Whitefish Point

Posted bymakielbPosted inUncategorized
View from the kitchen window as the sun was rising

We came up to the cabin yesterday. It was an easy drive, as long as you enjoy 365 miles in the car. Susan made lunch so we stopped at a rest area and were able to sit at a picnic table in the sun and eat.

Last night it only dropped to 49F and the Milky Way was spectacular. Today I am anticipating going to the point to look for a Sprague’s Pipit. We’ve only had Sprague’s Pipit once, and that was in Montana in 2018. So, this would be a new species for me at Whitefish Point and in Michigan as well.

No luck so far with the pipit, but we did see a lot of friends.

View from near the tip of the point looking back at the waterfowl counter, various birdwatchers and the lighthouse in the distance.
The goofy decoy that somebody out out in the pond at the tip.
This Sanderling was the only shorebird at the pond.
The only duck on the pond was this Oldsquaw/Long-tailed Duck.
Chris was the waterfowl counter, at this point everybody else was looking for the pipit.

Well, after our lack of success in finding the bird we started to walk back to the cabin where I spent time looking at some of the lichens on the sandy soils and trees.

Two different Cladonia, one is a British soldier-cap, the other a pixie-cup. These were on the sand.
There were at least four different lichens on this jack pine branch.
Two more lichens on another pine at the front of our property.

When we got home Susan baked a cranberry-paw paw bread. The cranberries were from the grocery and the paw paw pulp was from our friend April.

Finally, 10 November is the anniversary of the final day of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Forty-six years ago the weather was much more brutal than it is today, or this week for that matter. Gentile winds, warm weather, small waves. The Shipwreck Museum has a recording of the Captains of the Edmund Fitzgerald and the Arthur M. Anderson talking to each other throughout the day. The final silence from is captain of the Edmund Fitzgerald is eerily sad, knowing the fate of the ship and the crew.

More later…

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