Heritage Days Photos

Posted on May 29, 2012 by

Despite intermittent showers and thunderstorms, our local Heritage Days festival went on this weekend. And as planned, I went there to practice taking photos of people, hoping to get over my discomfort with that particular subject matter. Not too long ago I made a set in my Flickr account just for people photos, and I’m slowly adding to that set. Not nearly as fast as I add to my “Birds” set, of course, but I’m making progress!

So here are some of my best pics from the festival — people and animals.

There was face painting….

….and camel rides….

…and crafts….

…and food….

…and fun entertainment…

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Wildflowers and Turtles

Posted on May 27, 2012 by

Thankfully, today started out cooler than expected so Eric and I decided on the spur of the moment to make a quick trip to Hawk Woods for some birding. We arrived at noon to find lots of bird activity when we hit the trails near the pond. We were quickly led to Eastern Kingbirds and a Rose-breasted Grosbeak by their songs and calls. Of course there were the always plentiful Red-winged Blackbirds calling all around the pond as we skirted the eastern edge heading into the woods. (When we came back around the pond towards the end of our walk, we were scolded by several female Red-winged Blackbirds who apparently had nests nearby. We quickly moved on so as not to disturb them any more than we had already.)

This is either Daisy Fleabane or Bushy Aster….

The woods are filled with wildflowers now, and the fragrance of wild roses mingled with other pleasant floral scents to mask the chemical smell of my very necessary mosquito repellent. I hate putting that stuff on my skin but I get eaten alive by insects if I don’t. C’est la vie, I suppose.

Common Yellowthroat (click to enlarge)

I won’t list all the relatively common birds we saw in the woods and marsh, but I have to mention that we found another beautiful Great Crested Flycatcher. A few days ago we had one in a tree right beside our deck, and I had his loud call still fresh in my head. That one has been heard in our yard for the past three days. So when I heard the same call at Hawk Woods today, I started trying to track him down. I’m proud of myself whenever I recognize a bird by its song, and since I’ve only been hearing these beautiful birds at home for a few days, I was pretty excited to find one in the woods. Eric and I both got really good views of him in our binocs, but no pictures because I had purposely left my camera at home to force myself to watch the birds more closely instead of taking pictures. (The last time I went birding without my camera I spent several minutes getting wonderful close-up views of a low-flying Turkey Vulture.) This whole idea of birding without the camera has its merits, but I always wish I’d had it for the inevitable one or two great birds who seem to sit in the open just begging to have their photos taken. Today, in addition to that flycatcher, we had really great views of two Common Yellowthroats that would have made wonderful pictures. Instead, I’m showing you a Common Yellowthroat pic I snapped a few weeks ago on the south shore of Lake Erie — I had to crop it a lot, but you can still see what a striking little warbler he is.

These are about 6 inches tall and I can’t find them in any of my wildflower books…anyone know what they are?

The most exciting bird we saw today was a male Northern Harrier, flying very high on a thermal. When I first noticed him so very high up over the marsh (the same place we saw the Yellowthroats), I immediately thought “Turkey Vulture.” But  as I watched him come lower I saw that he seemed to be almost all white or (light-colored) below, with obvious black wingtips (just the primary wing feathers). I watched him for a couple more minutes, making sure to take notes on flight style and field marks. The black wingtips and bent-elbow wing shape reminded me of so many gulls, but this bird was much larger than a gull, and I don’t think gulls soar without flapping for as long as this bird did. I checked several field guides when we got home and am convinced that this bird was a male Northern Harrier, even though there aren’t many other eBird reports for our county right now (Oakland County, Michigan). By the way, if anyone who reads this has an opinion or wants to teach me something about raptor ID, please comment below. (UPDATE: After putting this question to the Michigan Birders list, I’m halfway convinced it was an Osprey instead. Even though I didn’t see the barring that should be on the flight feathers and tail of an Osprey. We may never know for sure, but either way, it was a beautiful sight to see.)

Snapping Turtle, snapped with my cell phone camera

We also came across two turtles on the grassy path around the pond. First an Eastern Painted Turtle (who quickly pulled his head inside and peed when we walked by, oops, sorry little guy), then about 20 feet further on, this small but brave Snapping Turtle with pond vegetation still clinging to his shell.

