photo of 1st cycle LBBG

    The first cycle bird above was seen on Tuesday morning and as a bonus it brought a friend...

…. a 2nd cycle Lesser Black-backed Gull.

  This gull species brings my yardlist for the year up to 155. 

   The other bird of interest from Tuesday was an adult Bald Eagle which flew by at close range at eye-level.

May is Migration Month

   May is off to a spectacular start in terms of bird migration.  On Saturday May 1, my first Rose-breasted Grosbeak of the year arrived in my yard.

  Then around noon what appears to be a Lesser Black-backed Gull cruised by, along the edge of my bluff. The gull would be 161st species on my yard list if ID is confirmed.  If you have any opinions on it send me an email at the address near the bottom of the page.

   A Yellow-bellied Sapsucker was the 6th woodpecker species that I saw that day, I only missed Pileated when it comes to 7 possible woodpecker species in the LP of Michigan.

   As good as Saturday was, it was just the undercard to Sunday's main event.  The Birdcast Map below shows that Doppler Radar sites across the lower 48 detected at least half a billion birds in flight during each 10 minute interval between 11:25 pm Saturday until 2:45 am Sunday morning.

 The wave of birds brought the first Baltimore Orioles of the year as well as 10 other species.  As it goes with Orioles a dispute over the feeders quickly developed.

  And a clear underdog was soon revealed.

  I added two more to the yardlist a Blue-winged Warbler which I was unable to photograph and a marginally more cooperative Northern Waterthrush.  The Waterthrush momentarily entered a less obstructed hole in the brush and allowed me to get a few manually focused shots.

 Other warblers to arrive on Sunday were

.... Yellow

....Black and White

...Nashville.  

   Which is the 100 species that I've this year in my yard this year and coincidentally was the 100 species last year, although that didn't occur until May 10th. 

 The first Ruby-throated Hummingbirds also arrived....

.....as did the Indigo Buntings.

 

  Other first of the year birds arriving Sunday but not pictured were House Wren, Common Yellowthroat, Gray Catbird and Chimney Swift

    Although today started dingy and gray and only got worse when an all-day drizzle developed I had two more 2021 arrivals in the yard, Eastern Kingbird and..

....Great Egrets

Little Gull Ludington WWTP 10/30/2018

    Around Noon today Reuben Yoder and Jacob Hostetler picked out a single Little Gull among the few hundred Bonaparte's Gulls.

Ash-Throated Flycatcher - Ludington 10/27/2018

  On Thursday Matt McConnell found an Ash-throated Flycatcher on the Island Lake Trail at Ludington State Park.  I made an unsuccessful attempt to see the bird around 6pm Friday. 

   Late this morning I made it back out there and found the bird to be quite cooperative once it was relocated.

   As I was finishing my photo-shoot with the flycatcher I received a call from Dave Dister who had located a possible Black-legged Kittiwake at the Wastewater Treatment Plant in Ludington.  Dave was still locked on the bird when I arrived with a small caravan of birders who followed from the State Park.  Upon further review it has been determined that the bird in question has been downgraded to a Bonaparte's Gull.

Make that Three Snowies

      I can hear it now. "Snowy Owls? Is that all you got?" Well if these Arctic interlopers are going to keep crossing paths with me, I've got to keep blogging about them.

    This morning I stayed over into the daylight hours for a meeting and afterward took advantage of the sunny skies and light winds to check if last week's owls were still up on the reservoir.

      At the four mile mark of the six mile, one-way loop I spotted two birds atop of a small structure.  These appear to be young females that I have been seeing up there.  One of the Snowies stayed put as I passed the structure.

    A little further ahead as I passed a transformer I noticed a young male in my rear-view mirror.

   Other birds of interest included a flock of 14 White-phase Snow Geese, that circled the reservoir for about 10 minutes.

  A single Blue-morph Snow Geese hung out with the Canada Geese.

   

Rough-legged Hawk

    After I made it home, Dave Dister called to report a Glaucous Gull at Ludington Harbor.

Franklin's Gull Ludington Wastewater Plant 11/19/2016

Franklin's Gull 

  Dave Dister found a Franklin's Gull at the Ludington Wastewater Treatment Plant today.

Hunkering down with a Ring-billed

   If it appears from the photos above that it was a chilly but tranquil day in west Michigan, below is a video that I shot at the lake shore a little later that shows the wind that we were dealing with all day.

  Note the gull flying backward from the 6 to 12 second mark.

Mid-November Update

Snow Buntings waiting for the Lake Effect Snow Machine to kick in.

    A build up of data on my camera's memory card was alleviated this afternoon as I finally got around to processing the few hundred photos that I've taken in the past 10 days.  The most cooperative bird was the Long-tailed duck below that paid me no mind this afternoon.

Northern Pintail 

Large flock of Mostly Redheads (but not Always)

Crop of same flock

  Bonaparte's Gulls have been active around Ludington Harbor all month.

Bonaparte's Gull

   The Sanderling that had been hanging around the South Breakwater has not been seen since early last week.

     This  Dunlin is still being seen daily.