Author: turndoozie

Got a couple good ones today. The listserves had a little gull at Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge. After work I dragged Lise off her deathbed and we hightailed it over there. We got the gull within about 5 minutes of being there. While looking around we also found a red-necked phalarope and a bank swallow. That brings my total to 304, Lise’s to 289, and the family total to 305. The year is 2/3 over (66.67%) and I am at 86.86% of the goal and Lise is at 82.57%. We are getting there but old man time keeps ticking on. Hopefully we will pick up a few more fall migrants to beef up the list. Then there’s the screech owl that doesn’t seem to want to get counted.

Time marches on.

I monitor the listserves but rarely post to them. In listserve parlance I am a stalker. I have to be pretty sure of myself before I will post something. The little gull was first posted on the listserves as an immature, molting, black-legged kittiwake. A great find and people came running for it. Then closer observation of videos and photos, plus looks through lots of high end optics, revealed it to be a little gull. Both great birds but this was a birding faux pas. In all fairness these two look a lot alike and this was not something I would have had the cajones to call. The folks that thought they twitched a black-legged kittiwake in Michigan had to scratch that and come running back to twitch their little gull in Michigan. Lise and I got good looks at it and agree with the little gull. Twitch-a-oo! Time for some scrapple.
               

On Friday, Lise and I drove an hour to the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge, trying for a few more species. We got stilt sandpiper, our only new species for that trip. The stilt was number 300 for me and 285 for Lise. Still a good trip, even getting only one new species. Had great views of immature eagles. Like right in the tree over our heads good views. Hundreds of American egrets and great blue herons. We saw a Wilson’s phalarope, our second for the year. Sandhill cranes are grouping up, telling us it’s time for a Jasper Pulaski run. And we had a nice sunset.

Immature bald eagle, eying me up as a snack.

Sandhill cranes grouping up.

Egrets at sunset.

This evening we bought Molly a better violin at Elderly Instruments. This is one of the places in Lansing that has some character to it. It’s an old multistory I.O.O.F. building, right across the river from the Behnke Fish Ladder. No telling what those Odd Fellows did in there but right now it’s kind of a music Mecca. The first time I ever went there an elderly black gentleman was just sitting on the front steps, playing some great blues guitar. I’m not a musician of any sort but I like wandering through there. There’s hundreds of instruments sitting around and usually a couple people playing some of them. Lindsay and I could hear Molly trying out the violins while we wandered the store. It’s the kind of place where I would buy a mandolin just so I can say, “I picked this little beauty up at Elderly Instruments.”  It would be even better if I could find an electric guitar that goes to 11. Now that would be a must-have.

On the way back we stopped at a place with considerably less character, the MSU sod farm. Leading the nation in turf research. Never mind climate change, energy crisis, world over-population and dwindling water supplies, we gotta make them golf courses look good. Now that’s important research! At least we got an American golden plover there. Number 301 for me and 286 for Lise, only a mile from home.

Slow birding this week but we did get a new species. There have been reports of flocks of swallows along the Grand River, including bank swallow which we do not have. So we tried a couple places. At MacNamara’s Landing we found a blue-headed vireo, number 299 for me and number 284 for Lise. No bank swallow though. My Peterson’s Field Guide is so old it still lists the blue-headed vireo as solitary vireo.

We tried looking for swallows at the Behnke Fish Ladder in Old Town, Lansing. Old Town was one of the early villages in the Lansing area. It was settled in the mid-1800s, went on to become a manufacturing area, then fell on hard times. It is coming back with little shops and art places. And a great little Mexican restaurant called Pablo’s Restaurant. What they lack in size and decor they make up in good food. No beer but great limeade.

The fish ladder is interesting. It is on the left side of a dam across the Grand River. Somehow salmon and trout are supposed to know they need to go into a small entrance on the left side of the dam. Then they have to jump over a series of small steps eventually getting to the other side of the dam. Apparently it works. I have seen salmon migrating upstream in the Red Cedar, a tributary of the Grand. They couldn’t have gotten into the Red Cedar without getting over the dam.

