I just got back from a wonderful afternoon lunch break at the Arb.
The birding was not particularly different from what it was when I went there the 20 or so times before (as I said, wonderful) but a flock of 7 Eastern Bluebirds up close or 19 American Tree Sparrows were real treats.
Something was different though, and that was the landscape. The weather has been crazy here lately and as one of the results of last night's follies everything in and around Ann Arbor today was - and in fact still is - covered in ice and icicles, the magic of icy rain.
Yes I know, icy rain is pure horror for those who have to live in the outdoors permanently, like wild birds, and I do feel worried about them, but the trees and the forest and tall grass prairies are just wonderful when they are covered in ice and have a Northern Cardinal perched on them somewhere. I have to admit that things were not perfect because the sun wasn't out, the sky was of a monotonous but bright grey, almost white and blending with the landscape below it. But the atmosphere was just beyond description, so I'll stop and post some pictures soon.
How without a digital camera?
Well, I did take my ordinary old and trusty analog camera with me (for the youngsters: this is something where the light falls onto gelatin and some silver stuff that's pasted to a stiff plastic foil and then you have to send light through this to produce pictures on paper) and as soon as the film is used up I'll have it developed and the images digitalized for the blog.
But what inspired me to today's blog entry was not directly what happened outside but what happened inside once I was back at my apartment:
I was cold and wet (there was a constant slight drizzle of sleet or rain), my hands and feet were stiff and when I looked outside my apartment window I noticed it had started to snow and the wind had picked up.
[Now that I mention it: I now know why we still don't have a decent snow cover in Ann Arbor. Snow fall here is always associated with high winds and I have never seen snow actually fall, I only saw it rushing past in a horizontal line. So we do get lots of snow here but it just doesn't hit the ground, it gets blown all the way down south until it finally turns into rain and troubles the 'pecker searchers in Florida.]
Anyway, I got distracted there. I was cold and so on and now here's what I simply had to do to recover:
some Après-Birding.
Never heard of it and clueless how to do it in a decent yet proper way?
I thought so, so here is the remedy:
This is what you need:
- a few cinnamon sticks (don't worry, Sharon, not the furry one)
- roughly half a litre of water
- a cup of milk
- a teaspoon of honey (or a bit more)
- a teaspoon of instant coffee
- half a teaspoon of cocoa powder
- an armchair
- a window with a view towards a tower that's got some Peregrines on it.
Cooking directions:
- Place cinnamon sticks in pot with water and boil/simmer for a good hour or so (this can be done in advance and the concentrate kept in the fridge for a few days).
- Heat milk.
- Put honey, instant coffee and cocoa powder in cup.
- Add a shot of the cinnamon-concentrate according to taste.
- Add hot milk.
Serving Suggestion:
- Return from a bird trip through a magnificent winter landscape having seen a flock of 7 Eastern Bluebirds and 19 American Tree Sparrows.
- Feel cold and stiff and in need to warm up.
- Move an armchair or anything comfortable to sit in with a thick blanket in front of a window.
- Get your binoculars and the birder's winter drink as described above and have a seat.
- Look out of your window onto the snow and storm and feel happy to be inside.
- Watch a Peregrine Falcon watching the city life from its perch on top of a downtown Bell Tower.
- Enjoy life, it's great to be a birder.
Monday, 15 January 2007
Saturday, 13 January 2007
Time Flies...
"Time flies when you're having fun!"
I am sure we have all heard that saying of old or even used it ourselves once in a while, casually in a shallow conversation and never really reflecting upon its meaning.
But look at it: it's not all there is to it, nope, yet again, let me repeat this: again, we are left there standing with a half-true, purely deceptive, lame and pretty much useless chunk of words that leaves us feeling as if we were putting on a trouser with only one leg or had just watched the Luneau video.
Surely time flies when you're out there enjoying yourself but it also flies when you are up to your neck in work!! And I don't mean this kind of work.
See, that's what happened: no post since last Tuesday because of work!
Lame excuse?
Well maybe, but I tried really hard to distract from this dumb excuse by writing about a lame saying.
I know it didn't work out too well, but like in birdwatching: it's the effort that counts, not the observation (yeah, right).
I like being a birder. And as a matter of fact, my work sometimes even includes birding of some sort. Now, I wouldn't go as far as saying I sometimes like my work, but it isn't all black and gloomy all of the time.
You see I was so busy because I had to finish a report on a Breeding Bird Survey I did last summer in this kind of landscape...
...where amongst many others I saw this kind of bird:
... a beautiful male Whinchat,
or saw numerous birds of this kind, the much-loved Yellowhammer:
Analysing numbers on density and relative abundance never matches the excitement out in the field, but the memories of Great Grey Shrikes, Ortolan Buntings, breeding Cranes, 5 species of Sylvia-Warblers, Red-backed Shrikes, Partridges and Quails all help to make it through a rainy Michigan day in front of your computer in January.
Well I wasn't being entirely honest here, I must confess: Wednesday was still rather pleasant weather-wise and as I had promised myself the day before, I went to the Arb, and from the Arb through Fuller Park back home.
Nice stuff.
Life can't be bad if you come home from a short walk, having seen
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker,
Hairy Woodpeckers,
Red-tailed Hawks,
Northern Cardinals,
Tufted Titmice,
Eastern Bluebirds,
White-breasted Nuthatches,
Blue Jays and
White-throated Sparrows
and basically can say to yourself that you haven't seen anything special.
