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?
Now look here, son, you’re almost an adult. You’re as big as me and your head is starting to turn red! It’s time for you to learn how to feed yourself.Hey! None of that flapping your wings for supper stuff. Look over there, see the woman with peanuts in her hand?Are you listening to me, boy? Pay attention!Look, that’s not going to get you anywhere with the humans around here .You have to have more finesse!Now watch me, I’m gonna go schmooze a snack. For myself.The kid’s gotta learn to get his own food sooner or later.Dad?DAAAAADDDDD!!!!!
These midsummer days are perfect for hanging out on the deck watching the antics of those expecting to be fed.
Wonder what she’s serving today?The food lady has been a bit slow to serve us lately, I hope I’m not disappointed this morning!Not one of your better offerings, lady. Maybe you should consider expanding the menu.Well I certainly don’t have an issue with the menu!I’m just going to stuff as many seeds into my cheeks as possible….…oops! The lady is OUT HERE ON THE DECK!!!! RUN!!!!!!
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.
“Nom, nom, nom. Sure is nice to have the feeder to myself. No pushy starlings or jays around.”“Hey! You’re a baltimore oriole, you’ve got your OWN feeder over THERE!”“Now wait just a darn minute! There’s not enough room for all your friends too!”“Man, what’s the world coming to, mumble, mumble mumble…”
“I’m outta here, I’m not going to listen to this old guy anymore. Plus there’s grape jelly over there!”“Nom, nom, nom, nom.”
It’s that time of year where a walk through the woods reveals babies everywhere.
“Hurry up, I only have a 10 minute break from the babies this morning, lady!“
I visited my favorite park early one morning after a night of rain.
“Did you bring us all something to eat?“
The parking lot was virtually empty, and the birds were frantic for some breakfast.
“Make way! I, the big bad red-winged blackbird require food!“
Swarms of blackbirds and starlings swirled around me. The little birds tried to get some attention too.
“Talk to the wing, blackbird!“
They lined up on the railing for a chance to get something to eat.
“Lady! We’re hungry!”
The rose breasted grosbeak got first dibs. Just based on beauty. Plus he was pushy.
“Nom, nom, nom Thanks lady!“
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.
“This is a joke, right? Did that pig the grosbeak eat all the treats?”
Eventually everybody got something.
“About time, lady.”
And then I went on down the trail
“Come on into the woods, lady. It’s not your responsibility to get them ALL fed.”
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.
“Meet my son, Junior.”
Then the other parent emerged from the trees to complete the family.
“Come on over this way, mom and dad, I think the best stuff is on the other side of the trail.”
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.
“Watch this, 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.
“I see you lady, move on down the road, OK?”
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.
“First you have to crack the seed open, son.”
And then he fed it to his youngster who had been following all the excitement eagerly.
“Here, taste this, pretty good, ey?”
I crept away as they were eating.
Lots of little birds came in for a snack once I was away from the attacking woodpecker.
“Thanks!”
I enjoyed their visits in the quiet woods.
“Coming in for a landing, lady!”
It was peaceful out there, not many people wandering the trails.
“Good morning mama.”
And then I heard a squealing and yelling headed in my direction.
“This way!”
The quiet of the woods was interrupted, but I was OK with that. Kids need to spend time outside too.
“Thanks for the dive-through service, lady!”
So I headed out to the rookery to see if any of the teenagers were still there.
“Where’s the lunch lady?”
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.
“OK, ok. I’m here with lunch. Settle down you two!”
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.
“Hey! I want some over here too!”
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.
“Kids. Can’t wait until the neighbors move out!”
And then I left the park, stopping for a moment to check on the osprey nest where the youngsters were flexing their wings too.
“Hey! I think I’m getting this flying thing!”
Another good walk in the woods.
So peaceful. So fun. So exciting. You take your pick around here!
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?
It’s taken me a few days to sort through the images from my two nights of photography. Looking through them I’m transported back to those warm nights again.
A place in the sand.
Before my photography friend arrived that night I spent a few minutes capturing the sky above the dunes and houses along the road. It was an image I’d had in my head since my last trip up to this area, back in May. I think it looks like an amazing painting, and I’m glad I got to go back and get it.
Once she arrived we went down to the beach to see what there was to see.
Our first glimpse of the beach.
It was a very windy night. We were pushing our tripod legs deep into the sand to try to reduce camera shake. The wind was cool, but I never felt cold until we stopped shooting. The adrenalin kept me warm.
Lighting up the sky.
The sky was stunning. The Milky Way was so clear. And when we turned around to face north the lit lighthouse was beautiful too.
The moon and several planets were supposed to line up around 4:30 that morning, so though we were done shooting the lighthouse and the Milky Way around 3:00, we thought it would be a waste not to stay and see. It was warmer up on the road, and we stood around talking as we waited for the moon to come up.
Waiting for the moon to wake up and join the party.
The moonrise was stunning, but it was rising through a bank of clouds and only intermittently visible. And in the end we didn’t see them all lined up, just Jupiter and sometimes Mars, and the moon.
The lighthouse catches me trying to grab an image of the pole and the Milky Way.
But even without planets we were both smiling when we finally headed to bed just as the sun was beginning to light up the world.
We knew we’d had a wonderful night under the stars, and if we were lucky we’d be out the next night too.
Change Is Hard 