Northern Michigan Birding

On January 3rd, I escaped Lansing for a couple days and started my birding in Rudyard, Michigan in the Upper Peninsula. I drove from Lansing very early, driving through the dark to arrive at sunrise. I noticed two Pine Grosbeaks along the side of the road, so I turned around to photograph them. It was then I noticed a feeder. On this feeder was where I noticed a bird that threw me off... big time. I finally recognized it as a Greenfinch, and a quick Google search from my phone identified it as a European Greenfinch. Cool!

European Greenfinch in Rudyard, MI

Unfortunately, this will go down as an escaped cage bird and will not count on my official "big year", but it was something different, anyway. After photographing the Greenfinch, I finally got around to photographing the Pine Grosbeaks.

Pine Grosbeak

I then moved to the now-famous Northern Hawk Owl spot on the corner of S. Dryburg road and H40. The Owl was not hard to spot hunting from the top of a tree alongside the road.

Northern Hawk Owl

It was shortly after I turned my car around I noticed these Sharp-tailed Grouse sitting in a tree just off the main road. This is too easy, I thought.

Sharp-tailed Grouse, photographed with an iPhone through scope.

Heading back into Rudyard, on Centerline Road, finding a Snowy Owl was a piece of cake.

Snow Owl, also digiscoped

Having cleaned up the main targets, I moved to the Dafter Landfill which was full of gulls. There was a semi-ridiculous amount of Glaucous Gulls of all ages. An adult Great Black-backed Gull was also easy to pick out. I found one other white-winged gull that appears to be a quite "dark-primaried" Iceland Gull, but I need to study it more.

Great Black-backed Gull

Glaucous Gull

I also managed a very poor iPhone digiscoped photo of a Northern Shrike in fading light.

Northern Shrike digiscoped in fading light

I decided to drive back south of the bridge and stay the night with my grandparents that live in Rapid City. After a good sleep, I spent the day birding in Elk Rapids where there was open water. I photographed a smattering of ducks in the harbor.

Hooded Merganser

Common Goldeneye

I spent some time driving back roads looking for finches but didn't find much. I then went back to my grandparents house and photographed feeder birds. I won't bore you with the basics, but here is possibly my favorite photo from the trip. A cooperative Brown Creeper!

Brown Creeper

Of course, if you want to see some other images of varying quality of the more common stuff, they can be found on the flickr page that is a work in progress.

Keep checking back for more updates. I don't have anything too crazy lined up for the next few weeks, but in late January I depart for Florida. I'll keep photographing around Michigan until then. One of these nights I'll focus on some more owls.

Tickin' the Easy Ones

The easy ones count too, right? I didn't have much time to bird today, but did get out around residential Lansing. Believe it or not, Lansing does have a few birds in the winter, just nothing like Texas or Florida. And these few species need to be photographed.

White-breasted Nuthatch

I started at Fenner Nature Center where I got better pictures than yesterday of a White-breasted Nuthatch (above). The place was essentially dead. I managed to find one Northern Cardinal that posed, but a bit further away than I would have liked.

Northern Cardinal

Frustrated with the lack of birds, I moved to the Mt. Hope Cemetery hoping for Crossbills, or anything really. I finally found a flock of birds that contained Downy Woodpecker, Red-breasted Nuthatch, American Goldfinches, Eastern Bluebirds and Cedar Waxwings! So I got to shooting.

Cedar Waxwing

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Eastern Bluebird

Downy Woodpecker

American Goldfinch

My last stop was along the river at Potter Park Zoo where I poorly photographed an American Crow. I'll do better eventually.

American Crow

It is becoming obvious that photographing 500 birds in one year is going to be a serious challenge. Right now it is slim pickings around Lansing. I'm leaving bright and early for the Upper Peninsula which promises to be more interesting. In a few weeks I will be in Florida. That when the getting will be really, really good.

The First of Many

American Tree Sparrow

 Today kicked off my photographic big year. Conditions were not what one hopes for when taking pictures; dark gray clouds draped the sky and allowed little light to trickle through. However, I was still able to take a few pictures to get the ball rolling. I will be posting pictures to the flickr site, even bad pictures. Throughout the year, I'll replace those horrible pictures with better ones of the same species.

Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge was a bit slow today, although we found an "Oregon" flavored Dark-eyed Junco, a rare bird for Michigan.

We also had Tundra Swans and Snow Buntings fly over. We then worked along the Grand River by Moores Park in Lansing. A chilly-looking Great Blue Heron was only slightly unexpected. The Peregrine Falcon below was photographed at quite a distance.

On Thursday I'll venture to Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Rumor has it that a Northern Hawk Owl, Great Gray Owl, and a few Hoary Redpolls can be found around the Soo and the rest of Chippewa County. With a little luck, I just might be able to track a few down.

To the New Year!

Hello, and welcome to my newest blog. In 2013 I will photograph as many species of birds as possible in the ABA Area while raising money for Hawaiian bird conservation. The donations will directly benefit the American Bird Conservancy and their current work to protect the native species of Hawaii. I will be pledging for each species photographed and I hope you will join me. Check back often to track my progress. I'm looking forward to the New Year!