Thursday, November 19, 2009

Bonaparte's at Pointe Mouille

I had the chance to stop for a quick lunch break yesterday at the Pointe Mouillee Headquarters. I was originally planning to walk around the Velvet unit, but I quickly realized there were too many people there working hard to "manage the natural ressources" of Michigan (I mean rednecks with shot guns). So I just spend half an hour on the observation platform of the headquarters, hoping for a late season raptors to fly over.
No raptors, but I had the good fortune to see quite a good number (150+) of Bonaparte's gulls, in winter plumage. The light was rather bad, but it was a great opportunity to take pictures of birds in flight with my fz-28, and to experiment with the different camera modes. Also seen was a rather impressive flight of Tundra Swans...









3 comments:

Mel said...

Nice shots!
My lunch breaks over here (Peru) are surrounded by grey buildings in the financial area of the capital :(
At least you have the chance to see a bit of nature's beauty on yours :)

Laurent said...

Thanks for the comment Mel. Most of my lunch breaks here in Michigan are spend in dowtown lansing, my list for the last 15 months I spend here is probably between 12 and 15 species. Only cool birds here are the pelegrine falcon and last winter some white winged crossbills....

Chris Petrak said...

Just found you by coming from One Jackdaw - particularly like following Michiganers, as I am one by birth - grew up in Detroit, back in the days when SE Michigan still had professional football. Wasn't birding then, but look forward to getting into the north country some spring soon for the Kirkland's - can't believe I spent so many summers on Higgins Lake at a camp and was so close to the KIWA - now have to make a special trip.
Chris
tailsofbirding.blogspot.com