Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.


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Walktober – Egrets and herons and wood ducks and more

I love October, and I love Robin’s Walktober. I’ve been joining in for many years and I always look forward to posting about some adventure that I’ve done especially for this post.

It was a beautiful day with streaky blue skies and hazy sunlight.

If I’m totally transparent, this was actually a drive rather than a walk. But all is fair in love and Walktobers.

Some of the refuge is flooded in water, other parts are huge meadows where fox and deer play.

For this year’s Walktober I visited the Shiawasee National Wildlife Refuge, which is about an hour north of me and just 5 miles north of Frankenmuth Michigan. There’s hiking trails along the dikes that manage the water and a motor drive around the perimeter of the portion of the park that’s public.

There was a little bit of color along the beginning of the drive.

The drive is only open from June 1 to September 30 every year. So, being totally transparent, this Drivetober was actually done on September 30. Not even in October!

Early afternoon, the cormorants and egrets were napping.

Still I think Robin will stretch the rules for me this one time. I hope.

This egret was a touch miffed to be bothered during his nap.

On the drive you’re not allowed to just stop wherever you want. But people do, for the fleeting moment it takes to grab a photo, especially if no one is behind you.

Big stretch after lunch.

There are a couple of spots designed to pull off the road, but rarely is there anything you want to see from those spots. The drive is mainly on the top of the dykes, with water on either side, so you don’t have a lot of options.

Sometimes you need to pay attention to stuff a lot closer than those egrets way out in the water.

I’ve been known to drive the 6 mile loop twice during a visit. I haven’t been up there for the last couple years so I was excited to see what I’d find.

I was specifically looking for pelicans.

It’s all about territory and who gets to stand where.

Mostly I saw egrets (big white birds) and blue herons (big grey blue birds) and lots of little unidentified birds.

Great blue heron taking off because I stopped to get his picture.

If I’m honest it was mostly egrets. I’ve always had trouble photographing egrets because they’re all white and so often end up blown out in a photograph where the camera sets the shutter speed for the rest of the image.

Not to be left behind, the egret followed the heron.

I shot 1800 images. As you can imagine, some are not so good.

There was something to see no matter which side you were scanning.

But I weeded it down to 130 images that I’m mostly pleased about.

Not pelicans though I thought they might be when I first saw a bunch of white birds.

And no, I’m not going to subject you to 130 pictures of egrets. I’ll try to pick the best or most interesting, but sometimes I might slip one in that has a soft focus because it was the best I could get. I hope you’ll understand.

Along the side of the road were shrubs and grasses which sometimes made a pretty frame for the subject. Sometimes they were just in the way.

I can say most of these birds were a really really long way from the car.

Fishing is a full time job out here.

I think I want a 600m lens for a photo shoot like this. Especially if I’m in a car and not lugging it four miles through the woods. Which, if I’m honest, isn’t very often.

Sometimes lunch comes in small packages.

Maybe I should rent one on the few occasions I got back up to the drive. Anyway…as I said I was mostly looking for pelicans.

Bet most of you don’t know that Michigan even has pelicans. I didn’t either until I started seeing photographs of them out at this magical place. And I don’t always find them at all.

Jackpot! About ten pelicans very very very far away. They looked like white dots without the camera.

But I found them, far off in the middle of the water, mere specks with my naked eye. And of course, like most of the rest of the birds I’d seen that day, they took off as soon as I stopped the car.

Pelicans plus a sandhill crane and a seagull.

It was a thrill to see them, and once I had, I felt the trip was worthwhile. Even though I didn’t see one bald eagle.

They landed just a little bit up the shore, so I guess I wasn’t all that scary.

I headed toward the exit smiling…when suddenly….

Mr and Mrs. wood duck

…wood ducks! The side of the drive was tall with grasses, so it was hard to get a shot. I thought I’d maybe just step out of the car to get above the grass…

Beautiful in flight or on the water.

…but of course they flew instantly. That’s OK, I found these 3 guys just up the road.

Male wood ducks cruising the swamp.

So….herons, egrets, swans, pelicans and wood ducks. I can’t wait until the drive opens again next June. There will be babies to photograph by then. And you just never know what else. If I time it with migration there will be hundreds of sand hill cranes, or lots of little bouncy warblers.

Just plain old Canadian geese, but still pretty.

Meanwhile I’m sure I’ll be up there a time or two to hike the trails. It’s harder to see birds in the woods, and no matter how quietly I try to walk they always hear me coming, but it’s a beautiful place on foot too.

An artsy image, just because.

If you’re ever over in my part of the world, let me know…I’ll go back up with you to see what we can see!

Thank you, Robin, for hosting Walktober again this year. I wouldn’t miss it, and I’m looking forward to seeing where everybody went on their own adventures!


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Procrastination

It’s October. That means I should be writing a Walktober post. Penny has already done hers. I am slower than my dog. But that’s always been the case. She didn’t have photos to process, plus she had a servant to do all the work involved in posting.

I have photos to process for my Walktober.

