still here

test

winter in the flats

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Bald Eagles feb 2010 muscamoot bay harsens island MI 48028

they showed up 2 weeks ago. I have been getting their pix for 5 days. 1810 512-4341 for times and details.

gar pike get together

greenhead voicing his suprise

coot

you're getting too close!

everyone in formation

Purple Martin 4/30/06

red wings back

the red winged blackbirds showed up march 3rd.it wasn't that long ago that the great blue herons were still here. we have lots of ducks and geese in the bay. there were a bunch of swans but the last freeze moved all of them out but one pair. the sharp shinned hawk is still here, he'll move on in a couple weeks.

spring?

wow. ducks, ducks more ducks and some geese and swans. i watched thousands fly from the lake(lake St. Clair)up into little muscamoot bay and beyond late yesterday afternoon. the bay is working on it's 3rd time being ice covered this season.

summers going, going, going,,,

first the martins left. then the red winged blackbirds split. the yard has been full of blue jays for 3 days. must be fall.

swan fight winner

shrike

the shrikes showed up 4 days ago and have been a constant presence. they like the dead branches close to the waters edge on the london plain tree.
we witnessed a swan, fight to near death match recently. the swans that had been feeding with their babies in front of the house(a very interesting show, the adults stir up the bottom with their beaks then tread water with their huge feet bringing lunch up to the surface for their young)were really upset by the 2nd pair with babies that tried to get past them in the canal. the males locked together, beaks clamped on the others neck. the battle ranged up and down the canal, across the yard to the back canal beating each other with their wings, making horrible gasping noises, feathers flying everywhere. up and down the slough the battle raged. in the canal behind the boathouse the stronger swan began climbing on the others back, to drown him. i, right or wrong, intervened allowing the weaker swan to escape. the winner did the strangest dance the rest of the day, he laid his neck down on his back, his head above his tail, stuck his wings up and swam extremely fast up and down all the canals.

oriole

two male baltimore orioles in the backyard today. had a dead swan in canal last week, thought it was sleeping till i noticed it sinking lower in the water. it's mate came by today to feed. first baby mallards showed themselves two days ago. have geese with 2 babies and another pair with 5 that come by daily. 2 days ago we also had 2 eagles circle for awhile.

colourfull day

was it an indigo bunting or a blue grosbeak? i think it's an indigo bunting. and 4 feet away was the greatest black crowned night heron i've ever seen. i gotta get a good camera

phoggy morn

the rose-breasted grosbeaks are back. according to records from 1990, they are right on time. may 11th is their arrival date.my great dane nearly stepped on one laying on the ground under a willow tree. it seemed dazed so i picked it up, brought it into the house, put it in a bird cage and gave it water treated with microhydrin with an eye-dropper. we take microhydrin daily. the results are many but mainly, we don't get sick. in the grosbeaks case the results were dramatic, within minutes he went from hanging upsidedown by one leg from a perch to flying. i let him out and he made a bee-line for the branch he had evidently fell from. maybe just exhausted.
the barn swallows are back in the boat house, i wish they weren't. they build their nest over the water which means a mess in the boat.
a hybridized red-naped/red breasted sapsucker stopped by the window bird feeder a few days ago, really quite stunning.

winters back

beautiful yellow shafted northern flicker has been a common sight. had brown headed cowbirds, common gallinules, american goldfinch, join the redwinged blackbirds, purple martins, robins and the rest of the "yardbirds"
snowing today, was 83 a week ago. must be michigan.

swans

egrets

great white egrets, 7 of them in the bay today. killdeer showed today. i watched purple martins dancing and watched and listened to the yellow-shafted northern flicker. have a bunch of tree swallows looking at boxes over the canal.

swallows

a rough-winged swallow was checking out the bird houses on the boathouse yesterday. about 100 swans in little muscamoot. watched a couple hundred take off from canada and head towards anchorbay. that really got the ones nesting in muscamoot vocal. a few canvasbacks have decided to nest with the mallards and coot. lots of lake icebergs in canals.

working together

a pair of hooded mergansers and a pair of mallards worked the canals around the flatshaus this mornin. uneasy at first the mallards would grab the plants the mergansers were pulling up from the bottom with the fish they caught

sharp-shinned hawk

my boss over at the d.n.r. says it is a sharp-shinned hawk, immature just passing through. 2 pair of common mergansers in the canal this morning

hawk, take 3

well in flight this same hawk appears to be a grey hawk. i'll keep on it till i get it right. kingfisher made it back today.

oooops

i got a look at the back of what i thought was an osprey, the light bands on it's tail lead me to believe it's a young red tailed hawk. a group of 30 whistlers, or tundra swans are near sans souci in the south channel. lots of divers in the bay. mostly red heads but mergansers, goldeneye, scaup and ringnecks with a few of the local mallards just returned. the ice is leaving the canals and the channels are open but for ice out of lake huron drifting down. the muscrats are out in force, dancing about the open spots. had the biggest mink here that i have ever seen. the flats is alive with wildlife.

