Blue skies, crisp air and great birds

This past weekend I participated in the annual combined Washtenaw Audubon and Jackson Aubobon field trip to Sault Ste. Marie led by Lathe Claflin, Gary Siegrist and Don and Robin Henise. Harold and Artemis Eyster, on their first trip to the Soo in wintertime, came with me and were great company for the weekend. We drove up to the Soo on Friday afternoon under low, gray skies. After lunch at a Big Boy's off 46 toward Alma, I thought the heavens would open with falling snow. It never happened, not even around Gaylord - the snow capital of the lower peninsula, and as we neared the bridge the skies seemed to brighten. Once across the bridge, the skies were clear as dusk approached.

Day One

Our fleet of six cars pulled out of the Plaza Motor Motel parking lot for a 7:30 am start. We drove through the old section of the Soo to our first stop at the imposing and impressive-appearing Edison power plant along the frozen St. Mary's river. A few Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) and Common Mergs (Mergus merganser) were all that we found in a small area of open water at the base of the power plant. From the power plant we headed to our next stop and the reason for our early start. Enroute a Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) was seen perched high up in a tree.

Click on any photo to enlarge the image

The early start was necessary in hopes of seeing Sharp-tailed Grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellas) on their lek. Just a single bird was found on the lek and after awhile it flew to trees adjacent to the lek to join two others. As it turned out the birds were surprisingly tolerant of our presence and many got great photos. I saw my life Sharp-tailed Grouse when I first attended this trip in February of 2005 shortly after I returned to live in Michigan. I can't see this bird without thinking of Lathe and Gary. Lathe's words, "every feather on this bird is beautiful."

Following the Sharp-tailed Grouse stop we made our way to Dunbar Forest where the best bird, (the only bird?), were three Pine Grosbeaks (Pinicola enucleator). This russet-colored bird was drinking from a small area of unfrozen water. While birds were few, we did find two very fresh owl tracks or wing imprints in the snow where an owl had landed to seize its prey. Of the two, the imprint below was the sharpest.

The owls footprints and wing imprints were very crisp over an old snowmobile track. It's possible that this occurred the night before. The owl's foot steps are leading away from the pounce prints.

From Dunbar Forest we made our way to the star of the day. We stopped to see our first Northern Hawk Owl (Surnia ulula), a perched bird well seen through spotting scopes but much too distant for photographs. Harold spotted the second hawk owl tucked (amazing sighting - the bird was so well camouflaged on its perch) in a trangle of trees behind a house. Again, it was well seen through the scope, but too distant for photos. The third Northern Hawk Owl gave the photo below and many others just like it.

As you can imagine, the cameras were firing. As fine an experience as this was for everyone with or without a camera, it's unfortunate for the bird how this came to occur. Apparently, this is the same bird that was being well seen along M-48 last year and was drawn in for photos by a photographer who fed the bird mice. The bird is back for its second winter and is in a safer location along on a residential road off Pealine Road. Initially it was seen perched in trees behind a house. We parked in a line along the road. With the closing of our car doors the bird flew from its perch behind the house to the utility wires right in front of where we were standing - thinking it would be fed a mouse. Apparently, the bird has imprinted on the sound of a car door closing with being fed mice.

Somewhere in between the hawk owls, we stopped to scope a distant Northern Shrike (Lanius excubitor).

After tearing ourselves away from the Northern Hawk Owl, we drove to Hantz Road looking for Snowy Owls (Bubo scandiacus) . None were seen anywhere along Hantz, but the one above was finally found along Centerline Road. It was perched on a utility pole watching a couple of men uncover hay bales. Just as a car door closing triggered mouse to the hawk owl, for the Snowy Owl the disturbance of the hay bales meant a few mice scattering from their hiding places. Following the Snowy Owl, we had lunch in the center of Rudyard at a family restaurant called Pure Country. My grilled cheese sandwich was made with thick, fresh bread and was very good.

While we were looking at the Snowy Owl, we saw a flock of Snow Buntings (Plectrophenax nivals) flying and calling over the fields. Against the bright blue sky they looked like little bouncing jewels. After lunch we went to the dead-end road with the single house with feeders for Lapland Longspurs (Calcarius lapponicus) and Snow Buntings. At one point we saw both species perched together in a small tree near the house. I include the terrible photo above only to show that these birds will perch in trees. This was the first time I have seen wintertime Lapland Longspurs in the Soo area.

