It’s definitely spring here in Michigan. Proof is everywhere, but especially at our backyard birdfeeders.
The male goldfinches have turned yellow, and it seems like it happened overnight.
Olive green one day, brilliant yellow the next.
Or so it seems anyway.
I hope my little goldfinch made you smile. What says spring where you live? Has it happened yet or does winter still hold your neighborhood hostage? OR….are you in the southern hemisphere and you’re headed into autumn? What changes are happening in your backyard?
I belong to a Michigan birding Facebook group and there have been images showing up of some loons that are currently hanging out at Kensington Metropark, only 40 minutes away from me.
The blue herons are back and nesting in their rookery, waiting on this year’s crop of little ones.
The weather hasn’t been great. And I’ve been occupied with a certain fuzzy puppy so I hadn’t made it out to the park. But we all know that loons wait for no woman.
“Hey lady! Don’t forget us in your quest to find loons!”
So Monday I headed out much later in the day than I’m usually at the park. Instead of early morning I was heading out there as the day was closing and evening was descending. It felt weird walking onto the boardwalk while most people were heading back to their cars.
“Where have you been? I have to do all the nest building around here!”
On the other hand I didn’t see too many people, and those I did see were mostly photographers there for the soft late day light. Just like me.
“If you’re not going to feed me then you’re not worth my attention.”
I ran into one photographer who was headed back to his car. He was all excited about the loons he had photographed “right near the nesting sandhill cranes.” He wanted to show me his images on the back of his camera, and I have to admit they were beautiful. I was excited for him too. “I can’t wait to get home and see these on a bigger screen,” he said, as he scampered off (there’s really no other word for how he moved but scampered!).
I knew the feeling.
Any loons out there?
But the light was fading and I hadn’t made it out to the bay with the nesting cranes and loons yet. So I left him and walked as quickly as I could until I saw the crane on her nest.
“Midway through my shift and I’m getting hungry, I wonder if I can get something delivered.”
Then I moved slowly, to a better position, and stood for a long time, another photographer nearby, silently shooting images of her as she moved around her nest.
“I need to stretch my feathers a bit.”
And, as she stood up, I gasped quietly in delight. She had an egg!
“That egg was pressing up against my breastbone!”
Then another crane on the other side of the lake began to call. Our nesting mom stretched her neck and called back…
“Hey you! Be quiet, you’re stressing the baby!”
…and then was joined by her spouse who was standing nearby.
“Hey don’t upset the Mrs! It’s quiet hours now!”
It was pretty amazing to be so close.
Then she got back to work cleaning the nest and checking her youngster, still in the shell.
“There, there, little one, mama’s got you all warm and safe.”
In between watching her I tried to see if there were any loons out in the bay. There were a lot of ducks, but they were all far away and the light was fading fast. There were probably a couple loons out there, but I couldn’t be sure. What I was sure of was the spouse of my nesting crane stalking past me headed for quieter dining.
“You can’t get a quiet meal around here.”
Eventually I moved back to the main path where I saw the spouse of the nesting pair strutting his stuff. I guess he had had enough and needed to get away for awhile.
“I hear there’s a new bar and grill down this way,”
I found him shortly after, having a drink at the local pub.
“And another thing, ever since she had that egg she ignores me. It’s always all about the egg!”
He was sharing tales of woe and his fear of becoming a father with the local bartender, this muskrat who was munching on bar snacks.
“I know what you mean man, sometimes it’s just easier to hang out alone.”
In the end I never did see the loons up close, though I walked all the way around the lake.
Toward the end of my walk I was focused on capturing the moon in the branches of a tree, almost back to the car, when suddenly two cranes flew low right over my head and landed on the path directly in front of me.
A nice evening was coming to a close.
That was startling, and I was kind of worried about getting past them in the growing dusk. They seemed intent on me paying some sort of passage ransom.
Notice this one is missing his or her right foot.
So I threw some seed toward them and inched by. As I was doing that I heard rustling in the reeds right behind me. Turns out there was a third crane walking back there, perhaps a distant family member of the two who had just dropped in.
“Just toss us the food, lady, and nobody gets hurt.”
Regardless I bid them all a good evening and scurried back to the car. Night was closing in on the rookery and it was time for me to head home.
Thus ends another beautiful day at the rookery.
I didn’t see the loons, but I had such a wonderful walk and saw plenty of things that made me smile. And now I hope you’re smiling too!
This is a post I thought I’d have up a long ago. But exciting things interrupted the flow (and she probably always will).
