New Backyard Bird List

  Closed on my new house today.  Put the feeders out and had no takers.  Only bird seen was a American Crow flyover.  

Not my house 

  The house shown above is not in my new neighborhood but rather about a mile from the house I've been staying in since November.

2015 Great Backyard Bird Count

     I spent a couple of hours this chilly morning counting and photographing the birds that have been visiting the feeders at the Oceana County house I'm renting.  The breezes off of Lake Michigan warmed the temperature up to -2 F, by the time I set up my camera gear at 9 AM.   

   Didn't get any unusual birds at the feeders, but I did get plenty of photo-ops of the birds that did show. 

 I ended up with thirteen species.
Mourning Dove -2
Red-Bellied Woodpecker -1
Downy Woodpecker -4
Hairy Woodpecker - 2
Blue Jay - 6
American Crow - 2
Black-capped Chickadee -13
Tufted Titmouse - 7
Red-Breasted Nuthatch -1
White-Breasted Nuthatch - 1
Dark-eyed Junco - 3
Northern Cardinal -1
Pine Siskin -2

Ludington CBC 12/20/2014

  After a postponement because of fog the previous weekend, the Ludington Christmas Bird Count took place yesterday.  I spent the morning riding around with Van Burmeister finding widely scattered groups of birds.

Gadwall with a pair of Mallards

   In the afternoon I came up empty at my worksite for a Snowy Owl and even Snow Buntings, after both species had been pretty reliable in the weeks leading up to the count.

  I decided to search an area northeast of Ludington where I had seen a Snowy Owl last Saturday  Last week's owl was not to be found but a small group of Snow Buntings, 30 Robins, 33 Cedar Waxwings, a Rough-legged Hawk and a different Snowy Owl.

Cedar Waxwings

Dark morph Rough-legged Hawk

Much whiter than last weeks owl.

Another Snowy Owl in Mason County

   Before this autumn, I had only found 3 previously unreported Snowy Owls.  Since October 30 I've found seven, Today I found the 7th one located in Victory Twp, northeast of Ludington in Mason County.  It was on a utility pole on Stiles Rd. just south of Manales Rd.

  Tomorrow is the Ludington Christmas Bird Count, which I'll miss due to work obligations.  Hopefully someone on the Count can refind this bird tomorrow as it's location today was just inside the boundary of the Count Circle.

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.

Chipping Sparrow in the yard 11/27/2014

    Haven't been home much this month.  This morning I filled the feeders in the yard and was rewarded an hour later with a late season Chipping Sparrow.

  

Not giving up its seat at the holiday table

An ISO 2000 Weekend

   The Sun made a brief appearance on Friday but the ever present winds kept Lake Michigan in an angry mood.  Walking the south pier at Ludington Harbor was out of the question with waves washing over it all weekend.

 Sitting on a bench was not an option either.

Saturday saw the start of a warm spell at Ludington Harbor

    The north pier was navigable on Saturday that is if you didn't mind the sheet of ice covering the first 50 feet of it.  From the pier I was able to get a good view of some Horned Grebes.

Horned Grebe

  Out near the Lighthouse I saw a dark duck riding the waves.  Turned out to be a female Black Scoter.

Female Black Scoter

Lingering Cormorants

   Pine Siskins have taken over the yard of the house I'm renting, with a flock of 40 monopolizing the feeders,

It's not your turn.