Oh, and apart from Bluebirds, Sapsuckers and Sparrows, I also thought this was really a more than excellent find in the last few days (I can't link to it directly, stupid MySpace, but here's how to get there):
go here, scroll down to his "friends", visit "Bird Girl" and click on "You might be a birder if..."
OK, this was it for today. Not very thought-provoking but hopefully your time flew because you were having fun - somehow. If not, please come back later, I promise to write something more entertaining and possibly even - gasp - remotely intelligent soon.
Cheers and good birding over the Weekend!
I am sure we have all heard that saying of old or even used it ourselves once in a while, casually in a shallow conversation and never really reflecting upon its meaning.
But look at it: it's not all there is to it, nope, yet again, let me repeat this: again, we are left there standing with a half-true, purely deceptive, lame and pretty much useless chunk of words that leaves us feeling as if we were putting on a trouser with only one leg or had just watched the Luneau video.
Surely time flies when you're out there enjoying yourself but it also flies when you are up to your neck in work!! And I don't mean this kind of work.
See, that's what happened: no post since last Tuesday because of work!
Lame excuse?
Well maybe, but I tried really hard to distract from this dumb excuse by writing about a lame saying.
I know it didn't work out too well, but like in birdwatching: it's the effort that counts, not the observation (yeah, right).
I like being a birder. And as a matter of fact, my work sometimes even includes birding of some sort. Now, I wouldn't go as far as saying I sometimes like my work, but it isn't all black and gloomy all of the time.
You see I was so busy because I had to finish a report on a Breeding Bird Survey I did last summer in this kind of landscape...
...where amongst many others I saw this kind of bird:
... a beautiful male Whinchat,or saw numerous birds of this kind, the much-loved Yellowhammer:
Analysing numbers on density and relative abundance never matches the excitement out in the field, but the memories of Great Grey Shrikes, Ortolan Buntings, breeding Cranes, 5 species of Sylvia-Warblers, Red-backed Shrikes, Partridges and Quails all help to make it through a rainy Michigan day in front of your computer in January.
Well I wasn't being entirely honest here, I must confess: Wednesday was still rather pleasant weather-wise and as I had promised myself the day before, I went to the Arb, and from the Arb through Fuller Park back home.
Nice stuff.
Life can't be bad if you come home from a short walk, having seen
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker,
Hairy Woodpeckers,
Red-tailed Hawks,
Northern Cardinals,
Tufted Titmice,
Eastern Bluebirds,
White-breasted Nuthatches,
Blue Jays and
White-throated Sparrows
and basically can say to yourself that you haven't seen anything special.
Oh, and apart from Bluebirds, Sapsuckers and Sparrows, I also thought this was really a more than excellent find in the last few days (I can't link to it directly, stupid MySpace, but here's how to get there):
go here, scroll down to his "friends", visit "Bird Girl" and click on "You might be a birder if..."
OK, this was it for today. Not very thought-provoking but hopefully your time flew because you were having fun - somehow. If not, please come back later, I promise to write something more entertaining and possibly even - gasp - remotely intelligent soon.
Cheers and good birding over the Weekend!
Tuesday, 9 January 2007
Searching for Thayer's, finding: Horned Larks
Today was our third try for gulls and my third go at finding a Thayer's Gull.
Bruce and I met downtown just before 11:00 a.m. and after picking up Jim Gruber we headed out again to the Salem Landfill where we got around noon.
On getting there, we could see that all the gulls were way up flying in a big whirl above the dump and on reaching the top, there was not a single gull on the ground and above us roughly a few hundred, much fewer than when we were there last Friday.
Bummer.
What we did encounter up on the dump right after opening the door of the car was a fierce and very cold wind.
Maybe the Red-tailed Hawk that flew around the slopes had flushed the gulls or they just didn't like the wind up there, but it took them quite a while to settle down again with us waiting patiently in the car.
Finally the gulls seemed to come in to land again and we ventured out on foot across the landfill to a good vantage point up on a small ridge. This time the ground was frozen making the walk across the mud much more pleasant and the smell wasn't as bad as last time either. I even managed to eat a chocolate bar on the dump, not something one would normally enjoy.
Shortly after we had started walking, we spotted movement on the ground and soon found ourselves standing just a few metres in front of a small group of 6 Horned Larks. Now, for someone who's got the insanity of enjoying subspecies, encountering Horned Larks delivers instant joy. North America alone is host to no less than 16 or even 21 subspecies (depending on who you ask or what you read), making this one of the most diverse species on the continent. An interesting link to the different subspecies is here and if that isn't enough, try also here.
In May 2005, I was somewhat disappointed at finding only the locally breeding subspecies which is called the Prairie Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris praticola). This subspecies is characterized by a very pale facial colouration with just a shade of yellow on the throat and an almost whitish supercilium. The breast and flanks are mostly white and don't show an obvious brown or buffy wash to them. Here's a picture of a Prairie Horned Lark I obtained in May 2005 on Gooding Road a bit south of Ann Arbor.
Today's birds seemed different however, with an overall darker colouration, obviously reddish brown or buffy breast sides and flanks and a few of them (presumably the males) showed a strong yellow tone on the throat and the supercilium very much reminiscent of the Scandinavian subspecies flava. After consulting a few birding sources on the internet, I am rather confident that the birds we spotted on the barren and frozen ground of a "mountain ridge" in the biting coldness of a northerly wind were indeed Northern Horned Larks of the nominate subspecies E. a. alpestris. At least the description fits well and this is the only other subspecies we can expect to occur here, so it's good enough. Well, of course they might have been a stray group of European birds but I didn't look that closely...