I interrupt this blog to announce my intention to control everything my mom does for the foreseeable future.
A week ago, long before we knew we’d be sheltie parents by the weekend, I went out looking for barns and failing at that decided to check out Midland’s Overlook Park to see if the pelicans I’d heard about would be there.
Saw some barns along the way.
I saw lots of other stuff, but no pelicans for the first couple hours. The sun started going down and it got colder. I hung out, hoping. But how long should I wait?
I’d just about given up, had started texting someone about something or other, my mind moving on from the cold parking lot in the growing dusk, when suddenly, out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of white, right up near the edge of the pond directly in front of me…and behind the chain-link fence which is covered with vines.
Hard to focus through a fence!
A squadron of pelicans had landed! I squealed even though I couldn’t get a clear shot of them.
Next to me in the parking lot was another photographer, also with a long lens, also frustrated that the big white birds were swimming up and down along the edge of the pond, obscured by the fence.
At first all we got were pelican behinds.
But we waited, hoping. And eventually the six of them edged out just a bit into water unobscured by the fence. It was very, very, very cool.
The initial six.
And as the dusk intensified four more pelicans arrived to join the pod. Most of the time we couldn’t really see them…they’d swim out toward the middle a little bit and then all of the sudden they’d all flock back to the edge as if something startled them.
Much more obviously pelicans from the side.
But I’ve been reading how scoops of pelicans can work together to herd fish into more shallow water for easier fishing. It’s possible that’s what they were doing.
Maybe they’re fishing.
Groups of pelicans are called several things, according to articles I’ve found. “A group of pelicans has many collective nouns, including a “brief”, “pod”, “pouch”, “scoop”, and “squadron” of pelicans.” You can google it too….they’re called different things depending on what they’re doing at the time. I don’t think I used the right terms, but it was fun to read about.
Reflecting on his evening plans.
Regardless of what they’re called, they were magical to watch, and I’m really glad I stuck around, and I’m doubly glad they decided to show up, right in front of where I was parked!
Wednesday I suddenly found myself with a few hours free in the afternoon. And we had sun with the rest of the week predicted to be cold and rainy. What should I do?
What would you do?
On the road looking for interesting barns.
I decided I should head out in search of a few photogenic barns. I wasn’t sure where I’d be going, but just going in search of barns felt great. I told myself it didn’t matter if I found any. I had a full tank of gas and nowhere I had to be.
The barn’s kind of boring, but the tree is nice.
But after a couple of hours I wasn’t thrilled with what I’d found. I seemed to be in familiar territory and hadn’t seen anything new. Then I turned one more corner and found this one. It was perfect.
This was exactly the kind of barn I’d been looking for.
Maybe I wasn’t going to find any more great barns, but it was still early, going on 3:30. I knew I wasn’t far from Overlook Park in Midland, where another photographer had seen pelicans this winter. I’d been there twice before, searching for the pelicans, but hadn’t seen anything more interesting than geese and ducks.
But she’d told me, just recently, that it was always dusk when she saw the pelicans. Would it be worth it to hang out there until the sun went down? I decided to go see.
Can’t get too close, but it was fun to watch the ducks.
Overlook Park, located in Midland, Michigan, is basically a parking lot perched on a hill looking out over the retention ponds of DOW Chemical. I’ve seen eagles and hawks and geese and ducks and deer there. But never pelicans.
Most of the action was happening way over there.
When I first arrived there was one other car parked there, somebody with binoculars scanning the ponds. I pulled in and immediately saw something big headed our way. It landed in a tree on the outer edges of the park, not so far from the parking lot. I thought maybe it was a juvenile eagle. But I was wrong.
Do you see it in the top of the tree on the right?
It’s a hawk, I think, though I’m no expert on differentiating between hawks. As soon as I got out of the car he (or she) spotted me and I knew right away it was going to take flight. I wasn’t wrong about that!
We have lift-off!
I tried to keep it in the frame, but that was just about impossible.
Beautiful bird.
It flew off to my right, into the woods where it could have some privacy. I sighed and returned to my search of the water, looking for pelicans.
I wondered if the pelicans were way over on the other side of the pond, with the hundreds of geese and ducks over there. If they were, there wasn’t a chance I’d ever see them. Even as I considered what else I could shoot, hundreds of geese lifted up, at once, in groups of a dozen or two and flew overhead.
I’m always fascinated by how nature just settles right in next to industry.
The noise was amazing. I don’t know if they were headed to their night roosts, or just stirring up trouble because they could. After they moved on I hunkered down to wait some more. The sun was going down and it was getting colder.
