“Although I didn’t see a lot of different species, I did get some very good shots of the ones I saw. :)”

From Birds at Peninsula, 05/02/2010, posted by Karin Hankwitz on 5/04/2010 (14 items)

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Other birds seen or heard but not photographed:

• 2 Semipalmated Sandpipers (Weborg Marsh)
• 1 Black-Throated Green Warbler (Weborg Marsh)
• Multiple White-Throated Sparrows (Weborg Point)
• Multiple Yellow-Rumped (Myrtle) Warblers (Weborg Point)
• 1 Brewers Blackbird (Weborg Point)
• Multiple Red-Winged Blackbirds (including 1 female, Weborg Marsh)
• 3 Turkey Vultures

NWS RADAR (click here!) is showing a big mass of birds headed north, over the Florida Keys right now and approaching the Florida mainland.

That’s not rain. It’s birds! :) Welcome back, little guys!!

“The hepaticas are blooming… here are some of my favorite shots. :)”

From The Hepatica Gallery, posted by Karin Hankwitz on 4/15/2010 (4 items)

Generated by Facebook Photo Fetcher

Several nighttime radars showed considerable bird movement around 10PM Central, Sunday, April 11th.

The Quad Cities had the best bird signatures of all, kind of a big GLOB of birds moving northwesterly right smack dab over QC.

There was a strong influx of birds from the southeast on the Duluth, MN radar.

The Milwaukee, WI radar showed SSE-to-NNW activity up through the central part of the state of Wisconsin. It  also showed big clouds of pollution billowing out over Lake Michigan from both Chicago and Milwaukee, then getting picked up by the prevailing southerly wind over the water, and blowing north.

The Green Bay, WI radar showed very faint SE-to-NW signatures of birds moving up through the central part of the state, as well. Movement within +/- 50 miles of the lakeshore wasn’t evident, so it will be interesting to see if there was significant bird movement overnight or not.

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April 10, 2010: One of my favorite harbingers of spring, Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis), is blooming at Peninsula State Park.

You can find a beautiful little patch of it at the head of Hemlock Trail, which is a hiking trail just across the street from Weborg Point campground.

More info about Bloodroot HERE (wikipedia).

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Memorial Day Weekend has arrived, and I look around at the bevy of people around me thinking, “if you only knew, this whole landscape was BROWN a month ago. We didn’t even have LEAVES 2 weeks ago!”

Nothing has really changed between Thursday (pre-weekend) and Friday (officially the weekend) — the weather is still sort of crummy (50′s and cloudy more often than not) and there is no magic “feeling” of anything, marking the significance of one day to the next.

Sea of Blue Forget-Me-Nots

But what has changed is the magical flourishing of green upon the landscape; everything has literally just sprung to life. It is truly boggling, and amazing, and beautiful. And with it has come a full-court press of Little Birds. What has felt like a slooooooooowwwwwww process this spring (I never did see any teals, wigeons, shovelers, etc.?) has finally truly picked up steam. :)

Perfect still evening on the Bay

I took my sandwich and salad from the Northern Grill down to Peninsula State Park, and picked Weborg Point as the most likely place to have some wildlife/bird activity. It was perfect! Seriously, if I could enjoy a simple sandwich at Weborg Point every day for the rest of my life, my life would be utterly complete. It is impossible to improve upon perfection!

View of the Strawberry Channel from my picnic table

A few flittery warblers caught my eye over where another couple was eating. The birds were a few feet too close for my 10×50′s, but were too far to make out with the naked eye. So I obligingly ate while admiring the gorgeous view across the bay and Strawberry Channel.

But then, a couple of bites into my burger, I saw several gazillion warblers in the trees over my head and behind me! Gack! I unceremoniously shoved a couple more bites in my mouth, snapped the lid shut (warbler poop on my sandwich did not appeal, no matter how pretty the birds are) and grabbed my binocs. And watched the show. Read the rest of this entry

If you’d seen me pulling in to Fish Creek on Cty F yesterday, you’d probably have thought I’d lost my marbles. I didn’t look happy. I was ecstatic. Like, bouncing-in-my-seat, cheering and clapping and screaming, kind of ecstatic. A level of enthusiasm that is considered not P.C. in most circles.  Luckily the car windows were closed. :)

See, as I rounded the corner, and looked up at the top of the Cellcom tower, there was an osprey. The female osprey, very very likely the same bird who’s been nesting up there with her mate for the last 3 years now. (I am guessing it’s the female, given the brown ‘necklace’ of feathers around the upper chest; this is more common with the females, whereas males typically have all-white chests.) The same ospreys usually return to the same nesting spot every year.