On reaching the ridge and scanning the surroundings we still found very few gulls on the ground and those we scanned through were mostly Ring-billed Gulls with only a few American Herring Gulls mixed in. Conditions were less than ideal with the gulls constantly taking flight again and facing away from us even in the air due to the strong and cold wind. After showing some good will and trying for 10 minutes or so, we finally decided that this was not the right time and place for finding Thayer's or California or Slaty-backed Gulls and decided to move on to another location, Grace Lake on Tyler Road.
Before we left, we did notice the amazing view that the clear and cold air afforded us from on top of the dump. We could easily spot the high rise buildings of Ann Arbor (12 miles/20 km away) and downtown Detroit seemed just around the corner (although roughly 30 miles/45km away).
Grace Lake was really good, I must say, with around 3.000 Gulls present. We had found a much better observation point than last time, and by much better I mean the reduced distance to the gulls and not the flock of Dark-eyed Juncos we saw at that particular spot.
A thorough scan of the gulls (with around half of them on the lake and the other half sitting on a slope on the opposite side) produced a few Ring-billed Gulls, around 15 Greater Black-backed Gulls, at least 2 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls and one sparkling adult Glaucous Gull. Hmmm, I know that an adult Glaucous Gull looks far more cool than a Thayer's but I still couldn't really focus on it for long, scanning the numerous American Herring Gulls for some pale winged birds instead. A few of the adults showed a very reduced black pattern on their wing tips in flight and had me half excited but each and every one of those turned out eventually to be nothing but an ordinary American Herring Gull. The Sibley guide mentions that around 1% of American Herring Gulls in the East show a reduced amount of black on their wing tip and I had to face the barren truth: there was simply a slight accumulation of this 1% at Grace Lake today (comparable to northern populations of European Herring Gulls Larus argentatus argentatus whose wing tip pattern also resembles Thayer's, frighteningly so), but no Thayer's that we found.
We eventually gave up - of course still very happily so with Glaucous and Lesser Black-backed Gulls seen very nicely - and after checking a few spots south of Ann Arbor (American Kestrel, Canada Geese and Mallards being the only somewhat noteworthy species) returned home.
Well, Thayer's Gull seems to be one of the species I really need to earn myself for some reason. But I'm hanging in there, no reason to get doubtful just yet!
Today however I have noticed that my last visit to the Arb was one calendar year ago, so I am currently planning to go there next, possibly tomorrow weather permitting.
It has become cold at last.
Bruce and I met downtown just before 11:00 a.m. and after picking up Jim Gruber we headed out again to the Salem Landfill where we got around noon.
On getting there, we could see that all the gulls were way up flying in a big whirl above the dump and on reaching the top, there was not a single gull on the ground and above us roughly a few hundred, much fewer than when we were there last Friday.
Bummer.
What we did encounter up on the dump right after opening the door of the car was a fierce and very cold wind.
Maybe the Red-tailed Hawk that flew around the slopes had flushed the gulls or they just didn't like the wind up there, but it took them quite a while to settle down again with us waiting patiently in the car.
Finally the gulls seemed to come in to land again and we ventured out on foot across the landfill to a good vantage point up on a small ridge. This time the ground was frozen making the walk across the mud much more pleasant and the smell wasn't as bad as last time either. I even managed to eat a chocolate bar on the dump, not something one would normally enjoy.
Shortly after we had started walking, we spotted movement on the ground and soon found ourselves standing just a few metres in front of a small group of 6 Horned Larks. Now, for someone who's got the insanity of enjoying subspecies, encountering Horned Larks delivers instant joy. North America alone is host to no less than 16 or even 21 subspecies (depending on who you ask or what you read), making this one of the most diverse species on the continent. An interesting link to the different subspecies is here and if that isn't enough, try also here.
In May 2005, I was somewhat disappointed at finding only the locally breeding subspecies which is called the Prairie Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris praticola). This subspecies is characterized by a very pale facial colouration with just a shade of yellow on the throat and an almost whitish supercilium. The breast and flanks are mostly white and don't show an obvious brown or buffy wash to them. Here's a picture of a Prairie Horned Lark I obtained in May 2005 on Gooding Road a bit south of Ann Arbor.
Today's birds seemed different however, with an overall darker colouration, obviously reddish brown or buffy breast sides and flanks and a few of them (presumably the males) showed a strong yellow tone on the throat and the supercilium very much reminiscent of the Scandinavian subspecies flava. After consulting a few birding sources on the internet, I am rather confident that the birds we spotted on the barren and frozen ground of a "mountain ridge" in the biting coldness of a northerly wind were indeed Northern Horned Larks of the nominate subspecies E. a. alpestris. At least the description fits well and this is the only other subspecies we can expect to occur here, so it's good enough. Well, of course they might have been a stray group of European birds but I didn't look that closely...
On reaching the ridge and scanning the surroundings we still found very few gulls on the ground and those we scanned through were mostly Ring-billed Gulls with only a few American Herring Gulls mixed in. Conditions were less than ideal with the gulls constantly taking flight again and facing away from us even in the air due to the strong and cold wind. After showing some good will and trying for 10 minutes or so, we finally decided that this was not the right time and place for finding Thayer's or California or Slaty-backed Gulls and decided to move on to another location, Grace Lake on Tyler Road.
