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: Little Blue Heron

A small white heron with green lores, green legs, and black-tipped bicolored bill stands upright after slowly making its way along the marsh shoreline. Green vegetation in the background, clear water in the foreground shows the reflection of the white bird.

A smaller heron, the immature Little Blue Heron I saw this weekend at a southwestern Lake Erie marsh was slowly foraging the wetlands in the furthest corner from where I parked.

I’ve put off hiking the trail around the marsh this summer, there’s no shade or wooded area around the wetland.

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