Subject: [Tweeters] Detroit area birding part 1, Chimney Swifts
Date: Jun 5 10:58:37 2010
From: Mark Vernon - ma_vern at yahoo.com




My Detroit area birding adventure started last May 22nd, so this is a bit late. All in all I didn't get in as much birding as?I might have wanted but I had a great trip.
?
My first night was spent with my Aunt Jan in a penthouse above King's Bookstore in downtown Detroit. Detroit! It has a bit of a bad reputation so I was very excited. My first bird appeared that morning, and it was a life lister for me. There were 8 Chimney Swifts flitting about the King Bookstore. I spent some time explaining why they weren't swallows. Because they were nesting somewhere in this old warehouse of a building I had excellent views. They looked very different from the Vaux's Swifts I am used to.
?
That morning we took a walk around downtown Detroit. Perhaps it was because it was a Saturday morning but the streets seemed deserted. Too bad, the downtown was actually really neat. The old buildings were beautiful and fabulous, covered in art, staues and gargoyles. Monuments were everywhere. We went inside of the Guardian Building for some stunning views. Ring-billed Gulls followed us and seemed to me to be tame. They were the only gulls I found on my trip and were often quite numerous. Starlings, House Sparrows and Pigeons were the same as here in Seattle. Near the bookstore I heard a Sparrow singing and it was a song a wasn't familiar with. This was in a grassy patch near the freeway.
?
Later that morning we left for Fenton, Michigan....
?
Continued...
?

Mark Vernon
Renton, WA
mailto ma_vern at yahoo.com
?
?