Hot water

[samuel walker]

I write on the first day of Winter the start of the Hard Birding season. You can still bird well in Winter.It's just a little different. My reliable meadow ponds will freeze and thaw. Up and down my lakefront are coal-fired power plants that discharge warm water. This draws the lake fish toward the shore. The abundance of fish pull down the birds,especially the migrants passing through the Great Lakes.
Good sightings,
Sam

[Beverlybaynes]

I'm fortunate enough to live just a couple of hours from Great Lake Michigan, the shape of which funnels birds into its southernmost reaches, especially at West Beach in the Dunes National Lakeshore in Lake County, IN. We can get some amazing birds there, IF you can stand braving the bitter bitter winds blowing off the lake.

Just a few miles to the east is a nuclear plant at Michigan City, IN, and the things they find there in the warm water discharge area can give the harbor some of the most rewarding winter birding in the state.