Don't leave home without it ...

... your camera that is.

Many know that American Kestrel is one of my favorite birds.  There is something very beautiful about this little falcon.

The back story: On Sunday, February 6th - a completely beautiful, sunny and warm February day in Michigan; the operative word here is sunny - I took my brother's dog and my neighbor's dog for a walk along the Rouge River channel.  Before picking up the dogs I argued back and forth with myself,  "should I bring my camera or shouldn't I."  Finally, I decided not to take it.  I would have my bins and both dogs and this would be enough to keep me busy.  

I arrived on the channel with the dogs - both completely thrilled to be out - and walked less than half a city block when I saw a beautiful male American Kestrel perched close in a tree.  The dogs ran below the kestrel's perch and it did not fly.  I don't know what others experience when watching falcons, but my experience is that when encroached upon, they fly pretty quickly.  I walked literally under the bird and could see, without the aid of binoculars, the glint in the bird's eye.  Still it did not fly.

Remember I had not brought my camera!  I continued walking and cursed my decision.  I know the rules and still left my camera behind.  The dogs were having a blast, and I consoled myself with the thought that there would be another kestrel photo op one day soon. 

We walked on, the dogs and I, for another 45 minutes or so.  It was such a beautiful day and we were in no hurrry.  The Rouge channel walk is an out and back walk.  Returning, I had forgotten about the kestrel, but it was there, still in the same tree!  It had moved a little but not much.  I honestly think it was also enjoying the sun.  Still it did not fly when we walked under its perch.  Decision time.  I hustled the dogs back to car and drove the 1/2 mile home.  I ran into the house, grabbed my camera and drove back.  I considered taking the dogs but they would only delay me.  I left them in the car and walked back up the channel. Remarkably the bird was still on the same perch, the sun was still shining and it would still be a good photo.  I took a distant shot and continued to move toward the bird.  I took a midway shot and that was it.  The kestrel flew across the river to a perch on the other side. 

It was not so sunny today, but still a very nice February day for Michigan.  Again I had my neighbor's dog.  This time I did not leave my camera at home.  We did the same walk and I saw two red-tailed hawks soaring.  But that was it until I came upon some mallards and canada geese.  We walked the same route and on the return, the male kestrel was again perched in the same tree.   

The photos I offer here have been cropped and enhanced slightly with a Picasa photo editing program.  For example, the sky was not blue and the bird is still pixalated, dark and shadowy.  

I don't think of kestrels as birds that would necessarily use the same perch, but perhaps this bird has had some luck hunting from this spot. If it had been a bright sunny day ... but, never mind, at least I had my camera. 

Black-tailed Gull, Ashtabula

Meeting up with my Pennsylvania birding friend, Steve, I took a day trip to Ashtabula, Ohio to try for the Black-tailed Gull (Larus crassirostris) that has been present, but often difficult to see, for several months. Some nice photos of the black-tailed gull have been posted on-line; what I offer here are tiny specks. Steve had already seen the gull a few weeks earlier on a much colder and windier day and was acquainted with the area.  The black-tailed gull's Wikipedia page offers some interesting tidbits of information on the bird, including the origin of its Japanese and Korean nicknames, Sea cat and "cat" gull.   

A trio from Kentucky were visiting to see the black-tailed gull and they started the search with finding a Glaucous Gull (Larus hyperboreus) on the roof of one of the very industrial Ashtabula harbor buildings that are also favored by the black-tailed gull.  The glaucous gull is the white speck at the peak of the roof on the left.

Cropped view of the same bird, above and below, still very tiny.  The glaucous gull was either a pale juvenile or a 2nd winter bird.

As nice as seeing the glaucous gull was, it was not the purpose of our visit and we turned our attention to finding the black-tailed gull.  The bird did appear, making a couple of brief landings on the corner of another roof, but it never stayed long.  It was active flying around the large dirt piles that were heaped along the channels of the harbor.  In flight its black tail was nicely seen when it banked around the dirt piles.   

A Snowy Owl (Nyctea scandiaca) has also been around this same industrial area for awhile.  The birders from Kentucky told us of its location and we took a break from the windy gull viewing to find the owl.  It was perched on a brush pile - the white speck in the middle of the photo - in a rail yard with a large pile of coal behind for its back drop.

Above is a cropped view of the snowy owl.  Through the spotting scope, of course, this bird was well seen and was essentially an all white bird. This snowy had made the local news so several birders, and non-birders, were present and it was a life bird for most.  This was a companionable birding experience and we stayed here for awhile.  As the crow flies, the location of the owl was less than 1/4 mile from the black-tailed gull.  

