An Ancient Murrelet was found on 11/21/23 in Sturgeon Bay, at George K. Pinney County Park. I had a chance to go the next day, so I went. A couple of friends came along as well, which made for a nice road trip. It was being seen in the morning, so we knew it would still be there when we arrived. About an hour into the ride, I realized I had left my 1.4x extender at home. I was so mad at myself; I could not believe it! Just a few days earlier, while deer hunting, I had a Barred Owl very close to me and had to take it off and use just the bare lens. I was going to put it on for the ride home from deer hunting, but it was fogged up and I decided to wait until I got home. Well, I forgot! While this bird was reported being very close to shore, the extra 240mm would have made a great difference. So, I was stuck shooting at 600mm, just like everybody else, ha-ha. We arrived just after noon, and the bird was not very far offshore, maybe 35′ out and 70′ down shore. Lighting was the almost the worst it could be! so bad, I didn’t really think most photos would even be useable, but they turned out alright. I think we spent just over 2 hours up there, hoping the lighting would get better as the sun got further to the west. But by the time that was starting to happen the bird was about 150-200′ further down shore and it didn’t seem like it was going to work its way back towards us, so we called it a day. I think this one was the 8th state record, with the 7th coming just one day earlier in Ashland. Photos below are from the afternoon of 11/22. Enjoy!
