Black-billed Magpie Muskegon/Oceana County 4/7/16

  Below are photos a Black-billed Magpie taken by Cheryl Smith on her farm on Skeels Rd  on the Muskegon/Oceana County border. 

  Note Dave and I did not see the bird.  The bird was last seen by the Smiths' about 12:30 PM on April 7 flying to the south.

Merlin Takes a Meal

   During the 9 o'clock hour this morning a Merlin flew over my yard with an unfortunate (American Tree?) Sparrow in its grasp.  It took it to a nearby tree, ripped it open and consumed the unfortunate bird.

Feathers Flying

 Earlier in the morning I walked the south pier at Ludington Harbor and saw a Horned Grebe.....

....and a cooperative pair of Red-Breasted Mergansers

  Yesterday afternoon I found the Male Northern Harrier below in Amber Township.

  The morning started out cold in the mid-teens

  Before that it started out dark as I check for Northern Lights before dawn.

Say's Phoebe at Tippy Dam, Manistee County 4/4/16

   Late Sunday afternoon Brian Allen and Doug Cook found a Say's Phoebe at Tippy Dam in Manistee County.  This morning my wife and headed up there to see if I could find the bird and get some photos. 

   When we got there shortly after 9 AM we walked the short trail along the Manistee River, first toward the dam then downstream from the dam.  We saw plenty of bird activity such as Song Sparrows, Black-capped Chickadees, Robins, Dark-eyed Juncos and even some Phoebes(of the Eastern variety) but the target bird was not located.  My wife started to get cold so I gave her the keys and she went and waited in the car.

   I continued to search for the bird another 10 minutes or so, then wound my way toward the spillway of the dam.  It was at this time my short-attention span had me at the locked gate with my focus on the masterful brickwork on the 98 year-old dam powerhouse.  I turned around toward the path from the parking lot and spotted another birder approaching with binoculars and camera in hand.  It was Linda Scribner and she was there to search for the elusive(apparently only to me) bird. Talking to Linda I found out that the bird was seen an hour earlier right at the spillway where I had been standing. 

  Together we walked over the gated fence and there was the Say's Phoebe alternating between perching on the bolts bracing the wall and catching bugs on said wall. The bird continued this behavior for the next hour and was still there when I went back to the car to check on my wife. 

   There were three possible scenarios that could have resulted from my walk back to the parking lot , two of which would allow me to return to dam and resume photographing the bird. In Scenario 1(10% probability) my wife would say 'take your time and get that perfect photo'. Scenario 2 (60% probability) she would say "pack it up, let's go home". The third possibility (30% probability) would be that she had been tired of waiting, took the car and headed home. On the bright side I would have had the rest of the day to get an epic photo and  of course to find a ride home.  By the quality of the photos posted, it should be obvious that Scenario 2 was the correct answer.

  On the way home we saw a Rough-legged Hawk that took off from a power line and flew south where it met up with another Roughie.

Red-breasted Mergansers

  Not sure how smart Red-breasted Mergansers are but it looks like the brains are not equally divided between the genders,  Today I photographed a pair of males trying their best lines on a female

Say, don't I know you?

If we were both drowning which one of use would you save?

Now what if  I was the only one drowning?

I'd save myself by swimming real fast

   Also at Ludington Harbor, a Horned Grebe shows more dignity.

The two Mutes

Sparrows in the Snow

   An early spring snowstorm had the lingering winter sparrows sharing scraps under the feeding stations with arriving spring migrants.

American Tree Sparrow

Dark-eyed Junco

Song Sparrow

 

Chipping Sparrow

   The snowstorm had been in the forecast since last weekend but as is often the case with spring storms, the uncertainty of temperatures hovering in the low 30's had the snowfall predictions swinging from 1-3 inches all the way to 12" plus.  We could have hit that one foot level had we not had an influx of warm air in the mid levels of the atmosphere for several hours that melted the precip on the way down only to refreeze on the 31 F ground,  We ended up with 7 or 8 " and maybe 1/4" of ice that took out the power in my neighborhood and beyond.

    The quick walk to the end of the driveway to get the mail left the dog almost covered by the nearly 2" diameter flakes.

Bird Dream Come True

     In my yard there is a treehouse/deer blind that the previous owner had put up.  Early this afternoon as I was walking past the sliding glass door in the kitchen I noticed that the stovepipe on the treehouse was looking a little crooked.  After a brief moment I realized that was no stovepipe, it was a freaking Snowy Owl. Bird Dream come true.

  Research  shows that dreams prepare you for situations by mixing past memories with concerns dwelling in your subconscious,   I've had the 'Snowy Owl in the Yard' dream many times over the past few years.  In these dreams the camera can't be found, the battery is dead, the lens is malfunctioning or just won't stay attached to the camera as the bird flies away. As a result of these nightmares I carry a fully charged spare battery in the pocket of my hoodie at all times and always keep the camera handy. 

   The lessons learned from the bird dreams did not come into play as the Arctic interloper  turned out to be very cooperative.  It perched on the treehouse from the time I spotted it at 1:20PM and was still there when I left for work 5 hours later.  A couple of hours into the Snowy's visit I mentioned to my wife " I hope I'm not dreaming." She asked "I'm in your dreams?"  I told her "Sure just not as often as  Snowy Owls". 

   As the owl sat practically motionless the squirrels and chipmunks continued to scurry through the yard,  But this regal predator did not escape the observant eyes of the neighborhood crows. 

Ducking the Crows

    During the photo shoot I had two windows in the dining room open in order to have different angles through the branches.  In the photo below the owl is staring down my cat Leo, who was at the other window  taking in the breeze and contemplating a 12 foot jump to freedom. 

Keeping an eye on the yellow-eyed predator in the window,

Staring down the barrel of my 500 mm Canon

If a Snow Leopard could fly......

Snowy Owl Video


  Can't wait to employ the lessons learned from the Painted Bunting dreams.

Snow Geese (Blue Morphs) 3/15/16

   Early this afternoon Dave Dister called to alert me to 5 Snow Geese in Freesoil, Mason County.  I made it out there about a half hour later and was able to get some long distance photos of it.

   Out on my deck this caterpillar kind of caught me off guard as it crawled across the top of my grill.

Any idea which species? (editor's note With help from Dave Dister the caterpillar is identified as   Haploa Contigua...The Neighbor Moth Larva)

    When I had the Tundra Swan migration pass over my house on Sunday I couldn't help but wonder where they were coming from and where they were heading in such a deliberate manner.  My immediate thought about their port of departure was that it was somewhere on Lower Lake Huron.  A check of ebird's species map showed that at least 4000 were seen on Saturday on the extreme southern portion of Saginaw Bay. On Sunday only a few dozen were reported in that same area.
   To find out where they might have touched down, I checked ebirds Wisconsin reports to see if great numbers made their way onto anyone's checklist.  Sadly no such reports made it to ebird.  Not to be deterred I checked the Wisconsin birding listserve and....JACKPOT.  It seems that a birder in Shiocton, Wisconsin found thousands of them on Sunday afternoon in a field with more flocks still pouring in.  I can't say for sure that they were some of the same swans that I saw but as the map below shows, Saginaw Bay to Ludington to Shiocton is pretty damn near a straight-line.