Leaving the snowy owl, we drove to another nearby lookout.  The town of Ashtabula is old and very industrial.  We drove up an original cobblestone road to the Ashtabula Maritime Museum parking lot perched on a bluff overlooking the rail yard and found the snowy owl again.  From so high above, waterfowl could be spotted on the harbor channels - mostly Common Mergansers and Canada Geese, but also one juvenile Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus).

The sun had come out and we made another pass for the black-tailed gull from the Lake Shore Park overlook that offered the best view of the harbor buildings.  This time it was just Steve and me on the overlook and Steve found the bird - again in the same general area as earlier. The sun helped enormously for excellent viewing of the gull through the spotting scope.  The bi-colored black and red bill tip showed up nicely. 

  

The photo above shows the whole roof top view.  The black-tailed gull is the tiny speck in the middle.  Below are three cropped images of the gull.

As far as I could tell, all of the other gulls on these roofs were herring gulls, thus the easily noted size difference.  Ring-billed gulls were clumped in the parking lot, beach and picnic area of the park.   

Before leaving for lunch, we made a brief stop at the beach and found only the ring-billed gulls.   Steve had done some research for lunch and we went to Compadres Mexican Restaurant on West Street for authentic tortilla soup and ceviche.  

After lunch we checked on the, by now out-of-sight, snowy owl and took another look for the black-tailed gull.  We hoped to find it closer, perhaps even flying over the open water of the park.  We learned that we had missed it doing just that.

The city of Ashtabula, Ohio has an interesting history as described in the Wikipedia link attached.  In 2000 the population was nearly 21,000.  I wonder if it has maintained this population for the 2010 census?  The city was quaint, but shabby and tired.  It's hard to imagine that Ashtabula would have been able to escape the devastation of our recession over the last several years.  I might never visit again but I am happy that I had this chance - thanks to a black-tailed gull.

Final note:  On the way home, driving west on the I-480 beltway around Cleveland and at the western edge of the Cleveland airport, an adult Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) was perched in a hunting pose on a light pole on the north side of the expressway.  This was a surprise!  I entered the sighting in eBird and, as northern goshawk is an add-on species for the Ohio list, it will be interesting to see if I hear from the Ohio eBird supervisors.  I looked back through the Ohio listings to see if a goshawk had been mentioned.  As it happens, a possible goshawk was reported on January 30th.  However, the bird in question then was an immature bird and, by many but not all, thought to be a Cooper's Hawk (A. cooperii).  The I-480 goshawk was clearly an adult bird and there had been no prior reports of adult goshawk.

Snowy Owl

Michigan, along with many states sharing a border with Canada, has enjoyed this winter's breakout of Snowy Owls.  There have been up to five snowys in Harrison Township, Macomb County where at least one or two have been amongst the most reliable to see.

However, the absence of reports of snowy owl sightings near the DNR office this past week nearly deterred Rodolfo Palma and I from our pre-planned trip.  Neither of us had an opportunity to see the owls when they were been reported daily.  Nevertheless, it was such a nice day that we decided to try our chances knowing that we would at least see something.

I hadn't seen Rodolfo since September when he gave a presentation on birding in Chile - his native country - to the Washtenaw Audubon Society.  We got off to a bungled start when, talking too much, we drove past the Metrobeach Metropark exit.  We drove about seven miles beyond before we turned around and headed back west.

We had directions to South River Road, but neither of us is well-acquainted with Lake St. Clair birding locales.  We found the DNR office on a finger of land jutting into the lake and carried our gear out to the tip of the little peninsula.  There were a few ducks on the water here and there - Common Goldeneye, but overall there was a general absence of waterfowl on the lake.

At the tip, however, Rodolfo saw the first of several massive flocks of dark ducks flying overhead.  We stood for approximately ten minutes watching a steady stream of both large and small flocks very high up and flying very fast.  The best identification I could come up with was that they were scaup species.  How many?  Thousands.

While watching the ducks we met up with a local gentleman who walks daily in this location.  He commented that he had seen the snowy owl on the jetty yesterday.  Roldolfo and I were surprised and encouraged. He continued walking in his direction and we continued on to the jetty side.  We scanned the jetty with our scopes.  Nothing.  