A steady parade of deer headed out to the end of a peninsula and settled down for the night.
I wondered if I’d be lucky. I had no idea from which direction the pelicans would come or where they’d land. So much of the water was far away from where I waited. I reminded myself this wasn’t Disney World, the pelicans weren’t on the clock. There were no guarantees they’d show up at all.
Meanwhile I was entertained by some adorable diving ducks. You’d see them swimming…
Lots of little ducks
…and then suddenly they’d disappear, leaving only a ring of ripples to show they had ever been there.
Where’d they go?
Then they’d pop back up again somewhere else. It was so fun to watch.
Hey! Wait up!
Still…I was there for pelicans. Would they come in as the sun went down or arrive under the cover of darkness? Would it be at the other end of the pond? Had they migrated on to somewhere warmer? Were they even still in the state?
Would they show up at all? How long should I wait?
When I left you and the birds last I was headed to the back regions of Kensington Metropark in search of deer. It’s almost guaranteed to find one or two back there if you’re quiet. If you’re not quiet you won’t see any. But they’ll be watching you.
This little guy was the one that got my attention by his incessant whining as I was walking through the woods.
As I worked my way toward the back a woman coming the other way said she had seen two beautiful does in the furthest back corner of the longest loop. Since I was headed that direction anyway I smiled my thanks. I knew they wouldn’t still be there when I arrived, but I also knew there were some back there.
This guy chimed in, so I had to stop and feed them for awhile.
Somewhere.
On the way I had a few birds begging for treats, so I stopped and tossed them a few peanuts. I was busy doing that when a guy came up the path. He apologized for interrupting my bird photo shoot. I said no problem, there would be lots of opportunities to get more pictures.
This one was quite insistent too.
We talked for awhile. He said there was a thicket to the right around the next corner where he often saw multiple pairs of cardinals. I thanked him and got back to work shooting my birds.
I had only seen a couple of deer far off in the woods so far, and I was pretty sure I wouldn’t see many more. But a whole lot of cardinals? That would be fun!
She was pretty far away, but I was glad to see at least one deer that morning.
And then I rounded the corner, and saw the guy down at the end of a long slope, taking pictures with his phone of several deer that were standing around quite close to him. I stopped so as to not startle them.
There was a group of about six does hanging out together.
At first they were focused on him, hoping for a handout. Then they noticed me.
She decided to smell the air to see if I was a threat.
The guy moved on and now I was the main attraction.
There was a buck too, but he wasn’t interested in me.
I know they wanted something to eat, but all I had was seed for the birds. Not nearly enough to feed the herd. I moved on trying not to startle them, until I came to the thicket around another corner, quite a ways from the herd of dear, where the cardinals lived.
She could flip one ear back to listen for things behind her, while keeping one ear and her eyes focused on me.
There was only one that I saw that morning, but he delighted me by flying up to a sunlit branch.
He was posing for me.
I had the camera up to my eyes, trying to figure out the best shot when I heard footsteps. I thought maybe another person was coming along the trail so I pulled off a few shots of the cardinal, knowing he’d fly away.
And then I lowered the camera and glanced back to see who was coming.
The whole herd was coming down the trail, following me.
I guess they hadn’t given up on me. I felt even worse that I had nothing to give them. One in particular was out front. I thought he was a youngster, less wary, perhaps more hungry.
She was asking with her eyes. I imagine some people do feed them, but I don’t think very many people walk this far back in the woods.
I stood and watched them as they gave up on me and wandered a bit looking for something to eat.
I’m sorry, girl. I hope you made it through this cold snap out there.
Then I moved as swiftly as I could away, climbing a hill and making a couple turns as soon as I could to put some space between me and them. I found myself next to another thicket that had all sorts of birds, including a cardinal couple.
They were interested in me but not interested in getting too close. In fact, Ms. Cardinal took great delight in not giving me a clear shot to a great image.
Yep, that branch across her face was deliberate on her part.
She flitted from here to there.
She moved and her face was showing, but now the branches covered up her beautiful body.
Always making sure there were twigs and branches between her and me…
Different branch, same story.
…while making sure she showed enough of her beautiful colors to keep me intrigued.
She had a lot of spots to hide, but she couldn’t hide her beauty.
She let me chase her down the trail, always keeping something between us.
Yep, she won the game, bet she’s still smiling.
After awhile I just gave up and went on down the trail. It was getting late and I was a long way from the car.
My artsy fartsy picture of the day
But there were a whole lot of birds waiting for me, so it wasn’t a fast trip back to the car.
