From Under the Willow: Wildlife

Showing posts with label Wildlife. Show all posts

Monday, June 25, 2012

Ditch Friends

A fawn and its mother share the protection of one of Huron County's many drainage ditches. The great blue heron looked up from stalking its prey in the low water. Herons wade slowly and watch for creatures to eat. Then they quickly snatch a crayfish or a frog up into their big beaks.

Suddenly, all three sensed a human presence. The heron flew. The doe and fawn fled. The moment was gone.

Copyright 2012
Wanda Hayes Eichler

Monday, November 7, 2011

Fat Squirrel

I guess that if you are a squirrel you have to take Thanksgiving when you can get it. This guy was doing exactly that when we spotted him in a grove of oak trees this week. The ground was peppered with acorns -- broken nuts, whole nuts, nibbled nuts. The squirrels -- I saw five --were fat, fat, fat!

I set both the focus and the metering on my Sony Cybershot to spot the exact center of the photo. That setting overexposed the branch background and highlighted this guy's bushy tail. I like the result.

Wanda Hayes Eichler

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Migrating Swans

We see swans on White Rock Shoal most of the winter. Some are tame, or mute swans that move up and down the shoal seasonally.

We also see tundra swans which migrate through the Saginaw Bay area. Tundra swans have a yellow dot on their bills near the eye. The Tundra swans come in large flocks during spring and fall.

Michigan has also reestablished the Trumpeter swan. Trumpeters, a protected species, are are the world's largest waterfowl. During the winter of 2009-2010 we thought we had a 35-40 bird contingent of Trumpeters at White Rock Shoal. Because of the heavy ice cover on the shoal we were unble to identify swans which we saw occasionally on the shoal during the winter of 2010-2011.

The photo in today's post is of migrating birds that I spotted in a wet field along Ruth Road on the east side of Huron County several days ago. There were about 15 swans pecking at the stubble in the field along with lots of gulls. Although I couldn't make out the characteristic yellow dot on the bill, it is my guess that these few birds are Tundra swans that paused their migration to rest and feed in Huron County.