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The Lost Little Blue Herons

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      The heron rookery had just come into view when I spotted what at first glance appeared to be a small great egret but upon closer inspection had the wrong bill and feet color, size, and shape. I snapped several pictures to help with later identification at home and continued on my walk.     After checking on the heron rookery and swapping SD cards on a trail camera I had on a nearby wetland, I returned home. When I got home I looked the new bird up and found that it was a juvenile little blue heron, a bird that was not normally found in northwest Ohio. Range map from Cornell with a red dot where these two were found      I saw from my trail camera footage that there were two of them in the area.      I have since been told that it is possible that they flew too far north after being sent away by their mother in a process called brood dispersal. This seems to be the most likely reason these vagrant birds showed up so ...
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Hawks and Herons

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Broad-winged Hawk Kettle                “Over there by the two smokestacks.” “A Kettle!”                “Look at them!”                “There must be over 200 of them!” The hushed whispers around us reflected the excitement that we and the group of birders around us were feeling as we watched the distant kettle of broad-winged hawks that had just been spotted. The morning had been slow, with only a few sharp shinned hawks flying through, so suddenly seeing a large group of hawks seemingly materialize out of thin air was a cause for excitement. We had hoped that the kettle would move closer, but it stayed pretty far away.  Hawk Migration Paths Around the Great Lakes I was watching these birds over the lower Detroit River on the U.S./Canada border. (red circle in the map picture) Large kettles, or groups, of various types of hawks, form in this area...
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Why Tree Leaves Change Color in the Fall

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  As the days grow shorter and colder towards the end of the year the green leaves that adorned deciduous trees and shrubs throughout the summer begin to change into colors of red, orange, and yellow, and fall off the tree. Most trees with broad flat leaves lose their leaves every fall, while most trees with needles and a few with flat leaves keep them throughout the winter. Leaves that stay on the tree throughout the year have specially designed protective features, such as a sturdy needle shape, or a wax coating.  Most broad leaf plants do not have these features though. They must lose their large delicate leaves or risk having them destroyed by winter weather. When the days grow shorter there is less sunlight available for the tree to use in photosynthesis, which is the process by which most plants use the green pigment chlorophyll to convert water, carbon dioxide, and light into carbohydrates. Oxygen is produced as a byproduct of this chemical reaction. When the lack of su...
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