Leave It To This Guy

  Hang on tight, this post is going every, any, and no where all at once.

  Over a three day period starting last Wednesday, I spent almost three hours on a stake out of a Red-necked Grebe in the Big Sable River in Ludington State Park.  I'm not sure about the lung capacity of this bird but over that three hour period I saw it above the water for a total of about 5 minutes.

  While I waited for the Grebe to resurface, I saw a pair of large flat-tailed semi-aquatic rodents that were unwavering in their dedication to their task.

    Also seen on the river were paired-up ducks

Green-winged Teals

Buffleheads

   With the lingering cold weather, Common Loons have been lingering as well.  Sunday the morning low was 23 F.  By noon it was up to 37 F and at my work site I found over a dozen Loons..... 

 ....and a handful of Horned Grebes.

Hey,  I don't do that in your reservoir.

    Late this morning I found a Snowy Owl just one day before tying the late date for the county.

    Meanwhile back at home,  Chipping Sparrows finally arrived for the spring.  

    Also a Northern Harrier zipped by this morning.

    As I get older and my visual acuity weakens, identifying birds becomes more challenging.  Thankfully Turkey Vultures uncannily have been flying lower so that I can get a closer look.

Red-necked Grebe Ludington State Park

  Late this afternoon Dave Dister called and told me of a Red-necked Grebe at Ludington State Park.
The bird had been found earlier by Jim Gallie near the dam.  I was able to view the bird from the pullout  about a quarter of a mile downstream from the dam, where Dave had last seen it.

Migration Ramps Up 4/22/2018

    All these birds and more flew over my house late this morning and early afternoon and I had a front row seat.

One of a pair of Common Loons

Kestrel

Red-Shouldered Hawk

Merlin

Eagle with Crow that alerted me to its presence

Common Loon Migration

    Common Loons are migrating through Mason County in good numbers now and some seem to be sticking around due to lingering winter weather in northern Michigan and beyond.

  Today I had my yearly flyover loon.  That makes 4 in 4 years.

The view from my deck

   In Pere Marquette Lake there were a couple of dozen Common Loons fueling up on small fish.

Bluegill losing the battle

One of three Fox Sparrows hanging around my yard 

Alouette, Gentille Alouette

Dancing like no one is watching

Wintry Weekend 4/15/2018

    From my house on August 26 the Sun reaches a peak altitude of 56 degrees above the horizon, which almost invariably results in a warm to hot late summer day.  Yesterday the Sun reached that same elevation for the first time since last summer and the result was nowhere near warm to hot.  What occurred was a heavy overcast day where the high temperature struggled to break past the freezing point and was accompanied by 3 inches of sleet.  In could have been worse...an inch of freezing rain had been predicted with along with 30 mph winds would have led to power outages in my area.

  The sleet is much more difficult than snow to dig through as the birds search for edible morsels.  This led to a increase of activity in and under my feeders.  The top photo shows the first of the year Fox Sparrow to visit my yard.

   

Black-necked Stilt 4/10/2018

  This afternoon Linda and Chuck Scribner found a Black-necked Stilt at Freeman Pond which is located on US-31 and Freeman Rd in Mason County north of Ludington.

  The bird was a few hundred feet from both roads but lighting from the afternoon sun was better from busy US-31.  

   The Stilt eventually flew across US-31 where I lost sight of it and was unable to recover it.

  A couple of Snowy Owls were still in the area including one near the Kubota dealer west of US-31

   And another east of 31 about a half mile south of Freeman Pond

   Here are some photos that were rattling around in my camera since Sunday.

Harlequin Duck at Ludington Pumped Storage Plant.  Last seen on Sunday

Common Loon at same location

Red-bellied Woodpecker at home

Purple Finch on birdbath

Red-breasted Merganser at Pumped Storage Plant

White-winged Scoter at Ludington Pumped Storage

Harlequin Duck Ludington

  On Thursday Jim Dawe found a male Harlequin Duck in the tailrace (outflow) of the Ludington Pumped Storage Plant.  I checked unsuccessfully for the bird yesterday in an off and on blinding wind-driven snow.

  Late this morning I made another attempt for the rarity and luckily had the duck pop up right in front of me as I searched for it from a restricted access lakeside location.  I gave Dave Dister a call to report my sighting and fortunately he was at the public access viewing area that overlooks the plant.  I was able to meet up with him at his location and take him down inside the restricted access area where he was able to see the duck albeit at quite a distance.

      Several Long-tailed Ducks were also hanging out in the same area.                               

Long-tailed Duck

    As I downloaded and processed the duck photos I noticed a Sharp-shinned Hawk perched near the feeders on my deck.