The Sweetest Gift!

My neighbour stopped by today, bearing gifts.  Her granddaughter, Lily, painted three pictures that she asked her to bring me :)  Thank you Lily!  I love them!

These paintings made my day!

Ducks Unlimited!

I had about an hour of time to devote to birding today, so I decided to head to Lakeview Marina and Bridges Bay Park on the Detroit River (both really close to home) to see what ducks are around.  There were lots of ducks, but mostly hugging the shore of Peche Island.  I am still learning ducks, so I snapped a bunch of photos to analyze when I got home.  Most of the pictures are a bit fuzzy due to the ducks being pretty far from shore and my largest lens is a 70-300mm (that, and I didn't bring a tripod...I tend to take fuzzy photos at 300mm).  I am also getting really frustrated with my cheap binoculars....I am considering emailing Pelee Wings to pick up a pair before spring.  Anyway, here are a few pictures from this afternoon :)

Mallards...the only ducks that were close.

Common Merganser...I really love this picture :)  I had to sharpen it a bit.

Common Goldeneye!  Life bird!  Love that you can see his golden eye!



Male and Female Common Goldeneyes.

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Gotta love Gulls!  This Herring Gull was really loud!

House Sparrows.  I love the two in "action" :)

Snowy Owls!!!

Today Betsy called saying she and Lydia were going out again today to try to spot the Snowys and asked if I wanted to come.  Sure!  We found two....TWO Snowy Owls in the onion fields today!  We were giddy like school girls :)  We then stopped by to see the Great Gray again, but I didn't take any pics of him today.  A three owl day is a great day!  Forgive the blurry photos...they were far away!

Snowy Owl #1...Got to even watch this one fly and eat something!!



Snowy Owl #2!!  Not one picture of this one facing us.  Assuming this is a female as it was quite a bit larger than the first one.


We also saw some ducks that looked like Scaup...unsure though.  We got a good look at a Northern Harrier today as well!  Great afternoon!!

I am in love with a Great Gray Owl :)

I went out this morning with my best friend Betsy, and her daughter Lydia to see the owl.  Apparently seeing an owl in the wild is on Betsy's bucket list.....CHECK!  I picked them up at 7:00 am and by 8:10 am we had our first sighting of the Great Gray!  We spent three hours following, watching and photographing the owl before leaving the owl (our bladders couldn't hold out any longer....Tim Horton's and birding are not the best match!)  The best thing today....the owl flew directly at and over us....we could have literally touched him!  Seeing him eat a mouse was pretty cool too :)  We then drove around the onion fields hoping to check Snowy Owls off of Betsy's bucket list, but all we saw were shopping bags and white cats.  By the way, I have no idea if the owl is male or female...I am using "him" in a generic sense.  Enjoy these pictures....I never tire of looking at this handsome guy :)

Handsome!!

From here, he flew right at and over us!  Amazing and dead silent!

I love that you can see his feet :)

That blurry bit in his mouth is a mouse!

If you look close, you can see a foot on either side of the beak and the mouses' tail!

Great Gray Owl!!!

I first heard about a Great Gray Owl being in the area here.  A full week later (today, December 30, 2011), I finally got a chance to try to see him for myself and was ecstatic to find he was still there!  These aren't the greatest pictures I have seen of this owl, but they are my pictures, and I couldn't be happier!  This is the first owl I have seen in the wild!  A lifer for me :) 



My first picture of the Great Gray :)





Isn't he beautiful?




Not sure if he caught anything...




Flew to a tree a little way off...




Taking off toward the woods at the back of the field..




Not the clearest picture, but love his wings!

 Once he went into the woods, I waited around for a bit, hoping he would come back, but he didn't...at least not yet!  He totally made my day :)

Juncos....and a Squirrel :)

Here are a couple of pictures from my backyard the other day.  This is the best shot I have of Dark-Eyed Juncos....thanks to my new lens :) 

Such cute little birds :)

Peaking around the corner at me :)

Life Ducks!

Today was an exciting day all the way around...at least for a bird nerd :)  First off, I got my early birthday/Christmas present today!  My husband bought me a 70-300mm lens for my camera!  The rest of the afternoon was busy at my Dad's...Mike (my husband) fixed his truck and helped my Dad with some of the heavier yard work items.  When we left there, we had about half an hour to scout for birds.  On the way home, I spotted a rather large bird sitting on a power wire on Hwy 22, so I zoomed in on him through the window of the truck and was excited to see it was an American Kestrel.  We then stopped by Lakeview Marina to see if any ducks were in the water, but there weren't any...just lots of people fishing.  I said to my husband that I had seen some ducks that were new to me at Goose Bay, so we headed there.  Well, we didn't that far.  I saw some ducks as we passed St. Rose Park, we we pulled over to check it out.  I was thrilled!!!  There were lots of Buffleheads (life bird!!) and at least a couple of Hooded Mergansers (life bird!!!).  Below are a few pictures from my new lens!

American Kestrel on Hwy 22



Hooded Merganser, St. Rose Park

Mr. and Mrs. Mallard, St. Rose Park

Bufflehead, St. Rose Park

A bunch of Buffleheads, St. Rose Park

Scared Buffleheads...a little blurry, but I love that they are running on the water :)