Wednesday - February 25, 2015

Since I needed a break from the office I decided to take a ride over to the foot of Southfield and see if there was any activity out there.  All was pretty quiet, no Eagles just a few Mergansers, Mallards and a Bufflehead.  Was just good to get away from work for about 45 minutes.

I did go back after work around 4 and there were about 3 Eagles on the north and south side of the island.  But there were a lot more ducks in the water.

There was a very entertaining Bufflehead who would swim in towards the walkway and then swim out.  Swim along it and then away from it.  He would dive and I would try to anticipate where he would come at.  As the sun began to set a female entered the scene.

 

 

 

It seemed like there were pools of Common Mergansers that would be close to the icy shore and would swim away when some one walked up to the railing on the walkway.

 

Every now and then I'd get a couple of them swimming alone. Here are a few of the photos of the day.

 



Common Merganser



Common Merganser

 

Hooded Merganser

Taking Flight

 

Red-breasted Mergansers

Red-breasted Merganser

Lesser Scaup

Canvasback

Redhead (female)

There were Mallards out there but I didn't photograph any of them.  Some 1500 photos taken - felt good having pictures to go through.

 





Saturday - February 21, 2015

Went out today - once around 10:30 this morning and then again at 3:30 when I thought the sun might show its face.  First stop was behind Speedboat on St John and then the end of Southfield and Jefferson.  There was snow in the morning and nothing in the afternoon, even the sun decided to go back in and hide. The day was snowy and over-cast.

Some of the photos I managed were either planned or happened by accident.  In the case of the Scaup, I was actually trying to photograph the Merganser when the Scaup decided to take flight.  Not very good photos but I like the effect.  The Canvasback coming in for a landing, there was a pole to the left of the duck and I thought it got in the way of me capturing the flight in.  Also not a good photo but I got it.

 

 

The rest of these were the planned photos.  I had time to focus and shoot.

 

Canvasbacks (Males above, Female below)

Goldeneye (Males above, female below)

 

 

 



Redheads (Female above, male below) 

Bufflehead

Red-breasted Merganser

A pool of Common Mergansers

I may not have seen Eagles that day at the foot of Southfield but the ducks were a pleasure to see and photograph.

 

Tackled the Cold - Sunday 2/15/15

Despite of the below zero temps I decided to go out anyway.  Of course there was nothing at the foot of Southfield and Jefferson nothing but frozen water and steam and sleeping geese and mute swans.

So I figured as long as I was out might as well go down to Roberts Rd and Campau Road and Lake Erie Metro Park.  Robert Road there was nothing.  Campau Road at the gate entrance there were Black-capped Chickadees, Cardinals, America Tree Sparrows, White-breast Nuthatches and a House Finch.

All Lake Erie Metro Park had were Robins.  Here are the photos for that day.

 

At the foot of Southfield and Jefferson - Sleeping Geese and Swans

 

Behind Speed Boat at St. John frozen waters

 

Iceberg (small one) behind Speed Boat (St. John's)

 

American Tree Sparrow (Campau Road at the gate)

 

American Tree Sparrow (Campau Road at the gate)

 

White-breasted Nuthatch (Campau Rd at the gate)

 

Robin at Lake Erie Metro Park

 

Robins at Lake Erie Metro Park

 

 

Hoping for better weather this weekend.  But as long as the sun it out it'll be worth traveling.  You never can tell....

Last Shots for January - 1/31/15

Busy Day.  Started off by going down to the River (Southfield and Jefferson) to see if there were any Eagles or ducks.  There were a few Eagles near the back of the island and a few Mallards nothing more. I did manage to get a sunrise at 8:15 and thinking the sun was going to stay up I decided to go to Lake Erie Metro Park.  Oops got to make a stop behind Speedboat on St John's first, no Mallards just three Canvasbacks and three Redheads.

Now on my way to LEMP and the sun has disappeared, thinking it's gone I'll just stay and walk the trail and see what might appear.  There's a couple of Blue Jays, Cardinals, Chickadees on the outer rim so maybe there'll be something on the trail.  No movement until I'm almost out of the trail and I spot movement under some brush, a Carolina Wren.  She never came out, but I did manage a shot to ID her.

Since the sun decided to come out and play I decided to head down to Roberts Rd where I found nothing. I wasn't going to go down Campau Rd but I figured, "might as well, you never know."  So happy I did.  Managed some shots of Chickadees (not shown), American Tree Sparrows, a Downy Woodpecker, a Red-bellied Woodpecker, Goldfinches (not shown), a White-throated Sparrow, White-breasted Nuthatches and Song Sparrows.

Oh yeah did I mention my shot of the day, a Bald Eagle.

Well that was it for the day. Have a Safe Weekend.

Sunrise at 8:15 a.m.

Canvasbacks

Canvasbacks

Redhead

Redheads (guessing father and son)

Carolina Wren

Cardinal

Downy Woodpecker

White-breasted Nuthatch

White-throat Sparrow

Song Sparrow

Song Sparrow

American Tree Sparrow

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Bald Eagle