|
Pretty crazy experience with a young Red-tailed Hawk while dealing with Chaos this past week. Just minding my own business when this hawk decides it wants to try to perch on my window. A window with maybe a 1/2 inch of edge to it. Hercules wasn't very happy about it.  After a short struggle it finallhy dropped to the ground, looked around a bit, and then hopped over to the downed limb I have left for cover for birds in the winter. It then hopped up the various branches till it found a comfortable perch. It just chilled there and allowed me to take over 5 minuts of video, and lots of nice close pictures of it about 25 feet away from me. Even allowed me to lift up the window so I wasn't shooting through the glass. It wasn't till after I went through my pictures that I noticed two things. One it had a full crop, which is probably why it wanted some place to chill, and two it had these amazing blue eyes. Apparently when they are really young they can have grey/blue eyes before they turn the yellow I am used to seeing. So this little one is probably the offspring of the resident pair that are nearby, and very recently out of the nest.        
0 Comments
Spots that are accessible for Birdability
Since the time I finished The Big Year by Mark Obmascik I have wanted copies of these two books by Sandy Komito. I managed to snag them off eBay for what I felt was a very decent price within a couple of weeks of each other. Especially nice that "I came, I saw, I counted" is also autographed, and the seller included a picture of the original books owner with Sandy.   I'll do a quick wrap-up for second half of 2024, after telling the tale of "Ashie".
On Christmas Day as Herc and I were coming home from a nice long walk at Brooks Nature Area, there was an eBird alert for a Great Crested Flycatcher. This is a bird that is gone by end of September. I thought "Oh that is cool as a December bird, but not worth chasing this late in the day.". There was a small part of me that thought, maybe it was something odd. Brendan Klick posted on Discord that it could be an Ash-throated Flycatcher. I kicked into gear trying to see if I could track down the original reporter. They didn't have any information on their eBird profile, but I had a name. I headed to google first, but then dawned on me to check iNaturalist. I was able to message Philip Careless and get ahold of him to get more details. I told him there was a good chance this was an Ash-throated. This bird really had everything come together. Philip is a biologist in Toronto, so he is familiar with birds and knew that a Great Crested would be an odd bird for this time of the year. He just happened to notice it as he was packing his car to return home the next day. Brett the homeowner is turning his yard into a wildflife refuge, so he was amenable to visitation. I got there first thing the next day, along with a handful of other birders. I waited about an hour and 20 minutes, and finally a flash of a bird came in from over the house landing in a berry tree. Sure enough a flycatcher with a bright yellow belly, and the tail feather pattern certainly seemed to rule out Great Crested (a little more on the ID later). Ashie, as it came to be called, hopped around the tree "fly catching" berries from the tree for a bout 30 minutes. It disappeared for a couple hours, and showed up for another 10. Very cooperative bird, other than often it would be behind small branches in this tangle of a tree. It was so well camouflaughed in the tree it was easy to lose if it was facing away from you. Needless to say this bird was something I never had on the radar. I had dipped on one in San Diego that everyone else was able to see. At the time I thought this was the 12th state record, but within a day or two a single sighting showed up on eBird from weeks prior. So Ashie was a definite 1st county record, 13th state record, and the first one for SW Michigan. The nearest state record was around 100 miles away in Lapeer, or on the west side 120 miles away in Ludington. Chicago sightings are almost as close. Ashie ended up staying until unfortunately on January 1st, thankfully while Brett and some experienced birders were there, it succumbed to the elements. My understanding is it was having trouble flying, and fell out of the tree even. I was there earlier in the day, and I noticed it was much less active than it had been. I managed to get there every day from the 26th to the 1st, even on a rain-soaked Sunday it popped out briefly. We had a warmup on the 30th, and Ashie didn't disappoint. I spent 4 hours there as it flew all over the place, catching the few bugs it could. This was one of my most memorable birding experiences ever. It was so incredibly cooperative. At one point it had flown into some trees across the street, then flew about 2 feet off the ground in between 2 other birders legs, then rising up and flying a foot from my head. It was hard to juxtapose the experience of that day with seeing picture of it dying as it lie in a box 2 days later. It really was a blessed experience that I won't ever forget. Ashie put on a great show for hundreds of birders over those 7 days. RIP Ashie. A miriad of issues have me almost completely shutdown from birding. I have only done 15 checklist since my last update. Basically have stopped birding since Memorial Day. The only motivation was going to Homer to find Northern Bobwhite. Won't count on eBird list, but counts on my list. Hopefully they stick around and it turns out maybe they really are wild birds. I am at 194, and thought I'd go chase Dickcissel this past weekend, but just never had the desire to get out and about. My sleep schedule is all out of whack now with the odd hours for moths.  