Category: bird watcher

  • A Year of Birds: April 2023

    While still cold, with occasional flurries of snow, the days are finally getting a bit warmer, with temperatures creeping into the mid- to upper-30s at times. While snow is still on the ground, it is gradually melting, and the mornings are misty with the evaporation in the air. The ice is nearly melted on the…

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  • A Year of Birds: March 2023

    March has come in cold and blustery, with several inches of snow falling, as if to make up for the warmer weather at the end of February.  Ice has formed on the bay again, and it is bitter cold. One early morning during this cold spell, I saw a group of juvenile eagles out on…

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  • A Year of Birds: February 2023

    The warm spell at the January didn’t last. It is, after all, winter in northeast Michigan. The temperatures dropped to a chilly -5 degrees F in the early morning, and I am feeding the birds twice a day now (and the deer, too! They come by regularly for snacks). The ground has turned from a…

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  • Mallard in the Marsh: Acrylic painting

    I have been experimenting with doing paintings with a very limited palette (ultramarine blue, yellow ochre, burnt sienna, burnt umber and titanium white). This is a mallard in the marsh near misery bay, during the fall when the grasses turn beautiful colors.

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  • Morning Visitor: acrylic painting

    I have been experimenting with painting lights and darks, using a limited palette of yellow ochre, ultramarine blue, burnt umber and titanium white. This little sparrow was sitting on a rock in my yard recently, and I wanted to capture the moment. Moments like this remind me of the beauty of God’s creation.

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  • A Year of Birds: January 2023

    January has come in cold for a few days after a warm spell (if you consider 35 degrees F warm, that is!). But it has snowed, the temperatures have dropped, and today I saw a mute swan swimming on the bay near the snow-covered beach. It glided silently along, beautiful. A couple of days later,…

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  • Favorite Photos of 2022: Part 2

    Here are some of my favorite photos from 2022 that I took. June: Ruffed Grouse July: Mute Swan July: Two Kingfishers July: Sandhill Crane mother and baby August: Hawk August: Tern with fish September: Blue Heron September: Sandhill Cranes October: Bald Eagles October: Yellow Legs migrating November: Young Eagle flying November: Golden eye ducks migrating…

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  • Favorite Photos 2022 Part 1

    This year, I took many photos, and want to share my favorites during this review of the year. January: rough legged hawk February: snowy owl March: Great Blue Heron April: Golden Eye May: Wood Ducks May: Phoebe May: Great Egret

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  • A Year of Birds: December 2022

    December has come in cold, but not bitter as it often does here in northeast Michigan. The days are often cloudy and gray, unless the sun decides to peek through. Some mornings, the banks of clouds on the horizon look like a small mountain range in the distance, and it is beautiful. While driving back…

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  • Tern Fishing on Lake Huron

    I love it when the wind raises on Lake Huron, and the waves come crashing in. This painting is of a tern fishing on a windy day in a bay off of the lake. I spent nearly an hour a couple of months ago watching him swoop into the water and fly back out, fighting…

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  • A Year of Birds: November 2022

    Part 2 One morning during the second week of November, I got up before dawn, and watched while the sun rose. It was beautiful, and there were the ducks, enjoying the early morning light, looking like black silhouettes against the peach-colored water. I feel blessed to see sights like this, when nature proclaims its beauty…

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  • A Year of Birds 2022: November

    Part 1 During my hike today at the beginning of the month, the bay is silent compared to the almost constant background chatter of small tweets, whistles and the high “kews” of the yellow legs that are heard during the summer. When I went into town, I saw one of the few birds that has…

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