Sorry for not posting recently. As my title says, I've been pretty busy with work and having two quarterly/midterm exam wit my college classes. Surprisingly though, I've still been birding a lot (Maybe even more). The past couple weeks or so I have added 15 new year birds to my county list. That makes me in barely fourth place in the ebird standings for Kent Co.; 15 species behind the leader. It started out with my fourth attempt to see
Northern Shrike. I did find it along with my year bird
Sandhill Crane at Roselle Park. Another trip to Tassel Park yielded
Song Sparrow. I went to the wetlands east of Hotel Ave. and found the
Great Horned Owl on nest that had been reported by many.
Canvasback at Verlsuis Park.
Carolina Wren at my feeders. First of year
Red-winged Blackbird at my neighbors bird feeders. The biggest miss recently was a Barrow's Goldeneye found on the Grand River and roosting at Verlsuis Park. It would have been a state bird, but after 6 tries for it, I could not spot it. One night trying to see it come in for roosting at Verlsuis Park, I ran into two other birders. Rick Brigham, a well known birder from Allegen, and another who I failed to ask his name. We stayed out in the close to single-digit windy evening for well over an hour standing, just watching flock after flock of
Common Goldeneye come in. It was a big disappointment not seeing it with it being so close to my house. As always with birding, some "luck" is necessary. But those trips to Verlsuis and the river did give me my year birds:
Great Blue Heron,
Wood Duck,
American Black Duck,
Hooded Merganser,
Bufflehead, and
Lesser Scaup. Driving around Cannonsburg and Kentwood produced
Killdeer and
Horned Lark. And finally, I had
Turkey Vulture in my backyard and
Ruddy Duck at Versluis. Turning out to be a good year so far. The pair of
Red-shouldered Hawks keep staying in the area. I see them almost every day. Still have not found a nest, but its hard when their not calling much. Future trips include Luton Park for American Woodcock, my professors house for Eastern Screech Owl, and more trips to the Cannon Township Trail and Versluis Park.
(I will be adding the photo of the owl on nest soon)
Red-shouldered Hawks (Male on top, female on bottom)
Male Red-shouldered hawk
Carolina Wren
Another Red-shouldered pic
Black Phase Eastern Gray Squirrel
Female Red-bellied Woodpecker
More Red-shouldered pics (Female on bottom, male on top)
Black-capped Chickadee
Male Red-winged Blackbird
2014 Kent Co., MI Bird List: 68 Species
