Raptor Mania!

Yesterday (2/10), my mom and I went to Killdeer Plains Wildlife Area in Ohio for a field trip put on by that state's young birders club.  It was incredible!  

On the drive there, I saw 19 Red-tailed Hawks, 1 Cooper's Hawk and 4 Rough-legged Hawks hunting or perched along the sides of the highway.  When we got out at a gas station in southernmost Michigan, a Peregrine Falcon flew over!  Just after we crossed into Ohio, we saw a Red-shouldered Hawk perched on a wooden post low to the ground.  All of this put me at 5 bird of prey species on the day even before the field trip began.   

When we did get there, the young birders piled into BSBO's bus for a drive around the farm fields.  Raptors were everywhere!  There were literally Northern Harriers in every field and Red-tailed Hawks on every woodland border.  There were also at least three American Kestrels around, perching on telephone wires and shrubs.  One of them, a male, was being mobbed by a flicker.  Dozens of harriers and redtails later, the bus parked in the lot at Owl Woods, the preserve's woodland that is famous as an owl magnet. 

Birders that were already there quickly helped us find a Barn Owl high up in a pine tree.  A lifer for me!  The only way to see it was to stand directly beneath it and crane your neck as far as you could, but it was well worth it–it was staring right back down at you, and absolutely beautiful.  We were also shown a Northern Saw-whet Owl not far away from there that was about two thirds up another pine tree.  It didn't take so much straining to see it, but it was blocked by a few small branches and was less clearly visible than the Barn Owl.  We were all delighted to see it anyway.  After everyone had seen both of the birds there, we drove to a location known to be hosting a roost of Long-eared Owls.  Across the road was an eagle nest with two eagles perched near it.   I had now seen 10 bird of prey species on the day.

We trekked out to the Long-eared Owl spot, and indeed, there were five of them roosting in the pine trees there.  Another lifer!  They were absolutely beautiful,  with their striking yellow eyes, long ear tufts, and warm brown mottled plumage.  They were smaller than I imagined they would be, but their presence and personalities were huge!

After that, we went on a  successful search for a staked-out Northern Shrike.  It was very active, flying from bush to bush and getting quite close a couple of times.   The hawthorn shrubs it favored had some mean looking thorns–perfect for a shrike.

Finally, as the sun was setting, we set out to search for Short-eared Owls.  On the way there we saw a flock of robins with a Northern Mockingbird mixed in as well as a flock of American Tree Sparrows that contained a single White-crowned Sparrow.  When we got there, we found at least seven Short-eared Owls flying in the air and perching in big dead trees.  When they flew they reminded me of bats, with their erratic flight, long wings, and flat, broad faces.

I ended the day with 13 bird of prey species:Cooper's, Red-tailed, Red-shouldered, and Rough-legged Hawk; Northern Harrier, Peregrine Falcon, American Kestrel, and Bald Eagle; Barn, Northern Saw-whet, Long-eared and Short-eared Owls; and Northern Shrike.  What an awesome total for the middle of the winter!  It was the best birding day that I'd had in a long while.

Northern Harrier in flight.

Bald Eagles.

 

Northern Saw-whet Owl.

1 of 5 Long-eared Owls.

1 of at least 7 Short-eared Owls.   In flight.

Perched.

Barn Owl.

Northern Shrike.

Oct.-Jan. Avian Photo Essay--Part 1

Wading Birds:

Great Blue Heron, Nov 22.  It was nice to see one on this particular
day, what with the cold air and  bone-chilling winds.

Waterfowl:

 

Western Grebe, 26 Nov.  This very rare bird turned up at Lake Lansing in the middle of November  and stayed an astonishingly long time there.  As you can see, these pics were taken through my spotting scope.  Ingham County has hosted a crazy amount of rarities this  fall and winter, including several Nelson's Sparrows, Northern Mockingbird, Townsend's Solitaire, 2 Franklins,  several Lesser Black-backed, and 1 Greater Black-backed Gull, 1 Cattle Egret, several Surf Scoters, at least 5 White-winged Scoters, Long-tailed Ducks, 2 Buff-breasted Sandpipers, 1 American Golden-plover, 1 Black-bellied Plover (rare in the county), 1 Baird's Sandpiper, 2 Hoary Redpolls, many Bohemian Waxwings, a couple of Evening Grosbeaks, and both crossbills! 

Snow Goose, Oct 27. Cool birds!  One white morph and one blue morph.  I saw these with

Sean Williams on MSU campus.  A LOT of rare geese showed up in the MSU farm fields this year.

