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A Year of Birds 2022: April
Read more: A Year of Birds 2022: AprilApril is starting out very cold, after the warm weekend at the end of March. The chickadees and cardinals still visit the feeder, but once the snow melts from the ground I will stop. I don’t want any bears visiting! On the weekend, I go out to Misery Bay, and the canals nearby. I saw…
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A Year of Birds: March 2022
Read more: A Year of Birds: March 2022March is certainly coming in “like a lion” here in North Michigan with snowstorms, cold wind, and bitter weather. When temperatures sitting near zero still, it feels as if my hands, feet, nose and even eyes hurt if I am out too long. My visits with the birds when I feed them are short on…
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A Year of Birds 2022: February
Read more: A Year of Birds 2022: FebruaryThe deer come to the bird feeder, and try to finish off any seeds left over. I see them each evening at around 4:30 pm. The numbers vary, but with the long, hard cold of winter, they are desperate for food. They are also fairly tame; I can almost walk up to them and pet…
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A Year of Birds: January 2022
Read more: A Year of Birds: January 2022I will be posting photos taken throughout the year in this online journal. This is a bitter, very cold winter even for northern Michigan. I am feeding the Chickadees and Jays daily, and they seem grateful. The chickadees have become quite tame, and will let me near. I am hoping to teach them to feed…
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A Year of Birds: December
Read more: A Year of Birds: DecemberAs the holiday song says, “Baby, it’s cold outside!” In Michigan, December can come in with some pretty cold blasts, and it has. It makes me glad that Hanukkah also occurs at the beginning of the month, to create “warm feelings” in spite of the frigid early morning temperature. The mergansers are hanging out with…
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A Year of Birds: October
Read more: A Year of Birds: OctoberNow the days are getting cooler at night, and shorter. In the early morning, fog can be seen over Lake Huron in a thick white blanket that rolls towards the shore. I know that the shorter days and tree color changes herald the fall migration of the birds to warmer climates. I can still see…
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A Year of (Michigan) Birds: July
Read more: A Year of (Michigan) Birds: JulyThe gulls have taken over the point to the north of the bay. They can be seen sunning, dozens of them perched on the rocks and walking around. When I go kayaking by the point, I can see the mergansers and their babies. They have 19! The babies are so cute, and follow in the…
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A Year of (Michigan) Birds: June
Read more: A Year of (Michigan) Birds: JuneIt’s early June, and I saw a pair of sandhill cranes at Squaw Bay today. They are beautiful, and hard to see since they are perfectly camouflaged by the ochre reeds and small dead trees next to the marshy water. As soon as they saw me, they went and hid in a clump of trees,…
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A Year of Birds: May
Read more: A Year of Birds: MayI am sharing some of my favorite photos that I took this past year in this series. Spring is in full swing now, and the calls of the redwing blackbirds in the nearby marshes are almost continuous. Some of the males come by the feeder to fill up on seed. When I go on walks…
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Hummingbird in the Flowers
Read more: Hummingbird in the FlowersOkay, I realized when I did this painting that it could seem a bit cliche; after all, there are so many hummingbird paintings out there. But I couldn’t resist painting this little ruby-throated that I saw drinking from the last of the summer flowers a few weeks ago, so I make no apologies. I think…
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A Year of Birds: April
Read more: A Year of Birds: AprilBy mid-April, the migratory birds are back, and it is a delight to both see them soaring in the air and hear their calls in the trees along the beach. The other day as some friends and I were hiking, we came upon an amazing sight: a group of 7 cedar waxwings was perched on…
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A Year of Birds: January
Read more: A Year of Birds: JanuaryWhile I often share my paintings here, I have rarely shared my personal reference photos. I will be posting some of my favorite bird photos over the next few months, organized month-by-month, as well as some thoughts on each month. First is January. When it is January in north Michigan, a blanket of snow several…