More Warblers and Vireos 5/24/2020

   It took 4 years and 9 months to record 133 bird species at the house we moved out of last fall. Today I reached that total for the new yard just a day short of 6 months since moved in.  The new birds included a pair of Canada Warblers (female shown above).

    A pair of Blue-winged Teals.

Blue-winged Teals with male Wood Duck

    The 132nd bird, a Wilson's Warbler would not sit still for a photo but #133, a Warbling Vireo, momentarily came out from behind the leaves to be documented.

  Yesterday I also added 4....

                          Green Heron

#126

             Pine Siskin

#127

           Red-eyed Vireo

#128

   #129 Eastern Wood Pewee was not captured photographically
 
    Other birds of interest photographed today were

Male Magnolia Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Black and White Warbler

Female Magnolia Warbler

Yellow Warbler

Red-headed Woodpecker

Lincoln's Sparrow

   I saw a couple of adult Bald Eagles fly over today but this one was cooperative enough to wait until the clouds and fog dissipated.

Looks like Round Goby is on the menu this evening.

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.

Ludington Harbor South Breakwater 10/18/15

  Early this afternoon I ventured out to the south breakwater of Ludington Harbor.  On the walk to the end of the pier I only saw 7 birds on the pier itself, all Lapland Longspurs.

Lapland Longspur

First winter Lapland Longspur

  When I got to the end of the pier I scanned Lake Michigan and found a single Long-tailed Duck.

Long-tailed Duck

    A few minutes later I noticed a flock of 11 White-winged Scoters

White-winged Scoters

   Heading back in from the end of the pier I came across a Snow Bunting.

Snow Bunting

   Below is a Great Blue Heron taking on a good sized meal.

Catch of the day

Taking it to a more suitable location

Does this Carp make my neck look fat?

Snowy Owl in Ludington 12/7/14

  This afternoon there was a Snowy Owl on the shore of Ludington Harbor just north of the south breakwall.  As I was photographing the bird, a guy coming in from the pier told me he saw a very white one near the end of the pier.  

    Another bird of interest was a single Snow Bunting.

   On Friday afternoon I was driving through Ludington State Park when I saw a female Common Merganser having a bit of a struggle.  I pulled out my binoculars out and saw that she was trying to consume a pretty good size perch.

There she got it.

Oops... not quite

   Just as I thought she was giving up, she changed her grip and was able get a better angle.

 

Looking for the next one.