On Monday, January 25, 2021, I made yet another birding excursion south,,, March Point, Pleasant Ridge and Fir Island. It’s usually a photographic exercise of taking different photos of the same birds I’ve already photographed, but on this day I obtained some very good photos.
The first noteworthy bird I photographed was a female Belted kingfisher. I’ve photographed them previously but found them wary and have generally been unable to get very close to them. In this case I was about as close as I’ve ever gotten but I had my (relatively new) Nikon 500mm lens I’m now using and was able to get probably the best photos I’ve ever gotten of a kingfisher.
Further down West March’s Point Road I ran into this unusually cooperative Great Blue Heron which, rather than fly, gave me ample opportunity to photograph it.
While in transit, southbound on Best Road just past Christianson’s Nursery, I viewed a large white shape flying low beside the road and directly towards me. As it passed I realized that it was the Great egret I’ve recently photographed. I turned around and stopped where it had turned east across the farm fields. Another photographer who had been following the egret had pulled to the side of the road and he told me he thought the egret was going to hit me… it was that close!
Moving on to Fir Island, I rediscovered the Northern shrike that I had photographed about a week or two previously. It was flying among perches on the WF&W Jensen Access area. (A note to other birders: Please respect photographers who are attempting to photograph a bird. You will be less disruptive if you will consider your vehicle a blind and observe from it instead of getting out and stalking a bird!)
From the WF&WD Jensen Tract I drove to the WF&W HQ Tract where I briefly viewed (one of?) the Black Phoebe(s) fly-catching. There was a lot of activity in the area and the phoebe quickly headed southwest along the slough. I’ve taken better photos of the phoebe but included this as a ‘record shot’.
I was retracing my route back down Rawlings Road when a patch of brown flashed in the ditch beside me. I drove a little ways and then turned around to investigate. I found this male American Kestrel perched on the power line with its recent prize… a rodent almost as big as it was. I was amazed that the kestrel was capable with flying with such weight! I managed a few photos until another oncoming car startled it from its perch, and I then watched it fly more than 100 yards with its prey!
By now definitely on my way home, I encountered this Red-tailed hawk, a winter friend, near its usual patrol area near the road. Unlike most Red-tailed hawks, this one has repeatedly allowed me to stop nearby for photographs, and this might have been my nearest encounter to date. It was a fitting ending to a remarkable birding/photographic day!
