Almost Mid February and I am Finally Getting January Finished.

So here we are in another year of this stupid PanDAMNic, with all it’s variants. Let’s hope we can finally get this thing outta here.

January started off pretty nicely with a couple of firsts. I was out on Jan 2^nd looking for Snow Buntings when an alert came through about a Yellow Headed Blackbird at Jack Miners, as well as Snow Geese and a Blue Morph Snow Goose.  I raced over to Jack Miners and was shown where everything was by one of our friends. The Yellow Headed is easy to see in the photo, but you need to look carefully to see the Snow Geese and the Blue Morph Snow Goose.

One evening where we were driving home and the sunset was ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS! Can you tell we were impressed? I have no idea what caused this beautiful sight, but we are very thankful to have seen it, and taken a photo of it.

Another evening as we were on our way home we took a different route and had a very pleasant surprise. We noticed what we had thought was another Harrier, but it flew differently. As it turned into the light we saw that it was a Short Eared Owl. I can’t tell you where it was because we have been asked not to report Owl sightings, but hopefully I don’t get in trouble reporting it here, long after it seems to have moved out of the area. We haven’t seen it since that time.

As My Lady and I wandered back into the Onion Fields near Point Pelee we saw one of the Snowy Owls land on a pole just down the road. It allowed me to take some photos, even as it cleaned itself. It looked like it was laughing at me as it said “get a good look now because we are out of here”. We haven’t seen any since then.

Starlings are still hanging around in large flocks. We happened upon one flock in a field and as we were sitting there they took off right at us as they flew over the car and into the field across the road. We needed to wash the car afterwards.

Sure enough winter actually decided to make itself known in January. We ended up getting a bit of snow, and then it got cold. We went for a walk through Ojibway Park and happily found an Eastern Towhee feeding with some Cardinals. Not many Towhee around so we were fortunate to see one.

With the colder weather the Detroit River, Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie have started to freeze over. This is good for birders because we can hang out at the marina across from Peche Island and watch all the Waterfowl, Gulls and Eagles feeding in the small area of open water. As the few ships that go through stir up the fish, the frenzy begins with everyone enjoying the chance to snag a meal. Surprisingly the Blue Herons which normally like to remain lonely old men, have also had to hang out together like a bunch of mall groupies sitting in a food court drinking coffee.

Of course the snow brings Snow Buntings! We love our little baby Buntings. Can’t get enough of them and we go out looking quite often.

I can honestly say there has been a major influx of Northern Harriers this year. Almost every time we go out we see at least one flying low over the fields. Sometimes we get to see them close up and when we are really lucky they are enjoying a good meal.

Now I have to say that I know almost nothing about Gulls. Notice that I am not calling them Sea Gulls, learned that one soon after coming down here… No Sea here. But we have had a couple of rarities. An Iceland Gull and a Glaucous Gull. I didn’t rush to see them, but one day when I went to the marina I found out from other friends that they were both there, and they even gave us a show.

Near the end of the month My Lady and I went for a walk in Holiday Beach. It was very cold that day, but the wind stayed comfortable enough not to keep us away. You know it’s cold when the snow makes that irritating sound like you are walking on Styrofoam. Yup, it was that cold. Snowrofoam?

The last day of the month brought us freezing fog in the morning. Before the sun rose the air was thick and the light was very diffused and grey. Once the sun was able to break through and the fog broke we were left with a beautiful coating of Hoar Frost on all of the trees. I had to run out and grab some photos before it all disappeared.

Well, that pretty well wraps up January. Hope everyone is staying warm.

Thanks for reading. Stay Safe

Till next time