Nichols Arboretum: April, 2026
We spent part of yesterday morning at Nichols Arboretum in Ann Arbor. Not many bird migrants but a lot of interesting plants. Trilliums were one of the highlights yesterday. We had three species. Common trillium, prairie trillium and either drooping or nodding trillium. Prairie trillium. These can be found along the trails that border Dow…
Eagles at Whitefish Point
Yesterday was a funny day. Scattered birds throughout the day than a burst of activity in the mid afternoon. The flight, as it was consisted of a variety of raptors, but was dominated by eagles. That was nice since eagles, both bald and golden are some of my favorite birds. An adult Bald Eagle. We…
Snow, Cold and Reading
With the cold front that blew in yesterday morning we got out for a walk to the point then spent the rest of the day inside doing stuff and reading. The same view on Saturday (left) and Sunday (right). A depressing dusting of snow. My latest book was Justinian’s Flea. I thought it was going…
And now a cold front
I got up this morning and the temperature was 24F, by 7 AM it had dropped to 20F. Where will it end up? And on top of the temperature swing it snowed. View from the back door showing the dusting of snow. There’s not much, yet it’s still depressing. I’m done with snow for the…
Migration got going yesterday
With constant mild to moderate south-east winds yesterday raptor migration really kicked into high gear. I ad close to 1500 Sharp-shinned Hawks, and several hundred other raptors. Additionally Sandhill Cranes really started migration with over 1000 passing overhead. Things were so busy that I never took a photo. So, all of the photos today were…
It’s time for lichens
It’s a beautiful morning here at Whitefish Point. The first clear morning since we’ve up here this month. Clear at this time of year means cold. As I am sitting here and writing it’s 28F and fortunately with very very little wind. Yesterday on our walk to the point it was obvious that lichens were…
Inching towards Spring
The progress is slow, but speeds up with warmth and rain, day by day there is less snow and more to see. The same view of the restoration area, each photo is 24 hours after the previous. So, Monday on the left, Tuesday in the center and Wednesday on the right. As I said we’re…
The ruling madman
The Mad-King (with apologies to Game of Thrones) and taken a deep dive into his insanity, or is it perhaps dementia, who knows. His latest insane rant has the Internet sparking memes at an insane rate. The madman’s post on the left, an Internet response. Even better was this meme of the original cast of…
Winter into Spring at Whitefish Point
The snow is slowly melting at Whitefish Point. There is some promise in the air, you can smell it. As the snow recedes the first bearberry and trailing arbutus become visible. As ground is exposed the false dune heather and lichens become visible. The dune restoration site that Susan has worked on for three years.…
A Milestone Post
This is blog post number 1100 for me. I started this blog in 2021 not quite sure where it would go. Over the years I’ve varied the number of posts that I wrote. 2022 was a big year coming off the second year of the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic (COVID). WHo knows what this year will bring…
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