We don't have any wave action here; no tides pulling the water to and fro, so when you see waves on the bay, that means only one thing: wind. And boy did we (and do we) have waves on the bay. The blizzard is over, but the wind continues. The sun peeked out for a moment yesterday, and I snapped this picture:
What you don't see in the picture is the frenzy of bird activity that was occurring everywhere. Gulls were soaring and diving, mallards were bobbing and swimming among the waves, busily feeding, mergansers (I have learned this is spelled with an "s," not a "z") were offshore diving (I would have totally missed these without the binoculars), and crows were pecking along the shoreline rocks. The storm must have brought in some fish and other goodies.
Along with this bonanza, we provided our own by refilling the bird feeder, which had fallen uncharacteristically empty while I was on my trip. As a direct result of this, I saw my first non-shoreline birds (besides the crows) yesterday! A blue jay and a red-bellied woodpecker. I was quite excited about the red-bellied woodpecker, first because it is beautiful, and second because I managed to identify it with my bird books, having not seen one before. I had an idea it was a woodpecker because it was clinging to the side of the tree when I first saw it, and it had a strong, pointy beak. Red head and mottled wing, and bingo! There it was. Strangely enough not much of a red belly, but then I didn't really get a good look at the belly.
I had a lot of trouble identifying the gulls. The Sibley Guide to Birds has every bird known to man in it! I looked through page after page and could not find a white-headed gull with a black band on its tail. Finally I figured out it was an immature ring-billed gull...at least, I was pretty sure. The other, bigger ones were herring gulls, I thought.
What I really needed was a more locally-focused guide, something that narrowed down the choices for a beginner like me. Mark and I had been to Horizon Books the night before and gotten me a few early Christmas presents: Audubon's Field Guide to Birds...Eastern Region, and Birds of Michigan. I knew I wasn't supposed to peek, but I was desperate! I went straight to the secret hiding place...but they weren't there! A pleading phone call to Mark revealed their location: in plain view on the table in front of me. Honestly, who would have thought to look there?
There were only two kinds of gulls in the Bird of Michigan Field Guide: herring gulls and ring-billed gulls. My diagnoses were confirmed! But it was good to have Sibley's, as it had shown the immature version with the black on the tail. So I can see that one needs to have a good collection of bird books.
Here is the woodpecker:
I had a better view of him at the feeder, but prefer his picture in a more natural state. Then we have the mallards, so busy:
So the updated list so far: mallards, mute swans, American crows, common mergansers, blue jay, red-bellied woodpecker.
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