Before we left, we did notice the amazing view that the clear and cold air afforded us from on top of the dump. We could easily spot the high rise buildings of Ann Arbor (12 miles/20 km away) and downtown Detroit seemed just around the corner (although roughly 30 miles/45km away).
Grace Lake was really good, I must say, with around 3.000 Gulls present. We had found a much better observation point than last time, and by much better I mean the reduced distance to the gulls and not the flock of Dark-eyed Juncos we saw at that particular spot.
A thorough scan of the gulls (with around half of them on the lake and the other half sitting on a slope on the opposite side) produced a few Ring-billed Gulls, around 15 Greater Black-backed Gulls, at least 2 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls and one sparkling adult Glaucous Gull. Hmmm, I know that an adult Glaucous Gull looks far more cool than a Thayer's but I still couldn't really focus on it for long, scanning the numerous American Herring Gulls for some pale winged birds instead. A few of the adults showed a very reduced black pattern on their wing tips in flight and had me half excited but each and every one of those turned out eventually to be nothing but an ordinary American Herring Gull. The Sibley guide mentions that around 1% of American Herring Gulls in the East show a reduced amount of black on their wing tip and I had to face the barren truth: there was simply a slight accumulation of this 1% at Grace Lake today (comparable to northern populations of European Herring Gulls Larus argentatus argentatus whose wing tip pattern also resembles Thayer's, frighteningly so), but no Thayer's that we found.
We eventually gave up - of course still very happily so with Glaucous and Lesser Black-backed Gulls seen very nicely - and after checking a few spots south of Ann Arbor (American Kestrel, Canada Geese and Mallards being the only somewhat noteworthy species) returned home.
Well, Thayer's Gull seems to be one of the species I really need to earn myself for some reason. But I'm hanging in there, no reason to get doubtful just yet!
Today however I have noticed that my last visit to the Arb was one calendar year ago, so I am currently planning to go there next, possibly tomorrow weather permitting.
It has become cold at last.
The Last of the Christmas Birds
Today saw the disappearance of the last of the Christmas Birds.
Sad.
During the last couple of days, there was a House Grinch that had established a territory inside Nickels Arcade in downtown Ann Arbor. With the weather resembling May rather than January, it could be heard singing away merrily whenever I walked through the Arcade and I spotted it once in a while sitting on the green plastic branches of the Christmas decorations high underneath the ceiling.
Today however, there was a change in weather - at least in the morning, and then it changed back again as is the norm for Michigan - with rather heavy snow fall and a strong and cold wind. To make things worse for the House Grinch, the Christmas decorations had been removed as well. Either that alone or the combination of both eventually drove the House Grinch away and Nickels Arcade has fallen silent again.
Until next Christmas.
Sad.
Sad.
During the last couple of days, there was a House Grinch that had established a territory inside Nickels Arcade in downtown Ann Arbor. With the weather resembling May rather than January, it could be heard singing away merrily whenever I walked through the Arcade and I spotted it once in a while sitting on the green plastic branches of the Christmas decorations high underneath the ceiling.
Today however, there was a change in weather - at least in the morning, and then it changed back again as is the norm for Michigan - with rather heavy snow fall and a strong and cold wind. To make things worse for the House Grinch, the Christmas decorations had been removed as well. Either that alone or the combination of both eventually drove the House Grinch away and Nickels Arcade has fallen silent again.
Until next Christmas.
Sad.
Sunday, 7 January 2007
2 : 0 for Thayer's but still smiling
The saying goes that the longer we work for something the more we appreciate it. I don't think that's all there is to it, at least not in the birding world. When it comes to finding the birds we want, it seems to be more along the lines: the more you long for something, the longer you'll have to search for it!
Of course I really wanted to see Red-shouldered Hawk, but frankly not badly enough to specifically go and look for it until I just happened to visit Lake Erie Metro Park's Hawk Watch at the best time of the year to get Red-shouldered Hawk. Accordingly, the first hawk I saw while still putting up my scope was a Red-shouldered Hawk. Life and lifers can be simple at times and still be incredibly pleasant.
For some reason, Thayer's Gull has decided to be really very much appreciated by me once I finally get to see it. For now I will maintain that this is a good character trait of Thayer's Gull. I don't know though what I'll think about this if I still haven't found one next May.
Anyway, here's last Friday's story.
Bruce Bowman wrote an email a few days ago asking me if I wanted to accompany him and Macklin Smith to the Arbor Hill (or Salem) Landfill on Friday, "by far the best place in the county for gulls".
What was my answer? "Well, Bruce, let me think ab... OK!!"
We left Ann Arbor around 11:30 and got to the Landfill around noon. The first thing that impressed me was the height of the landfill which is very roughly 50 metres above the surrounding landscape. South-east Michigan is a rather flat spot of the planet and when we reached the "active" top of the landfill where all the gull-action was taking place, it was difficult to keep my eyes from the horizon and to focus on the gulls flying around our car.
Yes, sure, this was an exaggeration and the pure wealth of gulls was enough to bring tears of joy to my eyes - or maybe that was the smell of the dump? Anyway, while we were still searching for a place to park the car, we noticed a large white blob amongst the whirling mass of American Herring Gulls which turned out to be a purely white immature Glaucous Gull. Not a bad start, not at all! Here's yet another picture of the German Glaucous Gull which was also almost completely white and we all expected our Salem bird to be a 2nd winter bird.
