Pipe Creek Wildlife Area

Ring-necked Duck's

Turkey Vulture

Red-headed Duck

You can easily tell a dive is coming...head cocks back

and dive...

finish up with Bufflehead's

were outta here until next time..

Nice shots, Burd. You really got a nice collection of photos from one location. If I understand it, Pipe Creek Wildlife area is within the city limits of Sandusky. If I were you, I would be there every day. It looks like a great place. Have you seen any Common Terns ? I read that they have a nesting colony and that the Common Tern is listed as an endangered specie in Ohio.

With all of the waterfowl present it gives you a lot of opportunity to practice with your new lens. And you have to determine what is the best time of day to visit since proper lighting is crucial for moving subjects, in particular. Do you see other wildlife ?

Stunning!!

Linth, as far as other wildlife there are Snakes, Muskrats, Turtles with a few large Snapping Turtles, and a couple of Woodchucks. I stand corrected on the Common Tern, up this thread I had said Arctic Tern but the reason I said that particular bird is because at one time they had a very small colony of Artic's in the early 90's and people were going night cat-fishing and didn't realize that they had sign's put up (it was dark), including myself...yes I went to court (federal offense) yikes!! But most got out of it including me because it was a very normal thing to go fishing there and no one seen the sign.
Whenever I go to the creek its always between noon and 1:30pm. I,m learning that the light at that time may be to harsh and because I work afternoon's that's usually when I have the time to visit. Nothing official yet, but I may be moving south a few miles so I can only visit during the weekend as it will be about a 35 minute drive and there is no way I would leave my gear in my truck and go to work. Part of my problem has been me (snapping picture's and not photographing) I haven't been keeping with the inspiration lately because I haven't been giving myself enough time (buying house/work/family) to sit down and be more patient. My tripod is not good enough but I did read about using a sandbag to set your camera on and it does a decent job with the image stabilization. I'll have to find something of the sort this weekend.

A little info for Pipe Creek and what you can see as the season's progress.

Birds of Interest - Seasonal Specialties

Winter: Pipe Creek is closed to everyone except waterfowl hunters with a permit during fall waterfowl hunting seasons. When open, over-wintering sparrows can be found in the marshy areas and short-eared owls and harriers are occasionally present. During mild winters, waters around the perimeter remain open and a diverse number of diving ducks are often present including canvasbacks, redheads, lesser and greater scaups, common goldeneyes, buffleheads, and common and red-breasted mergansers.

Spring: Early spring at Pipe Creek is a great season for migrating waterfowl of all varieties. In late February, as ice starts to break up in the backwaters of Sandusky Bay, diving ducks become rather abundant. Canada geese are also present in larger numbers. Dabblers of all sorts move in toward the beginning of March. with gadwalls and northern shovelers in large numbers. Snow buntings and horned larks can also be found along the dikes. In April, warblers and other spring migrants may be found along the entrance trail and along the area between the water plant and the impoundments. Spotted sandpipers are often found in fairly large numbers along the outside of the dikes.

Summer: The westernmost area of Pipe Creek (open water area) is closed to the public during much of the summer and into fall to protect a colony of nesting common terns. Their floating nesting platforms can be viewed at a distance from areas open to the public. Signs are posted when restrictions are in effect. Some wading birds feed in the area and their numbers grow later in summer as young disperse from nesting colonies. Common nighthawks nest on the rooftops at Cedar Point and often can be seen. Shorebirds may also be present, depending upon water levels.

Fall: migrating passerines can be found along the entrance trail and other wooded areas in the fall. Large numbers of great blue herons and common egrets along with snowy egrets and occasional little blue herons are sometimes present.

Didn't include the 2 Grackle shots, these came out decent.

He would browse along the edge of the water then come up and call.

Had one hour before work to hit the creek again. This time I went to the center-most part of the area and just waited for fly-by birds that were close enough to get a decent focus on. There were some new arrivals again also and i'll mention them with the picture's.
First bird I come across today was a new bird for me.
Female Horned Grebe...looking forward to possibly seeing a male on next visit.

A Great Egret has arrived.

Double-crested Cormorants have been arriving also.

This message was edited Mar 28, 2010 1:31 AM

Another shot of the D-c Cormorant

and Blue-winged Teal have arrived.

another shot of the B-w Teal

American Wigeon

another shot of the American Wigeon

these Gadwall's were fussing

lil closer shot of a Gadwall

Northern Shoveler's

2nd shot

N.Shoveler

Couple of Canada Goose shots..

my shot of the day

spring is on...

Love that 2nd shot Northern Shoveler's too. Great job Burd!!

Nice ones Burd...I like the Shovlers also...want to see one of those!

Beautiful photos!! I especially enjoyed seeing the grackles and that Red-winged. Nice work!!

Great shooting Burd...so many birds I have yet to see! Hope you are having a fun Birthday!!

So many great shots! Gosh, I hope that when you move, you find a great birding spot nearby!

Have a few more photo's to add from Pipe Creek which will finish off this thread. Will start a new one when I next visit. These shots are from the last couple of days. I was able to add a couple more birds to my list, that makes 10 new birds from this spot so far. Starting off with a few Great Blue Heron shots.

Nice Catch!

Took a little working but down it went...

Yes, I know fuzzy shots...

weeds in the way but it looks so natural sometimes that way...

I see fish heads here and there below the large Cottonwood Tree's...

Greater Yellowlegs...new