Monday, December 3, 2007



Mom and I checked out the SE part of the county today. down where the pine groves are by lone rock We were looking for Redpolls or crossbills but found neither after checking all the little back roads in the groves.
We did find some cool birds though. Among the more interesting ones were:
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Bald Eagle
Am Tree Sparrow
Snow Buntings
Barred Owl

We then headed down ST 60 along the WI river.
This Bald Eagle was found out on the ice on the River. There were about a dozen or so along the stretch between 14 and 80



Then we headed up 80 to 193 to check the Balmoral dam. as we drove along, I spotted a bird flying toward us out of the corner of my eye. something about it said Owl. I immediately yelled "stop!". we turned around and there on the fence post sat this beautiful Barred Owl:










He sat still the entire time we were there. He was still sitting on the post when we moved on.
That was the most cooperative owl I've ever seen.

We then checked the Balmoral dam. It was taken down in early Sept after all the heavy rain we had. They dropped it about 9 feet.



Then we headed down Town line Rd in search of Buntings and Longspurs.
We came across a flock of about 50 Snow buntings



We then called it quits and headed home. but not before I captured this beautful winter sunset to end the day.

3 comments:

Veery said...

Great photos of the Barred Owl! We caught a glimpse of one Saturday, but not with a view like that. Sounds like a fun day.

Good birding to you!

Jochen said...

Stunning picks!!
You seem to have a lot of Barred Owls around, or you're very good at spotting them. In SE Michigan, they were quite a special species and I only saw one that others had found and spread the word about.

Cheers and good birding!

Owlman said...

Awesome pics! Barred Owls are pretty rare around these parts. I'm trying to convince my wife to move to your part of the world, although I haven't had much luck yet. Keep up the blogging. I am planning to add your blog to my blog links, so you betta perform!