Pied-billed Grebes - 05 Sep 2022

Some good shorebirds and warblers were being reported at Lake Erie Metropark this morning. I decided to make the most of the (partially) breaking cloud cover and took a late afternoon drive to the Wave Pool and Marshland Museum. 

I headed to the Wave Pool to walk the maintenance road to marshy canal and scoped for shorebirds. As I drove past the north end of the marsh I caught this Wood Duck posing for a quick photo from inside the car. 

I scoped the marsh west of the Wavepool and failed to see the nine Stilt Sandpipers that were just reported. I did see almost 2-dozen Lesser Yellowlegs roosting together a good 100 yds. from the road, so its possible the Stilts were in among them. One Greater Yellowlegs (adult) was with the mostly juvenile Lessers.

Farther out in the marsh I spotted a single Sora moving in and out of the cattails, and just nearby found the Baird's Sandpiper that was reported. 

As I was packing up I spotted a Pied-billed Grebe swimming near shore and decided to take some pics w/ the Sony a1 and 600/4 lens. It was carrying a fish (Goby?) so I followed it as it swam. 

Suddenly, a pair of baby grebes popped up looking for a meal. A hand-off was made, and I now had more reason to stay and get more pics. 

Once meals were eaten the adult bird began to preen and bathe. The camera did a marvelous job capturing sharp images even during head shakes and water-spray!

After several minutes the action was over and grebes swam off. I would head over to the Marshland Museum trail and fail to see a single warbler. So, I drove home. But, I did see the Wood Duck again, and a nearby Mallard that were resting quietly in the late evening (breaking) Sun.

Lake Erie Metropark, Wayne, Michigan, US
Sep 5, 2022 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Protocol: Traveling
1.0 mile(s)
7 species

Wood Duck (Aix sponsa)  6
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)  6
Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps)  3
Sora (Porzana carolina)  1
Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes)  22
Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca)  1
Baird's Sandpiper (Calidris bairdii)  1

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S159194122

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