Last Weekend of October - 10/31/2010

From Roberts Road to Campau Road at Pte Moo HQ - Cardinals, Robins, Yellow-rumped Warblers, White-throated Sparrows, Song Sparrow, Black-capped Chickadees, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, a Carolina Wren and a melodious Eastern Bluebird. These are what made up the last days of October for me.

Til my nest post, have a good week.

A Good Weekend - October 22, 2010

Before I left work on Thursday I sent an email that read I probably wouldn't be in on Friday since it was suppose to be the nicest day of the weekend. I won't bore you with details but instead tell you what and where I photographed on Friday. I started off on Roberts Road where I photographed an Immature White-crowned Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Rusty Blackbird, Northern Flicker, Yellow-rumped Warbler and a White-throated Sparrow.

I did walk the trail at Lake Erie Metro Park where the Yellow-rumps were flying everywhere, along with the hundreds of Robins and Cardinals out there. At the big lookout at the back of the trail I managed to get a photo of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. A Red-tail Hawk landed on a tree just across from the smaller outlook where a bunch of Rusty Blackbirds were playing in the mud. And of course you can't help but stop and talk to Luc before you leave.

On Saturday I drove out to Pte Moo HQ again to try and get the sunrise. To watch the sky full of color as the sun rises up is just breath taking. There is something definitely serene about watching. After the sun reaches its heights I went to sit just inside the gate where the usual attractions were flying around. There's a pine tree with grape vines inter-twining through its branches where a Gold-crowned Kinglet makes an appearance. Today he definitely tested my skills as to whether I would get a photo or not. Other birds that I photographed were: Cardinals, Yellow-rumped Warblers, White-throated Sparrows and of course the Black-capped Chickadees.

The Thrush was photographed in my backyard. While sitting at the kitchen table I looked up to see this bird perched on my back fence. I ran to get the camera and then scrambled to find a memory card since the one that was in the camera was in the reader. He wouldn't turn around but it was enough to know that it was a Thrush.

Til my next post. Have a Good Week.

Sunday - October 17, 2010

Although Saturday was just as equally nice as Sunday there was more bird activity today. I start my day by watching the weather channel to see when the sun is going to rise. My problem is that I keep forgetting that the time they mention means the sun is already up in the sky. So on my way out I stopped off at Bishop Park in Wyandotte to try and get a picture of the yellows, oranges and purples that fill the sky over the water. The time is 7:38 and the sun rise is scheduled for 7:48. After taking the picture you can't help[ but sit and look to take it all in.

With this part of my trip out of the way I head on over to Pte Moo and Roberts Road. I drive down to the very end and park to see how much activity is going on. The birds are really singing up a storm today and the flying in and out of the fragmites is pretty strong as well. I managed to get one Immature White-crowned Sparrow to be very accommodating in getting his picture taken. I love the ones that make this part of birding so easy. First look to the left, now to the right, maybe one over the shoulder. Maybe now it's time to move on.

As I head on back down the road I hear singing off to the left so I decide to ride close to the edge of the little horseshoe kind of opening. There I found Gold-crowned Kinglets flying through a tree close to the road, jumping from this branch to that branch very quickly.

The rest of my journey down Roberts Road before heading home will allow me to photograph Dark-eyed Juncos, White-throated Sparrows, a Rusty Blackbird, Yellow-rumped Warblers, and what seemed to be a surprise to me - a Wilson's Warbler.

A beautiful day and a great picture day for me. Til my next post.

Wet, Cold & Eventful - 09/25/2010

Headed up north on Friday to get in an extra day of fishing for what would be our last time fishing on the Ausable for the season. The smaller of my two cats (Peanut) went up with us – she wasn’t feeling well and she had an allergic reaction to her vaccination that she got on Thursday. The weather was cold, windy and wet – I can say that I did not get in any fishing as planned but my boyfriend did. For me I spent the weekend (except for when I sat in the truck while he went wading) in my blind watching the birds fly in and out like planes at the airport.

One after another the birds perched themselves on the branches where the feeders were waiting their turns to get seed. Black-capped chickadees flew in three/four at a time chasing this one off and losing a turn. White-breasted Nuthatches were doing the same. Red-breasted Nuthatches were going to the feeder off to the side where no other bird was going except for a few chickadees. The Blue Jays joined in sometimes two – sometimes four at a time looking for the corn that I left on the bench to keep the squirrels away from the feeders.

Other birds that came in to store up were the Downy Woodpecker, the Hairy Woodpecker, A Red-bellied Woodpecker, the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker made another appearance and the Pileated Woodpecker soared in from out of no where.

There were other birds in the area as well – some kept to the tree tops and only came down so far. Some also were very much back-lighted and I just couldn’t focus in to tell what they were. On Saturday there were three White-throated Sparrows scurrying around on the ground under the trees – it wasn’t until they hopped up to a branch that I was able to get a shot. On Sunday while the Pileated was on the tree to my left, chickadees, nuthatches, and a few Tufted Titmouse were on the tree in front of me an Hermit Thrush made an appearance to the right of me. So many to choose from, not enough hands or cameras to take advantage of this over-whelming opportunity.

