Year of the Redpoll

Just wanted to share a couple of pics of the bonanza of redpolls we have been experiencing the past few weeks. They spend at least part of the day in the nearby corn stubble, and we will have none at the feeder. Then all of a sudden a bunch come in at once - twenty or thirty birds at times. Such a treat for us - at least, for me. The rest of the family doesn't understand what the fuss is all about!

 

Here's wishing you all a New Year full of redpolls! : )

Wolf Lake Fish Hatchery New Years Day

New Year's Day we trekked to Wolf Lake Fish Hatchery, which is on the south side of M43 in Van Buren County, about five miles east of M40.  Waterfowl diversity is down, but there were still some nice birds to be seen, including eleven Trumpeter Swans, the most I have ever seen there in twelve years. For five or six years there was only one Trumpeter out here, but numbers and nesting success have gone up since Mute Swan control began.

Trumpeter Swan - no that isn't a yellow spot - it's some ice

Trumpeter family circles

 

                                                                 This nice male Pintail was very cooperative. 

 

American Wigeon, Gadwall, and Mallard - hunters sometimes call Mallards "Greenheads!"

 

Wolf Lake Fish Hatchery - go there if you are in the area. It is a great way to start a New Year of birding!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                     

Traditions

When I was a teenage birder in Northern California, too many years ago, the thrill of the chase and competitive listing were major drivers in keeping me out in the field and birding. It was only after the life birds started to get few and far between that I started to appreciate the wealth of other reasons to watch birds. As I grow older the list figures less and less prominently as a reason for me to get out and enjoy the birds. I am thrilled and honored when I get a chance to watch birds going about their usual business for a few minutes, as though I am looking through a window into their lives for a while. Birding gets me out of the house and outdoors, something most of my other interests fail to do. Through birding I have made wonderful friends and gotten to visit some incredibly beautiful places that, otherwise, I doubt I would ever have seen.
     I admit, however, that, with the New Year, the listing bug comes out of remission for a few weeks. Even my husband succumbs - he may not go birding any other day of the year, but New Year's Day finds him out in the field with me. You see, I do keep an annual list of birds that I see, and for a few weeks at the beginning of the year, I am back in my teenage mode again, when I came back from every day in the field with fifteen or twenty lifers.  My journal goes with me everywhere, so that I can keep up with my list of species that I am seeing for the first time this year. These days, I also make a little narrative entry about the sightings - I note the American Kestrel was sitting on a wire eating a long-tailed mouse - I saw the Pileated Woodpecker from my recliner in my living room, when he landed on a sugar maple just beyond the deck railing. As I get older,  I treasure these experiences more and more, and they seem to me to be worth writing about, so that at a future time my journal will act as a key to the jewelry box that is my memory, and I can take my treasures out, one by one, and marvel at their beauty all over again.

Woman watches dog watch squirrels

Other Amazing Places

We recently spent a week or so in the Reno area for a family reunion. We haven't been there for two years. It had been long enough that the powerful beauty of the Great Basin hit me like a reunion of it's own, a reunion with something overwhelming that I had somehow forgotten I was missing. I have a few photos to share. : )

Looking west in the Sierra Valley from Dyson Lane. 

 

 

 

 Shortly before I took the picture above, we met a mink strolling down the road. It doesn't look like it here, but the Sierra Valley has extensive wetlands.

Looking north from Dyson Lane.

Three Ferruginous Hawks were dog-fighting overhead at this spot.  A few years ago, I found my one and only flock of Lawrence's Goldfinches playing around this green gate.

Looking west on Dyson Lane. 

Sierra Valley is famous for its raptors, and traveling Dyson Lane, which transects the valley, is a favorite route  to find them. We had around thirty Western Red-tails, including several dark phase birds, a few Northern Harriers, a few Ferruginous Hawks, and some Kestrels. Prairie Falcons, Golden and Bald Eagles, and Rough-legged Hawks are also regular here. Black-billed Magpies and Mountain Bluebirds are often perched on the fenceposts.

Irrigated hay fields are bird-rich.

 This field was full of White-crowned and Savannah Sparrows, hunting Ferruginous Hawks and Northern Harriers, and Western Meadowlarks.

Pyramid Lake is named for the triangular island on the left.

 Our trip is never complete without a visit to Pyramid Lake. It belongs to the Paiute tribe, despite many attempts by the state of Nevada to gain access to the water rights. Thousands of Western and Clark's Grebes are generally present. Unfortunately, they were actively feeding while we were there, and I got lots of pictures of lake water, but no grebes. There were also a few Common Loons and Eared Grebes.

This immature White-crowned Sparrow was more cooperative.

Trust me, it was a Savannah Sparrow. : ) 

 

And I close with the only raptor picture I managed to get - a little Kestrel in the midst of lunch.

And so I got my Great Basin and Sierra Nevada fix at last. The stark beauty, the scent of the sagebrush and the feel of the wind got into my blood again, and for a few days after we came home, home seemed strange. But the jet lag has worn off, and the local scenes provide me with fixes of another sort - images like these reminding me of why home is the most amazing place of all.

Paw Paw Water Tower

Halloween House, Paw Paw

Briggs' Pond in Fall Dress

Another Kind of Blossoming

This time of year it takes me forever to get anywhere. I am distracted by the color, the harvest, birds, farm stands, and just the beautiful light that it seems only happens in the fall. This morning was typical. I was on my way to the library for some research. It's about a fifteen minute drive. I left home at 10:00 AM. About a mile down the street I had to stop and take this picture.

The earth rests after the harvest.

I'll spare you the other four pictures I took. Then I made pretty good time for another 3 miles or so until I came upon these characters. I was able to roll down the window, get the camera out of the case, boot it up, zoom in and still catch them before they quite got away.

Sandhill crane family

And another look

Then I made it all the way to the bank, where I spent about five minutes. Now I was about .2 miles from the library, but somehow my car didn't turn in there - Briggs' Pond and Maple Lake are right down the road. Why not? 

Briggs' Pond from Red Arrow Highway

This female Peking Duck disturbed the serenity of the pond by quacking loudly at me until she realized I really DIDN'T have any bread for her! Her two following males just looked embarrrassed.

After this, I finally headed to the library - total elapsed time since I left home - one hour. I'm not sorry!

The Faces Change

A few new birds came in this week at Maple Lake, joining the resident Mallards, farm ducks and Mute Swans. These coots, including a couple of juveniles, were keeping company with a Pied-billed Grebe. Some of the coots were diving, which I always find entertaining. It just seems wrong! : )

 

This immature Double-crested Cormorant looked similar to the one that used this same spot to rest on a few weeks ago. 

 

There was also a female Shoveler and a couple of Gadwall present, but they were too far out for pictures. Here's a picture of where they were, though. Feel free to zoom in and look! : ) 

Beautiful Maple Lake in Paw Paw

Until next time, best wishes for wonderful finds in your own amazing places!

Harvest time

The grape harvest is in full swing - suddenly the rural roadsides around the vineyards are filled with parked cars, trailers, crates, porta-johns, and dozens of people bent over the vines. At the winery in town, large trucks are loading up the pulp from the pressings and taking it away. This is what the fuss is all about!