However, after we had put up our scopes and started scanning, it was soon realized by its dark iris and the completely black tip to its bill that this gull was indeed a 1st winter bird. I thougt that was kind of unusual and very neat to look at!
And then, the true brilliancy of birding took us yet again by surprise and hit us like a bolt of lightening out of a blue sky. After only a few minutes of scanning through our first pack of gulls, Macklin called to us that he had found a strangely dark-mantled bird. We soon all got our scopes onto it and what followed were more than 3 hours of constant observation and an abandoning of our plans to check all the gulls here and move on to other sites! Why? Well, it was soon agreed that this was not an ordinary American Herring, nor was it a Lesser Black-backed as we know it, and that alone made it a very interesting bird to say the least. As a matter of fact, we couldn't help but notice that the bird showed certain traits of a Yellow-Legged Gull, Larus michahellis, although not everything was typical about it and we also took/take a hybrid into consideration. Whatever it was, it was surely significant enough to call in other birders and we were soon joined by Allen Chartier and Mike Sefton. Allen managed to get a few very decent digiscoping shots of it and the link to some of them is here, here, here, here, here, and here (or alternatively, click on the first link and then "view previous") but even though we spent such a long time watching the bird, we were never offered good looks at its wing-tip. It only stretched the wings once in a while but always in the wrong direction and the two times it flew also didn't really deliver the views we'd have loved to obtain. What we know however is that the tip of P10 was completely white and that there was a white spot on P9 that apparently reached onto the inner and outer web of the feather. There were black markings on at least the five outermost primaries, more likely all 6 outer primaries or even 7, and the primaries showed extensive black in flight, possibly appearing as if the wingtip was dipped in a barrel of ink, but I am not entirely sure.
Well, we are still in the process of identifying the bird and I will very likely write a more complete entry on it later when more is known, but it was excessively exciting watching it.
With so many birders now on the bird, it was possible to scan the other gulls for more, and as a matter of fact, even these limited possibilities (without walking/driving around to check out all the gulls) offered a surprising array of species! Here's a list of what we saw with (very) approximate numbers present:
1 - Greater Black-backed Gull (at least 2 adults and 1 1st winter)
2 - Lesser Black-backed Gull (1 ad)
3 - American Herring Gull (more than a thousand)
4 - Glaucous Gull (1 ad and one 1st winter)
5 - Iceland Gull (1 first winter)
6 - the potential/maybe/hope-we'll-ever-know Yellow-Legged or Hybrid Gull
7 - Ring-billed Gull (maybe around 50 to 100 in total)
Here is an image of a Greater Black-backed Gull from the Baltic coast to spice things up a bit:
The Iceland Gull was particularly neat as it was a very pale and finely patterned bird reminiscent of this one with very finely patterned tips to the primaries (Kumlien's influence or a very pale Kumlien's Gull) and after all, it was also only my third ever Iceland Gull!
But as you might have noticed, as long and extensive that list may be, one gull is missing:
Thayer's....
Yes, shame, there was not a Thayer's in sight, and try as hard as we might, there was nothing we could do about it.
One gull had me all excited for a while because it showed a very dark - basically black - eye and I called to the others that I had found a Herring-type gull with dark eyes. Allen immediately responded that he occasionally had American Herring Gulls with one eye black and the other eye pale and the gull in question turned its head in that precise moment and ... hurray ... the other eye was pale indeed and the whole bird was nothing but a messed-up American Herring Gull!
Well, as I said in the beginning: this whole business with searching for Thayer's is just about appreciating it very much when I see my first one. Wait, change that to : "if I ever see one".
Here's the evil pale eye of a European Herring Gull from the Baltic, just to have another picture on this long post. I really like their bills in winter when some show a pink base with a black, red and yellow pattern at the tip, very neat!
So the quest for Thayer's goes on. But with observations like these (Glaucous, Iceland and maybe even something reminiscent of Yellow-Legged), there's no need to frown and I am still positive I will eventually find a Thayer's this winter here. Bruce has already invited me to another gulling expedition next Tuesday, so here's looking up!
Of course I really wanted to see Red-shouldered Hawk, but frankly not badly enough to specifically go and look for it until I just happened to visit Lake Erie Metro Park's Hawk Watch at the best time of the year to get Red-shouldered Hawk. Accordingly, the first hawk I saw while still putting up my scope was a Red-shouldered Hawk. Life and lifers can be simple at times and still be incredibly pleasant.
For some reason, Thayer's Gull has decided to be really very much appreciated by me once I finally get to see it. For now I will maintain that this is a good character trait of Thayer's Gull. I don't know though what I'll think about this if I still haven't found one next May.
Anyway, here's last Friday's story.
Bruce Bowman wrote an email a few days ago asking me if I wanted to accompany him and Macklin Smith to the Arbor Hill (or Salem) Landfill on Friday, "by far the best place in the county for gulls".
What was my answer? "Well, Bruce, let me think ab... OK!!"
We left Ann Arbor around 11:30 and got to the Landfill around noon. The first thing that impressed me was the height of the landfill which is very roughly 50 metres above the surrounding landscape. South-east Michigan is a rather flat spot of the planet and when we reached the "active" top of the landfill where all the gull-action was taking place, it was difficult to keep my eyes from the horizon and to focus on the gulls flying around our car.
