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.