Now I will say that although the squirrels can be entertaining (and believe me there were quite a few) there was one little Yellow-rump Warbler that was interesting to watch. In all the books that I have gone through when looking for birds there are those that will go to feeders and those that won’t. This little Warbler would start at the top of the trees and work its way down til it was within inches of the feeder and then take off. I couldn’t help but wonder if it was just waiting for me to turn my back so it could see what the others were getting out of this screened cage with seed. Was it worth the plunge? I know it came close to trying the pancake/peanut butter mixture in the hold of this stump and then changed its mind. Guess I will never know.

That was the end of my weekend - til my next post...

My Little Bird Fest - Sept. 10, 2010

Friday - today is my brother Steven's birthday and my sister Nancy and I decided to take him out for lunch, but before doing that I decided that if I go out about 7 and return around 10 I'll have enough time to get ready and meet everyone. I headed out to Roberts Road (Reaume Rd to Roberts) to see if anything was just sitting in the trees or on the poles. There usually is - the only problem is that the light is in back of them and today wasn't any different. Perched on a power line there is an American Kestrel and on the post a little ways away is a Hawk (too far to tell what kind) - on the other side of the road a row of Starlings.

I traveled down to the end of Roberts Road and park there for about a half hour just watching the birds fly in and out of the fragmites. As I leave the parking lot movement catches my eye and the fun begins. I saw and hopefuly captured a decent photo of the following bird: Pine Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Common Yellow-throat, Yellow Warbler, American Redstart, a Nothern Flicker that was doing their best to get the attention of another Flicker (and succeeded), Blackpoll Warbler, Orange-crowned Warbler and a couple of Baltimore Orioles. (female & immature).

I watched the Flicker for some time pruning herself, acting coy, looking to see if she caught the eye of a male that was close by and I didn't see until he took a couple of leaps towards her. The American Redstart was the last bird I saw on this outing, as quick as he popped his little head out of the branches that's how fast he was gone.

As I started to head home this Red-tail Hawk posed very patiently as I pulled my vehicle off to the side of the rode. After a few shots he took off, as I watched him fly away I noticed that there was another sitting on another pole just behind me.

On Saturday I decided to go down to Roberts Road again but unfortunately not a bird could be found. Do you think with all the shooting that is going on now due to hunting this and/or hunting that the birds go someplace else where it's safer and less noisey?? I did go to LEMP where a Detroit unit of the Audubon was there looking at birds through their binoculars shouting "Black and White Warbler", "Blue-headed Vireo", "Golden Eagle" no Robin. When I caught up with them they were looking up and there perched on a top branch of a tree sat a Hummingbird. After snapping a few shots I decided that it was time to head home. All in all not a bad weekend. Til my next post.

New Camera to Shoot With - August 30, 2010

For a while now I have been thinking about getting a new camera. Not that there was anything wrong with what I had (Rebel XT) but I really thought that it was time to upgrade. I went and purchased a Canon 50D - to go along with my EF 100-400mm f4.5 - 5.6L IS USM lens, along with the battery grip (one heavy piece of equipment - literally). I took the camera out as soon as I got it (without the calibration) and took the first three shots shown in the column to the right of my blog page.

My friend Jerry helped me calibrate my lens to the camera (I didn't even know that needed to be done) on Friday morning (a week later) I took it out that afternoon , Saturday and Sunday. The next three shots in the right column were taken after calibration of the lens.

As with anything new you always want to experiment - and I and I can't wait for the Labor Day weekend so I can do just that. So... Til my next post.

Fourth of July Surprise - 07/22/2010

July is fast coming to an end. My little trek up to St Ignace is next week and I am hoping that the weather is a little more forgiving than it has been. I only have a couple of highlights for this month. The Fourth of July weekend was a stay at home weekend for me. This was the first time in 12 years of going up north that we didn't. But on the 4th I decided to go over to Pte Mouillee and see if there was anyting interesting out there. As I traveled down Campau Road I watched a couple of Yellow Warblers flying through the trees. One stayed on one side of the road the other flew to the other side. After taking the photos mom and baby reunited and I was off down the road.

I sat outside the gate of Pte Moo HQ on Campau Rd because in the past there's always so much activity going on in the foilage out there. With the slight breeze that brushes the tops of the bushes there is the occasional jerking in the bushes. Robins working their way from the ground up. Cardinals playing catch me if you can. An occasional outburst from the Gray Catbirds that are in there - they just don't want you to see them.

As the temperatures started to rise and the sun beating in on the right side of the vehicle movement in the bottom of the thicket caught my attention. Not really being able to see what it was (not even through the lens of my camera) I decided to just focus in on whatever I could grab and snap a couple of shots. Must say when I got home to view my shots of the day I was a little surprised at what I had photographed. A baby Great Horned Owl (seemed to have wakened from a nap). Although I didn't see mom or dad around I'm sure they were keeping a watchful eye on this one.

My next outing was this past Sunday - I went out to Campau Road again but after an hour and a half nothing was happening so I moved my way down to Roberts Rd. Roberts Rd has been good to me - it seems to be the place where I can usually grab my first shot of something. Today I got my first decent photo of an Indigo Bunting. This little guy seemd to be everywhere I traveled down that road (unless he had a lot of friends). As you travel the road there is a trumpet bush that that day seem to attract a Red Admiral, a Red-spotted Purple, a Monarch, a Common Sulfur, a few different Dragonflies (of which I have no idea of their names), and an Oriole hid amongst the orange. If a Hummingbird would have appeared it would have made my day - but no such luck. With the road coming to an end I decided to head on home. Til my next post.