Author Archives: makielb

The day started with a couple of species of moths on the deck. The Large gray pinion (Lithophane georgii) on the left is rather unusual here as is the darker Acadian swordgrass moth (Xylena phoracica) on the right. This spring is quite different from last year when we were having many more moths at theContinue reading “An early May morning at Whitefish Point”

I love scouring the sand dunes and old logs for lichens. A particular group that are both interesting and fun are those in the genus Cladonia. Many of them are what people know as “British soldiers caps.” These are small rarely more than 20-25mm tall and capped with red. Sometimes the British soldiers caps areContinue reading “Whitefish Point lichens”

Today is quite different from the past few, as the wind speed has increased and it has been raining off and on all day. While waterbird migration is increasing, hawk migration has essentially been shut down. This is one of the late afternoon Golden Eagles that passed directly over our cabin. A couple of yardContinue reading “A windy, rainy day at Whitefish Point”

The past two days have been absolutely wonderful as the sky always had hawks to watch. This morning the first hawks were shortly after 6AM and as of 6PM there are still a few passing. Sharp-shinned Hawks have dominated the numbers with over 1600 passing by in the last two days. The earliest Broad-winged HawksContinue reading “Days filled with hawks”

On a day where I failed to take one picture for a good reason – we spent the whole day watching birds. So, all of the photos for this post I took in previous years. One of the first new birds of spring here was a Pine Warbler. Early in the day Red-tailed Hawks dominatedContinue reading “Busy day at Whitefish Point”

Sunrise at Whitefish Point. What a change from yesterday. There were very few clouds, and the winds with barely noticeable. At the feeders there were Common Redpolls (he bird on the right) and our first Purple Finch female of the year. It was obvious that something good was going to come of the day. AContinue reading “The floodgates open with thousands of migrants”

An adukt Sharp-shinned Hawk landed behind the cabin perusing the bird feeders. The hawk then up into another tree which gave us better looks, allowing us to see it face on and in profile. Tomorrow I am planning on spending time in the “Raptors Roost”. the name that I have given to the third deckContinue reading “April and the birds are moving between showers”

Burdock (only the old seed head) and catnip were already growing new leaves. Cut-leafed toothwort was putting up flowers. The leaves of great waterleaf are up. The flowers will follow in late May or June. Motherwort leaves were out, but I find the old seed heads more interesting, especially at this time of year. SouthernContinue reading “Dexter-Huron Metropark and spring wildflowers”

Our feeders at Whitefish Point have been quite active with the majority of visitors being Common Redpolls. Trying to take “good” photos through the glass is always a challenge. The above made redpoll was such a challenge as the bird was almost too close and I was shooting at an angle through the glass door.Continue reading “A day full of redpolls”

The trees here are a source of never-ending interest. This is a birch polypore which is a common fungus that grows on the white birch. Our feeders many visitors beyond the common Blue Jays and Common Redpolls. Red squirrels seem to prefer the feeder on the deck, where they can feed while not standing inContinue reading “Whitefish Point – Day-3”