Spring weather finally arrived in Mid Michigan, and I took advantage of a nice Saturday morning to visit my favorite nature preserve. There were lots of active birds about. Here are a few that were kind enough to sit still.
I have some more, I hope to get them posted soon. I hope you enjoyed the shots. Thanks for visiting!
I got out yesterday to play with my camera, and see what the birds may be up to. My local birding website listed some waterfowl sighted down at the river, so I decided to check it out. There is a spot where some water is released into the river, resulting in a small bit of open water all year. I thought that may be a good spot to find a stray duck.
Well, I can safely say that spring is on the way, because the area was covered with hundreds of geese, ducks, mergansers, and other waterfowl. I even saw a red-winged blackbird. It seems rather early for those guys, at least to me it does. But nothing says spring like the call of a red-winged blackbird singing to his mate. Of course, I think his mate is still somewhere in southern Ohio at this point.
Here are a few shots I collected. I hope they are ok, I used this opportunity to test out a new program I am trying, and I have not learned much about it yet.
“Hey, this is MY ice!” Geese can be mean suckers, can’t they.
As you can see, there is still snow and ice around, but that does not seem to bother these guys.
Hooded mergansers.
These ducks are chillin’! (Ok, ok, that was bad. Sorry).
I love the iridescent green heads of the mallards. I think the lone female is getting a lot of attention from the guys.
Common mergansers
This shot reminds me of that bit from the children’ show…”One of these things is not like the others”
Here is proof that even waterfowl can have a bad hair day. (Another common merganser)
It was a great morning to get out and see that spring is in fact on the way. The waterfowl are definitely migrating. I hope I can keep catching them and sharing them with all of you.
I finally got out to take a few pictures today. The weather turned nice, and I had to take advantage of it. Nothing real special, just down to the river to see what was happening. A few ice fishermen, an eagle…Oh yes, and snow.
Personally, if I want frozen fish, I will go to the supermarket.
I was very pleased to see our neighborhood eagle is back.
He would not sit still for me though. I guess he did not want his picture taken.
Two eagle nests
Closed for the winter. The resident must have flown south.
Not a lot today, but it was good to get out. Thanks for visiting!
Yes, it has. Way too long since I have posted anything here. Between work, life, holidays and everything else, I just have not had the time to go out on a safari. Combine that with laziness on my part, and you several months without posting pictures.
Well, today I was going through my backlog of pictures to be sorted and filed, and I found a couple batches from late last summer, that never got posted. So, there they are….
EGRETS…
AND HERONS….
AND CRANES, OH MY!
Nothing like big batch of big birds. Sorry I have been away so long. I will try to do better. Till next time, thanks for visiting, and have a great winter!
Normally I use this site to show off and share my attempts at artistic and nature photography, but today I am using it a bit differently. My wife’s family recently had their big Christmas party, and quite a few people expressed an interest in seeing the pictures I was taking. Plus, there is the group picture too. I could not think of a better way to share than to post them here on my blog site. So without further adieu, here they are:
Here we are, the whole family (click on the pictures for a larger view
Lots of visiting and catching up…
Sally, Bill, Ann and Wendy
And a couple of cute little girls…
More visiting and catching up (yes, my son Alex actually mingled).
Mom-in-Law Sally LOVED her Betty Boop!
More catching up…
Another family tradition, the handing off of The Cane.
Time for presents!
The adult gift exchange and theft game.
Lee is determined to get someone to steal his gift.
“I’ll take that!”
And we must finish off with cute little kids again.
Thanks for visiting!
It has been way too long since I have posted anything. I recently took on the task of being the photographer for Bay City Central High School bands, and that has taken up all of my photo time. But this week finds me in Detroit at a training class, so I decided to take a bit of my evening and walk by the river and see what I could see. Here are few shots of what was around me.
The atrium at the Ren Cen, next to the river.
Hello Canada!
A look down the river toward the Ambassador Bridge.
The Detroit Princess riverboat.
The Renaissance Center, my temporary home.
What would Detroit be without General Motors and shiny new cars in the lobby.
Thanks for visiting. I will try to get a few more up this week, if my schedule allows.