Here are some of the very few bird pics I've snapped since the last update. Not much of note really. Hopefully by fall migration I'll have enough motivation to nab 6 more birds to get to 200. April 8th Hercules and I headed to Waynesfield Raceway, in Waynesfield Ohio, to view the eclipse. I found this site on an eclipse track Google Map that showed it right in the middle of totality. We got up bright and early, beat all the traffic, showed up and there was a line to get in. My response from the Raceway about if I could park there, was simply "Yes, that will be fine"...not oh yeah there are going to be thousands of people here also buying tickets because we bought a website to market it":-). It all turned out good. Great people there and they let me park back in an area where other photographers and astrophotographers were set up from camping overnight. This was one of the greatest experiences in my life. I'm still just in shock about it as I continue to see videos on YouTube. I'm not sure how I get Herules and I to Iceland for the next one, but it is really tempting. Photos didn't turn out as great as I had hoped. There were some high clouds that really kind of diffused everything. On May 10th we ran out to P DR N to try to view the crazy rare Aurora Borealis display that was hitting. Again the clouds caused issues, as I couldn't see anything. I was getting to leave disappointed when I noticed a very bright part of the sky behind the clouds. I put my camera up to my eye and saw the following.  It was doing the crazy light show, but between all the city lights and the clouds it wasn't visible to the naked eye. Regardless it was a great show for the camera. We went back out the next day with clearer skies but a much less impressive, and shorter show.  I think I mentioned more than once last year that it seemed like a really weird year. It didn't feel like I was seeing as many birds as I thought I was. We have Part Deux happening this year. I'll have to break these down some with catching up the end of January and then what happened in February.
My quest to get to 100 total January birds for the county ended up short. There were birds seen I needed that could have gotten me there, but I only managed to nab Barred Owl after the last update. I am now at 96 January birds in total for the county. The Barred Owl also was a FOY bird, helping me to end January at 66 birds. This was my best start to the year at end of January. Heading into February I also had a goal to try to get to 100 total February birds. I started at 94, so much closer than where I was at heading into January. I quickly nabbed Short-eared Owl on 2/2 and got Purple Finch the net day. We made it over to Whitehouse to get Black-crowned Night Heron on the 5th. I started this post a month ago, and just now getting back at it. It really just feels like a really weird year for birding. I don't feel like I've gotten a whole lot of good photos. I know taking Hercules with me makes it a ton tougher. Juggling leash, camera, binoculars and phone can take away from trying to get some good photos. The warm weather also brought the leaves out much quicker and more abundantly than years prior I feel. Despite all this I still had my 2nd best February ever with 70 species, and managed to 7 new February birds to get my total to 101.
March also ended up an extremely good month for me. I tied my high of 90 species in the month, and was only 3 off my pace at the end of the month with 107. 3 new March birds included first March records for the county of Pectoral Sandpiper and Dunlin, along with looks at Short-eared Owls. The big fluddle on RD N really was paying off with ducks and shorebirds this year. 19 FOY birds seen there this year. Lesser Black-backed Gulls started showing up in March. 12 FOY shorebirds also showed up here in Feb-May. When I was there last for Short-billed Dowitcher on 5/15 it was next to no water, with scattered little puddles there. It also managed an American Golden-Plover and amazingly a Red-necked Phalarope!! The only other real highlight of March was a Snow Goose at the Eaton pond in Marshall. April was just expected pickups here and there, albeit likely early records for me on many of them. The American Golden-Plover was a nice find on 4/13, and one of those birds that seemingly showed up from nowhere. I was getting ready to leave when I found it on my final scan. 19 early migrants over the last 4 days of April pushed me to 150 for the year, 7 more than my best pace at end of April. It was 3 short of my high of 129 for the whole month. 4 new April birds for me in Pine Siskin, Lincoln's Sparrow (at my feeders), Lapland Longspur (on 4/27 amazingly) and Ovenbird. I left Chaos behind me the first week in May, but was really disappointed in the quantity of birds. 