Author Archives: makielb

The blueberries in the above photo were collected in the wild so to speak. At Whitefish Point we have tremendous access to several types of blueberries, both within close proximity to our cabin and on the state land across Whitefish Point Road. Before returning to Ann Arbor we picked blueberries wherever we found them. ThereContinue reading “Gifts from our gardens”

When I went to Panama a few years ago, besides vaccinations for yellow fever, hepatitis-A, hepatitis-B and typhoid I had to take malaria medications. That only left three major insect-borne diseases to be concerned about – zika, dengue fever and chagas disease. Chagas is caused by a parasite found in the feces of Triatomine bugsContinue reading “Malaria among other mosquito borne diseases”

For much of my life I have carried pencils, pens and watercolors where ever I was. In reality I had started drawing by 1956 – a very long time ago. Even while I was leading natural history tours in Mexico in the 1980s and 1990s I took some time to sketch. The above photo ofContinue reading “Drawing and painting”

Almost every day, when at our house or at the cabin typically starts checks the moths and other insects that are attracted to our lights. So far this year we have had over 400 species of moths that we have identified. Susan usually sees more since she will sometimes check the lights after I haveContinue reading “Our typical morning at the cabin with moths”

This afternoon we decided to head out from our cabin at Whitefish Point to search for orchids and other interesting plants. First we stopped just north of the mouth of the Tahquamenon River to show Dan Sparks-Jackson the large number of small purple fringed orchids in bloom. In a stretch of sone 20 meters thereContinue reading “Photos from today’s adventure”