Getting Birdy Around Here 5/2/2020

   To paraphrase Glenn Danzig from the Misfits punk anthem 'Where Eagles Dare'(1979)...."Work down the street at night. But live where eagles dare". 

   From the first morning that I moved into this house and watched a Bald Eagle fly by at eye level as I was eating a bowl of Tony Tiger, I realized that I would get some great eagle photo-ops.  Now we just have to working on getting more photogenic fish into my photos.

  I can almost imagine the eagle singing the first line of the chorus(which can't be printed here) in the aforementioned song while the steelhead joins in for the second line. 

Eagle:"I ain't no #^$  &% (   * #*  of a    #(@*(!# "
Together: "You'd better think about it, Baby"

  At my previous house I would only see Brown Thrashers once or twice a year if at all but here they have been present everyday since they arrived on April 20.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak arrived April 29

Ruby-throated Hummingbird arrived May 1.

    Today I added 5 birds to the yard list bringing the total up to 88.

House Wren #84

Gray Catbird #85

Palm Warbler #86

Gadwall #87

   Not pictured Common Yellowthroat #88.

6 Day Weekend

Day 1

Roadside Wood Duck at Lake Erie Metropark on Wednesday

Day 2
        The following birds were at Crane Creek State Park in Ohio last Thursday.

Palm Warbler

Blackpoll Warbler

Marsh Wren

Magnolia Warbler

Black-throated Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Ovenbird

Day 3
 Friday I was back home and a short walk with Nico resulted in two new additions to the yardlist.  First I noticed a Veery (#124) in my wooded lot next to my house.

   and just a minute later as we walked up the driveway, I heard and then visually located a Black-throated Warbler(#125).

First of the season Black and White Warbler in the yard.

Day 5
   This morning at Ludington State Park I saw a pair of Piping Plovers. The blinged out male is shown below.

   Later in the morning a male Ruby-throated Hummingbird posed for photos at my feeding station.

Unnatural belly color is the reflection of the orange Oriole feeder.

Baltimore Oriole waiting his turn at the feeder.

    This evening I attempted to photograph the sunset phenomena known as the green flash.  The conditions weren't optimal so just a little bit of green fringe was visible in the photos at the top of the Sun.

Common Redpolls in the Yard 11/13/2018

   Common Redpolls showed up in my yard today quite a bit earlier than last year's December 26 arrival.

A Fox Sparrow has been lingering since Sunday

 Pine Siskins have also been hitting the feeders in singles and pairs.

The Rock Wren at Ludington State Park was still hanging around on November 5.

  Its also getting late for White-crowned Sparrows but an adult and 2 immatures were at the State Park feeders on November 9.

Rock Wren - Ludington State Park 11/02/2018

  Ludington has been drawing in the rare birds for the past 10 days.  First of all, the Ash-throated Flycatcher that was found at Ludington State Park on October 26 was showing well, up until at least yesterday.  Then earlier this week a Little Gull was hanging with the Bonaparte's Gulls at the Wastewater Treatment Plant.  The hot streak continued today when Andrew Simon and Lori Schutz found a Rock Wren hanging around the beach house at the aforementioned State Park.

    I got word of the Wren as I was in the checkout line while grocery shopping, when I received a text from Dave Boon nearly simultaneously as Dave Dister was leaving me a voicemail.  The unprecedented Double Dave Alert had me racing home to grab the camera and head to the park.

  Luckily when I arrived at the park, the target bird was still right at the beach house. It spend the next 3 hours prowling along snow fences on the beach and the first row of dunes east of the parking lot before eventually returning to beach house.

Winter Wren 3/27/2017

  After a walk on the south breakwater of Ludington Harbor, I found a Winter Wren at the boat launch behind the Pere Marquette Monument.  Dave Dister says this sighting beat the early spring record by one day.

  From the south pier I spotted a Common Loon cruising through the harbor.

   I also was able to photograph one of the male Red-breasted Mergansers, who were the most numerous species tallied.

Here come the Broadwings 9/14/2014

Broad-wingeds over my yard

   For the second year in a row on September 14,  I had a nice flight of Broad-winged Hawks over my yard.  Earlier in the afternoon I visited the Hawk Count site at Lake Erie Metropark and saw a few small kettles.  After I headed home the flow of hawks at the park increased in intensity to the point that a total of over 13,000 Broadwings were tallied.   That sum may sound impressive but by the time Thursday rolls around,  the total could be a dwarfed by the numbers possible under the ideal weather conditions forecast for Tuesday 9/16 and Wednesday 9/17 the historical peak of the migration.

Wider view

    The 200 hawks that I saw from my yard all passed by in a five minute span that started at 5:40 PM.  This week will be the last Broadwing migration that I can watch from my yard, as a change in jobs will have me relocating soon to another part of the state.  The house isn't up for sale yet but my personal suburban birding hotspot will belong to someone else sometime next year.  With a yardlist that includes Yellow-throated Warbler, Evening Grosbeak, Golden Eagle, White-winged Crossbill, Common Redpoll,  Olive-sided Flycatcher, almost annual Pine Siskins and the county's first and only Rufous Hummingbird, I can only hope that the next resident appreciates the inexplicable attraction that birds have to this parcel.   

  Coincidentally, my all-time yardlist and current year work birdlist both are at and will probably stay at 139.  Here are a few birds photographed the past few days at both locations.

At Work       

Swainson's Thrush

Common Yellowthroat

Magnolia Warbler

Wilson's Warbler

Wilson's at work

                                                                      At Home

Wilson's at home

Nashville Warbler

Blackpoll Warbler

Carolina Wren