Following the buntings and longspurs, we travelled along roads with large fields looking for Rough-legged Hawk (Buteo lagopus). One was finally found, (again, how Robin spotting this bird is anyone's guess), a beautiful dark-morph, perched at the top of a tall, distant tree with other trees around for camouflage. Scoped views were great, but the bird remained too far away for photos.

Finally, Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus) and a tree full of Bohemian Waxwings (Bombycilla garrulus) were found along the same road. The grouse was perched in a tree and eating buds - aka "budding." The waxwings were feasting on a crabapple tree in a field. They were skittish and we could not approach closely, but we all got great scoped views. The Bohemian Waxwings were our final birds of the day.

I took the photo above because these were the only two clouds I saw in the sky the whole day. I thought their presence should be noted. For the day, miles driven: 128! Dinner and exhaustion concluded the day.

Day Two

No one complained about being able to sleep in for an extra half hour for our 8:00 am start. Again, the sky was bright and clear for the start of another great day.

First stop: Hantz Road for a bright, white Snowy Owl. He was finally found at the end of the road, perched on a old, wooden billboard support. Just beyond his perch cars whizzed by on the I-75.

This is my highly cropped photo of the very distant all white Snowy Owl - only the second I've ever seen. Even with such a terrible photo, you can see the whiteness and brightness of this beautiful bird.

On to our much anticipated stop at the Hulbert bog for Gray Jay and ... wait for it ... Boreal Chickadee (Poecile hudsonica) spotted on an earlier field trip, and again by the trip leaders on their scouting day for this trip. It seemed very promising. The one and only Boreal Chickadee I have ever seen was at an incredible feeder station at a private home in Sault Ste. Marie, Canada a couple of years ago on this very same field trip. That look was clear, but short and I was really looking forward to seeing a Boreal Chickadee in its natural habitat.

I'll cut to the chase. We did not see the Boreal Chickadee despite trying hard - a disappointment for everyone. We did see numerous Black-capped Chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) who came in for the seed that Gary put down for them, and again I got another good Black-capped photo. My jinx may be broken with the photos I took in the Arb a couple of weeks ago.

I also think the White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) photo below is quite nice. A nuthatch always looks better in a tree, but this bird also came down for the seed spread out on the snow.

When the Boreal Chickadee did not show up, this Pine Grosbeak provided a nice distraction. He came in very close and perched in a variety of places that were conducive for taking photos. I really think he was just hoping the people would leave so he could also have at the seed. I took many photos and none really turned out well. This is the best.

Finally, another Hulbert bog cre′me de la cre′me.

In all, we saw four Gray Jays (Perisoreus canadensis) - two that were rather cautious followed by two that flew in to within ten feet of us to pick up the Trader Joe's raw trail mix that I put down for them. They stuffed their beaks with as many nuts as they could carry and flew off to stash the nuts in a safe spot. I don't think I've seen Gray Jays in over three years and last year during my trip I did think that the birds might be gone from Hulbert bog. Happily, I was wrong. These birds are such crowd pleasers. Of note, with the photos above and below, the bright sun and the reflection off the snow caused the pale yellow on the bird's forehead and crown to appear white. That little dab of yellow gives this otherwise aptly named bird its bit of color thereby, for me, adding to the Gray Jay's charm.

With these final photographs, the field trip ended. It was hard to leave while two Gray Jays continued to fly in. But, we had a long drive home and many more hours before sleep.

All weekend long, I wanted to take a wintertime photo of Harold and Artemis to include here, but I kept forgetting. A review of my photos turned up this taken last April when we were all at Whitefish Point together. They're both taller now and, while they've been good birders for a very long time, their birding expertise continues to increase by the minute. We'll just ignore the fact that this is a springtime photo.

I have no idea how many miles I drove from Friday to Sunday, but it was a lot and a quick check of my mileage reveals that I am now due for an oil change. I can't say enough good things about this field trip.

What's in a name?

When I began this blog and wrote about a bird seen or photographed, I included the bird's common name followed by the Latin name in parenthesis and italics - just like in a real field guide. With this effort my goal was to try to learn Latin names of some birds at least, if not most. This effort fell by the wayside when there were too many birds to be mentioned and confirming and including the Latin name became excessively time-consuming. Just making sure the spelling was correct was a challenge. I always think that I will go back and edit to add in the Latin name, but I never do.

