A Killdeer calls from patch of lily pad roots.

A male (right) Great Blue Heron passing off a stick to his lady (left) to add to the nest.

A male Wood Duck and his fancy green and purple noggin. These guys are my favorite duck to photograph.

A Sandhill Crane with feathers freshly painted with iron-rich mud, which will give the feathers a rusty tint. It's believed this is done to help the crane blend into the environment while sitting on a nest.

A male Pileated Woodpecker working on a tree along the nature trail.

A Sandhill Crane possibly contemplating a nesting spot. This particular area has been popular for nesting cranes for many years. We'll see in the next couple of weeks if this spot has been chosen!

Smoke-phase wild turkeys are turkeys that are light gray instead of brown with black details on the tips on their feathers. This is due to a rare genetic mutation. About 1 in 100 wild turkeys are smoke phase turkeys.

Lots of comings and goings at the Great Blue Heron rookery as nest maintenance is underway.

A curious Tufted Titmouse in a cedar tree wondering when the peanuts will be offered.

A Brown Creeper inspects a piece of bark to see if anything tasty is hiding underneath.

A Cedar Waxwing waving to the camera

A male Pileated Woodpecker flying over the grasses, scouting for a good log to land on.

The Common Grackle subspecies we have here in Michigan is the bronze subspecies, the name coming from the color of their body feathers. The males have been strutting along the boardwalk railing; I haven't seen any females arrive yet.

Closeup portrait of a White-breasted Nuthatch.

A male Wood Duck flying through the forest. They are so pretty!

A male Pileated Woodpecker (right) that flew in to visit a female Pileated Woodpecker (left) on the tree she was perched on. I'm not sure if this was her mate; Pileated Woodpeckers mate for life, but there was another male nearby.

A Red-winged Blackbird about to deliver a kick to the tail feathers of a Red-tailed Hawk passing over the marsh.

It's been lovely to see the Great Blue Herons return to the rookery. A sign of Spring!

A new bird for me, a Ross's Goose! A small white goose with black-tipped wings and a dainty beak. This one was hanging out with about a dozen Canada Geese. They typically don't make their way through Michigan, so this bird was a fun sight to see.

A male Eastern Bluebird singing softly in the early morning light.

A Red-tailed Hawk after missing a meal. The hawk landed and then started quickly checking around her in the leaves, but did not come up with anything to eat.

A male Pileated Woodpecker with some wood bits on his beak from carving out a tree cavity while looking for food.

Incoming Cedar Waxwing! The older the Cedar Waxwing, the more red waxy tips a bird has, with some having more than 9. 6-9 is common in older birds.

An immature Bald Eagle (looking to be about 2.5 years based on plumage) flying through the snow storm.

A male White-breasted Nuthatch watching to see if I will be offering peanuts. The males have a black cap (like this one), females have a dark gray.

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This Great Blue Heron took a break from fishing in a small pond (where the heron was catching tiny fish) to perch in an Eastern Red Cedar.

A Red-tailed Hawk heading towards the marsh to do some hunting.

A Cedar Waxwing taking a sip of water

A Bald Eagle looking up at another Bald Eagle that was giving chase.

A male Eastern Blue bird sings from the top of an Alder tree.

I typically spot Winter Wrens bopping around near the ground, but occasionally one pops up to scoot along branches.

Earlier this year I learned that, in rare cases, Cedar Waxwings have wax on the tips of their tail feathers (the typical place is on the wing tips.) I was delighted to recently find another Cedar Waxwing that had a couple of red waxy tips on the tail feathers.

A Red-headed Woodpecker perched on a fallen log along the nature trail. This particular Woodpecker chases away Red-bellied Woodpeckers and the much larger Pileated Woodpeckers from the bird's wintering territory. Red-headed Woodpeckers cache food, so this bird was likely protecting his/her food.

A female Pileated Woodpecker working on hunting down some carpenter ants.

A Great Blue Heron fishing right next to a thin patch of ice. The heron looked to be tracking something (probably a tiny fish) and I wondered if the bird would punch through the ice to hunt...but the heron eventually turned away from the ice and flew to the shoreline.

One of the male Red-winged Blackbirds in my backyard flying over the marsh. The rusty fringe to his feathers (seen here mostly on the back) will soon drop off as he changes from his non-breeding plumage into his breeding plumage.

A male Eastern Bluebird heading out to follow a female Bluebird.

A Tufted Titmouse on full alert for peanuts to be offered.

I was happy to see a Bald Eagle pass by overhead. The ducks on the nearby river (where the eagle was heading) did not seem nearly as happy and promptly took off.

One of the winter cuties, an American Tree Sparrow, perched along the nature trail. Despite their name, they spend most of their time feeding on the ground.

Turkeys toms strutting along the nature path, with the older turkey walking in the middle of the path. The long distinctive feathers on their chests are called "beards," and around 10% of female turkeys have them. However, the female beards are shorter and thinner.

I heard a Pileated Woodpecker hammering away but wasn't able to locate him at first. I spotted him when he leaned to the side; he was directly on the other side of the tree.

A Rock Pigeon with a threatening aura

A male Red-winged Blackbird patrolling the marsh.

A male Eastern Bluebird scanning the leaf litter from his perch before diving down to hunt insects.

The female of the local Red-tailed Hawk couple. She is taking a break after an unsuccessful hunt; she dove into the marsh but came up empty.

A male Pileated Woodpecker launches from one tree to head to another.

The visible song of a male Red-winged Blackbird in the morning light.

A Great Blue Heron tucking in one leg against the cold while standing along the riverbank.