Little Chickadee

I have a lot of favorite birds.....the male Northern Cardinal because of his beautiful red coat and his clear and beautiful song on a summer's evening. The Blue Bird is also a favorite of mine because it is so pretty and I believe a good luck bird. I also love the European Robin which I have only seen once, in Ireland, but what a cute little bird. You will recognize it as the Christmas card bird. But my all time favorite is the Black-capped Chickadee. So little but so full of energy. They have such personality if that can be said about a bird. Although I took this photo in Kansas the Chickadees at Kensington Metropark are so tame and friendly that they greet you in the parking lot. They will land on your hand to get seeds and even perch on your head.
Another of my favorite is the Indigo Bunting...love the indigo blue coloring.

Barns...... somewhere in Missouri

A Belated Christmas

 Just had a late Christmas with Tim, Emma and Liam. Had a nice brunch at Big Boy and then opened gifts at my house. I had left my few holiday decorations up. Really missed Christmas Eve with them but did enjoy Kansas.

 Looking at my family 2014 calender.

Raptor Encounters

When my daughter-in-law and I did our photo trip or as I like to call it "drive by shooting" we encountered several raptors. I did not take my binoculars to Kansas and a lesson was learned. Anyway, we seemed to be seeing hawks everywhere.

 We immediately said "wow those are big birds" but they were so far away it was hard to identify them. Because of their size I thought "Eagle" and later sent this picture to the interpreter at Lake Erie Metropark. He confirmed that they were two Bald Eagles...the one flying is a mature and the one in the tree is an immature eagle. We did attempt to walk closer but the birds flew off. It was a surprise to see these eagles in the middle of farm country.

This Red-tailed Hawk played a "hard to get" game, flying from one pole to the next when I tried to get close with my camera. We were laughing at his shenanigans but he was one pole ahead of us the whole time and this was the closest that I got with my 250mm lens.

Red-Winged Blackbirds

 In Michigan, the first harbinger of spring is the return of the Red-Winged Blackbird. Their unique song (whistle-burr) tells us that spring is on the way and this usually happens in March. Imagine my surprise when we came upon this huge flock near the Kansas/Missouri state line on a road called YY. The Kansas weather is as cold as ours so why are these birds here? May be the many fields of corn and other crops that have been harvested but are still rich with seeds. After checking further I see that they stay year round in Kansas. A group of Blackbirds is called a cluster or a cloud and believe me there was a huge "cloud" .
I sure am looking forward to their arrival back in Michigan because right now, this weather stinks!

The Old Mill

somewhere near Harrisonville, Missouri