For some reason this is the place to do portrait photography in Lansing. I saw three different photographers doing portrait work there. One was wedding shots. I’m not getting the attraction unless maybe they were both fishing enthusiasts. Maybe she hooked him on the river in her waders.

Dam in Old Town.

Fish ladder entrance.

Fish ladder steps.

We tried out a new place down on the Lake Erie coastline called Pointe Mouillee State Game Area. That’s  pronounced Moo-Yay for us non-French speakers. According to reports the place is a major birding hotspot. Recent listserve posts had about five species we need down there. So we made the two hour run down there hoping to add to the list.

Didn’t happen quite like planned. First we had to find the place. Then we had to figure out how to get into the area where the good things are being seen. That turned out to be a couple mile hike along some berms. About the time we got to the right pool it was time to head back. I had a doctor’s appointment and Lise had to go to Molly’s swim meet in Battle Creek. No new species but now we know where it is and how long it will take us to get there. Real potential though and we will be going back.

Pointe Mouillee is right by a nuclear power plant. I kept looking for weird disgustingly mutated creatures like giant spiders, FOX Newscasters, or flying monkeys. Scary things that probably eat their own young. I think we were safe though. All the FOX people are headed down to Tampa to throw rose petals in front of Mitt Romney. Or explain how it was the fault of the liberal press that Rep Todd Akin doesn’t understand basic biology. Never occurred to them that the guy is just a jackass. And people in Missouri’s Second Congressional District don’t mind that their Congressman apparently didn’t pass high school biology. But he’s a good Republican by god! Even if his IQ isn’t higher than room temperature. I’m really not opposed to Republicans as a class. I have even voted for some. I’m opposed to narrow-minded hypocritical idiots and it just seems that lately the Republican Party is going out of their way to recruit them.

Egrets and cooling towers. Or maybe gulls that have grown abnormally long beaks and legs.

Day 232 of the year and we haven’t had a new species for a week.  We are still ahead of our goal but time keeps ticking away. In a true competitive big year we would need to be at least twice the count we are right now.    

The red line keeps creeping closer.

I think this may be first week we haven’t gotten any new species.  Birds or odonates. We have probably gotten most of the summer resident species we are going to get right around here. Except for screech owls which seem to be our nemesis bird right now.  We just haven’t had much time to travel about chasing things here in Southern Michigan this past week. Both Lise and I spent a good part of the week just catching up on work matters.

I’ve been having some mobility issues too. Somehow I hurt my lower back up in Marquette. Probably from spending too much time on the river in weird positions photographing odonates. What I really need to do is spend about three days flat on my back but I just can’t seem to make that happen.

The hurting back is bad enough but to add insult to injury my dermatologist prescribed this nasty creme to burn pre-cancer cells off my face. Usually he uses liquid nitrogen to get rid of them. That feels like someone stubbing out their cigarette on you but at least it’s a localized burn. I guess this time his options were to dunk my face in a vat of liquid nitrogen or give me this nasty creme. I started using it twice a day up in Marquette and I have to use it through today. Makes my face look like I’ve been dragged behind a pickup truck. I’m starting to feel like Joseph Merrick.  Mothers pull their children out of the way as I walk down the street. I have to pay Lise to stand aside of me in public. Even the lizard turns away from me. Leper colonies are sending me marketing brochures. So now I got this burning creme on my face and ice packs on my lower back. I’m waiting for a crack to start splitting me in half.

Fido or Ed? Only his dermatologist knows for sure.

These past couple weeks Molly has been in Florida with friends. It was our first real taste of an empty nest. We’re really glad she got back last night but the empty nest was surprisingly easy to get used to. We’re starting to make travel plans for two years form now. Maybe check out those leper colonies as a retirement option if my face doesn’t clear up.

           

Home again, home again, jiggity-jig. We are back from our little escape to Marquette. After a week in the Upper Peninsula we are back in the Downer Peninsula.  