OSPREY

a large osprey hunted the front yard this afternoon. i waited till my arms wouldnt hold the camera any more but couldnt get a pik in flight. really pretty bird. the 8 female cardinals that were in the group birch 50 feet from the bird of prey weren't bothered at all by it's presence. they must've missed the bloody mess on the ice the osprey had left that didn't look much like it was ever a fish.

now its official GREAT BLUE HERON back

so good to see harry, winter has only improved the majestic crane. he's 60 feet away perched on a log looking into a piece of open water 3 foot by 12 around the log. i've been watching since i noticed him, about an hour and the fishing is slow. harry hasnt dipped his bill

tens of thousands of ducks

i've seen thousands come out of the refuge, but that's no where near the number of ducks that circled the gas hole off middle channel ridge just now before setting back down. wow. i knew i moved this computer over to this window for a reason. i spent the last week cutting phragmities on the ice all the way around my island. really opened up the view. last ice though. fell thru 3 times 2 days ago, and it's above freezing day and night since then, so if you venture out on the ice, be careful.

bald eagles

a pair of bald eagles has been seen up and down the river between the chenal ecarte and the lake. that was the giant white winged birds i saw last week over the flats. from directly underneath they are awe inspiring. had a fox in the yard this week, lots of hawks feasting on the mice exposed by the vanishing snow.

this is it! SPRING

thousands of canvasbacks filling the strips of open water on the south channel side of little muscamoot. feet from your car are swans, geese and enough ducks to blot out the sun if they decide to take off. some of the local mallards are back. all the redwinged blackbirds and some fat robins here too.

GEESE BY THE THOUSANDS

there is some open water in the old south channel, just out my door. the geese start dropping in mid morning, and it goes on all day. the open water is a small area so they have to butterfly to drop in. a beautiful sight. then just about dusk they all go up in to the refuge for the night. the same thing is happening in the middle and north channels of the st.clair river also. anywhere there is a spot of open water. the channels are jammed with ice coming down from lake huron, and most of the canals are still froze solid with small open areas where the current is strong. the gas holes are as always, open.

birds

the swans geese and ducks are crowded into any open water they can find. watched 100 geese head north today and if anyone else saw the 2 huge white birds circling over big muscamoot, please give me a call. i ran for the binocs and lost them. lots of mergansers

more divers. more ice

lots of mergansers. and then some more, mergansers. really great lookin ducks. did you know you'll never see one on land? their legs are too far back, they can't walk.

ice is back in river

and with the return of the river ice the ducks are moving. lots of cans, geese, swans and some great looking hooded mergansers.

lots of swans

about 100 mute swans are in the south channel near the chematogan. another 100 in the gas hole in big muscamoot bay. i also saw a few groups of hooded mergansers and some geese.

SPRING CAN'T BE FAR AWAY

as soon as the ice moved out of the channel it filled up with ducks. redheads, canvasbacks, some geese and swans. the ducks number in the tens of thousands.
a bald eagle has been seen between the harsens island ferry and the snye ecarte.

HEALTH

Empower yourself with knowledge, then take charge of your body, your health, your life.

islandbob.royalbodycare.com/

river news

sheriffs from macomb county caught a derelict steel hull described as a 41 foot 20's or 30's vintage hull, a mile upstream from gull island in the old south channel. at last report they were holding it for st. clair county marine patrol

last weekend a derelict with a person aboard was reported off the old club in big muscamoot bay. upon closer inspection it was found to be a mannequin. one guess was a hunter trying to secure their favorite huntin spot.

where are the barges that are dumping on dickenson island, doing their dredging? anyone know?

hunting and fishing

foggy as LLLLLLLLLLLL this 26th day of october. duck hunting has been really slow. opening weekend was good, and the wind last saturday produced some bag limits. i got a call from saginaw bay that some 5000 birds left sunday heading this way and a few hunters monday confirmed that new birds were indeed dropping in on their deeks. brightly coloured and stupid was the most often heard comment. no shooting this mornin, fog is hanging tuff. almost full moon last night may have brought more new birds in. very bright moon had geese in the thousands whoopin it up on seaway island. as bad as its been, hope springs eternal. forecast of rain wednesday, friday and thunderstorms again this weekend should get me out of my tree and into the marsh. expect big numbers of parties at the duck bingo draw with the rain. lots of perch in canals, all little ones. start checkin now or you'll miss the bigger ones when they come in. middle channel holding lots of little walleyes too.to little to keep.drop me a line with comments or questions, islandbob