Just because I've been suffering from a severe lack of time and motivation the last month--manifested in a lack of posts--doesn't mean I haven't been birding. Now, as I have a five-day breather between my January course and the spring semester, I have time, but I still don't have much motivation. So, without further ado, here are some photos with brief blurbs from the last month.
Ice is slippery! And Purple Sandpipers are clumsy! Not that I'm one to talk...
Manistee River. Snowshoeing is extremely fun, except for when you trip over your own feet (not that I don't do that anyway) and when your snowshoeing partner shoves snow down your neck.
A lake-effect snowstorm shortly before it slammed us at Holland State Park.
The Arctic Ocean is a bit of a drive from Grand Rapids, but thankfully Lake Michigan serves admirably to fulfill your iceberg wilderness fix. Just imagine the goldeneye are Spectacled Eiders.
The end of the Grand Haven pier. My buddies the Lautenbachs and I have established a new competitive winter sport, expected to debut in the next Winter Olympics: Pier Scrambling. Basically, it entails slipping and sliding to the end of an ice-encrusted pier while being bombarded with snowballs and hunks of ice. The person to fall into the lake the fewest number of times wins.
Harlequin Ducks provide a mild spice of excitement to any day along the lakeshore.
Calvin's ecosystem preserve is unsurprisingly quiet this time of year. Junco, Tree Sparrow, Downy Woodpecker, Chickadee...it's predictable, or at least I like to think it is. In the past month, I've seen Northern Shrike, Merlin, and Song Sparrow (shush, they're not as ubiquitous in the winter) on campus.
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