Detroit River Waterfowl - 24 Jan 2008


Today it was clear, sunny and COLD!!!. How cold? This poor Canvasback was drifting by the foot of Perry Pl. road just north of BASF Corp. and Goddard Rd with a chunk of ice stuck to its bill!. I took several photos of it as it drifted by with a group of Mallards and could not believe the ice stuck to its face. He didn't seem to be in any stress, so I'm hoping that a dive or a good head shake will free the ice from his bill.




I then drove over to the foot of St. John's and the boat marina where a large flock of Mallard held court looking for handouts. Its an nice place to check out because more interesting birds can show up. Today a pair of Common Mergansers, a male and female swam between the large ice flows and were close enough to photograph. 







As they swam out of sight another large ice sheet drifted by and carried with it a 3rd-cycle Great Black-backed Gull 


and a 2nd-cycle Herring Gull. 


From the car I took several dozen shots w/ the D300 as they floated by. The 'ring-bill' and brown feathers still visible on the mostly black back indicate that this GBBG is not quite an adult.

The GBBG was feeding on a fish carcass and kept the smaller gull from getting any. You could that the young Herring Gull was not happy as it 'voiced' its displeasure as it walked by the larger bird! The larger bird did not seem to be affected by this insult, and continued to pick away at the fish meal. An adult GBBG made a fly-over and I managed a few shots before it flew off to the north.













Wyandotte Boat Launch, Wayne, Michigan, US
Jan 24, 2008 12:00 PM - 12:20 PM
Protocol: Traveling
0.1 mile(s)
Checklist Comments:     Clear, sunny, and COLD!
5 species

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)  16
Canvasback (Aythya valisineria)  150
Common Merganser (Mergus merganser)  2
Herring Gull (Larus argentatus)  1
Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus)  1

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S168231606

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

Leaving the dock I then headed down to the foot of Southfield Rd. Stopping at the south end of park I counted (12) Great Black-backed Gulls sharing a large ice flow out in the middle of the river. Canvasbacks, Redheads and Mute Swans were still abundant, but seem to have moved farther out toward the middle of the river. Too cold to do any serious digiscoping, I felt content to photograph a pair of Hooded Mergansers 



and a small group of Redhead before heading home. In less than a half-hour I had emptied a 2GB card (329 Jpg's) shooting at these gorgeous birds!




Dingell Park (formally Ecorse Park), Wayne, Michigan, US
Jan 24, 2008 12:20 PM - 12:35 PM
Protocol: Traveling
0.1 mile(s)
Checklist Comments:     Clear, sunny, COLD
5 species

Mute Swan (Cygnus olor)  30
Canvasback (Aythya valisineria)  150
Redhead (Aythya americana)  50
Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus)  2
Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus)  12

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S168231848

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