Considering the season it was a good trip birding wise. I picked up 11 new species and Lise picked up nine. I got ruffed grouse and purple finch which Lise already had. We got a couple really good species including Connecticut warbler on two occasions, black-throated blue warbler, boreal chickadee, olive-sided flycatcher, and LeConte’s sparrow. In addition to those guys, we also got purple finch, Brewer’s blackbird, trumpeter swan, yellow-bellied flycatcher, and Philadelphia vireo. There were times we had dozens of warblers, kinglets, vireos, chickadees, and nuthatches around us. A lot of the warblers and vireos were young in various plumage stages or adults molting to non-breeding plumage. I was amazed how many different variations of plumage yellow-rumped warblers can come in.

For the trip we had some target boreal species including boreal chickadee, gray jay, spruce grouse, and black-backed woodpecker. Boreal chickadee was the only one of those we got. Not for lack of trying I might add.

We did a second trip out the McCormick Tract. This time we did the three mile hike out to the foundations for the McCormick camp on White Deer Lake. That means three miles back too. We got the boreal chickadee within 15 minutes of starting. Four hours, 900 calories, and a blister later, still no gray jay. In the winter the gray jays like to cache food and will take tidbits right out of your hand. They follow you down the trail looking for handouts. Like our lizard, they associate people with food. In the summer, when resources are good, they disappear into the woods. They’re there when they need you but not when you need them. This is the appropriate time for a brother-in-law joke but in fact I like my brothers-in-law.

The McCormick camp must have been pretty impressive in its day. A couple two-story family lodges, servants’ quarters, a kitchen, guest cabins, work and tool sheds, and docks. One of the family lodges was on an island in the lake and there was a ferry between the island and the main camp. All with a grand view of White Deer Lake. They had everything (including a butler), except a convenient Starbucks. This is before cars and three miles from the nearest thing that could even be called a road. Probably why there was no Starbucks. Couldn’t do a drive up window.

Lise and white pine along trail to McCormick camp.

Female river bluet (I think) along trail to McCormick camp.

Coming back from Marquette on Saturday we did another trip through Seney National Wildlife Refuge. They had a 3,000+ acre wildfire last June. According to the field guides, this should be prime for black-backed woodpecker. They eat bugs that infest burnt trees. So we walked a couple miles into the burn area hoping to find the little devils. Rumor has it that other people have found black-backed woodpeckers there. Not Ed and Lise. We walked a couple miles and got nothing but hot, thirsty, and tired. Maybe that was our penance for going into an area that may have been closed to entry. We weren’t quite sure which area the sign was referring to so we took a more liberal interpretation of “Area Closed.”

It was kind of interesting seeing how fire worked through the system. There were patches of burnt trees and untouched patches. In the burnt areas, some trees died and some were only scorched at the base. Understory plants like bracken fern seemed unaffected. There was a distinct die-off of the shrubby layer.

Looks like great black-backed woodpecker habitat.

Anybody see a black-backed woodpecker?

So maybe they didn’t read the field guide saying they should be found in burnt areas?

Loons seem to have read the field guide saying they can be found here.

So did the eagles.

After Seney we stopped at the Cut River Inn for a late lunch/early dinner. I had the U.P. combo – whitefish chowder, smoked whitefish spread, and a pastie. High protein and salad extra.

About ten years ago Lise and I stopped at the same place. I remember two regulars talking. One asked the other if he had ever been south of the Mackinaw Bridge. The reply was, “Ain’t never been south of dat bridge. Ain’t no reason to go ‘cross dat bridge.” I think the same two guys were sitting in the same two seats this time. Only now they had laptops and were talking about emailing each other files. Even thought they were connected, their sentiment about going “‘cross dat bridge” seemed about the same. Only we trolls live under dat bridge, eh.

The counts now stand at 298 for me, 283 for Lise and a combined count of 299.

Low key day today. I hurt my back on Monday, probably doing to much bending in weird ways to take odonate pictures on the river. The trip yesterday to the McCormick Tract didn’t help much either. Right now I’m getting by on Aleve, Dogfish Head rum, and heating pads.

I was pretty limited on what I could do today. I might have gotten into a kayak but I wouldn’t have gotten out. Just shove me down river and let me die there. So we settled on a trip to a nice little bog close to the cabin. This bog is pretty cool. Very north woods looking. It’s rimed with a belt of sphagnum moss over water. When you step on it you can feel it shake below you. Your footsteps make the plants ahead of you quiver. If you stand for more than a few seconds water starts seeping up around your feet. A couple of years ago I broke through the sphagnum. One leg sank up to my thigh while the other one stayed on top. Major splits. Had I done that today there would have been a loud ripping sound of the muscles that once held my spine in place. You could have heard the ripping and my cursing back in Okemos. So yes, I was pretty careful.

