• Wednesday-What'sUP July 23 - 08:57 pm

Looking at today's pictures, you might say the Pasty Cam is "for the birds", as we have quite an assortment to view. We start with a photo that Cindy Freeman took at the Seney National Wildlife Refuge, which is 5 miles south of Seney on M-77. It's one thing to get a good shot of a loon, but to get one of a mother and her chick like this is special indeed.

Number two bird, is an Indigo Bunting spotted by Deb Simons, when she was visiting her folks in Lake Linden. You don't see a brilliant blue coloring like that very often in the bird family, so when you do it really catches your eye. I wonder how many people mistake these for bluebirds?

These six little baby Wrens hail from the Menominee area and actually took up residence in one of Brenda Leigh's bluebird houses. She said she had actually cleaned the twigs out of the house to discourage the mother Wren on two occasions, but the Wrens continued to persist in making that birdhouse their home. Brenda figures they come from the Keweenaw, since they were full of SISU, persisting until they won the battle of the birdhouse. :->

Last but not least, we have two photos from Bob Gallun, showing a Pine Siskin feeding on sunflower seeds and also showing off the markings on its wing and tail feathers. You see these birds flitting around all over the U.P., but you don't always get to see the bright yellow markings when they fly right by.

Thus concludes our visit to the menagerie of a few of the birds that can be found, not only in and around the Upper Peninsula, but also on the pages of Pasty Central's Guest Gallery.

Great selection of shots today, Mary!

Good morning, There is something special about getting up in the morning and hearing the bird's singing.

That's one of the things I missed the most when I first left the UP and moved to North Dakota. You never woke up to birds singing. I missed the robins so much. Then when I moved to MN, and finally out to the country, the birds sing all the time. I just love it! I don't think I realized just how much I missed that sound until I moved to MN. It was (almost) like going home.

sure is...puts the taste of chicken in my mouth.
that loon looks mighty cool..that's a real nice picture

Very nice pictures of today's "Early Birds!" The Loon and chick is my favorite!

Hi
I love the loon picture. My parents & I were fortunate enough to see a loon family up close at Seney. There were two chicks, younger than the one in the shot, who both wanted to ride on mom's back. They were too big to do that; but I think mom loon being distracted with this family dynamic was why they stayed in view so long (we stayed in the car so's not to disturb them). I say mom but of course I couldn't tell the gender. The other loon parent was crusing at a distance, staying out of the situation.

Good Morning all,
I really love the bird pics. Did you know that the Indigo Bunting is black? The sun causes it to have a blue hue. I have entered several pics in the Iosco Cty fair this year and will see how they faired this afternoon. Everyone have a Wonderful Summer,E.

A nice variety of birds today. All I ever see in my yard are Robins, Maybe if I actually put some seed in my feeder instead of it decorating my dryer I would have better luck.

I was surprised to see my loon picture today. That trip to Seney was my first time ever seeing a loon in person. I watched them for a long time that morning. Actually, I have become very interested in birds lately. My sub here in New Baltimore is only about 25% built, and there are many birds around in the open fields. We have a resident red-tailed hawk, a great-horned owl nearby (woke me up one morning at 4:00 a.m.), red-winged blackbirds, and the funniest is the kildeer that run around all the time making a whole lot of noise. I enjoyed all of the other bird photos today.

The Seney Visitor Center is the perfect bathroom stop. So peaceful there. We have loons and other waterfowl regularly cruising along our Superior shores in Aura. Hope to get there soon!

Got wrens on the new patio myself. Have had two batches this year. They posed and created quite a stir for the family vacation.

Great photos today, Mary. As I scrolled down through the photos I was hoping to see the photo you captured of the beautiful bay-breasted warbler. I'm sure that most of us have never seen one.

This spring I watched a pair of wrens build a nest in a rusty old pipe. All I could think of was the amount of rain this pipe would collect. The wrens are still there. Talk about SISU.

Link to wren and pipe photo: Birds From the Field

Mary says: At your request, Ken, here's the picture I had taken and sent to you for help in identifying this little bird...a Bay-breasted Warbler.

Love all the bird pictures, esp. the loons. The Common Loon is my second favorite bird. Very nice picture, Cindy.

In June I saw 5 loons swimming on the shoreline near Gay. The water was fairly calm that day. What a wonderful sight to see so many of them together at one time!

I love the Loon pic! I was lucky enough to stay up in the U.P. at a resort on Big Manistique Lake near Curtis last week -- and woke up a few mornings by the call of a Loon. I love that sound so much that I bought two nature CD's set to the call of a Loon when I stopped at Mackinaw Crossing on the way home.

I wish we were still UP there!

And it's surprising how BIG they are! Especially when they surface right next to the boat and neither you nor the loon are expecting anything to be there.
Mr. Deb

Love the bird pics today! The baby wrens are too cute!

Deb S
That would've been something to see--talk about a close encounter. My Peterson's field guide says the loon is "the size of a small goose" (28-36 inches long)

Thanks, Mary. That is a great shot of a very cool little warbler and in Michigan it is unique to the UP. It is found mostly in Canada. It is said to occasionally hybridize with the yellow-rumped warbler. Now there's a challenge for you. Get a shot of the hybrid :-)

Mary says: I'll keep my eyes open and my camera at the ready, Ken! :->

Ahhh! Bay Breasted Warbler! One of the prettiest of the genus. (my thoughts anyhow) Not often seen. They have declined considerably in recent years along with many other species. We do see them now and then right here in our yard north of Lake St. Clair during spring and fall migration. Extraordinary great photo of one! All todays photos are exceptional!

Cindy in New Baltimore: We saw Loons also at Seney NWR when there June 29. They were way out on the water though. You can see Common Loons during spring & fall migrations just off the New Baltimore City Park on Anchor Bay, just off the public access at the foot of Palms Rd. in Fair Haven (my neighborhood!) and other spots on Anchor Bay or for that matter at Metro Beach Metropark! Loons cannot walk well on land especially slippery pavement and often will become stranded and unable to "take off". They need water to "paddle swim" to get up speed to take off! This happened a few years ago in New Baltimore whereas several overshot the Bay while landing (As I recall it was foggy) and landed all over in downtown! If I remember correctly several perished before they could get back to the Bay :(

Deb: Did you not see/hear Meadowlarks, Bobolinks and such in North Dakota? Very beautiful songs!

When we'd visit Wis. daughter, esp. with our RV in their yard, the whipporwill would drive hubby nuts with that repetative call. But I liked it. One of my favorite calls is the meadowlarks. And the lonesome sounding loon. Always tickles me when they have the sound of a loon in the background of a t.v. show that would never be ap-propiate for certain areas. What do those city folks know hey? :o>)

I havn't seen a Loon here in Bootjack for several years now!!

You're right, Russell, there are lots of singing birds in ND, not only the bobolink but the redwing and yellow-wing blackbirds, which were really plentiful around the area where we lived. Also the beautiful 'quiet' pheasants all along the roadsides. We lived about 30 or so miles north of Bismarck.

Shirley, where did you live? I lived about 60 miles NW of Bismarck in Hazen. Believe me, we had no birds waking us up in the morning. The only trees around us were the telephone poles.

Small world, Deb! We lived in Washburn, but had our post office box in Hazen, and did our grocery shopping there. My husband was working near Beulah, for Kaiser Engrs. on the construction of the Great Plains Coal Gasification Plant. This was in 1981 thru 1984...long time ago.:)

Oh my! We used to drive through Washburn all the time when we'd take that way home. Hazen was a decent town. Most of the work was in Beulah. I hated not having the lakes and stuff that we have here and in MI. And the wind was awful too. I gather you live in Ohio now?