We met up with the gentleman again as we were coming to the end of our search and he asked if we has seen the owl.  He pointed out landmarks on the jetty where the owl had been seen on other days.  Nothing.  We were seconds from parting company when he commented that he saw something move to the right of the angled 4x4 jutting from the jetty.  Being polite, but skeptical, I focused my scope on the area.  Sure enough - there was a speckled head with yellow eyes peeking at us from the other side of the jetty.  How the gentleman had seen this with his naked eye is beyond me.  In the years I've been birding I have come to understand how beneficial being long-sighted truly is.  The fact that I am near-sighted makes this all the more acute.  The three of us enjoyed this turn of events.  Minutes later we were joined by four others and we were able to show them the owl.

In the middle of the cropped image above, you can just see the top of the owl's speckled head, the small lump just slightly whiter and protruding above the rock.  Others walked back toward the tip of the peninsula and found a spot where the owl was more exposed.

As always, we took photos and chatted for awhile.  Clouds began to roll in, the wind increased and the sun faded in and out.  We left for lunch with plans to return to see if the bird moved to the peninsula side of the jetty.

After lunch the bird had moved, but only nearer to the angled 4x4, but still on the opposite side of the jetty.  More photos.  By this time, the clouds were in for good and we finally left.  We made a brief stop at Metrobeach Metropark and scanned for a few ducks - goldeneye, common mergs, ruddy ducks and scaup species.

Having such good luck with the snowy owl we decided to try our luck with the short-eared owls on Gotfredson Road.  We made the westbound trek from Macomb County to Washtenaw County arriving at the site with a good amount of daylight still remaining.  Our good luck continued here.  With about ten others we watched one short-eared owl actively hunt, often flying directly towards us and quite near.  As it was well before true dusk I was encouraged to be hyper-optimistic with my little point and shoot.

Even these pathetic photo efforts easily reveal a hunting short-eared owl.

The owl had been hunting for awhile when it was joined by two northern harriers - one juvenile or female and the other a gray adult male.

This is Rodolfo's photo of the same owl and where the bird's little round head and disked face can be seen.

Nice January birding.

Great Gray Owl

For my final day of birding in 2011, I went to Kingsville in southern Ontario to see this astonishing bird that has been present for about a week.  I read the daily reports and wondered if the bird would still be present on Saturday when I would be free to make the trip over. It was. Following an early morning appointment in Ann Arbor, I drove across the Ambassador bridge and arrived shortly after 10:00 am.

The photos speak for themselves - a completely enchanting bird.

Bird on a wire

One that is in such an unlikely location, however, that it seems almost certain to be in trouble.

On Thursday and Friday a kerfluffle broke out on the listserve I read about photographer behavior as they angle for better and better photos of the Great Gray.  Of course, I knew I wanted to photograph the bird too.  Of all the people (and cars) present on Saturday - the above photo shows a mere fraction of us - all but just a few had cameras.  The owl is not visible in this photo but was on a utility wire (top two photos) above and in front of the man with the black jacket in the foreground center. It seemed to be trying to hunt in the long grasses at the base of the roadside hill where the observers are lined up in the middle of the photo.  At one point it left the wire and dropped to the ground into the grass.  It flew up from the grasses without evidence of prey in its talons and flew across the field to land in the safer perch of a tree.  It seemed clear that so many observers would interfere with its hunting.

Cars lined both sides of the narrow-shouldered road.  At one point a local driver in a white pick-up truck angrily laid on the horn as he tried to make his way past the crowd.

The video above is 5:05 minutes in length because I was hoping to get the owl leaving its perch.  I took this one long video and a few shorter videos but it never did budge.  While taking this video I was approximately 100 feet across the field and standing on a hill so I was essentially level with the bird.  The audio picks up the sounds of the large crowd and there is some interesting commentary.  To view full screen click on the title Great Gray Owl.

Such a beautiful bird and the mild temperatures of the morning tempted me to linger, but I was satisfied with the photos and video I had and I knew that one less person and car could not be a bad thing.  The only thing missing were the street vendors selling hotdogs, popcorn, cotton candy and soda.  I wish I could imagine a good outcome for this spectacular bird.  