Anyway, I’m home from two short back to back trips and now I’m behind in everything and today is my first attempt to catch up. So am I writing that Walktober post? Nope. I have a bunch of photos to process for that first. So let me take you on today’s little adventure.

I was doing errands, you know, the dry cleaner, the grocery store, the bank. Somewhere between the grocery parking lot and the bank this guy attached itself to my driver’s side window. He or she was hanging on for dear life as I was tooling along.

I pulled into an abandoned bank parking lot as soon as I noticed him. I got out, collected a couple red maple leaves from the bank’s decorative tree, and scooped the big ole bug up, intending to put him on the lawn under the tree.

He flew up my arm. I screamed like a girl. Then found him on the pavement by my feet.

I tried to shoo him toward the curb. That didn’t work. So I found a piece of wood from the bank’s mulch and he crawled up on that.

I deposited (see what I did there?) him and his stick in the grass. He seemed happy enough. I wish him well.

So what the heck is he?

(Sometime this week I hope to get that Walktober post up! But I have a lot of photos to sort through.)


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Walktober – Penny style

Hey you guys! I’ve been thinking about this Walktober thing. Mom says you go for a walk and then share it with everybody. Well. I went for a walk last Friday that was very October-ish so let me show you!

It all started last Friday when I met some of my group walk doggie friends in a parking lot in Fenton Michigan. We go for walks in different places around here every Friday evening. It’s supposed to help me hang with other dogs without stressing so much. Mostly it’s a fun thing to do.

But this walk was entirely different! Fenton was filled with lots and lots of people, most of them witches! They were everywhere!

I wasn’t at all sure this was a good idea, but I was game to walk along because all the other dogs didn’t seem to think this was weird. Plus my mom was right next to me and she had the good treats in her pocket.

Lots of the witches wanted to meet me and a few of them smelled like nice people.

Mostly I just watched them come and go.

Mom asked me to sit next to things and mostly I said OK, but I refused to look happy about it.

I mean…really mom? This is what you call a Walktober?

It ended up being OK…I got lots of treats from mom, and then I slept all the way home.

I don’t know. I thought Walktober was supposed to be about colored leaves and stuff. I mean, I sat in my own back yard Friday afternoon and that was pretty.

I don’t know what mom is doing for her own Walktober. She has to travel again real soon but she says she’ll get it all done! I hope hers isn’t as scary as mine was!


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Walktober alert!

In a few days it will be October. And do you know what happens in October?

Walktober!

Wait…what you say? What’s a Walktober? Well, if you’re new here you understandably need an explanation.

Years ago Robin over on her blog Breezes at Dawn started a tradition she named Walktober. She encourages everyone to go out for a walk in October, maybe take a few pictures, and then write a blog post about it and link that post to her blog. Then she collects them all and does a summary post with links to everybody’s walks. That way we all get to see where everybody went, a glimpse of their corner of the world.

Walktober has been so much fun and I always look forward to it. This year Robin has chosen October 11 through October 20 as the ‘official’ Walktober period. But if you’d like to walk prior to that, go for it. And if you need a few more days to get your post up, well, Robin is usually able to accommodate you, just let her know.

And even better, your Walktober doesn’t have to actually be a walk. It could be a bike ride, or a drive, or a kayak float down a river. You can rollerskate, or skip, or go for a run. It can be rural or urban or somewhere in between. Heck I did my Walktober in my own back yard once, and another time in downtown Detroit. Often I’ve gone out to parks to show everyone what fall looks like around here.

So think about what you’d like to show us this October. I can’t stress enough how fun this is. Everybody needs a bit of time and space to get outside during these days. You can use your Walktober to give yourself some grace or to just look around with fresh eyes. We want to see what you see.


I’m looking forward to seeing what you all come up with. Mark your calendar. Robin will post the official Walktober post closer to October 11th.

As an aside, Penny is deliberating where she should take all of you. She thinks I don’t know this, but moms are all knowing. Stay tuned.


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Once upon a time…

Once upon a time there was a Ms. Hairy Woodpecker, enjoying a peaceful morning searching for a tasty insect among the late summer blossoms of a lovely garden.

Nom, nom, nom.

She was minding her own business when suddenly…

You there! You can’t hide in those leaves, Be gone!

…she realized something was coming up behind her. Why it was that silly little chipmunk!

Back away slowly or I’ll have you for lunch!

Ridiculous that this little rodent would think he could beat her to breakfast! Did he think she was a birdbrain?

Backing away, lady! If I close my eyes you’re not there!

Did he think she’d just give up her favorite feeding location to a little nim-nut like him?

She thought not!

And don’t come back here!

And the little chipmunk scurried back down the tree, toute de suite. After all, there were plenty of treats back on the ground where he belonged. He wondered what he had been thinking anyway.

Whew! That was close!

Ms. Hairy Woodpecker went back to enjoying her brunch.

The nerve of some chipmunks…

And then moved on to another favorite location that advertised being chipmunk free.

This place has the best after lunch insects.


