Ashley and I made a quick trip to southwest Michigan on the 21st of November. It was a great 3 hours of birding before we made the drive back to Iowa!
There were plenty of BONAPARTE'S GULLS at Tiscornia combined with some beautiful morning light. Here is an adult nonbreeding bird:
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... and a first-cycle:
Mixed in was this adult nonbreeding LITTLE GULL:
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Grebes gave us a nice show as well. We had both a WESTERN and RED-NECKED GREBE from the tip of the pier. Ironically, this RED-NECKED GREBE was a county bird even though I lived in and birded this county for 7 years:
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You can't forget the ducks either. Here are 4 BLACK SCOTERS that zipped by early that morning:
...and a quick-moving flock of BUFFLEHEAD:
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However, the real target of our drive was to see a tiny seabird that belongs on the Pacific Ocean. This ANCIENT MURRELET was found a week before we made the drive to see it. It didn't take us more than an hour to find the little guy! What a fun bird:
...and a quick-moving flock of BUFFLEHEAD:
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However, the real target of our drive was to see a tiny seabird that belongs on the Pacific Ocean. This ANCIENT MURRELET was found a week before we made the drive to see it. It didn't take us more than an hour to find the little guy! What a fun bird:
