Saturday, April 11th, 2015

No specimens today but I did wind up with some pretty great pictures.

I think it says a lot about the quality of a camera that I was able to get some good pictures, because I have no idea what I am doing. I should really look into taking a class, or perhaps reading the manual a bit more.

Bluff at Atwater Park

I any event I was out by 6:30AM which felt great. It's so nice to feel like I have something to look forward to in the morning. I got some really nice pictures of birds in flight this morning, completely by accident. The best is probably this one I got of a Black-capped Chickadee.

Black-capped Chickadee in flight

Besides the usual songbirds I saw mostly woodpeckers today, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers but also a bunch of Red-bellied Woodpeckers which I don't think I've ever identified before. There is this dead tree kind of near the beach which is probably home for a nesting pair because I saw one go into this knot hole while a male that was fending off what I believe were some European Starlings.

The nest is in the knot left of the woodpecker

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, probably a male

I did also see a turkey when I first entered the preserve, but I was quite far away and I wasn't quite quick enough on the draw to get a photo. I did hear it when I was leaving, but I wasn't able to see it again. Perhaps another day. My plan today is to pick a church and go sketch. I'll let you know how that goes.

Afternoon Update: First reptile of the year!

Butler's Garter Snake

I went to the Urban Ecology center after lunch, mostly to sketch St. Casimir's from the little hill that overlooks the river, and when I was walking up I saw this wonderful little Garter Snake. I think it was still a little lethargic, because while it did try to scoot away I was able to catch it very easily. I remembered that they smelled, but I had forgot just how hard it was to wash out of your hands. It seems like they are neigh identical, but I think this may be a Butler's Garter snake. It could very easily be a Common Garter Snake, but their stripes don't seem to be quite as sharp as the Butler's, which seems to be closer to this guy.

Either way, great find.

I'll try to scan the sketch at my parent's house when I go there this evening for JD's birthday. For the moment, here is today's photo:

4/11/15

Friday, April 10th, 2015

Today was one of those days I'm glad I am not subject to routine pat-downs.

Set out at about 7:45AM and wandered around the nature preserve for more than an hour. Much more activity today, I saw a pair of male Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers (more on that species in a moment) as well as what I believe were a bunch of thrushes, probably Wood Thrushes.

Male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Wood Thrush

On the beach I saw a few more small birds including a Black-capped Chickadee as well as a pair of small gray birds with brown heads and long tails. I think they may be some sort of Flycather, but I can't find anything that matches.

Chickadee 

Possible Flycatchers

Violets

While on the beach I also followed a series of what I am almost certain were coyote tracks heading north. They may have been dog prints, but because of the rain these must have been made very early this morning, plus I did not see any fresh shoe prints. The clincher, however, was a pile of scat I found at the north end of the woodland trail that clearly has animal hair in it, meaning it is from a predator ergo, almost certainly a coyote. If I get up early enough I think I'll have a really good chance of seeing one.

Scat

The big find today, however, was along Capitol Drive. Near the intersection of Capitol and Downer I found a small bird's nest that had fallen (and turned out to be loaded with mites or ticks or some set of small bugs). I'm not sure, but based on the size and the brown-speckled white egg shells this is probably either a House Wren or House Sparrow nest. I say House Wren because while the specimen's I found don't seem to exactly match anything (the white horizontal stripe down the wing is something I have yet to see) there are two species of Wren that migrate here within a two week timeframe of their discovery, the Winter Wren and the House Wren. They seem a little too big to be the Winter variety, plus the bill of the House Wren seems to be longer and more curved like the ones I found.

Bird's nest, possibly a House Wren or House Sparrow

That was all very exciting, but a few minutes later in front of Falbo Bros. Pizza I found an immature female Yellow-bellied Sapsucker that had struck a window. Like the others it's sad of course, but it's also so amazing to see a bird like this up close, particularly one so much larger than the others I've found.

CH6 (weight was 49g, forgot to include that)

CH6

CH6

CH6

It appears as if the top part of her beak broke off in the collision. I say "she" because there doesn't seem to be any indication of any red coloration on the neck, which males have, however there is the slightest hint of some on the forehead, indicating an immature specimen or at the very least one that has not yet developed it's adult plumage. Apparently they do not get their full adult plumage until late April, so that lines up nicely.

These guys are covered under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, so I can't keep her or get her taxidermied, but it was really wonderful none-the-less to to be able to see and document this bird up-close. Finding this last specimen has taken up a bit more of my time today than I expected (another reason to get up earlier) but I expect I'll have an nice productive workday all the same. I'll check in at the end of the day.

Ship on Lake Michigan

Evening Update:

I think I'm going to try to do this, at least for the moment. Writing in the morning and then checking in later in the day seems to be helpful for me.

Overall, rather productive day. I definitely made some more progress on that Vitruvius article , plus I did a good job with eating today, very consistently good blood sugars. I guess the only thing that is left is the photo of me, so here it is:

4/10/15

Tuesday, April 7th, 2015

Got up a bit late today and set out at 9:00AM. Very damp, windy and cold today at the lakeshore. Didn't see much in the way of wildlife besides some seagulls.

Like always, I'm going to try to get up a little earlier tomorrow.

Monday, April 6th, 2015

Set out at 7:45 and took more or less the same route today. I walked along Newton to the Nature Preserve and walked down the trail. Today I walked through the woods instead of the beach to the north-end, I then walked back south along the beach. I saw some sort of bird of prey, probably a small hawk or a falcon. I then walked back up to Lake Shore Drive and over the Atwater Park.

There were quite a few red-winged blackbirds out today and I managed to get a few good shots of one in particular.

After Atwater I walked down Jarvis to Oakland and found another wren outside of the new apartment building, this time in front of the Walgreens.

CH5

Sunday, April 5th, 2015

Today I set out at about 10:00 AM, it's the weekend and a holiday, so I didn't feel that bad starting a little late. I walked along Newton to the Nature Preserve and down to the lake. The beach was considerably narrower than I remembered with quite a few new trees as well as a few that have fallen over. From the Preserve I walked north to Atwater Beach where I climbed the bluff to Lake Drive. There were quite a few red-winged blackbirds chirping away and it was nice to hear them again.

Atwater Park lamp post this morning

I then decided to walk to the corner of Oakland and Kenmore to retrieve the wren I'd found in front of the LightHorse's main entrance. From there I walked to the High School and found three more window strike birds, another wren and two Golden-crowned kinglets, which I also collected and documented.

CH1

CH1

CH1

CH2

CH2

CH2

CH3

CH3

CH3

CH4

CH4

CH4

It's rather sad, but at the same time it is so fascinating to see them up-close. Tomorrow I'm going to attempt to head out a bit earlier.