I think Sean Williams told me that it's the first fall ever that there have been five--or six, depending on how you

look at it--species reported(Greater White-fronted, Snow, Ross's, Canada, and Cackling, plus an

 "uncountable" Greylag Goose at MSU Ponds). 

Horned Grebe, Oct 15.  I was very excited to find these two Horned Grebes on the small lake at

Hawk Island Ingham County Park.  Crummy picture I know, but an exciting find nevertheless.

Canada Goose, Jan 1.  My second species photographed for the new year!  At Fenner Nature Center.

Cackling Goose, Dec 15.  A cool bird to see in the middle of December!  In some fields off College Road.

"Cacklers" were actually fairly easy to find in the MSU farm fields this fall and early winter.  The one on the right is totally bizarre: no lightly colored breast like a normal Cackling and a really wierd but cool-looking white necklace.

Tundra Swan,  Oct 24.  These Tundra swans that made an appearance at Maple River State Game Area

were a tiny bit on the early side of Tundra Swan migration.

Black Scoter, 10 Nov.  Seen on an Audubon field trip to Allegan County.  There was a Northern Shoveler, of all

things, mixed in--in this picture it's the third farthest to the right.  I believe the furthest to the left is a Surf Scoter.

Long-tailed Duck, 10 Nov.  Seen at an inland wastewater treatment plant in Allegan County

on the same field trip that I saw the scoters.

Birds of Prey:

Bald Eagle, Jan 3.  There were at least seven of these on the ice of Lake Macatawa.

Cooper's Hawk, 28 Nov.  "Coops" visit our feeders frequently, but once we got this House Sparrow trap some

young ones decided that there was something to gain by sitting on top of the trap watching the sparrows inside.

It turns out there isn't.

Golden Eagle, 10 Nov.  This rarity was seen above some Allegan County farm fields while on the aforementioned

Audubon field trip.  What a cool bird!  I loved its wedge-shaped tail and tail pattern.  A very graceful bird.

Barred Owl, 13 Nov.  I was at Fenner Nature Center looking for crossbills when I looked up to see this

owl staring me straight in the face!  I was captivated and its gazed pinned me to the spot.  Luckily, I got my

wits together and snapped a few photos.

Shorebirds:

 Dunlin and Pectoral Sandpiper (middle) and Killdeer, 10 Nov.  All of these shorebirds were seen at Wade's Bayou on that very productive Audubon field trip to Allegan County. All of them were late for their species except for Killdeer, of which there were about 40 on the mudflats.  You can't really tell from the top photo the ID of the birds, and I only know what they are from being there.

Doves:

Just a couple of good shots of the endearing young Mourning Dove that visited the feeders during the months of October and November.

Hummingbirds:

Rufous Hummingbird, 7 Oct.  This rarity was at Black Swamp Bird Observatory's

feeders from September through January, nearly 4 months!

Woodpeckers:

My two favorite shots of a Red-bellied Woodpecker.  I love the action in the top one.   It was so fun to

watch the woodpecker ward off the jay.  

This female Downy Woodpecker ran into a window on 23 November and perched on our window sill 

outside until she recuperated enough to fly away.

A female Hairy Woodpecker at the feeders, 26 Oct.

Part two will be coming soon!

Fenner Nature Center's Townsend's Solitaire: continuing since January 15

For the past several days, I have spent a cumulative total of at least four hours at Fenner Nature Center watching the now-famous Townsend's Solitaire and helping visiting birders view it.  I have already done one blog post about this bird, but that was only a brief description of the bird.  This post is the information and observations that I have collected over several hours of observation and through reading others' accounts of their visits.

   

 

This record is extremely remarkable because as you can see from this animated map of eBird sightings, usually when a Townsend's Solitaire--or any vagrant bird from the west--shows up as a vagrant to Southern Michigan, the first land it sees as it completes its crossing of Lake Michigan is, well, the shore of Lake Michigan, and the first land a vagrant sees is typically where it lands.  Fenner Nature Center, though, is pretty much as far inland in Michigan as it can get. 

The Bird spends a lot of time within a small area of the prairie, but also wanders into adjacent Mount Hope Cemetery--presumably to eat juniper berries--and very infrequently near the central pond.  Within the prairie, it spends most of the time feeding at the western edge of the field pond, or resting--often with a flock of four or more bluebirds--in the apple trees, brush pile, and other small trees and shrubs in the northwestern edge of the prairie. It has also been found several times in the chestnut trees closest to the field pond and at least once in the sumacs east of the field pond.  

