Here are a few birds I found by the beach in Zion, IL for this #featheredfriday by @melinda010100
I walked through a muddy marsh area on the way to the Lake Michigan beach and saw many grackles.
The pathway was flooded so we had to walk through some sludgy muck, fortunately we could wash all the mud off our feet later on at the beach.
Grackle wonders why the humans are so afraid of mud.
This female Eastern Towhee also wondered why the humans ventured into the mud. Sadly I couldn't get a clear shot of the male that was chirping at her.
We made it to the beach and set foot into the water and it felt like it was 30 degrees. Way too cold to swim in and we were barely able to wash off all the mud with the cold water freezing us to our bones.
So the beach walk ended up being a sunbathing day and rock picking day. I got to try and get flying shots of the gulls flying by.
They constantly fly by so there were many opportunities to fine tune the camera settings.
Look at the gull crew, I'm surprised their wings don't accidentally hit the waves.
Here's a good wing flapping transition shot.
The other interesting shore birds were the sanderlings. I barely noticed them walking on the beach as they were really camouflaged.
I suspect these two were competing for the same riff raff that washed up on the shore.
Some of these guys even got waves crashing over them, unfortunately I didn't capture any of those moments. They didn't seem to mind the cold water at all.
On our way back from the beach we walked across a bridge that took us over the muddy river to avoid the mud. This bluebird posed nicely for me over the bridge. I came here hoping to find some sandhill cranes. But they were well hidden away in the reeds and I heard them squawking loudly but couldn't catch a glimpse of them.
Happy #featheredfriday :-)
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Good bird photos, they have come out good :)
I hope to get more this weekend. Possibly some rare ones.
Oh ... I be soon back then :) ... I hope I get also soon some new nature photos, I was see Fox and Deer here but they all time run fast and hard to get :))
The trick is to stay in the weeds with camouflage until they come by. Though that is a time consuming strategy.
YEs ... but I not have camou :)) So I try walk and find them first, then they can find me :))
Maybe a sausage snack would lure the fox closer for a better shot. Deer don't usually respond to snacks very well, I tried once with an apple and they didn't care about it.
I try one day and I going to see if it work ;)
Sanderlings are good at camouflage. Almost invisible. Your shot is perfect.
I only noticed them as I was sitting on the beach and saw one of their bodies poke above the pebble horizons.
Then I had to go and look for more, and there was a whole gang of them.
Yupps. I think the bird prefers the coastal area. It is difficult to find this type of bird here. some can be found only gulls.
Gulls are everywhere, they even find a way to live in a parking lot with cars lol. Very hearty birds.
Your pictures are extraordinary.
But I prefer your picture walking in the mud.
it's an extraordinary effort to get extraordinary results.
Thank you for sharing.
That mud was pretty deep too, fortunately there were no leeches in there.
yeah, that's right.
There are lots of leeches in the habit of mud, that's how it is at our place.
I'm not afraid of leeches, but amused when I see them, Lol.
I'm afraid of leeches yikes. Especially since you don't notice they are on you until you actually look for them.
Yeah,
that is normal, because there are also many people who are afraid of leeches.
That's normal,
I do fear ticks more though. Leeches are just gross but ticks carry disease.
Yes.
It is true.
A fantastic beach walk and lots of great sightings and photos. You are far braver than me to put your feet in that water! Brrrr. I wish I saw more towhees around here.
I hear the towhees all the time in the forests around here. The main problem is actually spotting them in a bright area to get a good shot. The water was super cold, just 30 seconds in chilled to the bones then when you walk out your feet are numb.
It hasn't been that long since the Lake looked like this.....
I have to get good at my Wim Hoff breathing technique to swim in that.
Great walk and photo with observations!
Hopefully the water will get warm enough to swim in next month. Even then it might still be too cold.
We have starlings and grackles here. Grackles are such handsome birds, I always thought they should have been called starlings. "Grackle" would be perfect for the stubby odd colored starling.... This is one of those odd things that bug me....
The grackles are pretty smart too, though the can be ferocious predators. I saw a bunch of them attack a pigeon, then when I came back later there was a perfectly picked clean pigeon skeleton on the ground.
Wow, I didn't know that about grackles!
I suppose many types of birds will do that, they are basically dinosaurs right lol.
Great pix of the birds, it must have been an enjoyable walk, so pretty there. I have heard that the lake stays pretty cold all summer. I would dip my toes, but swim? nah, cold water and I don't get along.
Thanks for the share.
Yeah, you have to wait until its at least 90 degrees out for the water to get warm enough. That day it was 85 out so we thought it would be warm enough to swim. But the lake still kept all the previous cold days in it. It would be good for cold therapy on joint pain, but not very enjoyable.
Nice variety of birds coming to see the humans, brilliant captures on each!
I just got back from Iowa and got lots of new bird shots, just have to process them.
Look forward to seeing them when you done. Have a great day.