Author Archives: makielb

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”

I can’t help but photograph a Piping Plover when I see one. This one was photographed when it was annoyed with an American Golden Plover. Perhaps the other plover was too close to a nesting scrape. And all that the golden plover was doing was standing on a nearby log on the beach. At theContinue reading “A few birds to end the day”

There are now over 400 cases globally, the greatest number in Africa, with over 100 cases in Europe. Ut is also in the U.S., Canada and Australia. This is the largest outbreak of the virus every recorded. Apparently smallpox vaccines are 85% effective at preventing the disease. Maybe we all need to be re-vaccinated forContinue reading “Monkeypox and nature books”

Fog on Lake Superior this morning left the ships talking to each other, which we all enjoy listening to. The woodland edges were filled with sparrows and a few warblers. These are two Savannah Sparrows of the many we found. Another common sparrow this morning were White-crowned Sparrows. But then I was easily distracted byContinue reading “What to do on a foggy slow day at Whitefish Point”

There are several species of willows flowering right now. I know that there are at least three like these – pussy willow, small pussy willow and Bebb’s willow. But I can’t tell them apart until they have leaves. Fortunately there is an excellent guide, with keys for differentiating them. “Shrubs of Ontario” is an excellentContinue reading “Botany, bugs and birds”

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”

I took this photo in our lawn the other day and it reminded me the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The situation in Ukraine as of yesterday. Ukrainian forces are at the Russian border north of Kharkiv. BBC has reported that 1/3 of the Russian invading forces have died. We’ll have to see how this playsContinue reading “Ukraine, a virus and more”

When I was working in the Insect Division at The University of Michigan Museum I contributed a number of photos to this project – and they’re still there. The originals are slides. The photos I am using today are scans that I pulled off the website. I had better find the original slides and scanContinue reading “Animal diversity web”

Today was the Washtenaw County May Count. My friend Roger picked me up before 5AM to head down to Saline Township to listen for owls and rails. Well, by 3PM we were finally done as the temperature hit 85F and a cold front (thunderstorm with hail) was heading our way. The good news was thatContinue reading “A May bird count without photos”

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”