51 birds at Brooks the evening of 4/30 and 57 the evening of 5/3 I thought were exceptional numbers for between 70-90 minutes of birding. I only managed 2 checklists over 60 though during the 10 days I was free. Most of the warblers were heard only, and even then in small numbers. At least the Black-throated Blue Warbler male gave me great visual looks while singing at Brooks. The Prothonotary was back and giving good looks at Woodland Park. For the most part I've still kept close to my 2022 pace, as I sit at 194 right now with 2022 at 197 at this point. 2022 though I picked up a bunch of easy stuff between now and the end of May to get to 205. Clay-colored Sparrow, Black-bellied Plover, Franklin's Gull and White-rumped Sanpiper showed up in 2022 to add to the total also. Stuff that just isn't going to happen now, with R DR N dry. I'm honestly having more fun with moths this year, and really need to do a write-up on that. Lots happening, and a ton of new stuff this year with the warmer weather. 38 lifers including a potential 1st State Record for an entire genus. I think this might be the year that I don't nab a County Lifer for me. There have been a Northern Bobwhite heard near Homer, and Dr. Dale Kennedy reports she talked to a hunter in the area that says there are 2 coveys there. So maybe a contentious lifer, since the MBRC has deemed them extirpated from the state. Beyond that potential, the rest of the options rest on an irruption of Evening Grosbeaks that decide the I-69 corridor is worthy of their presence, or just really rare stuff with 5 or less records in eBird. I'll still chase getting to 200, or 210. I don't think this is the year for 220 though. For the first time I can recall I did a purposeful Big Day on January 1st. My previous best was 28, so I just wanted to get to 30. With the warm temperatures there was still plenty of open water to explore in the area. Despite this the waterfowl continued to be around in low numbers, at least for me. Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, Hooded and Common Merganser were in open water that likely wouldn't be around normally. Homer WTP was even open, not something that normally happens. There weren't a lot of notable birds, just lots of common birds. Hercules and I got back home for lunch at 31 birds, so now I had a new target of 40 birds. Northern Shrike was still at 23 and O DR N. I missed it first lap around, but upon turning back it was perched up high on west side of 23 Mile. Nice bird to get, that isn't always out in the open. 3 Short-eared Owls showed up late in the evening to put me at 39. One short from my new goal. Luckily shortly before 8 I managed to get a Great Horned Owl calling in the yard. The following weekend, and still plenty of open water, brought me my first January records of Northern Pintail and Green-winged Teal at Ackley Lake and the Black-crowned Night Heron was still hanging around at Albion College. 4 Short-eared Owls were still around on Jan 6. Finally nabbed Rough-legged Hawk while looking for Shorties on the 6th, as well as Bald Eagle. No birding the following weekend as we had a storm come through, finally. Snow has been non-existent this winter except for some in late November. It wasn't until the 20th that we got back out and I was able to pick off Horned Lark and an unbelievably high county of Snow Bunting. One frame I counted 1410 Snow Buntings!! I'm sure there was over 1500 there as not all of them were in the frame. It was crazy. I also saw what I initially thought was a Turkey Vulture, but it did rock. It stayed gliding well over a mile off at B DR N Fields, so I was able to get some distant snaps and even the scope on it. It really gave off Golden Eagle vibes (flight and glimpses of what looked like limited white and golden nape), but the lighting played some tricks with the underwings. Finally looking at rough pics and some help from Whatbird.com I confirmed my thought it was a Golden Eagle!! Wasn't counting on that bird this winter. My first January record of GOEA. Pine Creek Wetlands on the 21st gave up 5 raptors in only 15 minutes, with Rough-legged Hawk, Bald Eagle and a FOY Red-shouldered Hawk that I intially called a Red-tailed Hawk. The 22nd in the yard I got my first January records ever of Fox Sparrow and Purple Finch, alas just one day wonders. An interesting bird behaviour that has happened a couple times is a large flock of American Crows doing a murmuration imitation. I made the note in my checklist that they were "doing their best imitation of the Crebain of Dunland" (had to look up the name to be sure). They were circling around and noisy as all get out. Normally they just fly over well spaced out directly on their way from roost to fields then back to roost at night. Somehow I have managed 7 first January records for me this month. Puts me at 95. I'd really like to push January and February over the 100 mark. With the warming temps coming I'm guessing I could still manage Red-winged Blackbird still. There have been sightings recently of the Blackbird, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Brown-headed Cowbird and Field Sparrow. Also could managed Winter Wren and Barred Owl, maybe even Great Black-backed Gull still. Guess not completely impossible I could pick up 5 more this weekend, but defintely not counting on it. Probably have to wait till next year. On a somewhat related note the county is at 86 birds so far this month, with a previous best of 80. Quite impressive start to the year. Still not like we are exceelling compared to nearby counties though. Definitely a very active January. Jan Birds to get to 100
