Author Archives: makielb

Last night as the clouds were moving in I got a quick photo of the Moon and Jupiter with my phone. ,As the wind shifted and clouds moved in, the temperature started to drop. This morning it was 43F when I got up. So, as is our tradition when it gets cold, I lit ourContinue reading “Whitefish Point lichens and more”

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 theContinue reading “Whitefish Point”

My first visit to the archeological site at Chichen Itza was with Susan in 1987. We were traveling in the Yucatan and we stayed at The Piramide Inn in Piste, on the main road between the east coast of the Yucatan and Merida. We entered the site at the opposite end of the ruins fromContinue reading “My time in Mexico (part 4) – Chichen Itza”

This Black-billed Magpie, a western North American species spent a week at our feeders at the cabin sometime around 2010-12 The Golden Eagle is a common migrant in small numbers in April and early May at Whitefish Point. While I have never photographed a Northern Hawk Owl at our cabin, this one was about half-wayContinue reading “Some birds from Whitefish Point over the years.”

The above piece of art I created years ago from stamps that were essentially worthless. I cut them around interesting images and stuck them down onto a piece of watercolor paper. Each group in there tells its own little story. There are birds and Primates all over the place. A group of fish. There areContinue reading “The garden and more at the start of November”

The final art challenge for October is entitled “predator.” I’ll start with the head of a Gyrfalcon that I have used previously. Raptor feet and their talons are impressive. For the past two years we have been able to watch a pair of Osprey attempt to nest on a cell tower that we can seeContinue reading “The final art challenge of October”

The new set up for moths. Susan just received two LED-black lights to go with our florescent black light. The past two night there were a few midges and moths, nothing spectacular. We also had a green lacewing. None of the calling tree-crickets came to the lights. Not many days left for this before itContinue reading “A floral art challenge and more”

For the threatened art challenge I’ll be using some illustrations of animals threatened with extinction. Kirtland’s Warbler nests mainly in Michigan with the heart of the breeding range in the Grayling and Mio areas. What threatens the warbler is the reduction in nesting habitat, extensive jack pines about 5-20 years old (5-20 feet high). OverContinue reading “Threatened art challenge”

It was about 1995 in the winter that I decided to sketch people walking outside as they passed our house. I called the project “Who are the people in our neighborhood?” It was a lot of fun Many times I sketched neighbors out walking their dogs. But every sketch took less than a minute toContinue reading “The art challenge and the neighborhood”

The above photo of a gar is about as toothy as it can get. This will be one of the photos used for this “toothed” art challenge. With one exception these will all be zoo or aquarium photos. These two pine martins were found high in a spruce off Basnau Road, in Chippewa County, Michigan.Continue reading “Toothed art challenge”