What a week. I came back from the Upper Peninsula on Tuesday. Had some time to relax at the cabin and did a nice paddle with Joanna on Sand River.
Slender spreadwing damselfly on Sand River.
Ovipositing spreadwing. She slices the stem with a blade on her ovipositor and put the eggs in the slit.
Joanna paddling on Sand River.
Sunset over Lake Superior at the mouth of Sand River.
Sunset over Lake Superior at the mouth of Sand River.
Trees at Seney National Wildlife Refuge in the UP.
Sunset at Seney National Wildlife Refuge in the UP.
Then Thursday night it was up to the Midwest Birding Symposium in Bay City. The Midwest Birding Symposium is held every two years. Over 400 people, from numerous states, all interested in birding. Where else will you find sessions on the nuances of gull identification or how to identify raptors by their silhouettes. Important stuff. Lise and I haven’t been to one of these symposiums for over 20 years. Molly’s age; what a coincidence.
I wouldn’t say this symposium was well organized, but it was fun. Good sessions but the highlight was meeting up with friends and acquaintances. Some from prior lives and some from our current lives. People we haven’t seen for many years and the former coworker that lives a couple blocks from us. People we recognize from birding around Michigan but whose names we don’t know. Like the lady we met while waiting for the swallow-tailed kite. She is now at 301 species in her Michigan big year quest. I thought of the movie “The Big Year” where they kept running into each other at the same birding spots. We also hit some new Michigan birding places, like Nayanquing Point State Wildlife Area and Tawas Point State Park. We both got a few new species for the year including palm warbler, sharp-shinned hawk, and Virginia rail. I got an American bittern. Best views I’ve ever had of a bittern. To top everything off, I won a pair of binoculars in the raffle drawing. All in all, a great time.
Should put in a plug for Bay City too. It’s had some problems, like being the birth place of Madonna and a crashed ship building and timber mill industries. But it seems to be coming back. They have a good variety of pubs and restaurants in their downtown, many in historic buildings. The Stein Haus had excellent German food, several hundred steins on the walls and ceiling, and a corkscrew collection that has to be the envy of corkscrew collectors everywhere. There’s a good coffee shop called Brewtopia. And a nice walk along the Saginaw River.
There were some minor down sides to the symposium. It was a birding symposium with birding field trips. Led by serious birders for serious birders. Which meant early morning rise times. I drove up after teaching Thursday night and only arrived after 12:30 AM Friday. Then had a 5:30 AM rise time for a field trip. Our friend coffee really helped there. We got up at 5:00 or 5:30 each morning. Plus the weather turned much cooler than it had been. Lise and I were very underdressed, especially for the sailing trip. We rode the Appledore, an 85 foot schooner, down the Saginaw River and out into Saginaw Bay. Great ride but it was windy, rainy and cold. One would think that after 15 years of living in Michigan, plus numerous freezing trips with Barb, we would learn to always carry some warm clothes with us. But no, we decided to test natural selection. Still better than sitting in an office I guess.
Huddling on the Appledore.
The crew setting sails, the passengers huddling.
Under sail. It was so windy that only the foresails were set.
Ed's and Lise's Biggish Years 