Christmas Count 2010

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Yesterday I helped out Macomb Audubon Society with there annual Christmas count... It was a very good time.. I birded the 425 acres behind my home in the am and then joined the Olesners, a very nice couple, to drive the roads of our area... Highlights of our day was a flock of Snow Buntings numbering 120 mixed with about 40 Horned Larks...Count Highlights included a Rusty Blackbird, Carolina Wren, Common Grackle...  The whole metro detroit area is blanketed with snow and all open water in the county count area is frozen over, so waterfowl numbers were low... I did manage to shoot a couple picks of the snow buntings.

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Eastern Bluebirds... Midday

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I did not know that Bluebirds ate Sumac... but this pair was enjoying a midday snack today... This was the first day in about a week that the temperature was in the 30's...

Whats the big deal? a little wind and some blowing snow and everyone is freaking out!!

I threw a little bit of bird seed on my patio this morning... hoping to draw some juncos in close... this little guy sat in the blowing snow and ate seed for about a half hour.... He was fun to watch...

10 degrees F, 25mph winds and no hawks in site... oh, except for our resident dumb one...

Coopers or Sharp-shinned?

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I had a new bird show up at the feeders today. He is in that in between size.. bigger than a Jay, smaller than a crow... I am calling it a Coopers based on the position of the eyes toward the front of the head, wider white band on tip of tail and lighter feathers on back of neck compared to top of head..... however, I appreciate anyones feedback or opinion in the comment section.... I took his picture thru my bedroom window so images are a little soft... didn't feel like getting on the winter clothes and stalking him...

Ace Hardware or Yellow Throated Warbler? Divert!!!! Divert!!!!

Running some errands today when an email pops thru on my Blackberry... Its the Rare Bird Alert... cool, I am sure its some cool species that is miles away and I will get to see everyones updates.... "Yellow Throated Warbler in Washington Twp".... What? Near my house? At a feeder?  GPS says I can be there in 10 minutes.... I cruise with my camera, don't even have my monopod (my preference when using my zoom), and arrive at the Mccullick home in 9.5 minutes flat... I walked up to the door and rang the doorbell and I am sure shocked Mrs. Mccullick (sorry, didn't get first name) that someone showed up already wanting to see the little guy.... It took about 10 minutes and the Warbler appeared.... He looked so small.... pretty tame... I have heard them before in Kentucky, but this is the first one I have ever seen... one of the few missing from my warbler list... Very cool day!!

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Sandhill Crane still hanging around.... Dude, its 26 degrees, head south!!

 Feeders have been full of birds but nothing new. I am hoping with the latest Cold Weather coming in from the NW that some new stuff will show up.... We need a good snowfall.... I was out doing some prescouting for the Christmas Bird Count and came upon this single Sandhill Crane... He was making all kinds of noise. It looked like it was alone.... In case this is being viewed by anyone outside the Midwest.... Yes, this is the color of Michigan in Winter when there is no snow.... Beige...

Went looking for Northern Shrike Today... no luck, unless you count close encounter with dumb Imm Sharpie luck... Smile... Click

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Spent two hours looking for Shrike behind the house... no luck.. I did manage to locate the couple White-Crowned Sparrows that I will need for the Christmas count and I got a couple Tree Sparrow Photographs... Then as I am exiting the woods and walking into my yard, the Imm Sharp-Shinned Hawk who has been terrorizing my feed for 6 weeks, flies right in front of my face and lands next to the feeder... So I took his photo... Again..... We had a stare down... he got bored and left....

Winter Birding in Scrubs.... Brrrrr!!!!

It was a cold and breezy day today... I took a drive around Stoney Creek Metropark to look for the pair of Bald Eagles that have perching on a dead tree near the south dam.. No eagles, but there were a couple of large raft of waterfowl on the lake.... Most of them were out of reach of my small zoom, but with some 60 percent cropping I managed to post some pics... The rafts of ducks consisted mostly of Hooded Mergansers, Common Mergansers and a few Buffleheads.... I saw one Male Goldeneye that I managed to get a picture of... Winter birding is tough... especially when one is wearing scrubs....