Our walk lasted just under two hours and was quite satisfying, especially when we’d thought we’d be staying indoors on a day that was predicted to be in the 90s.  I always love it when the weather turns out to be less warm than the weatherman says. And even better is the loud thunderstorm that just passed through as I’m writing this just before dinnertime. Now to go coax the cat out from under the bed….

I’m putting together a bunch of pictures from yesterday’s visit to our local Heritage Days festival for my next post. (Hint: Those of you who wonder if I ever take pictures of people instead of birds will have an answer to that question.)

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Rare Bird on my List — and a Great Memory

Posted on May 25, 2012 by

Singing his own tune!

We had success last weekend in finding the rare Kirtland’s Warbler. Not at the Tawas Point Birding Festival on Saturday, but the next day in Grayling. We took one of the tours that leave from the Ramada Inn, and were lucky enough to be the only ones who showed up for the 11am tour. The Forest Service Ranger, Nick, said he’d had a group of 18 people at 7 am. Glad we missed that! So we got our own private tour of the jack pine nesting grounds for two whole hours. As soon as we got out of our car we could hear the males singing, and it only took a few minutes to spot one atop the tallest tree in his territory, singing for all he was worth. We watched him through the scope for about ten minutes, then walked further into the jack pines to find another one, hopefully closer. It was very hot (87 F) and I worried that the birds would be resting, but Nick was confident he could find more of them.

As we walked, Nick told us about one of the Kirtland’s males that they’d been monitoring who sings an alternate song. The Kirtland’s Warbler song is very distinctive (hear it here), and this particular bird had altered it by a few notes. According to Nick, this bird only sings the alternate version, never the normal one. And for some reason, this male has been the one to mate with the first female to arrive on territory for the past two springs. Coincidence? I think not. Those early gals must like a guy who’s not afraid to be different.

One of my favorites, the Blackburnian Warbler. (Click to enlarge)

Anyway, this bird was right where Nick said he’d likely be, singing from the tallest tree in his territory.  (The jack pines are only about 6 or 7 feet tall, but there are some huge deciduous trees scattered around the nesting grounds, and these tall trees are great perches for surveying your turf.) I got a few not-great shots of him up there, but as we continued to wait and watch, he eventually flew down to one of the smaller trees much nearer to us, where I snapped away and got the photo you see above. There were lots of branches in the background of that photo, but I was able to erase many of them using my very basic Photoshop skills. (It’s obvious if you look closely, so don’t do that.)

The jack pine habitat seems so inhospitable, I’m amazed that these birds insist on nesting in that sort of area. The ground is dry, hot sand, and there’s no water anywhere to be seen.  By the time we got done there our shoes and clothes were coated with sand dust. I’d never spend time in that type of place if I weren’t in search of such a distinguished little bird!

Of course there was a lighthouse on the point.

Even though I’m going on and on about the Kirtland’s Warblers here, we also saw lots of other great birds the previous day at Tawas Point State Park. We found one tree that had three different warbler species in it at the same time: Blackpoll, Tennessee, and Chestnut-sided. (Two of those were new for us.) I’m still trying to wade through the 700 pictures I took, but I’ve been slowly posting them to my Flickr account if you want to jump over there to see more of them.

As we drove west out of Tawas toward Grayling, I was blown away by the fantastic old barns I saw everywhere. Barns are another of my favorite photography subjects (here’s my barn set on Flickr), so I hope to go back up there for a photography weekend soon. It’s an easy weekend trip from here too, so it should be do-able.

Longhorn Cattle…in Michigan

Here’s something I was surprised to find in Michigan, longhorn cattle. I associate them with Texas, so when I saw them next to the road I convinced Eric to turn around so I could take a few shots (he’s used to that by now). I’m definitely going back up there for a rural photography weekend!

