Pelee Island

I spent today on Pelee Island with Shooters Photography Club.  We were going there to shoot pictures of the winery, vineyard and harvest.  Unfortunately, we didn`t get to shoot a harvest, but we had a great time anyway.  I was also happy to get a few pictures of some birds that I particularly liked...I hope you like them too :)

Taken from the Ferry on the way to Pelee Island

I love groups of gulls....always makes me chuckle :)

Peek-a-book Nuthatch

Sweet :)

Upside down!

 We went to the vineyard after visiting the winery (where the Nuthatch was found) and to the area the machines are kept...saw these birds there:

Cedar Waxwing...there were several!  Most of them juvenile.

I also got a life bird today....

Horned Lark!

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 It was a great day!

Cooper`s Hawk?

On August 27, 2012, I spotted this hawk on the lawn across the street from my house.  The day before, I saw a hawk fly into the tree, a bird fly up out of the tree and the hawk took off.  It was quite noisy and I could only hear it...in comparing it to recordings on my Audubon app, I figured it was a Cooper's Hawk.  On the 27th, this hawk came to the exact same tree numerous times.  Whatever it had killed, some of it had dropped to the ground because it was "stomping" it.  I suspect it ripped the poor little bird in pieces, because it came back several times for more of its catch, still on the ground.  If this is the same hawk as on the 26th, I would guess this is a Cooper's, and it was quite large with a nice, rounded tail.  Please correct me if I am wrong...here a few pictures that I particularly liked.

With prey...as you can see, I was able to get quite close!

Dropped its prey...

On the ground, right in front of me, to pick it up!

Gorgeous bird!

Picked up the prey and flew to another tree, a few houses down.

I thought this was cool.

You can see what looks like entrails hanging from its beak!

Life Birds 95, 96 and 97!

I have decided to lump these next three life birds into one post, although occurring on different days, because I only got pictures of one of them.  Bird number 95, an Eastern Bluebird, was spotted on July 17!!  This bird was seen at our camp site while camping in Howell, MI.  He stopped by briefly, landing first in the tree, then the camper roof, right on the edge.  As I headed in to the camper to grab my camera and binoculars, it took off, never to be seen again.

Bird number 96 was spotted at the camp ground as well, on July 20.  My husband and I were walking around the camp ground, and as always, I check out the trees.  I happened to see a bird on a relatively distant branch, clearly eating a rather large insect.  I snapped a bunch of pictures of it, and studied it back at the camper....it was an Eastern Wood Peewee!  Later the same day, in just about the same spot, although much lower and closer to the roadway, I captured more photos.  It is such a beautiful bird!  I love the yellow on its belly!  Here are a few pictures....

This is when I first saw it....looks like a wasp in its bill??

This was later in the day..much lower and closer.  I must have 50 pictures of this one bird :)

Sweet!

I love that you can see the little hook on the end of its beak.

Bird number 97 was seen on September 1 at the Harrow Fair.  In fact, I saw several this night...Common Nighthawk!  There were so many flying above the fairgrounds at dusk, it would have been surprising NOT to notice them.  Their white wing bar on the underside of the wing and their call made them unmistakable!

Well, I am now caught up!  I am looking forward to some fall birding!  I am headed to Pelee Island for the first time next Saturday (with the photography club I recently joined...not specifically for birding, but I will keep my eyes open!), then it is time for the Hawk Festival again.  With both of my children in school this year (for the first time in 10 years), I am looking forward to getting outdoors more this fall.

Sandhill Cranes!!

On July 17, while on vacation with my husband, we headed out to meet with a local birding group at the Waterloo Recreation Area (WRA).  According to our guide from the Dahlem Conservancy, the WRA is the best birding area in southern Michigan.  On our way there, through many back country roads, I noticed some cranes off in back of a field, mentioned it to my husband, and he kept going!!  The nerve!!  Thankfully, a few minutes later, I saw more, close to the edge of road and he pulled over...lucky for him!  Here are some pictures of them...this is a life bird for me :)

Sandhill Cranes :)

Seeing these birds made my day!  When we arrived at the WRA, we met up with the birding/naturalist group and headed on a hike....on the hottest day of the week!  We learned a lot about the trees and plant species we saw, as well as learning about the differences between a fen and a bog.  I had never heard of a fen before that day.  Due to the heat of the day, we didn't see one, single bird.  Someone commented on hearing a Red-eyed Vireo singing and another man referred to it as a "Bob Seeger Bird", making reference to a song Bob Seeger sings that reminds him of the song of the Red-eyed Vireo.  The landscape was beautiful!  I did manage to get a picture of a Pitcher Plant...

Pitcher Plant

Despite not seeing any birds, it was a wonderful morning!  I will definitely meet up with this group again...maybe for Crane Fest :)

Campground Birds

Back in the middle of July, my husband and I went camping.  We stayed at Taylor`s Beach Campground in Howell, Michigan.  We saw several birds at the campground....many at our site, and a few throughout the rest of the campground.  Here are a few of the favourite pictures I managed to capture :)

Chickadee

Robin

Eastern Kingbird pair

A Blue Jay with a wary eye to the sky...it eventually flew off.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Cedar Waxwing...Juvenile, I believe as it was missing the red waxy tips on its wings.

White-breasted Nuthatch

Tufted Titmouse

Robin eating a grub...I have a whole sequence of this "capture".

Juvenile Robin

Not only was there a good variety of birds (saw others not included above, such as House Finch, Goldfinch, Cardinals....), there was a good variety of dragon flies!  Here are a few pics of them...

I am very proud of this picture :)

There was also an absolutely adorable Eastern Fox Squirrel that hung out near our site...

It was itchy ;)

I have a couple more posts to put up from this trip, highlighting a couple life birds...those were so special (to me at least), they deserve their own post!  I saw three life birds in total...one of which, Eastern Bluebird, I was unable to capture on "film"...when will I learn not to go outside without my camera??

Howell Conference and Nature Center

My husband and I got to go on vacation, just the two of us, in July.  One of the places we checked out was the Howell Conference and Nature Center.  What a beautiful facility!  We were thoroughly impressed with the grounds and the care of the animals they had.  Here are some of my favourite pictures from our visit....keep in mind the animals are permanently injured and therefore in enclosures.

The Eagles were very talkative :)

Beautiful!

Barn Owl

Barred Owl

Bobcat

Broad-winged Hawk

Great Horned Owl

Harlan`s Hawk

Harrier

A woodpecker peeking out of a tree...not a captive bird :)

Porcupine

Red-tailed Hawks

Short-eared Owl

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl...being brought inside to the air conditioning :)