Our years at Whitefish Point

I have been visiting Whitefish Point since the 1978, and we have had a cabin here since 2009. Over the years we have learned a lot about the history of the area (for instance when I first came here what is now the headquarters for the Whitefish Point Bird Observatory was then a general store, and ten years before that the local post office, which is now eleven miles away in Paradise. Our cabin is about a half mile from the harbor and a mile from the tip of the point, both are delightful walks.

A few years ago, a book was published about the Whitefish Point area. It’s a fun read, with many interesting facts and photos.

For our first seven years here our constant companion was our dog Bruno. He always a few feet from one or the other of us, rain, shine, winter or summer. The stories about him would fill a post in itself.

Over the years we have had many guests spend weekends with us. Our longest visitor was Nate, who helped Susan with her study of Palm Warblers. He learned all about bird banding and nature study here. Now, he works as a botanist and naturalist.

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A fun visit was when Alexis and her family visited when Milly was about a year old. She had a lot of fun learning about blueberries and exploring the house and swimming in the bay.

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My friend Martin, who I have known for some 40 years and his wife Catherine have visited us annually for years. Below we were exploring a staging area for logs from a clear-cut area near one of Susan’s Palm Warbler study sites.

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Another good friend Mike, who has traveled with me in Michigan, Ontario, Mexico and Panama is a regular visitor with his partner Linda.

My long-time friend Mike Fitzpatrick died almost two years ago. We were both happiest when watching hawks at Whitefish Point, Point Pelee, Ontario or Tecolutla, Mexico. He was the first visitor at our cabin. I wish that I had photos from that visit, but right now I cannot find any. This summer his wife Sue, her sister Anita, and friends Penny and David were here. With both joy and sadness we put his ashes into the Tahquamenon River and at Whitefish Point.

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When Susan started working with Palm Warblers and wanted some help she contacted friends Bob and Laura. Bob was the Curator of Birds at the University of Michigan. Susan came to Ann Arbor to work with him on a color-banded population of Indigo Bunting. Now they had come to work with her on a color-banded population of Palm Warbler.

Two other visitors have been Mary (who has stayed with us numerous times) and Dan, who made his first visit her this summer.

One of my long-time birding friends Don has made several visits here and we have made several visits to his place in Florida. Once, while not staying with us, he brought along a friend from Florida.

A final fun visitor was Jacob. I was on on thesis committee at Eastern Michigan University. We have been friends ever since.

There have been lots of other visitors who stayed with us, but I’ll have to leave them for another time.

More tomorrow…