Yes, sure, this was an exaggeration and the pure wealth of gulls was enough to bring tears of joy to my eyes - or maybe that was the smell of the dump? Anyway, while we were still searching for a place to park the car, we noticed a large white blob amongst the whirling mass of American Herring Gulls which turned out to be a purely white immature Glaucous Gull. Not a bad start, not at all! Here's yet another picture of the German Glaucous Gull which was also almost completely white and we all expected our Salem bird to be a 2nd winter bird.
However, after we had put up our scopes and started scanning, it was soon realized by its dark iris and the completely black tip to its bill that this gull was indeed a 1st winter bird. I thougt that was kind of unusual and very neat to look at!
And then, the true brilliancy of birding took us yet again by surprise and hit us like a bolt of lightening out of a blue sky. After only a few minutes of scanning through our first pack of gulls, Macklin called to us that he had found a strangely dark-mantled bird. We soon all got our scopes onto it and what followed were more than 3 hours of constant observation and an abandoning of our plans to check all the gulls here and move on to other sites! Why? Well, it was soon agreed that this was not an ordinary American Herring, nor was it a Lesser Black-backed as we know it, and that alone made it a very interesting bird to say the least. As a matter of fact, we couldn't help but notice that the bird showed certain traits of a Yellow-Legged Gull, Larus michahellis, although not everything was typical about it and we also took/take a hybrid into consideration. Whatever it was, it was surely significant enough to call in other birders and we were soon joined by Allen Chartier and Mike Sefton. Allen managed to get a few very decent digiscoping shots of it and the link to some of them is here, here, here, here, here, and here (or alternatively, click on the first link and then "view previous") but even though we spent such a long time watching the bird, we were never offered good looks at its wing-tip. It only stretched the wings once in a while but always in the wrong direction and the two times it flew also didn't really deliver the views we'd have loved to obtain. What we know however is that the tip of P10 was completely white and that there was a white spot on P9 that apparently reached onto the inner and outer web of the feather. There were black markings on at least the five outermost primaries, more likely all 6 outer primaries or even 7, and the primaries showed extensive black in flight, possibly appearing as if the wingtip was dipped in a barrel of ink, but I am not entirely sure.
Well, we are still in the process of identifying the bird and I will very likely write a more complete entry on it later when more is known, but it was excessively exciting watching it.
With so many birders now on the bird, it was possible to scan the other gulls for more, and as a matter of fact, even these limited possibilities (without walking/driving around to check out all the gulls) offered a surprising array of species! Here's a list of what we saw with (very) approximate numbers present:
1 - Greater Black-backed Gull (at least 2 adults and 1 1st winter)
2 - Lesser Black-backed Gull (1 ad)
3 - American Herring Gull (more than a thousand)
4 - Glaucous Gull (1 ad and one 1st winter)
5 - Iceland Gull (1 first winter)
6 - the potential/maybe/hope-we'll-ever-know Yellow-Legged or Hybrid Gull
7 - Ring-billed Gull (maybe around 50 to 100 in total)
Here is an image of a Greater Black-backed Gull from the Baltic coast to spice things up a bit:
The Iceland Gull was particularly neat as it was a very pale and finely patterned bird reminiscent of this one with very finely patterned tips to the primaries (Kumlien's influence or a very pale Kumlien's Gull) and after all, it was also only my third ever Iceland Gull!
But as you might have noticed, as long and extensive that list may be, one gull is missing:
Thayer's....
Yes, shame, there was not a Thayer's in sight, and try as hard as we might, there was nothing we could do about it.
One gull had me all excited for a while because it showed a very dark - basically black - eye and I called to the others that I had found a Herring-type gull with dark eyes. Allen immediately responded that he occasionally had American Herring Gulls with one eye black and the other eye pale and the gull in question turned its head in that precise moment and ... hurray ... the other eye was pale indeed and the whole bird was nothing but a messed-up American Herring Gull!
Well, as I said in the beginning: this whole business with searching for Thayer's is just about appreciating it very much when I see my first one. Wait, change that to : "if I ever see one".
Here's the evil pale eye of a European Herring Gull from the Baltic, just to have another picture on this long post. I really like their bills in winter when some show a pink base with a black, red and yellow pattern at the tip, very neat!
So the quest for Thayer's goes on. But with observations like these (Glaucous, Iceland and maybe even something reminiscent of Yellow-Legged), there's no need to frown and I am still positive I will eventually find a Thayer's this winter here. Bruce has already invited me to another gulling expedition next Tuesday, so here's looking up!
Thursday, 4 January 2007
Saved at last?
The most interesting yet intriguing part about watching birds must surely be the regular encounters with the unexpected or to be more precise: the pleasure the gods of fate seem to draw from rendering us birders to ridicule as soon as we dare to interpret what we see in nature.
Like my blog's title. There really were many reasons to worry about the falcon's behaviour after the female had left him alone for too long. You see, as a reaction to my writing on the local email-forum about having seen him on another building but the Bell Tower, someone else came forward with the scandalizing news that he was even seen on top of a power station chimney recently! A chimney? How low can one male falcon sink when let off the leash?
And while I was standing at a bus station opposite the Bell Tower on my way to get some groceries and wondering how to re-name my blog (School of Dentistry Building Birding was bound to scare readers away, I mean, who enjoys reading anything related to a dentist?), out of a clear blue sky came ... well, you guessed it already and if you didn' t there's no need to admit it because I am going to tell you now anyway: the FEMALE!