Lately I've been doing some research on birds in Great Britain for an upcoming trip in June and I am, again, reminded of the importance of the Latin names of birds. In fact, Great Britain has many of the same birds we have, but their common names are different.

In the family Gaviidae, take three of our loons: Gavia stellata, Gavia arctica and Gavia immer; our Red-throated, Arctic and Common loons respectively are, in Great Britain, the Red-throated Diver, Black-throated Diver and the Great Northern Diver.

But that was easy. How about these two birds in the family Podicipedidae, starting with the British common names, Slavonian Grebe and the Black-necked Grebe? Podiceps auritus and Podiceps nigricollis respectively are our Horned Grebe and our Eared Grebe.

In the family Anatidae, amongst the geese and ducks, the Brent Goose (Branta bernicla) is our Brant. Many of the ducks are the same: Northern Pintail (Anas acuta), Gadwall (Anas strepera), Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata), Greater Scaup (Aythya marila - apparently they do not have Lesser Scaup, Aythya affinis making their scaup ID somewhat easier), Common Eider (Somateria mollissima), Long-tailed Duck (Clangula hyemalis), and Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis). Mallard, as always, is just a Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), actually belongs with the other Anas sp. above.

But many are not: Common Scoter (Melanitta nigra) and Velvet Scoter (Melanitta fusca) are our Black Scoter and White-winged Scoter. Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) is our Common Goldeneye, but then they don't have a Barrow's Goldeneye (Bucephala islandica) that they need to differentiate. Another quite different common name is Goosander (Mergus merganser), our Common Merganser.

In the family Phasianidia, our Willow Ptarmigan (Lagopus lagopus) is Britain's Red Grouse. I've never seen a Willow Ptarmigan, but it appears, by the range map in the field guide I am using, that I may have at least some chance to see a Red Grouse.

In the family Accipitridae, this continues with the harriers and hawks (in Britain called buzzards - I seriously like our word hawk much better) where there is the Hen Harrier (Circus cyaneus), or our Northern Harrier. My favorite, the Rough-legged Hawk (Buteo lagopus) is the Rough-legged Buzzard in Britain. As I said, I seriously like hawk much better. For a photo of Britain's Rough-legged Buzzard or our Buteo Lagopus see Thomas Krumenascker's action shot linked from the RSPB's on-line newsletter, BirdGuides: better birding through technology.

Moving on to shorebirds, in the family Charadriidae their Grey Plover (Pluvialis squatarola) is our much better named Black-bellied Plover. Similar, but not quite, in the Scolopacidae family, their Knot (Calidris canutus) is our Red Knot and their Turnstone (Arenaria interpres) is our Ruddy Turnstone. Their Grey Phalarope (Phalaropus fulicarius) is our Red Phalarope. Huh?

No this is not a Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia), but rather a Little Owl (Athene noctura) in the family Strigidae. Photo by Cliff Young of Leamington Spa.

The differences continue with fewer of the little birds, but there are a couple of quick examples worth noting. In the Troglodytidae family, our Winter Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) is Britain's Wren. While the latin name is shared, Britain's Wren has quite different habits than our Winter Wren. In the summertime it is quite tame in peoples' gardens and is vociferous like our House Wren (Troglodytes aedon). Their Shore Lark (Eremophila alpestris) is our Horned Lark and this makes sense. Our Horned Larks are readily found on the shore at Whitefish Point, for example.

Have a look at this photo by Bryan Wright, again linked from the RSPB's on-line newsletter, BirdGuides: better birding through technology, of Regulus regulus. Would you think this was our Regulus satrapa? There are some identifiable differences.

The above is by no means an exhaustive list. A review of the myriad families of seabirds, gulls and terns would require even more spelling scrutiny. In addition to the ducks, other birds with exactly the same name - Northern Gannet, Great Cormorant, Golden Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, Merlin, Sanderling, Barn Owl, Barn Swallow - see, I've tired of writing the Latin names again. And then there are the birds in the same genus but different species; our Redhead, their Common Pochard; their Grey Heron, our Great Blue Heron. They also have a Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus), but it looks nothing like our cuckoos (Coccyzus sps.), more like a nightjar or a dove. However, its call really is "cuckoo". They have a Magpie (Pica pica) that looks very much like our magpies (also Picas sps.).