Mt. Zion National Park

I'm so late in posting this trip and my photos.  The back story:  on October 31st I flew to Salt Lake City to attend a conference and took three days at the front end for vacation.  I arrived on a mild Monday afternoon and drove to Antelope Island State Park.  Originally I had planned to stay around the Salt Lake City area which is in northeast Utah.  But weather predictions for Tuesday, November 1st were calling for 45 degrees and rain mixed with snow and sleet.  Even though this kind of weather had not yet arrived in Michigan, I knew it was right around the corner.  I was not quite ready to face it on a vacation day.  I decided then to take the plunge and do the long drive to southern Utah for their spectacular canyon national parks.  After my Antelope Island visit I drove well south of Salt Lake City and stayed the night in a motel for an early morning departure straight south on I-15 to Mt. Zion National Park.  This was the national park furthest south and the one I had heard the most about.   

I arrived just as the sun was lighting up the tops of the red rock cliffs. There were hardly any cars on the road.  I received a surprise when I arrived at the Mt. Zion park gates.  Typically there is a $25.00 entry fee. I was waved in by a park attendant who was apparently still setting up.  "Just go in?" I asked.  "That's right." and he waved me by him.

The beauty of this kind of landscape, while obvious, is difficult to capture in photos.  Around each curve in the road is a scene more spectacular than the one before.  I drove to the visitor center for a park map and to get an idea of how to spend the day.  The ranger was a birder and knowledgeable.  She highlighted all of the doable hikes for a one day visit. 

My first hike was to the Emerald Pools - a series of three pools each going higher in elevation.  The waterfall in the photo above was between the first and second pools.    

This handsomely posing Western Jay (Aphelocoma californica) popped up and stayed long enough for me to snap three photos - two of the photos were of the bird facing me, but in the photo above you can see the glint in its eye.  In this same location there were also a couple of Ruby-crowned Kinglets (Regulus calendula), one even singing. But probably the best bird here for me was a Mountain Chickadee (Poecile gambeli).  One was actively feeding very close but moving too quickly for me to get a photo.

The above photo shows the canyon walls around the upper emerald pool. By this time of the day it was sunny, bright and warm.  I shed my sweater and fleece vest as I hiked up.  

This little bluet landed on a sunny rock surface.  As in the east, Familiar Bluet (Enallagma civile) is the most common and widespread, but other bluets are also found in southern Utah.  An expert would need to identify for me.  

A small brown lizard did the same.  This time of year the canyon gets very cold at night.  These small creatures need to warm up to start their day.

The Canyon Wren (Catherpes mexicanus) was my best surprise of the day.  From the park ranger I knew they were present, but I didn't really expect to see one.  There is a backstory here, too.  In 2008 I took a trip to southeast Arizona - my first birding trip to the southwest - with Maryland friends Mark Linardi and Steve Sanford.  We handily saw Cactus, Bewick's and Rock wrens, but the Canyon Wren was a holdout. We heard them all over but never saw one.  Finally, near Patagonia at a roadside pulloff and while looking for Thick-billed Kingbird, we briefly saw a distant Canyon Wren scuttle across a rock surface and disappear into a canyon crevice.  We never did find the Thick-billed Kingbird and that distant and brief view of the Canyon Wren remained our only one for the trip.  I can now finally say I've seen the Canyon Wren well. Along this Mt. Zion trail, and later in the day along another trail, they were handily in view and like any wren they were busy searching for food, calling to each other and popping up to perch every so often.   

Juniper Titmouse (Baeolophus ridgwayi) was another bird seen nicely along the trail.  Unfortunately, the photo above is the best I could get. In this location I heard the ruckus of innumerable small bird notes. Easy to find the spot - at least two or three dozen Ruby-crowned Kinglets were in a tizzy.  Amongst them were a couple of Juniper Titmice and the Canyon Wren even joined in.  They were all buzzing around a yew-like tree and I thought, "there is something in this tree."    

Of course, I was hoping for a western species owl, but I was still pleased to find this Saw-whet (Aegolius acadicus).  The tree was along a steep embankment and my search for the owl took some maneuvering which did then scare away the kinglets - apparently satisfied they had done their job.  Here the owl is awake and looking at me as if to say "thank you."

Moments later it was sleeping.  Ah, how I admire that skill to quick sleep.  Hopefully, it was able to enjoy some peace after all that.

From a distance this squirrel could be mistaken for an ordinary gray squirrel.  Up close this Rock Squirrel (Spermophilus variegatus) has a pretty speckled coat and tail.  

Mule Deer (Odocoileus hemionus) were common throughout the park and quite tame.  

I was hoping to see American Dipper in this beautiful river valley.  No such luck.

With Mt. Zion's massive vertical cliffs, I wondered if I might see some climbers.  These two had attracted a crowd that were glued to their precipitous efforts.  You can tell how high up they are on the rock surface by how small their images are in this photograph.