Yes, January 2nd saw The Return of the Wife, after more than two weeks of absence.
What a relief!
Man, two days earlier and I would have felt no need to get nervous about giving my blog a silly name, but nevertheless she was just in time it seemed to get things right again.
He was all excited, too and they were playing around in the air, calling and chasing each other. What a hypocrite! I wonder if she'll ever learn about his loitering around town while she was away?
I thought the pack of displaced Bell Tower City Pigeons might tell her to get their revenge, but then the falcons just disappeared!
Yes, they are both gone for two days now, must be the longest time ever I haven't seen the male at the tower. Surely the moment I click the publish button of this post and walk up to the window, I'll see them both perched on top of Bell Tower, but for now they are gone.
Yesterday I walked along the Huron again, from Fuller Park all the way to South Pond and back. Amongst the more usual species I encountered were also a few unexpected observations, e.g. of a Hairy Woodpecker, quite a few Red-tailed Hawks and also a beautiful adult Bald Eagle that was circling above the river right next to down town Ann Arbor. The latter was far more impressive than these lousy pics of a White-tailed Sea Eagle from Germany but yet again: that's all I have at the moment.
I really enjoy raptors and it seems they like me, too because they always show up at the right places to deliver cheer and joy to the lonesome and bored office worker that I am.
You want proof?
Here's a list of the raptor species I saw around down town Ann Arbor, mostly from my desk at the apartment:
Turkey Vulture
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Bald Eagle
Peregrine Falcon
Don't worry, I am sceptical and try to maintain a scientific approach when birding and after "The Return of the Wife" not even I would put any trust in my own interpretations. But here's the list of raptors I saw from my office window in Germany:
Common Kestrel
Merlin
Eurasian Hobby
Peregrine Falcon
Gyr Falcon (escape white morph)
Osprey
European Honey Buzzard
Red Kite
Black Kite
White-tailed Sea Eagle
Western Marsh Harrier
Eurasian Sparrowhawk
Northern Goshawk
Common Buzzard
Rough-legged Buzzard
So never mind a single Peregrine in Ann Arbor going wild. I do like raptors and I'll stick with Bell Tower Birding! The name got saved at last.
Like my blog's title. There really were many reasons to worry about the falcon's behaviour after the female had left him alone for too long. You see, as a reaction to my writing on the local email-forum about having seen him on another building but the Bell Tower, someone else came forward with the scandalizing news that he was even seen on top of a power station chimney recently! A chimney? How low can one male falcon sink when let off the leash?
And while I was standing at a bus station opposite the Bell Tower on my way to get some groceries and wondering how to re-name my blog (School of Dentistry Building Birding was bound to scare readers away, I mean, who enjoys reading anything related to a dentist?), out of a clear blue sky came ... well, you guessed it already and if you didn' t there's no need to admit it because I am going to tell you now anyway: the FEMALE!
Yes, January 2nd saw The Return of the Wife, after more than two weeks of absence.
What a relief!
Man, two days earlier and I would have felt no need to get nervous about giving my blog a silly name, but nevertheless she was just in time it seemed to get things right again.
He was all excited, too and they were playing around in the air, calling and chasing each other. What a hypocrite! I wonder if she'll ever learn about his loitering around town while she was away?
I thought the pack of displaced Bell Tower City Pigeons might tell her to get their revenge, but then the falcons just disappeared!
Yes, they are both gone for two days now, must be the longest time ever I haven't seen the male at the tower. Surely the moment I click the publish button of this post and walk up to the window, I'll see them both perched on top of Bell Tower, but for now they are gone.
Yesterday I walked along the Huron again, from Fuller Park all the way to South Pond and back. Amongst the more usual species I encountered were also a few unexpected observations, e.g. of a Hairy Woodpecker, quite a few Red-tailed Hawks and also a beautiful adult Bald Eagle that was circling above the river right next to down town Ann Arbor. The latter was far more impressive than these lousy pics of a White-tailed Sea Eagle from Germany but yet again: that's all I have at the moment.
I really enjoy raptors and it seems they like me, too because they always show up at the right places to deliver cheer and joy to the lonesome and bored office worker that I am.
You want proof?
Here's a list of the raptor species I saw around down town Ann Arbor, mostly from my desk at the apartment:
Turkey Vulture
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Bald Eagle
Peregrine Falcon
Don't worry, I am sceptical and try to maintain a scientific approach when birding and after "The Return of the Wife" not even I would put any trust in my own interpretations. But here's the list of raptors I saw from my office window in Germany:
Common Kestrel
Merlin
Eurasian Hobby
Peregrine Falcon
Gyr Falcon (escape white morph)
Osprey
European Honey Buzzard
Red Kite
Black Kite
White-tailed Sea Eagle
Western Marsh Harrier
Eurasian Sparrowhawk
Northern Goshawk
Common Buzzard
Rough-legged Buzzard
So never mind a single Peregrine in Ann Arbor going wild. I do like raptors and I'll stick with Bell Tower Birding! The name got saved at last.
Tuesday, 2 January 2007
A New Year and a Demand for a Make-Over?
The first species of the year 2007 was the same as the last of 2006 and is a rather pitiful example of how globalized urbanization is affecting our hobby: a pack of City Pigeons!