Above: Grey Heron (Aedea cinerea) not our Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias); however, apparently just as common. Photo by Cliff Young of Leamington Spa. This bird caught Cliff by surprise when he saw it perched over his garden pond. He grabbed his camera and got off two quick shots before the bird flew.

In the Paridae family, our seven chickadees (Poecile sps.) look like their six tits (Parus sps.). They also have a Panurus sp. tit and an Aegithalos sp. tit both of which are very different from each other and from the Parus sps. tits. In the Picidae family, they have no Picoides woodpeckers. In the family Turdidae, their Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos) looks like our Wood Thrush (Hylocichla mustelina) but is in the same genus as our American Robin (Turdus migratorius). They have seven Turdus sps. Even their Blackbird (Turdus merula) is a thrush. And, I haven't written anything about the buntings, the warblers, the crows, the finches ...

So, what's in a name? Now there's a loaded question, but the Latins saved the day. Please don't look for spelling errors!

Here's a Black-necked Starling (Sturnus nigricollis) taken in Shenzhen, China this past December by my friend Harold Eyster of Chelsea, Michigan. If we had starlings like this, would we complain about starlings? And, the latin name for their/[now our] European Starling (Sturnis vulgaris).

Information obtained from the dated Field Guide to the Birds of Britain and Ireland, published by Larousse, 1995 - not a great, but a serviceable field guide with some interesting tidbits of information. There is a new Princeton field guide just coming out, Birds of Europe by Lars Svensson, that I have on order and am looking forward to receiving.

January birding coming to an end

It was a beautiful day in southeastern Michigan; sunny with some clouds scattered around. It was cold, but the bright sun tempered the cold air to make a very enjoyable winter day. I had some errands to do, but I also wanted to take advantage of the great weather to fit in some birding. After wasting some time in the morning, I finally got out of the house at around 11:00 am. Destination: Vreeland Road in eastern Washtenaw county to look for previously reported Lapland Longspurs.

I found some Horned Larks, but I was stymied on the longspurs. I continued slowly on westbound Vreeland Road, not seeing much, and approached Harris Road. Ahead, over a large field at Vreeland and Harris I saw a raptor soaring and was surprised to see that it was a Rough-legged Hawk, my first of the year. I used to bird this road a lot but not much at all recently. I always thought that the fields along Vreeland were suitable for roughies but had never seen one. Nor do I recall others reporting roughies along this popular birding road.

Click on any photo to enlarge image.

My first photo op came as I approached Prospect Road.

I took many photos of this Red-bellied Woodpecker and somehow decided that this was the best. At the corner of Vreeland and Prospect roads (a very busy road with fast moving traffic) I did not see any oncoming cars. I turned left on to Prospect and immediately saw a Red-tailed Hawk sitting on a branch that hung very near the roadside. Photo op. As I sped up, planning to pull to the side, I looked in my rearview mirror to see a line of traffic on my tail. Too much traffic for the hawk so near the road; it took off.

Next destination: Trader Joe's for some grocery shopping. Nichols Arboretum is an easy drive from Trader Joe's and I have not been there in the winter time in years and some good birds had been reported in the Arb recently.

Two courting Red-tailed Hawks were soaring and frolicking (sorry, but this is the best word I can think of to describe their behavior - I know the guys are cringing) over Dow Prairie. The trail around Dow Prairie did not seem all that birdy and the trails were snow and ice covered so my visit was short.

Both of the Red-tails were light with faint belly bands. I took photos of both but could never get them both in the same frame. I think these two photos are probably of the same bird.

The Arb is always full of walkers, runners and dog-walkers and so this Fox squirrel allowed me to approach quite closely. It must have had some personal boundary, because ... it let me know when I got too close.

Every so often I whistled my miserable screech owl tremelo to see if anything would pop out of the bushes and trees. I startled Blue Jays and Robins, but nothing more. I came to an area where titmice and chickadees were calling and whistled my screech again. The titmice were not interested, but the chickadees came in close. I've never taken a decent photo of a Black-capped Chickadee. Every prior attempt has always resulted in an instant delete.

Today was my lucky day. I deleted many but had other good photos as well. I selected the above two from the best of four.

