Lack of Depth

 Could have used some more depth of field to get both the hawk and moon in focus.  If I would have focused at 601 feet and stopped down to f/64 I could have had a depth of focus from 300' to infinity.

   More photos taken from the deck today.

Male Scarlet Tanager singing and posing for....

.....a more dignified Scarlet Tanager.

Red-breasted Nuthatch trying to hide

Red-tailed Hawk gaining altitude

Pileated Woodpecker

   Lots of action around the feeders in the yard this warm November afternoon.  I was content to photograph the chickadees, titmice and nuthatches then the Pileated Woodpecker descended on the scene.

Getting in position

Eyeing the suet

Making quick work of the suet cake

'Hey put the damn camera down and get another suet slab out here'

  At the sunflower seed dispenser this Tufted Titmouse grabs a morsel.

The seeds seem to fall from the sky

But its just the sloppy diner above

Yard Birds 89 & 90

    I had a pretty good year of birding in the new yard in 2015. I totaled 88 species through November and looked forward to what the winter might bring in early 2016.  When I woke on New Year's morning and counted 24 Gray Squirrels gorging themselves at the five bird feeding stations scattered around my half acre, I should have recognized it as an omen of what the next two months would have in store.

  As it turned out January and February were dead in terms of bird diversity at my house.  But March marks the beginning of ornithological spring and with it the birds begin to move.  The past two days temperatures sky-rocketed to the mid-30's with light wind and mostly sunny skies.  Yesterday as I was chillin' and grillin' out on the deck I noticed an adult Bald Eagle clearly migrating, as it headed north at a great altitude. I grabbed my binoculars and camera suspecting that there may be other raptors on the move.

   About 20 minutes later I spied a Rough-legged Hawk (New Species, #89) on the exact same flight path that the eagle had taken.  Just a minute later it was followed by a second Roughie.

Rough-Legged Hawk

Second Roughie

   Then early this afternoon I had this group of Common Mergansers zip by and take the yard list to an even 90.

Common Mergansers

   Here are a couple of more raptors that soared by today.

Red-tailed Hawk

Immature Bald Eagle

     Back near the ground, the birds are making progress on retaking the feeders from the squirrel insurgents.

Red-bellied Woodpecker

  This White-breasted Nuthatch seemed a little disappointed that he couldn't work the whole suet cake through the holes in the cage so he decided to make two trips.

White-breasted Nuthatch

  Earlier in the week I had a Brown Creeper in the tree next to the driveway.

Brown Creeper

  Two weekends ago I visited my friends at my former workplace and took some photos of ducks that winter there.

Redheads and Lesser Scaup

   As for a hitlist of  expected birds to add to the list as it closes in on 100, Common Redpoll would be nice, as would Snow Bunting.  Hell I don't even have a House Finch yet.  Being that I live only two miles from Lake Michigan-Huron (the largest freshwater lake in terms of surface area in the world) any number of duck species (beside the two I currently have)  are possible.  I hope number 100 is something epic like a county rarity... but who am I kidding it'll probably be a House Sparrow.

Ducks and Redpolls

  A rare bright, calm, warm February day made for a pleasant walk on the south pier of Ludington Harbor this afternoon. Cooperative Long-Tailed Ducks were welcome as well.



Long-Tailed Duck

Northern Pintail

Flock of White-winged Scoters

  While out on the pier I had forgotten my phone on the charger at home.  When I arrived back home I had a message from Dave Dister reporting his first of the year Common Redpolls (in Mason County) at the feeders in Ludington State Park.

Common Redpoll

White-breasted Nuthatch

American Tree Sparrow

Sable Dunes Audubon Society Field Trip - Ludington State Park 10/17/15

   This morning I met up with the Sable Dunes Audubon Society at Ludington State Park for their field trip led by Dave Dister.  The chilly air and moderate north winds dampened expectations, but Dave's familiarity with the park helped make the outing productive and enjoyable.

Hermit Thrush

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Dark-eyed Junco

Flock of Redheads

   My shoot-first-ID-them-later approach to birding caught a Lesser Scaup among the flock of Redheads that may have been overlooked without the photo.

Lesser Scaup to the upper right

Rusty Blackbird

White-breasted Nuthatch

Downy Woodpecker

Eastern Phoebe 

Red-headed Woodpecker

Great Blue Heron

  Photos from earlier in the week

Orange-crowned Warbler at Buttersville Park

   This caterpillar is one of many that repelled down silk threads out of my oak trees the past few weeks.  Its hard to get a sense of scale from this photo, but this larvae is the size of a man's ear....

...more specifically FDR's ear as it appears on a US dime.

   I discussed these caterpillars with Dave Dister last week when I ran into him at Ludington Harbor and he proceeded to point out a cocoon one had made on my car.
  This one is on the rim of one of my tires.

   And these are inside the rear driver-side door.