“Hey lady!”
No, they dropped out of trees and flew around my head as I walked, landing on my camera lens if I ignored them.
Missed the bird, but I liked the image anyway.
They were everywhere. I was surprised because usually that far back in the woods, where fewer people walk, the birds are not as eager to engage.
Such cute little ones.
As I got closer to the parking lot the birds because more assertive. I emptied my pocket of seed, sharing some with a squirrel or two along the way.
Pretty sure he knew I had seed in my pocket.
Eventually I made it out of there, completely stripped of all treats, but with a full card of wonderful images, and great memories.
Getting his own lunch.
Even though I didn’t gain an audience with the Queen of the Boardwalk.
It was sunny yesterday. Cold, but sunny, and there’s no way I wanted to waste a sunny day doing laundry. Plus I figured the birds would be hungry. So I headed out to my favorite park, dressed in layers, with cleats on my boots, and a long lens on my camera.
The heron rookery waiting patiently for spring.
I visited the boardwalk first, to see if I could garner another audience with the queen, but though she was in the thicket, she didn’t deem me worthy. It was early, but other small birds were more than happy to jump aboard the hand for breakfast.
This little one glowed in the morning light.
Ms. Redbelly, however, would only eat from the railing. Though she seemed very interested in what I was doing out there on such a cold early morning.
“If I hurry I can come back for seconds!”
I spent entirely too much time out there trying to coax the queen in, and finally my frozen toes and fingers insisted I move on or go home. I moved on.
“No time to lose, the queen could snatch up the rest of breakfast if I don’t move fast!”
I specifically wanted to hike the trails at the back of the park, looking for deer. But I think I’ll let the birds tell you the story.
“Bout time you got here, lady. We’ve been waiting.”“I’ll just let everybody else know you’re finally arrived.”“I heard you had peanuts!”“My private dining table is at the top of this tree.”“Hey! I’m wearing my red badge, I was supposed to get preferential treatment!”“You better be here when I get back!”“Those woodpeckers think they’re all that.”“Yea, I don’t know what all the fuss is about. She drops plenty of stuff for all of us.”“But she didn’t leave ANYTHING in my favorite feeder!”“Really??! Not ANYTHING?”“You silly little Titmouse, you didn’t look hard enough!”“Why, I got a suet nugget!!”“I’m TELLING! You always get the good stuff!”“Seriously lady, I’m very disappointed in you. And I bet you don’t see any deer either, if you don’t get going.”
And did I see any deer? Well, these demanding birds have taken up all my time.
Once upon a time I lived in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula where snow arrives early and stays late. You learn how to enjoy it or it will beat you down.
Your choice.
“You think it’s gonna snow all day?”
Of course I was younger then.
I learned how to use a U-per Scooper to clear my parking place, and how to snowshoe and cross country ski. It was all self defense, of course, but I learned to love most of it. Maybe not the U-per Scooper so much.
The back yard looks more exotic with snow.
I’ve lived in lower Michigan for 37 years now, my bones have become more brittle and I’m more careful when choosing my adventures. Lucky for me we don’t usually get snow in the amounts I remember from up north.
Even luckier for me I’m retired.
“One picture one treat, lady. I heard that was the rule around here.”
Yesterday, during our all day gentle snow I didn’t have to be anywhere. Husband cleared the driveway multiple times.
Abstract art.
My only responsibilities involved keeping the birdfeeders full. In return I got to watch dozens of beautiful birds all vying for a spot to grab a snack.
The feeder looked Victorian with it’s cap of snow.
At one point I counted 8 male cardinals in my shrubs, on the deck railing, and on the feeders at the same time. There were lots of females as well, they’re just harder to see. I couldn’t count all the blue jays, titmice, goldfinches, chickadees, starlings, nuthatches, ravens and woodpeckers.
“I guess I’ll share my favorite tree with the others. This time.”
Today looks like more of the same, in the bird world anyway. It’s stopped snowing, but it’s still wildly beautiful.
I even took a walk down the road, wearing grippers on my boots, for a little look see.
Didn’t have to go far to see I liked the yellow against the white.
Yep…beautiful down there too.
I wish you all could experience it from a lazy-boy chair inside a nice warm house with big windows and a lot of birds to entertain you.
Hey lady! There’s snow on my suet!”
Winters in Michigan. Be careful, or they’ll get the upper hand.
And then the sun showed up for a moment or two.
But if you can learn to enjoy them…well…then you win.
Change Is Hard 