Wordless Wednesday – around our house.
Tag Archives: Michigan
Both sides of my lens
I changed the photo at the top of my Facebook page yesterday. It’s a shot taken by a friend of mine while we were out at my favorite park earlier this week.
Many people ask how I get the images of birds eating out of my hand, and this shot tells you the entire story. Basically you just shoot as fast as you can and hope.
This was one of the only times I’ve had a picture of me taking a picture where I knew that I had grabbed shots from the very same moment.
So now you can see both sides of my lens.
I remember hearing birds swarming around my head, and I just kept the shutter clicking, not sure what I’d end up capturing.
In the end Mrs. Red-winged got something to eat, after the rude Mr. got his choice and flew away.
I was rooting for her. Weren’t you?
Two opportunists or just one con-bird?
I was back out at Kensington this week, on a dreary and damp Wednesday morning. The birds were overjoyed to see us. And of course I have loads of images. Some are quite good.
But my question today is about one particular little bird. Or perhaps two.
We were still very near the nature center when a rose-breasted grosbeak demanded a treat. This is the first year I’ve ever seen a grosbeak come in for a hand held treat. But these days I often see, on Facebook, a picture of one enjoying himself. It kind of looks like the same bird I’ve fed out there.
And I wonder if there is only one that comes in to eat our treats, or if the entire rose-breasted population has figured out the secret.
So here’s the bird that ate from our hand near the nature center.
And here’s the bird that flew down from a high branch of a dead tree to get the last of the snacks just before we left for the day.
What do you think? Is it the same bird? Or did we have two hungry birds begging for attention?
Inquiring birders want to know.
Father and son
Wordless Wednesday
Tales (or Tails) from the backyard part II
These midsummer days are perfect for hanging out on the deck watching the antics of those expecting to be fed.
Tales from the backyard
I sat on the deck the other day, watching the comings and goings. I was thinking about my girl, of course, but also just enjoying a beautiful day.
Here’s one of the many tales from my backyard.
Wordless Wednesday in my yard
Of wings… or the attack of the red bellied
It’s that time of year where a walk through the woods reveals babies everywhere.
I visited my favorite park early one morning after a night of rain.
The parking lot was virtually empty, and the birds were frantic for some breakfast.
Swarms of blackbirds and starlings swirled around me. The little birds tried to get some attention too.
They lined up on the railing for a chance to get something to eat.
The rose breasted grosbeak got first dibs. Just based on beauty. Plus he was pushy.
Even the mourning dove hopped over to get a treat. I’ve never had either the grosbeak or a dove land in my hand before.
Eventually everybody got something.
And then I went on down the trail
Where I quickly ran into this family out for a morning stroll. I first noticed an adult with a teenager almost as tall. Notice the teenager’s knees.
Then the other parent emerged from the trees to complete the family.
Once I edged carefully by them, which wasn’t easy because one of the parents was keeping an evil eye on me, I found a papa red bellied woodpecker. And his son.
To be accurate, I didn’t find him. He got my attention when he dive bombed me. Repeatedly.
He wasn’t interested in coming in for a treat. He flew right at me, did a touch down on my head and landed in a tree behind me. Then he came back and hit me in the head before landing back in the tree with his young one.
He did this over and over, as I continued to duck and weave and move on down the trail.
Eventually he picked up a bit of seed that I had flung behind me as a desperate distraction and perched on a broken branch to peck it open.
And then he fed it to his youngster who had been following all the excitement eagerly.
I crept away as they were eating.
Lots of little birds came in for a snack once I was away from the attacking woodpecker.
I enjoyed their visits in the quiet woods.
It was peaceful out there, not many people wandering the trails.
And then I heard a squealing and yelling headed in my direction.
The quiet of the woods was interrupted, but I was OK with that. Kids need to spend time outside too.
So I headed out to the rookery to see if any of the teenagers were still there.
Many of them were. I guess they’re planning on staying as long as mom and dad are willing to feed them.
I witnessed one parent arriving with something good to eat. The craziness is hard to sort out in pictures. And the noise was amazing.
Personally I think it’s time the folks kick the kids out. Most of them are flying from their nests to other branches, but come back to the nest for food.
None of the commotion appeared to distract the egret, just below, from continuing his grooming. Egrets move in when the herons leave the rookery. This guy was early I guess.
And then I left the park, stopping for a moment to check on the osprey nest where the youngsters were flexing their wings too.
Another good walk in the woods.
Babies everywhere, all growing up so fast.
Starry night 2
After our first night under the stars I went back to the hotel, arriving around 5:30 a.m. ready to get some sleep. Unfortunately most of the hotel housekeeping staff, whose laundry room was across the hall from me, were arriving as well. And don’t even talk about the family with three kids who were in the room next door.
Anyway.
I gave up on napping and drove around a little bit looking for barns. And as the afternoon wound down I went out to the lake to see what kind of sunset was going to happen.
And to people watch.
Both were fun, but I was really waiting impatiently for the skies to darken again.
My friend and I were meeting at Esch Beach at midnight where we hoped to shoot the Milky Way amongst a stand of tall, dead trees. It seemed promising.
It turns out that on a warm Friday night the beach is a busy place. Lots of people sitting next to lots of fires which lit up the trees with a bold, red glow. OK then. We’ll just consider that our light painting and work with it.
While we were shooting the trees we listened to the group of people sitting right behind us discuss what we were doing. “Are they taking pictures of the Milky Way?” “IS that the Milky Way up there or just a bunch of clouds?” “Do you think I can get it with my phone?” “Look how cool that looks on the back of their cameras!”
When we moved off, closer to the beach, to see if there were northern lights (my friend was getting alerts for the lights on her phone) over the lake they were all standing up pointing their phones to the sky.
Made me smile.
And guess what? Though we couldn’t see anything but darkness out over the water, the cameras told us otherwise. It was my first time ‘seeing’ the northern lights. I was pretty excited.
Then more carloads of people began to arrive, so we decided to drive back to Point Betsie and try to get some more Milky Way images. The night was young. The air was warm. The lake calm. No time to waste!
No one was out on the beach at Point Betsie, and I shot my favorite house in the dunes again.
Then we walked up closer to the lighthouse, for a different angle.
It was pure magic and I loved being there in the warm darkness. I took a few images and then just sat down on a piece of cement in front of the lighthouse and watched the sky and listened to the gentle waves.
We didn’t mean to stay out all night again…it just happened. And when we finally left it was hard for me to say goodbye to my lake.
Lake Michigan is special no matter the season or circumstance. The lake under the stars?
Priceless.
