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The Daily Bucket -- Autumn at Kensington Metropark [1]

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Date: 2022-10-26

Map of Huron-Clinton Metroparks in southeast Michigan. Left arrow marks Kensington Metropark. Right arrow marks home base. Zoom.

As a park system in a major metropolitan area, Huron-Clinton Metroparks serve many users with different ways of enjoying the outdoors. My outdoor bliss is slowly strolling along nature trails, seeing whatever there is to see and hopefully capturing some of it on camera. Lucky for me, the metroparks have areas dedicated to nature study, with other areas in the parks available for jogging, biking, dog walking, golfing, swimming, kayaking and more.







Map of Kensington Metropark, with nature trail area that I frequent circled. Zoom.

During fall, the park is an oasis for migrating birds, especially waterfowl. Although duck hunting is allowed at a nearby state recreation area, there can be thousands of ducks safely resting and fueling up in Wildwing Lake. The lake has a boardwalk in front of a Great Blue Heron rookery, with plenty of benches to sit and soak up the sun and sights. The Herons have moved on for the year, but there’s still plenty to see.

A small part of the thousands of ducks on Wildwing Lake, October 23, 2022. Most of them were Ring-necked Ducks, the first-of-the-season for me.

Closeup of Ring-necked Ducks on Wildwing Lake.

Mixed in were American Wigeons.

And FOS Canvasbacks (drake at center), which will overwinter in the area.

I also saw my FOS Northern Shovelers, here with Wigeons. Both will migrate further south for the winter. Zoomed.

One of my favorite things about birding is the conversations I have with other birders. I’ve long since abandoned my general shyness and will ask just about anybody (especially those with serious binoculars, scopes and cameras), if they have seen anything interesting. This past Sunday was no different and another birder let me and my pal know that she’d just seen two Virginia Rails near the start of the boardwalk, just around the corner from where we were. Almost immediately, we spotted these notoriously reclusive birds scooting quickly through the cattails.

Virginia Rail — a lifer for me. Zoomed.

Virginia Rail. Zoomed.

The trails behind the nature center go through gently rolling hills, with mature oak forests, among other habitats. Kensington is unusual in that they allow hand feeding songbirds. I wrote about the practice in my debut Bucket last year. Some birds are cautious and will not land in your hand. Blue Jays are adept at catching peanuts midair. I’ve had Red-bellied Woodpeckers take seed from my hand (and boy oh boy do they feel different from a Chickadee!), but the Red-heads are much too wary.

Red-headed Woodpecker making off with his prize from a cache in a stump. Zoomed.

This Eastern Towhee was curious, but not about to approach any closer.

Chickadees, Nuthatches, Tufted Titmice and Downy Woodpeckers are not shy about grabbing a bite from someone’s hand, here a White-breasted Nuthatch.

As if all this wasn’t enough, there’s one more amazing part of fall at Kensington — Sandhill Cranes. They aren’t there in huge numbers, but they are unbelievably tolerant of human visitors. They literally share the hiking trails, which makes observing them up close as easy as it is thrilling. Sunday, we watched a pair preening on the shore of Wildwing Lake. I hope to have a Friday sequence Bucket soon, but here’s a small teaser.

Sandhill Crane, fluffed up and in a twist in order to get that hard to reach spot. Zoomed.

Sandhill Crane doing a nice yoga tree pose.

Now it’s your turn. What’s going on in nature in your neck of the woods? Do you have a favorite fall hangout?

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/10/26/2131045/-The-Daily-Bucket-Autumn-at-Kensington-Metropark

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