Author Archives: makielb

The day started with breakfast at Village Kitchen our local favorite place for breakfast. We were celebrating my birthday. Then I got a message that there was a Black-bellied Whistling-Duck at Gallup Park. While I have seen tens of thousands in the south, I had never seen one in Michigan, let alone Ann Arbor. ThisContinue reading “Starting June with a celebration”

Memorial, as in memory from the Greek goddess of memories – Mnemosyne. Memory is what we fear loosing as we age. Fortunately, most people that I know have retained their memory and mental health, although we all get forgetful on occasion. Then again, how many people do I know that know so much that theyContinue reading “Memorial Day”

We spent a long morning at the Eddy Discovery Center in western Washtenaw County today. There were a lot of birds singing, notably Black-billed Cuckoo, Acadian Flycatchers and waterthrushes. But we we weren’t especially looking for birds. We were looking for orchids and other bog plants. Bog bean was in bloom at the bog atContinue reading “A walk on a warm Sunday”

Susan photographing dwarf lake iris and Indian paintbrush at Point Labarbe in 2021. Susan, Dan, Nova and Chris watching and photographing a Lazuli Bunting at Whitefish Point bird feeders. Here’s a photo of the bunting that I took. Here’s the garden. Lots of tomato plants, peppers, garlic and mint. We’ve let one of the oldContinue reading “People and the garden”

Spending an overcast and misty day visiting the Upper Falls on the Tahquamenon River. This was the perfect way to spend the day. Lots of warblers and the Falls themselves. The distant view is just a quiet tease for getting close to them and their roar. Each viewing site as you approach the falls getsContinue reading “Tahquamenon Falls”

It’s always fun finding caterpillars, but frustrating trying to get them identified properly. This caterpillar is a great example of an unidentified beauty. But we’ll keep working on it. A spider on the side of the cabin, searching for breakfast. Another species of sand-loving tiger beetle. This one shouldn’t be “to hard” to identify. AContinue reading “Birds and bugs”

We spent yesterday looking for several orchids that are difficult to find since they are small and live in wet cedar woods. Just getting to them required over and hour of walking. But on the way to finding them we found may other interesting plants, such as the above Indian paintbrush. Close to the IndianContinue reading “Searching for orchids”

Leaving the heat for the cooler north. We’re heading to Whitefish Point, but will be stopping south of Grayling to try to find some Kirtland’s Warblers. Of course, along I-75 the orange barrels and arrows have popped up like mushrooms after a rain. But we finally got to our destination after lunch in Roscommon. ItContinue reading “Heading north to Kirtland’s Warbler country”

Don and I spent the morning at Magee Marsh today where we got to see friends and lots of birds. Nice numbers and diversity of warblers. We had some 20 species. Chestnut-sided Warblers were common as were Magnolia, Bay-breasted, Palm and others. We heard Blackpoll Warblers and Northern Waterthrushes. We must have had 7-8 Black-throatedContinue reading “Magee Marsh on a May morning”

Today we drove from Whitefish Point to Ann Arbor. It was hard to leave as the morning was filled with birds. But we have to get the garden planted. On the way I was thinking about my cousin Carol who had wanted some information on our family in Teramo, Italy. So I thought why notContinue reading “Traveling and thinking about family”