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Another night under the stars

It’s already been a couple weeks since a friend and I traveled across the state on a late afternoon to spend some time chasing the Milky Way. The season is ending and soon we will only have memories of staring up at the dark horse while listening to Lake Michigan lap at the shore.

From the parking lot.

The dark horse, a feature of the Milky Way, is barely rising above the horizon now, and almost before it’s really dark, the horse is beginning to set. On one hand, it’s nice not to have to go out at 3 or 4 in the morning. On the other hand, the window of opportunity is really short.

That first glimpse of Lake Michigan always quickens my heart.

We had been meaning to get over to Lake Michigan and Little Sable lighthouse all summer. But as with every summer, time just slipped away. So when there were predictions of clear skies during a period of no moon, we hurried over to the west coast of Michigan.

That bank of pink clouds was mesmerizing.

It was a beautiful evening. Cool but still warm enough to swim. No bugs. Virtually no wind. Perfect. We watched the sun set. We watched the people watching the sunset.

Every sunset is worth pausing to watch.

And as soon as it was slightly dark we set up our tripods and cameras. The Milky Way, this late in the season, rises in the Southwest. So shooting on the west side of Michigan next to Lake Michigan, it is out over the lake. The lighthouse was close to the shore but hard to get into the same frame while standing on the beach.

A test shot, to decide on composition. The stars aren’t in focus, but that was the least of my problems!

I decided to climb the sand dune behind the lighthouse to get a better angle on the Milky Way. It was hard climbing the shifting sand in the dark while carrying a tripod topped with a camera. And when I got half way up the dune I realized the Milky Way was now behind the tree. (But at least you can see the dark horse!)

The stars are better, but the tree, that I thought would be interesting is now in the way!

Well darn. I dragged the tripod, camera and me further up the dune. But the view from there was hindered by grass and shrubs.

So I inched my way back down and compromised by being slightly up the dune, but mostly on the beach. I worked in portrait mode to get more of the Milky Way, but the dark horse was lowering into the lake and fading away in the light pollution near the horizon and out of the frame.

Clouds on the horizon and light from maybe Chicago interfere.

There was only about an hour to work and I realize now I should have figured out where I was going to stand before it was time to shoot! Then I wouldn’t have spent so much time climbing sand. Lesson learned.

We lit up the lighthouse with the flashlight in our phones.

It was a beautiful, if short, night to shoot. And after all that we even made it home by 2 a.m.! We probably should have stayed overnight and tried again the next night.

October is our last chance to try to get that dark horse, but we’ll have to find a flat view to the horizon. And then, after that, it will be a long winter. Every year I say I’m going to study more. For example I could have, if I knew how, moved that Milky Way closer to the lighthouse in post processing v.s. climbing up a sand dune. This winter I’m going to study about all the options available.

The last image as we were walking back to the parking lot. Perhaps my favorite shot of the night.

But that sand climb makes the experience more authentic, don’t you think?


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Late bloomer

A couple evenings ago I was watching birds come and go as we were eating dinner. I noticed a flurry of activity, wings fluttering, branches of the crab apple tree bouncing around. It was happening right at the lower left corner of my view out the window.

I wasn’t sure what was happening. So I kept an eye on that spot and soon a male cardinal shot out of the tree. But the bouncing around continued.

It was a baby! I quickly googled whether cardinals had babies this late in the year. Guess what? It said they had between 3 and 4 broods a year, sometimes into mid-September.

Daddy was over at the flat feeder munching on a bunch of sunflower oil seeds. Pretty soon he zoomed back over to the crab apple tree and the youngster who had waited for his return. The flapping of wings resumed.

Daddy fed junior something (I’m guessing chewed up seed) and sat for a moment and then went back to the flat feeder for more.

Eventually daddy cardinal sat on a branch a bit away from the baby. He looked exhausted. He’s molting and he’s tired and it has been raining for days.

I hope mama cardinal is around somewhere to help so that daddy isn’t trying to do all the work alone. Of course for all I know mama is sitting somewhere else with junior #2, feeding and flying and resting and feeding….

I bet mom and dad are glad this is the last bunch of little ones to bring up! They’re probably just like human parents, glad when it’s time for the kids to get on the school bus.


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Last days?

It’s cooler here now, today for example, it’s 60 F and raining. It’s been cooler for several days. Most of the migrating birds have left. But I still have some hummingbirds.

They’ve been fun to watch as they battle over ‘their’ feeder. I thought all summer that I had one pair, a male and a female. How many hummers do you see in this image?

That’s the most I’ve ever seen near our feeder at one time. I hid in the corner of the living room and shot through the window. It’s hard to tell for sure how many you have when they’re flying at each other. This time, they were hungry enough to let each other eat.

They will be gone any day now. This morning I’m pretty sure there are only two. Soon I’ll be putting the feeder away, but I always leave it up for a week or so after I don’t see them anymore. You never know when a straggler will come through town, and they have such a long way to go.

I hope they have safe travels and a warm winter. And that they come back to me next spring.