From the Arb I returned to Vreeland Road to look for the Rough-legged Hawk. Not seeing it near Vreeland and Harris, I continued east on Vreeland. Just west of the large farm, I saw a Cooper's Hawk perched in a tree over a brushy area.

Not a great photo, not even a good photo, but this Coop did not stick around to allow me a chance for a closer shot.

Finally, another poor photo, but here's the Rough-legged Hawk perched at the top of a tree on the north side of Vreeland. I tried to get closer for the chance of a better shot, but it was not to be. The best I could do was to get the bird flying away to land at the top of a very distant tree.

Tomorrow, the last day of January 2010, is supposed to be partly sunny and a little warmer. In Michigan, cardinals usually begin singing in February.

Just noticed that there is a full moon tonight. I learned from Harold and Artemis Eyster that this moon is the brightest of the year and is called the Wolf Moon.

Camera batteries ... dead

First, I should just start with the disappointment of the day. Get it over with. Put it behind me. Move on. Since I'm a little late in posting this, the disappointment occurred on Sunday, the 17th, at Crosswinds Marsh.

Just as I was entering the boardwalk area from the Woodpecker Trail, an adult Bald Eagle flew in and landed on the tall dead tree just to the right of the boardwalk. I couldn't believe it. What a photo op for me and my challenged little camera. The eagle perched comfortably on the treetop and appeared to have no concern about my presence. I turned on my camera watching the bird more than paying attention to my camera. Hey, what's the matter here? My non-functioning camera forces me to pay attention - DEAD BATTERIES!

I couldn't believe it, but I don't know why ... it has happened to me before with other excellent photo ops. Honestly, you would think I'd learn. I continued walking along the boardwalk and soon my back was to the eagle. I turned around once briefly. The eagle was still there surveying its surroundings.

So what did I expend my camera batteries on?

As with many winter days in southeastern Michigan, yesterday was deep gray and overcast. But, it was not too cold. I picked up my brother's family dog and headed for Crosswinds Marsh, hoping that it would not be too muddy. It wasn't too muddy and, in fact, it turned out to be a beautiful day for a walk. Anything to be out of the house in winter, no matter how gray the sky.

This is the best shot of several of this Song Sparrow amongst some scrubby branches.

I clicked a few of this White-breasted Nuthatch.

But, the biggest battery waste came when I tried to photograph several Tree Sparrows feeding along the snowy/dirt track trail. I took several photos of snow and dirt - that contained no birds at all. The white against the dark made it essentially impossible to find the birds in the viewfinder.

I use rechargeable batteries and these are more finicky than the lithium batteries that the pros use in their big, power cameras. I could use lithium but I don't like the idea of throwing so many batteries away. This set of rechargeable batteries are new so I was overconfident that they would be fine for a two hour walk in cold weather and I did not take along a spare set, which I usually do. But, I had not recharged them before going out. Obvious mistake. Also, I'm wondering if cold weather has an impact on lessening the life of rechargeable batteries?

It will probably be awhile before I am offered such a photo opportunity by a Bald Eagle again. I live in a world of live and learn - always the hard way.

New decade of birding begins

The Detroit River CBC was the last in the 2009 CBC season for me (thank goodness!), but the first birding of the New Year and of a new decade. It was cold, gray, windy ... about as always for our Detroit River CBC held each January 1st. This year there was only a very light snow covering.

The low, gray sky of Detroit; this was our weather for birding yesterday, and fairly typical for January 1st. This is flagpole hill in Ford Field, one of Dearborn's larger parks. Just looking at this photograph makes me shiver. (Click on any photo to enlarge the image.)

The Rouge River courses through Ford Field park and in some weedy branches hanging over the river I photographed this smart, little juvenile Song Sparrow. This bird and a companion Song Sparrow seem to have chosen to brave out the winter here. I found four Song Sparrows for the day; the others also along two other areas of the river. I counted zero of the more typical winter sparrow here - American Tree Sparrow - even though I spent time in good winter habitat for them.

As always, plenty of our ubiquitous Fox Squirrels were around. I also saw one raccoon while owling early in the morning and two white-tailed deer in woods near the Henry Ford Estate.

By the end of the day I was chilled to the bone and this didn't improve at the tally held at the University of Michigan Environmental Interpretative Center. The heat had been turned off for the holidays! A good thing for global warming concerns, but a bad thing for a cold birder at the end of a long day of cold weather birding.