Photo of the Week: Snow Geese on a Wintry Day

four white geese with pink bills, pink legs, and black-tipped wings walk slowly across the frozen lake in front of hundreds of Canada Geese.

In southeast Michigan, we don’t often see a lot of Snow Geese in winter; they’re considered rare birds in our area.

I was lucky to see a Snow Goose up close at Belle Isle State Park in fall 2019.

Usually a handful are reported each year in our area, often seen with hundreds of Canada Geese feeding on grass or harvested cornfields. Continue reading Photo of the Week: Snow Geese on a Wintry Day

Photo of the Week: Bald Eagles on the Frozen Ice

Large white-headed black birds with bright yellow legs and sharp talons face each other on the frozen marsh ice.

When I saw the pair of Bald Eagles standing on the frozen ice of the marsh at Lake Erie Metropark, it looked to me the birds were in deep discussion.

I first saw the eagles flying low over the treetops and when they disappeared from sight, I suspected they might have landed on the ice.

I drove toward the open marsh, passing a flock of about 150 American Robins foraging berries in the dense shrubs lining the road.

Continue reading Photo of the Week: Bald Eagles on the Frozen Ice

Photo of the Week: Greater Yellowlegs in Late Autumn

Medium-sized shorebird slowly walks through the grass along the shoreline.

On one of the last warm days of November in southeast Michigan, the Greater Yellowlegs feeding in the shallow waters of Washago Pond at Willow Metropark was a pleasant surprise for me this weekend.

And when I reported my sighting of the bird on eBird, it was flagged as a rare find for this time of the year.

I visited the pond because another birder reported finding a Cackling Goose, which I found as well.

Along with about 300 Canada Geese, almost two dozen Mallards, a couple Hooded Mergansers, and another surprise this late in the season: Yellow-rumped Warblers.

But I wasn’t expecting to find any shorebirds. Continue reading Photo of the Week: Greater Yellowlegs in Late Autumn