All of the spots to my knowledge where the solitaire has been seen, based on my observations as well as others' reports.  The bottom oval encases where it feeds on the buckthorn berries, the top one surrounds the area where it rests and hangs out with bluebirds.  Notice the two spots in the cemetery across the road.

The solitaire and the bluebirds here have an interesting relationship.  When the bluebirds are not near the buckthorn berries, the solitaire is quite often amongst them and very amiable towards them.  In fact, whenever the solitaire is not near its food source, the bluebirds, far more conspicuous than it, are a very handy way to locate it.  When any bluebird tries to get ahold of one of those berries, though, the solitaire turns into a little demon, raising all its feathers and spreading its tail.  Terrified, the thief quickly turns tail and runs.

Interestingly, one of this bird's distinctive field marks--the white eyering, is very noticeable on one side, but smaller on the other side.  All of its other distinctive characteristics are fully there, though. It does have a very long tail, contributing to its larger appearance in comparison to the bluebirds.  It also shows the classic buffy wing bar and black "shoulders", and the upperparts are slightly darker than the underparts.  The tail is all black with white outer feathers.

The side of its head with a noticeabe white eye ring.  The other side has a thinner eye ring.  I need to work on getting a photo of that.

A good view of its really long tail.

 All-black tail with white outer tail feathers.

Buffy wing bars.

An amazing look at all of the wing markings: black"shoulder",
light wing bar, thin black wing bar, and gray flight feathers.

The solitaire's plumage suggests that it is an adult:  A young bird would have more barring on its underparts.  The sexes are inseparable in the field, so no one knows whether it's a male or a female.

The lack of darker barring on this bird's underparts suggests that it is an adult.

When the solitaire decides that it is time to eat a berry, it flies up to and perches on a buckthorn tree, and surveying the pickings decides which berry it will eat, and then launches itself off the branch into a stationary hover directly below its berry of choice.  Then it grabs the berry in its bill and twists its head, which in turn twists the berry off the stem.

Surveying its territory.                                      

Taking off toward its berry of choice.

Hovering in place under its future meal.

Grabbing the berry in its bill.

Twisting its head to loosen the berry.

Got it!!

After the solitaire has the berry, it settles down on a branch, swallows the berry and then usually just sits for a few minutes.  It is during these times that it is the easiest to get a really nice photo.  This is because not only can a photographer get close to it as mentioned below, but it spends a lot of time preening and stretching as well, and when it's not doing that, it has its feathers all puffed out to conserve heat.  These behaviors make for really neat action shots and some very cute portraits.

Preening.

Strrretch...

Another good time of to get good photographs of the solitaire is when it is obtaining its food (because of the hovering behavior, this can make for some great flight shots).  There is one potantial drawback to trying to photograph Fenner's Townsend's Solitaire, especially if you have limited time to do so:

When it takes off and you don't see where it lands, it can blend in really well!

Otherwise, this bird is quite easily photographed.  Besides, this is not that much of an issue, because as mentioned above, the solitaire is usually hanging out with bluebirds when it's not near the buckthorn berries, which makes it much easier to find, even without a clue as to where it is or where it landed.  

While it is digesting a meal, the solitaire seems content to let birders get quite close,
just so long as there are only one to five people approaching it at one time. 

When approaching this bird, the safe distance is about eight feet.  It has been known to come within arm's length, but the important thing to note here is that the solitaire comes within arm's length of people, not the other way around.  When photographing, it is helpful to use a technique that my good friend Mike Boyce taught me:

1) instead of raising your camera before each shot, keep it up the entire time.
2) once you are at a distance that the bird is obviously comfortable with, take some "just in case"photos.
3) keeping your camera up, take three SLOW paces towards the bird and take a few more shots.
4) keep pacing slowly towards and photographing the bird as out lined above until you feel like you are satisfied with your photos or until the bird is obviously feeling uncomfortable, or until it flies off.
5) once it flies off, it is safe to follow it and repeat steps 2-4, but stopping farther away than last time, so as not to get too close to it again.
6)  if you want to get a better angle, take three slow paces at a time until you have the angle you want.

Using this strategy cuts down on the ways that a photographer can scare the bird, plus it allows extra opportunities if the bird flies off before you get a satisfactory shot.

I hope that this amazing bird decides to spend the rest of it's winter at Fenner Nature Center, and that all who come to see it while it's here are successful.