A Constant Watch

Man, it sure is nice that Spring has arrived, if only the weather would cooperate. It’s been dreary, snowy and cold for the last few weeks - unseasonably so. Regardless, as I mentioned in the previous post, the birds are back and it is an exciting time of year.

I find myself constantly checking in at the local preserve. I am sure I have mentioned this before, but as a refresher; a mere 1/4 mile down the road from our home is a 1,000 acre waterfowl preserve on the shores of Lake Michigan. It has robust wetlands and hardwoods along with streams strung throughout. As you can imagine, this is a birding metropolis during migration.

Goose! | Fujifilm X-S20 | 750mm | f/5.6

You truly never know what type of bird you’ll run into. Just last week, in a literal sea of Ringneck Ducks was my first Lesser Scaup, all by itself or my second Kingfisher of the year would show up and pose for photos.

Duck Photobomb | Fujifilm X-S20 | 750mm | f/5..6

We kept hearing this Kingfisher dart around the wetland, and from time to time he’d show himself but never good enough for a photo. Finally he perched in a tree, just across a small pond with the sun right in his face. I was fairly cold, so I was quite appreciative of him sitting here, as the sun was giving me a warmup I desperately needed. I was able to capture quite a few photos but my favorite includes this Mallard which decided to photobomb the Kingfisher’s time in the spotlight.

I have a goal this year, 100 unique bird species. I’d like to think that this will be quite easy, but who knows, I could be way in over my head. It’s my first year actually tracking which species I run into, due to that, I truly have no idea if 100 is a lot or a little. As of April 3rd, I am up to 45 - having this many so early in the year gives me hope, but I also know that once Migration is over, it’ll be tough to find new species. Perhaps I will need to add some bird-focused travels to my year.

So, here is to a successful bird search in 2025, I’ll be sure to keep a constant watch.

Thanks for reading, until next time…

-Nathan