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Biggest Week, part 2

Posted on May 16, 2012 by

Ruby-crowned Kinglet – click to enlarge cuteness

Believe it or not, there were THREE Kirtland’s Warblers found at Magee Marsh during the Biggest Week this year (after we came home…pfft). I saw photos of two different males and one female, so there’s no doubt they were three separate individuals. I’m still frustrated at missing them, but hoping we’ll make up for it this weekend when we go up north. (We’re taking a Kirtland’s Warbler tour near Grayling to see them on their jack pine nesting grounds..yay!) In the meantime, I’ve been enjoying the excitement through photos and videos of the birds and of the crowds chasing them in Ohio. I normally dread crowds, but I have to admit I would have been thrilled to be in that particular one! If you’re on Facebook you should be able to access this short video of the crowds going after the first Kirtland’s. And lots of other bloggers are writing about it as well — try Birdchick‘s for starters, and Google to find more if you want.

I plan to write more about some interesting things I learned in workshops at the BW this year, but first I feel the need to show you some more photos….

Gray Catbird singing for me — just him and I in the woods…it was very special

Despite the abundance of the tiny colorful warblers right now, this spring I’ve also fallen in love with the larger and relatively nondescript Gray Catbird.  I adore their little black caps atop their charcoal bodies. And who can resist their sweet catlike songs and calls? When one of them sang to me for a minute the other day before disappearing into the brush, I was lovestruck. And did you know that Catbirds have a secret? They have a hidden patch of russet brown under their tail that makes them even cooler. You can see it in the second photo here.

See his pretty brownish undertail coverts?

Catbirds have an unusual structure to their syrinx (that’s the bird’s version of our vocal cords) that allows them to make so many different sounds and mimic other animals. I’ve read that they have a repertoire of over 100 calls and songs. That’s one talented bird.

I’m including some pictures I took near home last weekend while doing my counts for the North American Migration Count in Oakland County. I was assigned to cover two parks near my home, Cranberry Lake and Bear Creek Nature Park. I was thrilled that both places have a variety of wonderful bird habitats, and I know I’ll be going back to both of them regularly. (It’s one of the blessings of living in Michigan that there are so many wonderful parks that I haven’t yet gotten around to all of them, even some of the ones within a few miles of my house.) By the way, if you’re interested in reading more about International Migratory Bird Day, go here: http://www.birdday.org/birdday.

Blue-winged Warbler gathering nesting material — not a great photo, but a wonderful memory!

Savannah Sparrow – a beautiful new life bird for me

Rain was predicted on NAMC count day, so I knew I had to get out early. If you knew how much of a morning person I’m not, you’d be surprised to know that I was out on the trails by 8 am,  and managed to cover both parks by noon. And the rain started as I was driving back home…very good timing. Not only did I do my part to contribute to bird science and conservation that day, but I also got three more life birds: Blue-winged warbler, Savannah Sparrow, and White-crowned Sparrow. I watched the Blue-winged Warbler carrying nesting material up into the trees — they apparently nest here, who knew?!

The Savannah Sparrow was brave enough to sit still long enough to let me slooowly creep closer, and I got a great picture of him, as you can see.  The White-crowned Sparrow wasn’t as cooperative, but I got enough to ID him positively. This particular area was loaded with birds, and right after I saw these guys I took this pic of a Magnolia Warbler (Maggie).

Magnolia Warbler checking me out

Right about this time a man with a barking dog came through, scaring away all my pretty birds. I thought the dog was being aggressive, but the owner said he was barking and growling because he was afraid of me. He was a big golden retriever too, so that was really odd to me. They’re usually such friendly dogs. But once he got to sniff my hand he was ok and off they went. Poor little guy obviously had some issues. Maybe it was all the catbirds driving him nuts…LOL.

Ok, let’s finish off with a few more pictures…enjoy!

Great Egret

American Redstart hiding from me

Trumpeter Swan honking and flying over our heads. So close we could hear the “whoomp whoomp” of his wings flapping — it was an amazing experience!

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Superlatives Galore! (And no shortage of exclamation marks either!)

