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?

Eagles, Shorebirds and 4 Planets

  Friday morning saw a 3 Bald Eagles circling over the shoreline on the road leading to Ludington State Park.

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagles sizing each other up

   At the south pier of Ludington Harbor only saw a couple of birds.

Sanderling

Dunlin

  After work on Saturday morning drove to a scenic overlook to view 4 planets and the Moon in the eastern sky.

  Mercury is actually also in the photo above, but it doesn't show up in the compressed file that this website supports. It is a little easier to see to the lower left of the Moon in the photo below.

Moon and Mercury

  On my way down from the scenic overlook after sunrise I spotted a few Lapland Longspurs.

Lapland Longspur

This Week in Ludington Birds

  This morning after work I was able to photograph the Black-bellied Plover on the South Breakwater of Ludington Harbor, that had been found by Dave Dister on Friday.

Black-bellied Plover

    After a few hours of sleep I awoke to find a message on my phone from Dave, in which he reported that a White-rumped Sandpiper was in the company of the aforementioned Plover at the harbor.  I packed up the camera and headed back out there.  When I arrived I saw a distant flock of about a dozen birds flying by and snapped a couple of poorly lit, underexposed photos.  Upon review, once they were downloaded on the computer I could see that they were Lapland Longspurs.

Lapland Longspurs

Common Tern

   About halfway between the bend of the dogleg and the end of the pier I spied the White-rumped with a pair of Sanderlings.

White-rumped Sandpiper

  Earlier in the week I photographed a Semi-palmated Plover on the same pier.

Semi-palmated Plover

  Warblers are still feasting on the small caterpillars which in turn are feasting on the oak trees in my yard.  This Black-Throated Green was photographed on Tuesday.  Another was seen this afternoon and ties the late date for the county according to available records.

Black-throated Green Warbler

Tennessee Warbler

Cape May Warbler

Magnolia Warbler

  I got some good looks but blurry photos of a Blue-headed Vireo.

Blue-headed Vireo

   Both varieties of Kinglets arrived en masse this week but I haven't been able to nail the exposure on a Golden-crowned yet.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Snowy Owl Ludington 10/30/2014

    For the past month I've been taking on a career change of sorts along with a relocation.  With all this uncertainty I just wish there was some sort of sign that I'm making the right choice.   Until that sign comes I'll continue taking walks along the lake shore with my camera searching for clarity.


 

Ludington South Breakwater 

Early Date for Mason County per Dave Dister

Bonaparte's Gull

Horned Grebe

    On Sunday I found a couple of Lapland Longspurs mixed with a few Snow Buntings

   Also on Sunday the S. Lakeshore Scissor-tailed Flycatcher gave me a couple of flight-shot opportunities.

Same Birds Same Place

   This morning I searched the Antennae Farm area for Snowy Owls.  Didn't  find any but I got some better shots of the Lapland Longspurs and Horned Larks.  This time I counted 12 Longspurs among 50 Horned Larks.

                                  

                                     

  Below is a photo of two of my co-workers, one works in my department and the other does about 24 hours of work per year and spends the rest of the year judging others.  Coincidentally,  I think he's from Lapland also.

Lapland Longspurs at Antennae Farm

  On my way home from work this morning I drove past the Antennae Farm on Haggerman Rd., near the Pt. Mouillee State Game Area and found a pair of Lapland Longspurs within a flock of a dozen Horned Larks.  The poor photo quality was due to bad lighting, distance, thermal waves caused by temperature differential between the car and the ambient 15 degree air and as always operator error.

Lapland Longspur

Horned Lark

Google Map showing Antennae Farm location

Below are some photos taken at Sterling State Park

Eagle on Monday

This morning there were a pair of Whitetail does feeding off the Winterberry(?) trees.

Bipedal Deer

Careful, you might get some in your mouth