A Western Bluebird (Sialia mexicana) paused to drink from the river's edge. Several were around with Yellow-rumped (Audubon) warblers (Setophaga coronata).

Mt. Zion was not the birdiest place I've ever been and it would be difficult for me to recommend it for birding, but I did see some good birds - especially given the time of year.  Apparently, though I did not see any, American Dipper is common here.  Of note, I was told of a location where California Condors are now being seen.  Unfortunately, they did not make an appearance for me.   

I have not visited many of our national parks, especially the western parks.  I would recommend Mt. Zion in a New York minute.  It is spectacular beyond words.  Also, my November 1st visit was perfect. There were plenty of other visitors but not the crush of people that would be more typical in summer. Because of my long drive back to Salt Lake City I finally had to tear myself away around 4:00 pm.  It was hard to do.  The sun was just starting to set in the canyon and I could tell I was going to miss something special.

Pacific Loon, Wm. Sterling State Park, Monroe County, Michigan

Probably the most pleasant and easiest rarity chase I've ever done. Several local birders enjoyed a companionable morning watching a Pacific Loon (Gavia pacifica) make feeding circuits around the northern end of a lagoon that also held a Common Loon (Gavia immer), uncountable numbers of Common Mergansers and Bonaparte's Gulls.

Our mild, end-of-November weather encouraged lingering for a chance of photographs.  These are my best with my point and shoot.  Very cooperative and fun bird to spend time with.

The Pacific and the Common occasionally swam near each other.  This distant view of both shows side-by-side differences in bill and head structure.  Good to remember. 

For really great photos of both birds, plus a nice sunny shot of Common Mergs check out Jerry Jourdan's blog in my links at right.

The Great Salt Lake

I attended an Oncology Nursing Society conference in Salt Lake City, Utah during the first week of November.  I had never been to Salt Lake City or to Utah before.  So I took three days vacation at the start of the conference to look around.

I arrived at the SLC airport about 2:00 pm on Monday afternoon and picked up my econo car from Alamo.  From there I found Antelope Island State Park on the GPS I rented and made my way north on the I-15.

Shortly before my visit, the island's buffalo (Bison bison), our largest land animal, had been rounded up for their annual health inspection and to give the young ones vaccinations, etc.  However, a few of the "old bachelors" remained free.  Just beyond where these three are grazing is the entry road to Antelope Island.

The Great Salt Lake waters that lap the shores of Antelope Island State Park are the place to see Eared Grebes (Podiceps nigricollis).  This flotilla contains a few scaup (Aythya sp.) and Ruddy Ducks (Oxyura jamaicensis) otherwise these are all Eared Grebes.  There were several large flocks like this.  

The shores are also a good spot for flocks of American Avocets (Recurvirostra americana).  A flock of flying avocets is really a spectacular thing, with black and white wings flashing, but I couldn't capture their flash in a photo.

Northern Harriers (Circus cyaneus) were also common hunting over the island grasses.  

I've seen Chukar (Alectoris chukar) in England and in Bulgaria, but these are my first seen in North America.  In addition to these perched birds, as I was leaving the island I flushed a large group that were feeding along the edge of the road.

These Pronghorn Antelope (Antilocapra americana), fastest mammal in North America, were neatly hidden in the long grass to graze.    

This White-tailed Jackrabbit (Lepus townsendii) was hiding in tall grass and scrubby bushes.

On my 2009 car trip to Idaho I saw only three Black-billed Magpies (Pica hudsonia).  There were several on the island and I later saw them in a Salt Lake City neighborhood.  During 2010 and 2011 trips to England and Bulgaria I saw how common Magpie (Pica pica) is in Europe.  Common or uncommon, magpies are big, spectacular birds.    

For whatever reason, this coyote (Canis latrans) was my favorite sighting on Antelope Island.  There were two and the one in the photo above paused long enough to allow a couple of photos - such a beautiful and serene face.   

Ravens (Corvus corax) were common on Antelope Island.  Passerine species I saw on the island included Western Meadowlarks, White-crowned Sparrows and Red-winged Blackbirds.

The Northern Harrier was hunting along the shoreline and I saw it switch directions and fly out over the lake carrying food.  It appeared to head for the mountain on the opposite shore.

Antelope Island State Park was worth the visit.  The panoramic mountain views beyond the island at sunset were beautiful.  On a late Monday afternoon, there were few other visitors except some cyclists and I felt like I had the place to myself.