working together

a pair of hooded mergansers and a pair of mallards worked the canals around the flatshaus this mornin. uneasy at first the mallards would grab the plants the mergansers were pulling up from the bottom with the fish they caught

sharp-shinned hawk

my boss over at the d.n.r. says it is a sharp-shinned hawk, immature just passing through. 2 pair of common mergansers in the canal this morning

hawk, take 3

well in flight this same hawk appears to be a grey hawk. i'll keep on it till i get it right. kingfisher made it back today.

oooops

i got a look at the back of what i thought was an osprey, the light bands on it's tail lead me to believe it's a young red tailed hawk. a group of 30 whistlers, or tundra swans are near sans souci in the south channel. lots of divers in the bay. mostly red heads but mergansers, goldeneye, scaup and ringnecks with a few of the local mallards just returned. the ice is leaving the canals and the channels are open but for ice out of lake huron drifting down. the muscrats are out in force, dancing about the open spots. had the biggest mink here that i have ever seen. the flats is alive with wildlife.

OSPREY

a large osprey hunted the front yard this afternoon. i waited till my arms wouldnt hold the camera any more but couldnt get a pik in flight. really pretty bird. the 8 female cardinals that were in the group birch 50 feet from the bird of prey weren't bothered at all by it's presence. they must've missed the bloody mess on the ice the osprey had left that didn't look much like it was ever a fish.

now its official GREAT BLUE HERON back

so good to see harry, winter has only improved the majestic crane. he's 60 feet away perched on a log looking into a piece of open water 3 foot by 12 around the log. i've been watching since i noticed him, about an hour and the fishing is slow. harry hasnt dipped his bill

tens of thousands of ducks

i've seen thousands come out of the refuge, but that's no where near the number of ducks that circled the gas hole off middle channel ridge just now before setting back down. wow. i knew i moved this computer over to this window for a reason. i spent the last week cutting phragmities on the ice all the way around my island. really opened up the view. last ice though. fell thru 3 times 2 days ago, and it's above freezing day and night since then, so if you venture out on the ice, be careful.

bald eagles

a pair of bald eagles has been seen up and down the river between the chenal ecarte and the lake. that was the giant white winged birds i saw last week over the flats. from directly underneath they are awe inspiring. had a fox in the yard this week, lots of hawks feasting on the mice exposed by the vanishing snow.

this is it! SPRING

thousands of canvasbacks filling the strips of open water on the south channel side of little muscamoot. feet from your car are swans, geese and enough ducks to blot out the sun if they decide to take off. some of the local mallards are back. all the redwinged blackbirds and some fat robins here too.

GEESE BY THE THOUSANDS

there is some open water in the old south channel, just out my door. the geese start dropping in mid morning, and it goes on all day. the open water is a small area so they have to butterfly to drop in. a beautiful sight. then just about dusk they all go up in to the refuge for the night. the same thing is happening in the middle and north channels of the st.clair river also. anywhere there is a spot of open water. the channels are jammed with ice coming down from lake huron, and most of the canals are still froze solid with small open areas where the current is strong. the gas holes are as always, open.

birds

the swans geese and ducks are crowded into any open water they can find. watched 100 geese head north today and if anyone else saw the 2 huge white birds circling over big muscamoot, please give me a call. i ran for the binocs and lost them. lots of mergansers