Finally, it's here. All of my recent blog entries hankering for spring have been wishful thinking. Today there is no turning back. Everyone I know is ready to say goodbye to this past long winter.
I went to Crosswinds Marsh this morning to look for signs of spring and I found them complete with overhead airplane - common at this location - to compete with the frog chorus and, from somewhere, a passing train whistle .
Silly goose
For years there has been a domesticated Greylag Goose associating with Canada's in the vicinity of the main pond near the parking lot. I don't go to Crosswinds as frequently as I once did and I have not seen the greylag in recent visits, but certainly this poor bird is a member of its progeny. I found another recent photo of Greylag x Canada by Don Appleton of England taken in February, 2011 at a location in Norfolk, England where Greylag Geese and Canada Geese are common residents. Don Appleton photographs and comments on hybrid bird species as he did recently with a goose located on Belle Isle March 8, 2011 and photographed by Alan Ryff. You can also see other hybrid photos and discussion on this same link.
Mink on the boardwalk
Mink pausing when it sees me
Mink departing
Singing Red-wing Blackbird
Spring Robin
American Wigeon and submerged Mute Swan
New Bald Eagle nest - directly opposite the old nest.
Double click to enlarge and eagle is on the nest
It is true that, in Michigan, we'll still have a little more winter - but, it's all over but the shouting.
After just writing about not having been birding in my last blog entry, yesterday morning with the sun shining brightly, I went to Belle Isle.
I was quickly rewarded with two good birds. One cannot sneak up on an Eastern Phoebe. This is especially true when trying to sneak through mud, large puddles, vines and snapping twigs. It's never going to happen.
Finally, the bird flew to the fence of the handball courts for this poorly focused and brightly lit shot. The bird was calling its horse phoebe callnearly the whole time I watched it. Even though it was one of the birds I hoped to find, it still seems a bit early for its arrival. I checked Julie Craves' book, Birds of Dearborn (although Belle Isle is in Detroit), and Julie's earliest date for phoebe arrival is March 22nd with the more typical arrival being March 31st. So, this is an early bird. It was flycatching in typical phoebe fashion in the sunny location of the handball courts and the woods opposite.
Leaving the phoebe, I startled an American Woodcock from its hiding spot.
While the morning started out with bright sun, clouds returned and it was suddenly back to being winter.
Setting my clocks forward for the first day of daylight savings time again reminded me of spring. While not too cold, again it was gray. On Saturday, there had been reports of Snow Buntings and Lapland Longspurs still present at a traditional location for these two birds - Gotfredson and Vreeland roads and Sunday morning I drove out to see them.
Red-winged Blackbirds are everywhere and their song was heard all along Gotfredson and Vreeland roads.
Unfortunately, there were no Snow Buntings or Lapland Longspurs seen by me. There were plenty of Horned Larks around. This bird was distant, but perched on the corn stalk and I was able to get this photo.
After finishing up on Vreeland Road, I went briefly to the parking area of LeFurge Woods preserve. The trail was muddy and icy and walking was not easy or enjoyable. Tree Sparrows were pecking in the weeds all along the trail, but I cannot resist singing Song Sparrows, my nom de querre. Winter is fading. Now for a bit of sunshine to brighten up these photos.
I think I am well overdue for a new blog entry and recently a few friends have asked if I've been birding much lately. The answer to this question is that, with the exception the Soo trip at the beginning of February, I've done almost no birding at all this winter.
This is not to say that I've been completely inactive - just laying around on the couch. In January and February I started and completed a major house redecorating project and am now enjoying the finished product. For the first time ever, I did not do the project myself but I organized it and lived with the disorganization that any house project creates. Additionally, I've taken this winter as a time to work a lot.
All this to say that I have found this winter to be a long one. Could any day as dreary as yesterday (heavy rain followed by heavy wet snow) dampen our spring spirits more? So, when the sun peeked out late this morning I hustled over to the channelized Rouge River to see what might be out. This time of year, the channelized Rouge is pretty typically unbirdy so it was not exactly like I was making a big birding commitment for the day. But for an hour or so, it felt good to be out.