Sand River Bog.

The bog has a lot of pitcher plants. In the past I’ve seen sundew there too. I’m not a big plant person but these plants  are cool. They exist in a nutrient poor environment so they get their energy by eating bugs. Not unlike Fido, our lizard. They sit there and wait for their food to come to them. Not unlike Fido, our lizard. Hunting is such an energy drain.

Pitcher plans have this bowl of liquid that draws insects into them. After the insect gets trapped in the liquid, it is dissolved and becomes part of the plant. There’s something intriguing about carnivorous plants. It’s like the food chain got inverted. Or some lame 1950s Japanese horror movie. When I lived in Japan I had a Venus flytrap for a pet. I used to feed it little pieces of hamburger, trying to grow it large enough to eat a cat. They didn’t have scrapple so I was limited to hamburger. My Japanese girlfriend was horrified by the idea of a meat eating plant and hated the thing. Eventually she killed it off.

Flowering pitcher plants.

Pitcher plants.

I guess this looks inviting to bugs.

I was hoping to do some odonate photography at the bog but the day was cloudy and a bit cool.  Not too many odonates out and about. Mostly some spreadwing damselfly species. Lise did get us a new bird species for the year, and a good one too. Olive-sided flycatcher. Not one you see everyday.

Female amberwing spreadwing.

Male slender spreadwing.

After a few hours on the deck in a chaise lounge looking at the river, Lise dragged me down to Lake Superior for a walk. Kind of neat to be in the Midwest and looking across a lake where you can’t see the other side. Almost makes you feel like you’re on the ocean.

Across Superior. Canada is over there somewhere. I suspect there will be a lot of boats headed there should Romney get elected.

Superior sunsets. Sunset pictures are a bit cliche but these are Superior. I can truthfully say I take Superior sunset pictures.

We spent the day with Joanna at the McCormick track, trying for some boreal species. We had hoped for gray jay and boreal chickadee, with spruce grouse and yellow-bellied flycatcher thrown in. A bay-breasted warbler would have been nice too. The only new species we got was yellow-bellied flycatcher for both of us and a ruffed grouse for me. Had some great views of warblers and kinglets, but no new species.

The McCormick tract is a 17,000 acre federally designated wilderness area. That’s about 27 square miles. There is only one three mile long trail through the area. Accessing the rest requires back country skills and a certain amount of chutzpah.

The nexus of the wilderness area was first purchased by Cyrus McCormick, founder of International Harvester in 1902. He built a large camp with trails running through the area and connecting to the ever so exclusive Huron Mountain Club to the north. Apparently Cyrus, though an industrialist, was something out of the Teddy Roosevelt Rough Riders mold. He was a believer in the wilderness life. He worked alongside the laborers to cut trail through forest and swamp and built lodges for the family. Eventually the family donated the property to the U.S. Forest Service. Some areas have never been logged and there has been no logging in the rest of the area for over a hundred years.

Peshekee River in the Wilderness Area.

Access to the area is along the Peshekee River on a failed railroad operation called the Peshekee Grade. Around 1890 a supposed engineer named Milo Davis got the bright idea to build a railroad shortcut from mines in Champion to ore boats on Lake Superior. Ol’ Milo figured the best route for a short cut was straight north, never mind having to build up the rail bed through swamps and blast through rock outcrops. For good measure the route was up a pretty steep grade the whole way. A couple million dollars and ten years later the shortcut was ready for operation. The first train couldn’t make it up the grade, the rail bed gave way, and the train crashed. Milo hightailed to Mexico. Thanks to his ineptness we have a very bumpy road to the McCormick Tract and beyond.

Peshekee River.

Peshekee Grade rock cut.

Turns out that I made a little math mistake on my August 2nd post. When I calculated the percentage of the year gone by I used the number of days for September 2nd, not August 2nd. Also the date on the graph was incorrect. This is the kind of math Milo used to build the Peshekee Grade.

