Ecorse Park - 18 Jan 2005


18 January 2005 Detroit River, Ecorse

1200 Hrs. I birded the Detroit River at the foot of Southfield in Ecorse. Frigid! Clear skies and temps in single digits. Thousands of Canvasbacks out on the river, which now has ice flows keeping the majority of them in
the middle of the river. Fewer Redheads, Ring-billed Ducks, Mallards, Black Ducks, Goldeneye, Bufflehead, Common Mergansers, a single Great Black-backed Gull, Hooded Merganser, Lesser Scaup, Greater Scaup, MuteSwans. 

I managed a couple of decent pics of Common Merganser male and female (2 pics out of 33 - too bright to focus and vignetting problems from improper zooming - got to work out a blind or shade system to see in
sunlight - did get exposures of 1/1000 at f/5.6 with sun/water/ice at ISO 200 though).

1530 Hrs.  Decided that I had to try again at the river.  We won’t have sunny skies like this much longer, and with the forecast for 2-6” snow tonight and cold temps the rest of the week its motivation enough that I tolerate a few more lost fingers to the cold.  In just several hours the majority of the water around Mud Island is frozen enough to concentrate ducks either on the west side of the island or next to the pier.  

I approached very slowly a group of Canvasbacks that were close to shore, but I could not focus on them through the wooden fencing to get a decent image.  They flew off before I could get a decent shot (too bad I didn’t have the 400mm – I could’ve walked up and got flight shots as they flew off….).  

A single Common Goldeneye is out next to the breakwall and is testing the limits of my tolerance for frostbite and trying to focus on it before it dives.  I finally get a few images before he flies off to join his buddies next to the island.  

Lots of Canada Geese among the Mute Swans next to the island.  These appear to be the intermdiate form of Branta canadensis as they are smaller than normal with very short necks.  But they appear significantly larger than the Mallards to rule out Cackling Geese.  A single Ring-billed Gull gave me the last bits of sunlight as it sat on fresh-made ice.  Time to thaw out…










Dingell Park (formally Ecorse Park), Wayne, Michigan, US
Jan 18, 2005 12:00 PM - 12:30 PM
Protocol: Stationary
Checklist Comments:     Clear skies, temp 8F, River is choked w/ ice except around Mud Island
14 species

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)  40
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)  23
American Black Duck (Anas rubripes)  6
Canvasback (Aythya valisineria)  1500
Redhead (Aythya americana)  500
Ring-necked Duck (Aythya collaris)  18
Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis)  36
Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola)  10
Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula)  26
Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus)  6
Common Merganser (Mergus merganser)  22
Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)  2
Herring Gull (Larus argentatus)  2
Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus)  1

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S182140526

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)