Sad, really sad. I had so much hoped it would be a formation of Snow Geese flying low over downtown Ann Arbor. My wife must have heard me sobbing in front of the window, so luckily before I started to get too frustrated she took me along to the Arb and Gallup Park on the Huron River for some duck feeding and squirrel watching.
It wasn't bad, really, with a bunch of
Northern Cardinals, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, American Robins and Goldfinches at the Arb and Common and Red-breasted Mergansers as well as a Pied-billed Grebe at Gallup Park.
Much more importantly however, this first bird-related outing in 2007 was all about putting things in perspective and collecting some motivation and inspiration regarding the birds waiting to be watched in 2007.
As a New Year's Resolution, I decided upon the following goals for 2007:
a) Find Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow at the Arb
b) Have difficulties picking out the one Snow Goose amongst the huge flock of Ross's Geese at Avis Farm ponds
c) Observe and document at least two "Firsts" for North America
d) Be the first birder ever to record all species on the official ABA list within half a year in the US
e) Find and photograph a Black-capped Chickadee, ... back in Germany, that is.
Should be a piece of cake, I know, but fun anyway.
Here's probably the most amazing species I have decided as a New Year's Resolution to find in 2007 at Gallup Park. Well, they might look quite similar but it ain't a Western Grebe and it ain't a Clark's, nope, it is an original Eurasian Great Crested Grebe.
But the most shocking find of the New Year was connected to the title of my blog:
Well, you might not remember it, but when I started this blog way back in ... gosh, let me think, must have been 2006 ... it was named after the Burton Bell Tower because I somehow was mistaken in thinking this was a catchy name and because the tower had a pair of Peregrines that I had planned to write about often.
The pair was hanging 'round the tower most days and were seen regularly sitting on the top of the tower looking down upon Ann Arbor. The female was more of a rover apparently and by early December, she was often gone for two or three days before returning to her mate on the tower. He was always more of a faithful soul and stuck around the tower basically each day.
Then on December 14th the female was gone never to be seen again since.
And you see, with the male alone now and free to do whatever it pleases, things seem to slowly be getting out of control (I surely can't relate to that, no way)!
As I was told by local birders, the falcons have never been seen perched on ANY OTHER building in Ann Arbor but the Bell Tower. And today, returning from the Arb, suddenly there it was, the male, perched on top of the School of Dentistry building!
Can you believe it? The moment his wife is gone he goes all wild and stuff and behaves like ... I don't know, just offensive towards all the birders monitoring the pair!
And my blog?
Darn, if the name "Bell Tower Birding" was already not even half as good as Charlie's Birdblog or 10,000 Birds, who would ever visit a stupid blog called
I sure won't...
Sad, really sad. I had so much hoped it would be a formation of Snow Geese flying low over downtown Ann Arbor. My wife must have heard me sobbing in front of the window, so luckily before I started to get too frustrated she took me along to the Arb and Gallup Park on the Huron River for some duck feeding and squirrel watching.
It wasn't bad, really, with a bunch of
Northern Cardinals, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, American Robins and Goldfinches at the Arb and Common and Red-breasted Mergansers as well as a Pied-billed Grebe at Gallup Park.
Much more importantly however, this first bird-related outing in 2007 was all about putting things in perspective and collecting some motivation and inspiration regarding the birds waiting to be watched in 2007.
As a New Year's Resolution, I decided upon the following goals for 2007:
a) Find Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow at the Arb
b) Have difficulties picking out the one Snow Goose amongst the huge flock of Ross's Geese at Avis Farm ponds
c) Observe and document at least two "Firsts" for North America
d) Be the first birder ever to record all species on the official ABA list within half a year in the US
e) Find and photograph a Black-capped Chickadee, ... back in Germany, that is.
Should be a piece of cake, I know, but fun anyway.
Here's probably the most amazing species I have decided as a New Year's Resolution to find in 2007 at Gallup Park. Well, they might look quite similar but it ain't a Western Grebe and it ain't a Clark's, nope, it is an original Eurasian Great Crested Grebe.
But the most shocking find of the New Year was connected to the title of my blog:
The Bell Tower!
Well, you might not remember it, but when I started this blog way back in ... gosh, let me think, must have been 2006 ... it was named after the Burton Bell Tower because I somehow was mistaken in thinking this was a catchy name and because the tower had a pair of Peregrines that I had planned to write about often.
The pair was hanging 'round the tower most days and were seen regularly sitting on the top of the tower looking down upon Ann Arbor. The female was more of a rover apparently and by early December, she was often gone for two or three days before returning to her mate on the tower. He was always more of a faithful soul and stuck around the tower basically each day.
Then on December 14th the female was gone never to be seen again since.
And you see, with the male alone now and free to do whatever it pleases, things seem to slowly be getting out of control (I surely can't relate to that, no way)!
As I was told by local birders, the falcons have never been seen perched on ANY OTHER building in Ann Arbor but the Bell Tower. And today, returning from the Arb, suddenly there it was, the male, perched on top of the School of Dentistry building!
Can you believe it? The moment his wife is gone he goes all wild and stuff and behaves like ... I don't know, just offensive towards all the birders monitoring the pair!
And my blog?
Darn, if the name "Bell Tower Birding" was already not even half as good as Charlie's Birdblog or 10,000 Birds, who would ever visit a stupid blog called
School of Dentistry Building Birding ?
I sure won't...
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