And a Stop at Ottawa

 Since it was on the way home, I ended up stopping at Ottawa.   Well, I stopped at Magee Marsh first but I didn't see anything there.

As I was entering the park, I saw a heard of deer.  This one was close enough that I could get a picture of him.

A pair of fawns.  

I was surprised he stayed there as long as he did but then again, I wasn't quite out in the open.

One more shot before moving on.

I think this is an indigo bunting and if so I will consider myself lucky.

A swan.

A baby swan.  I think these guys look pretty neat.

But for some reason, I will always think of the ugly duckling.

As I was getting ready to move on, I saw this eagle in the tree.  He was lit almost perfectly.

One more shot of him.

This was kind of a surprise.  I didn't know that sandhill cranes stopped here.  It was kind of cool to get one so close.

Since I like these birds, another picture.

There was another crane nearby.  So I had to get a picture of that one.

I'm not sure what this bird is.

I think this is a marsh mallow.

Another angle of one.

An immature eagle.

A more mature eagle but he is still fairly young.  He still has brown on his head.

He was looking around.

Another of the immature eagle.

He's looking at me.

I kind of wish he would have saw something to eat.

One more shot.

There were several rabbits around the park.  This was the only one I was able to get a picture of.

A flock of sandhill cranes.  And then I headed back home after a nice day.

Sandhill Cranes on River Road

 After I got my room, I decided to head up to Bay City.  I heard that there was a bunch of eagles somewhere, so I was hoping to catch them.

I decided to head to Bay City using River Road.  Mainly because I usually see eagles there as well.

I did see some eagles but I was not in a spot where I could get pictures as they were flying over.  By the time I stopped and grabbed my camera, they would be gone.  It was said because based on other pictures I saw, I think one of them may have been a golden eagle.  I'm not sure as I've not heard of goldens in Michigan but you never know.

I went to the spot where people said they were but there were none and the lot was pretty dodgy.  I didn't want to get stuck there.

So I headed back.  I did see one flying over that spot but again, but the time I got my camera out, it would have been gone.

So I used River Road to get back to I-75.  I saw an eagle but it was across the river, so not a very good shot.  As I was about to get back to I-75, I saw some sandhill cranes.  It was pretty cool except they were not in a great spot to photograph.   But I like my pictures though even if you see some of the branches in front of them.

Return to Crosswinds Marsh

 After a stop at the airport, I decided to take my dad down to Crosswinds Marsh.  I'm not sure if he's been there or not and it's a pretty neat place that I should visit more often.

I was actually hoping to see an eagle there.  When I looked over to the nest, I didn't see one.  As I scanned the area, I saw this guy.  I wasn't sure it was an eagle until I saw it's white head.

One of the nice things about Crosswinds Marsh is that I can also do some aluminum birdwatching.  I wasn't paying attention to Flight Radar, so I don't know where this A321 was headed.

As I went back to the eagle, I heard a ruckus.

And it turns out it was a flock of Sandhill cranes leaving.

A pair of them.

And then a flock of Canada geese left.

so then I went back to the eagle.

And I caught an even larger flock of Sandhill cranes.

I like this shot.

A pair of them taking off.

Another angle as they passed.

And then I went back to the eagle.  I wish I had a bigger lens.

I think I would have needed about a 1200 mm though and I'm still not sure that would have been big enough.

One more shot of the eagle before leaving.
 

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.