Posted on May 10, 2012 by

Black-throated Green Warbler, one of my favorites

Well, I’ve been home for three days now and am still trying to figure out how to write something that will convey the amazing experience of our second Biggest Week in American Birding. We spent four days on the south shore of Lake Erie watching colorful warblers and other migrating birds as they fed in the trees at Magee Marsh and Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge. We took classes. We birded with friends (Hi, Dr. Bob and Judy!). I took photos. We went to sleep each night exhausted…and dreamed of birds. I’ve had a couple more bird dreams since we got home. And even before I’ve written about this trip, we’ve just planned another one for next week: We’re following the birds who’ve passed through Ohio, and will try to see them again at Tawas Point State Park a few hours north of us here in Michigan. Obsession? Maybe. Passion? Definitely! Besides, most of these migrating birds aren’t around for long, so we have to see them before they’re gone.

See how heavy that camera looks?

Having a 400mm lens for my camera this year really made a difference in the shots I was able to get — much closer than the 250mm lens I used last year. But it’s a big and heavy piece of gear, so I couldn’t hold it up high for long periods of time. Most of the warblers tend to feed high up in the trees (they eat insects off the leaves), so it’s a challenge for the neck and shoulder areas. I’ll bet you didn’t know birding was so physically demanding, did you? This year I got a binocular shoulder harness that removed the binocular weight from around my neck, and that was really helpful too. If nothing else, walking around with that thing strapped on makes you look like a real birder!

Even though I noted about 50 species altogether, I only added 5 totally new warblers to my life list. I’m wondering if I missed some when I went through my hastily-scribbled notes; sometimes it seemed as if I could barely get one written in my notebook when someone called out, “Hey, here’s a Blackburnian!”, and I had to hustle to see that one. Someone else would say, “I’m looking at a Palm and a Black & White in this tree over here…” Yep, it’s that crazy, especially on the Magee Marsh boardwalk, one of the most popular places in the area to see the warblers. (If you want to get a sense of what’s happening down there right now, go to Twitter and search #BiggestWeek.)

Barn Swallow

Speaking of crazed mobs of birders…..

I was, however, very disappointed that the single Kirtland’s Warbler waited until two hours after we got home to make his appearance down there. Unbelievable. I’ve had to satisfy myself with reading Tweets and Facebook posts by people who were lucky enough to be in the enthusiastic mobs watching the bird. If you don’t know about the Kirtland’s Warbler, it’s an endangered bird that only nests in the jack pine habitat found in northern Michigan. It winters in the Bahamas and then migrates back up through the US to its nesting grounds. It’s very closely monitored, and is possibly going to be removed from the endangered list soon, but it’s still very hard to find during migration. A new book was published this spring that tells the fascinating story of the efforts to save the Kirtland’s Warbler from extinction. It’s called, not surprisingly, The Kirtland’s Warbler: The Story of a Bird’s Fight from Extinction and the People Who Saved It, by Bill Rapai. I was lucky enough to hear Bill speak about his book at our local Audubon meeting in April. Of course I got him to sign it for me too! (We hope to get a second chance to see the Kirtland’s when we go up north and take the tour in Grayling this month…fingers crossed!)

To Kim, stay away from me you, crazy woman! (Not really, he’s very gracious)

Speaking of author autographs, I also got Kenn Kaufman to sign his newest book this weekend. I bought the book (Field Guide to Advanced Birding) at last year’s Biggest Week, but wasn’t able to get him to sign it then — I planned to ask him, but I got a migraine during his presentation and had to hustle out to be sick…what a bummer that was. That could be partly why I was so excited to be signed up for two of his workshops this year. Or maybe I’m just a Kenn Kaufman groupie, I dunno. When I had my 30 seconds with him this year I thanked him for his encouragement of newbie birders and told him what a pleasure it is to see someone as experienced as him just light up when he talks about birds. And I got a teenager-type thrill when he actually remembered me from an interaction we had on Facebook a couple weeks earlier –Eric made fun of me for being so excited, but I don’t care. At my age I’ve got to get my thrills any way I can! (Eric asked, “What are you, 10 years old?” I said, “Yes, and it’s fun! Won’t you join me?”) 