True to the reputation of this area, few birds were around. Canada Geese dotted the still winterized landscape of the TPC golf course. I heard a Red-bellied Woodpecker and a few sparrow chip notes but the actual birds remained invisible. Though this area does have a Red-tailed Hawk pair and it is possible to occasionally see a kestrel, I saw no raptors. My good luck with the peregrine at the end of January did not repeat itself today. Had it not been for the return of bad weather, I might have had daydreams of seeing an early phoebe or meadowlark. Indeed, Jerry Jourdan reported Eastern Meadowlarks near Vreeland and Gotfredson in eastern Washtenaw County today.
The TPC pond is still frozen, but it is here I saw my first harbingers of spring. I slid through a hole in the fence to to get closer to the pond. Three Great Blue Herons took off from a small rim of open water around the little island. Undoubtedly they had overwintered and I feel certain they are pleased to see the end of it. Then the call of Red-winged Blackbirds sounded as three birds flew overhead. Later a grackle flew over also calling. Both of these have been seen and heard recently in our neighborhood.
Finally, I heard a Killdeer. I know from the reports of others that these have been recently seen in southeast Michigan. Killdeer nest in the stony edges along the river. But, I never did see the bird. This left me reluctant to call this my first of the season Killdeer secondary to the presence of abundant starlings in our area.
Still, as the sun continues to shine today, I know that phoebe, meadowlark, killdeer and all of the others are not far behind. In another week the ides of March and spring soon to follow.
Around this same time my Birding journal had arrived in the mail. I spotted an advertisement titled Birding Bulgaria in bold red letters advertising a fundraising trip to aid conservation projects in Bulgaria and sponsored by the Friends of Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds. Right dates, right price. The next day I contacted the trip leader, Yoav Chudnoff, and discussed the trip details with him. I also recalled how, in June 2008, Karl Overman had led a Detroit Audubon trip to Bulgaria and had a great time.
With Dea Armstrong and Artemis Eyster and the Jackson and Washtenaw Audubon group led by Gary Siegrist and Lathe Claflin, we had a great weekend birding in the Soo. I'll own up immediately to it being a difficult weekend for photographs. None of the photos I offer up here are anything to brag about. I selected these as the most presentable to anchor my blog entry. Late Saturday morning it seemed like the sun might try to break through. No luck. The sky remained low gray all weekend thereby providing terrible lighting.
Arriving Friday afternoon we took the back roads into the Soo and the first bird we saw was this Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus) spotted by Dea and perched on the utility pole on the upper M48. It was a very dark bird and we thought it to be a juvenile female.
This young light morph Rough-legged Hawk (Buteo lagopus) was near 129 and lower M48. Over the two days we saw approximately ten Rough-legged including two dark morphs.
Before driving into the Soo to check into the motel, this Northern Shrike (Lanius excubitor) was seen on Riverside Drive to end the day on Friday. I might add that all three of the above birds were found by the driver, Dea Armstrong. Northern Shrike was also a fairly common bird over our two days.
On Saturday morning after stopping at the power plant for goldeneyes and mergansers, we went to the Sharp-tailed Grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus) lek on Nicolet Road. Still needing lots of practice, I captured the above 59 second video of nine distant males dancing on their lek. The video is terrible; again, the high-definition is better and the HD You Tube upload is here for comparison. Again, much more work on processing video required.
Dunbar Forest feeder station had lots of little birds; redpolls, (no Hoary), siskens, nuthatches, chickadees, and one male Pine Grosbeak. The photo above is terrible, but I love the color on this redpoll.
On Saturday, Lathe and Gary relocated this guy perched on the wooden structure out in the middle of a huge field near Centerline Road. This bird was lighter than the Snowy seen on Friday and we thought it likely to be a juvenile male. Even though the owl is but a speck, I do like the composition and color of this photo.
Lathe and Gary relocated the large flocks of both Pine Grosbeaks (Pinicola enucleator) and Bohemian Waxwings (Bombycilla garrulus) eating off trees laden with crabapples behind the Dafter post office. The flock of grosbeaks probably offered everyone the best photo opportunities of the trip. This is one of my best photos.
The birds in the photo above are Bohemian Waxwings with one Pine Grosbeak on the left. This was a large flock of perhaps 100 birds. They were skittish and took off sometime shortly after our arrival. We returned on Sunday morning to see them a second time, but before anyone even stepped out of the car, the entire flock again flew off.
The long drive home on Sunday was uneventful. Weather much worse in the Detroit/Ann Arbor area than anywhere in the Soo.
