Photo of the Week: Shorebird Migration Begins

A Solitary Sandpiper, a medium-sized brown shorebird with white belly, and white-dotted brown back looks up briefly as it forages in shallow waters on the mudflat.

It’s that time of year when shorebirds migrate south from their breeding grounds. The first shorebirds began arriving in southeast Michigan over the past couple weeks.

While it’s exciting to see shorebirds return to our area after several months up north, their return is also the beginning of my grumbling, ranting season.

Shorebirds are hard enough to identify when they’re in breeding plumage, with bright colors that make it a bit easier to distinguish what they are.

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Photo of the Week: Blue-headed Vireo Migrating South

Small songbird with two white wingbars, blue head, white spectacles, and whitish-yellow breast pauses on the bare tree branch.

Along with warblers migrating south to warmer climates, vireos are also migrating through southeast Michigan. And the nice thing about vireos, at least compared to warblers in fall plumage: vireos a lot easier for me to identify! First, there aren’t many different types of vireos in our area. Second, vireos have a large head, short… Continue reading Photo of the Week: Blue-headed Vireo Migrating South

Photo of the Week: Cape May Warbler in Fall Plumage

Small gray and yellow bird with short, sharp billperched on hanging bare tree branch, green foilage in the background.

What a treat to find and identify a Cape May Warbler along the shore of Lake Erie this weekend!

Every fall I go through the steps of re-learning how to identify migrating warblers on their way to places further south of Michigan.

This year was no different.

Continue reading Photo of the Week: Cape May Warbler in Fall Plumage