Between pushing things for end of the year, early push for 2024, and Chaos haven't gotten back to wrap things up for 2023. Starting back up on the 21st I managed a couple snaps of this abieticola Red-tailed Hawk with a THICK belly-band.  The Short-eared Owls continued, but with only 4 on the 21st. No great looks, and very dark out (a theme of the last couple weeks of 2023). Somehow managed a halfway decent shot of a Northern Harrier, even at 1/250th speed. The 23rd managed to be a somewhat banner day for FOY. We started out at Grever's, still trying to find Red Crossbills. I debated which way to go after that, and last second chose to track back down H DR N. As we drove down there I spotted a shape up at top of a dead tree. Immediately gave off falcon vibes, but was an odd spot for a Kestrel. Managed to stop without it bolting and got some nice looks at a FOY Merlin. Had about given up hope on getting one. After not being able to pick up anything unique at Duck Lake we hit up Voorhees to try for Barred Owl again. I did a litle playback and had. nothing happen. As I started to drive off I instinctvely looked back over my shoulder for traffic and saw a noticeable shape in the trees on other side of the road. There was a Barred Owl staring right at me!! Managed to catch 1 Short-eared Owl as the light was fading at J DR N. Then decided to check a spot on G DR N where I have had Eastern Screech-Owl in the past. A little playback and managed to get a faint "whinny" call. Early morning on the 24th I had a pair of Great Horned Owls calling. Not bad, 4 different owls within about 14 hours!  The Screech-Owl got me up to 211 for the year. 24th we headed out yet again, hitting up Kimball Pines Park to try for Crossbills. I had a Blue Jay that was doing a perfect Red-shouldered Hawk call. I mean absolutely perfect call. The Short-eared Owls put on a nice show that evening. I counted 5 of them with a bonus Rough-legged Hawk attempting to steal a vole from an owl. I've somehow managed to rack up 7 FOY birds this month, so far. I've hit that 3 other times, but they were all basically catch up birds that didn't even get me to 200. 6 of the 7 at least were catch up birds for the year. The 7th was a big one that put the county at 226 for the year, tied with last year for best year. Ed Hicks, late on the 17th, found a juvenile Glaucous Gull on Duck Lake. Despite the late hour, Herc and I rushed out there, and with some help from Nolan Williams got on the beast of a bird in the middle of the Ring-billed raft. A really nice bird that unfortunately didn't make another appearance. Chaos wreaked havoc through most of the month. I did managed to get out of work on time on the 8th and catch some brief glimpses of a couple Short-eared Owls. Then went to Albion College and snagged the Black-crowned Night Heron for a new December bird. This bird hung out for quite a while with last sighting on Christmas Eve. Besides a trip to Grevers on 12/9 to try for Crossbills, we didn't get back out until 12/14 to try to snage the Northern Shrike for #206 on the year. The CBC started on 12/16. Got out there probably later than I should have for the owls I needed. Ended up strking out on any owls. I did manage some FOY Pine Siskins finally with a flyover at Waubascon Lake and 8 at Bedford Cemetary, while looking for Crossbills. Another nice find was this leucistic juvenile Trumpeter Swan. It lacks the dusty grey that a normal juvenile would have this time of the year. Note also the orange legs. Another couple of nice finds on the CBC were this abieticola Red-tailed Hawk, and close looks at this Red-shouldered Hawk. The CBC turned out to be one of my best efforts that I can remember. I had 35 species, with a high day for me in December of 43. We decided to head back out after grabbing a bite to eat. We hit Grevers hoping for Red-breasted Nuthatch or some Crossbills. All I could manage was a Pileated Woodpecker there. Duck Lake is where things really paid off with 7 birds there, including a Long-tailed Duck. We ended up at B DR N Fields for Northern Harrier and another flyover from a Short-eared Owl. It was dark, but managed some shots as it locked on me and passed over, and slightly East by about 50 feet. We ended the day at 47 birds. The Pine Siskin on the 16th, and Glaucous Gull on the 17th brought me to 208 birds officially making this my 3rd best year in the county somehow. Not sure how I managed that with the 2 weeks in North Carolina and Chaos being more structured than the previous 2 years. Luckily I was able to ditch Chaos for the last 2 weeks of the year and get out some (not as much as I wanted to). I've decided to try to get to see the Short-eared Owls as much as I can while they are here. They have already started putting up fence posts for the %#$>*&@ solar farm. On the 20th we ened over there and had some very close views of one of them, with very poor lighting. Similar to the above pics these are heaving on the noise reduction.   I think I'll pick this back up tomorrow with the remainder of December.
|
AuthorMy exploits in my latest passion, Birding...not Bird-watching;-) Archives
March 2025
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed
