Seeing a Pelican Flying Over the Saginaw River

 As I was waiting for my ship, I saw this guy flying near me.

I never thought I would see a pelican flying over the Saginaw River.  For the most part, I thought they were a warm climate bird.

Granted, I have seen them at Shiawassee and Fish Point but I thought they were just sticking to those parts.

Is this another sign that our climate is changing?  And if the climate is changing, is it going to mess with wildlife?  Will we see animals in this area that we wouldn't normally see.

And if we keep getting shorter winters, does that mean mosquitos will be even worse?

I think we are reaching a tipping point.

And a Stop at Fish Point

 My dad came up to the funeral with me.  It was for my uncle's brother but he was a part of the family for 20 years.  My mom couldn't make it, so I guess he went in her place.  After catching pictures of the Edson, I took him over to Fish Point.  I think it has been a while since he was out there.

I was actually hoping to see some snowy owls but I think they have made their journey further north at this point.  I have seen some pictures, so I wasn't sure.  Except the last picture I saw was one on the Mackinac Bridge.  Seeing an egret was nice though.

I was not expecting to see pelicans there.  I've heard that pelicans will stop here but I've never seen them before.  Sadly, they were hanging out towards the back, so I couldn't get a good picture.

A red winged blackbird.  I think these are very nice looking birds.

As I have said in another post, they are my bird of spring.

More shots of the pelicans.

More pelicans.

I was hoping to get a shot where the neck was extended.

I had to crop this one and I still don't like it that much but a pelican is cool, so I'll keep it.

I think this is a mute swan.  It has the little knob on its face.  But it is not a prominent one, so this may be a hybrid swan.

I was able to get a better shot out of the reeds.

Another shot of the egret.

I kind of like this one a little better.  I should have pulled the camera down a little more to get the reflection.

The wind was causing ripples in the water, so I couldn't get a reflection in this shot.

And then he took off.

Another egret flying.

Amongst Creatures Most Fowl

 After taking a picture of a train at Durand, I headed up to Shiawassee.  I arrived there around 5:00P.M.  It seems like if you want to take pictures of birds, you either need to get somewhere early in the morning or late in the afternoon.  Birds tend to not do much in the afternoon.

As I made the first turn onto the nature drive, I saw what appeared to be an odd bird.  when I got closer, I realized it was a cormorant taking a break.

His beak still looked too short for a cormorant though.  But still kind of cool.  I don't usually get pictures of these guys so close.

The flock of pelicans was close enough that I could get a picture of it.

This pelican was off to the side.

He was fairly cooperative for me.

Even flexed his wings a couple of times.

Of course he was looking around.

I kind of like this shot.

A proud bird.

Not sure what kind of bird this was but he had dinner.

A muskrat swimming by.

An egret posing for me.

One of my terns going by.

A pair of sandhill cranes.

Another egret.

The same pair of sandhill cranes.

Just a sandhill crane before taking off and making a racket.

A yellow finch.

Another egret.

A cormorant in flight.

A cormorant in flight and making a ruckus.

I think this is a trumpeter swan.

Another angle of him.

And the eagle was back.

He was pretty far out, so these pictures are pretty heavily cropped.

For the most part they worked.

Looking around.

Looking towards me.

Another one.

 And we end with a pelican just swimming around.