Recalculating for today’s date, and the number of species we have seen so far this trip, we now stand at 83.4% of the goal for Ed, 79.1% of the goal for Lise, and 60.1% of the year completed. Please see Figure 2 for the correct representation of the current standings. Please note that despite these rookie math errors, no electrons were harmed in the making of these graphs.

Figure 2. The percentage of our goal compared to the percentage of the year gone by.

We are up in the UP, hanging out on Sand River. Thanks to the generosity of Jean and Joanna for the use of the cabin.

We drove up Saturday, playing along the way. First stop was at Maple River Game Area. Lots of herons and egrets. It was over 80 degrees and real muggy. We had a long way to go so we didn’t spend too much time there.

Next we stopped at the Mackinac Bridge for lunch. Always a fun place to stop. Temperature dropped to a pleasant 75 degrees. We watched a well trained ring-billed gull. It would stand off from a picnic table watching people eating. As soon as they left the gull would run, not fly, to the table and look for scraps. Kind of an avian Yogi Bear.

Next stop was Seney National Wildlife Refuge. A bit more productive than the first two stops. We did the nature trail and the driving tour. Temperature was still in the quite tolerable 75 degree range. On the nature trail we ran into the heart-stopping burnt stump that looks like bear cub. Also got good views of an unusually cooperative Canada darner dragonfly.

Oh my god, where’s the mother bear?

At Seney Lise and I got Brewer’s blackbird and trumpeter swan for the year. I also got purple finch, a species Lise already had. That brings out counts to 290 for me, 276 for Lise, and a combined count of 292.

Sunday was cool and very windy. Lake Superior had whitecaps. I spent the morning cruising Sand River in my waders while Lise walked the beach. Sunday afternoon Jean and Joanna took us on a great paddle on the Dead River. Very nice and mucho fun. Then we went to dinner for our anniversary. Twenty-three years.

Surf’s up on Lake Superior.

Today we spent the day playing on the river. I spent most of the day in my waders trying to photograph odonates. Lise cruised the river in her kayak. I had a merlin cruise down the river within about 15 feet of me. Major cool. A good time was had by all.

We like it here. Some places are special. Where you’re comfortable and enjoy just being there. This is one of those special places for us.

Sand River.

Sand River.

Sand River.

Lise on Sand River.

Amber-winged spread-wing damsel fly ovapositing.

Mating damselflies.

Mating damselflies.

Violet dancer damsel fly.

Frosted whiteface dragonfly.

Insect porn.

Middle of summer and birding is slow. In small numbers, shorebirds are starting to show up on their trip back down to the southern regions. We made a quick trip to Robert Long Park down in Oakland County to check out shorebird reports. Robert Long Park isn’t what I would call a ritzy park, but it did have wetlands and mud flats with sandpipers.

Facilities at Robert Long Park. I don’t care how you want to hide it, it’s a port-a-pot. One step up from a hole in the sand. Only the brave dare enter.

We got solitary and pectoral sandpipers for the year. And a surprise savannah sparrow too. Other interesting species include fox sparrow, song sparrow, pied-billed grebe, black-crowned night heron, wood duck, American egret, great blue heron, green heron, ring-billed gull, barn swallow, killdeer, and kingfisher. Probably some others I’m forgetting too.

Cooperative song sparrow at Robert Long Park

Today’s outing brings my count to 287, Lise’s count to 274, and a combined count of 290. We are at day 246 of the year. We are still beating the “bird a day metric” but old man time is starting to catch up. I have 82.0% of my goal for the year while the year is 67.2% over. Lise is at 78.3% of the goal. I thought a chart would be useful for the more graphically inclined. Please refer to figure 1.

Figure 1. Completion percentages for Ed and Lise compared to the percentage of the year already shot.

We’re going up to Marquette this coming week and hopefully get a couple of the boreal species we missed at the beginning of the year. But even if we don’t get any new ones, we will have some quality time on Sand River and get to see our friends Jean and Joanna. Probably have a couple pasties from Jean Kay’s too. Not quite scrapple but right up there on the good eating scale.