Ok, that’s long enough for the first installment. More pics below, and don’t forget that you can click to enlarge the pictures. I wish I could let you hear their beautiful songs too…

Common Yellowthroat

Great Horned Owl nestling, taken from about 75 yards away

Bay-breasted Warbler

Preliminary list of species I saw at the Biggest Week: Blue-headed Vireo, Warbling Vireo, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Veery, Gray Catbird, Prothonotary Warbler, Hooded Warbler, American Redstart, Magnolia Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Palm Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Song Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Lincoln Sparrow, first-of-year Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Baltimore Oriole (lots of them), Great Horned Owl nestling, Eastern Screech Owl, Nashville Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Bald Eagles!, Barn Swallow, Purple Martin, Common Yellowthroat, Indigo Bunting, Blue-winged Teal, American Woodcock, Northern Parula, American Coot, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Black and White Warbler, Bay-breasted Warbler, Hermit Thrush, Trumpeter Swan

 And the more usual suspects that we often see here at home: Red-winged blackbird, Northern Cardinal, Great Egret with one Snowy Egret in the mix, Great Blue Heron, Canada Goose, Grackle, Mourning Dove, Turkey Vulture, House Finch, Tree Swallow, Robin, Blue Jay, Killdeer…

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Ask and Ye Shall Receive

Posted on May 8, 2012 by

Click to see him bigger

This is just a drive-by post, but remember when  I wrote about how much I love Bald Eagles? Well, we just got home from 4 days at the Biggest Week in American Birding in Ohio, where we saw Bald Eagles every day! And even better, I got pics. Enjoy this while I start writing up my account of “Kim and Eric’s Excellent Migration Adventure.” I have so many great bird pictures to share with you all!

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John Denver was Right

Posted on April 28, 2012 by

“I know he’d be a poorer man if he never saw an Eagle fly….”  ~ John Denver

Poor view of a magnificent bird

This line is my favorite one from Rocky Mountain High. Every time I hear it on my iPod I want to see a Bald Eagle again. And yesterday, thanks to my friend Kevin, I finally got to see one practically in my own backyard. I had just spent two hours on the Inwood Trails at Stony Creek Metropark and was heading home when a message popped up on my phone. (I guess I didn’t hear it ring because I had John Denver cranked up too loud…) It was Kevin telling me he’d just spotted two Bald Eagles at Inwood! He gave me the exact location and I turned the car around and headed back to find the adult (Kevin said the juvenile had flown away while he was watching them). It was 20 minutes later by the time I drove back to the park and fast-walked the half mile to the right spot, but the adult was still there. Victory! I hesitate to post this picture because the eagle is partially hidden by branches, but he was there and I saw him, and this is my proof!

The word “majestic” is so often used to describe Bald Eagles that I feel the need to find another word. Dignified? Magnificent? Breath-taking? Stunning? All of those are appropriate, even when the bird is just sitting in a tree like this. And as John Denver knew, if you ever see a Bald Eagle in flight or diving for prey, you’ll be using words like awe-inspiring, mind-blowing, or awesome. Or maybe you’ll just be left speechless. But you’ll never forget it, I guarantee that.

My first Bald Eagle sightings were in Alaska in 2003 and 2007. I saw a couple more in Yellowstone in 2010. About a year ago I saw one fly over the freeway west of Lansing. And last summer as we walked on the shores of Lake Superior, a Bald Eagle flew low over our heads, maybe 30 feet above us. Now that’s a fantastic memory. But now that I’ve seen one here at home, I feel they’re more a part of my real world, not just my vacation world. Does that make sense?

Even though I still rely on others to find out where the birds are sometimes, I’m having more success finding birds on my own lately too. Here’s an adorable little Blue-gray Gnatcatcher I spotted yesterday:

Click to see me bigger and cuter!

And this Red-tailed Hawk too:

My eye is looking right at you (click to see it better)

Next weekend is the start of the Biggest Week in American Birding in the northwest part of Ohio. Here’s what I wrote about this event last year, our first year to attend. As a relative newbie to birding who’d never seen a warbler before, I was stunned at the variety of colorful birds that stop on the south shore of Lake Erie during the spring migration. I added 37 species to my life list on that single weekend and became seriously hooked on birding. I’ve been eagerly watching the Tweets, Facebook postings and emails from people already watching the early arrivals at Magee Marsh, and I’m so excited I can hardly wait to get down there. This year I should be able to ID many of the birds without help from others, but it’s nice to know that there will be so many friendly birders around just in case. I hope to have some warbler pics to share with you in my next post — stay tuned!

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