She was perched on the same spire, sitting in the same direction as always (looking north), surveying her Kingdom, as if she owns it all, and all of the clutter and we people buzzing about below are just incidental. :)

The reason I was so incredibly happy to see her was because I was worried they’d been shot to death in Central or South America, where our ospreys overwinter. Ospreys will sometimes find a fish farm and set up residence there. To them, it’s just a good food supply. Of course, to the fish farmer, it’s lost profits. So the farmers take to their shotguns and kill the ospreys hunting their ponds.

Every spring I check the local nests, almost obsessively, worried that “our” ospreys unknowingly made a poor choice over winter and were shot and killed.

This is especially a problem in the Dominican Republic, which is a deadly place especially for first-year migrant juveniles who decide end their first migration in the D.R. and take up winter residence, not realizing what a dangerous place it is. The juvies who continue south to South America are often (but not always) headed to safer grounds, at least in terms of the risk of being shot. (Read Meadow’s story)

I sat in the parking lot at the Top of the Hill shops, which is right next door to the tower, and watched her in the binoculars. Holy cow, their talons are huge, their hulking bodies and wide shoulders so imposing! They are an absolutely amazing and beautiful creation.

I hope some of the classes at Gibraltar Schools are studying the ospreys. It is an absolutely golden learning opportunity to have this nest right across the street from the school! And the birds don’t mind if there are kids out on the playground… the kids can walk right out on the school grounds and watch them with the naked eye.

We were thrilled in college to have a pair of nesting ospreys 2 miles away from our summer camp lodge, that we could watch and journal through a telescope…… sheesh. What we would have given to be able to study ospreys like this!!! :)

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I’m not sure how many times I’ve mentioned this, but there is one thing that holds true for me: Weborg Marsh never disappoints.

Sunset over Weborg Marsh, Sept 25, 2008

I can drive the whole park and see nothing noteworthy, unusual, particularly special, odd or new (not counting the park’s inherent beauty, of course — and I’m not at all discounting that!), but get at least one treat, for sure, on a drive through Weborg Marsh. It is incredible, the power of that one little spot to deliver.

In however many years I’ve been frequenting the park, I cannot think of the last time Weborg Marsh let me down. I’ve seen everything you can imagine… Bald Eagle, Osprey, Red-Tailed Hawk, this year’s very first … Read the rest of this entry

It was a mighty tough winter again in Door County this year. We had a thick snow cover by December 3rd, and it didn’t go away until an unseasonable break in February. Two days later the thick snow cover was back again, and stuck around for awhile even in the fields (the fields being first to melt, thanks to the sun’s unobstructed warming rays).

North Slope Snow persists at Peninsula State Park on March 26, 2009

The woods were (are) much more reluctant to relinquish their winter dress. Although my backyard has been 100% melted for 10 solid days now, the “north slopes” at Peninsula remain cloaked in a thick, stubborn white blanket.

We had a similar scenario last winter, between thick, persistent snow cover and bitter cold temps. And it cost dearly — spring awoke with very, very, very few rodents, squirrels, raccoons and skunks. We lost a lot of small mammals over the winter. Where the woods were teeming with wildlife as winter fell in November, the landscape remained eerily still in the bright warm spring sun. The silence and stillness was unsettling. When the critters didn’t reappear, and didn’t reappear, it was obvious… they had all died.

This is, of course, the way of nature. A bloated population eventually is pruned down by harsh conditions; the individuals with “selected for” genes (which is what makes them strong and capable of surviving) survive and reproduce, and build a new, stronger population.

Red Squirrel at Weborg Point, 3/26/09

That’s exactly what has happened here. The strongest survived, and reproduced, and the result was a hardy stock that survived this winter quite handily. I’ve seen more squirrels in the past 2 weeks than I saw all of last summer combined. (That’s not to say we are overflowing with squirrels; rather, it’s more a statement on how few squirrels there were last year.)

But the thick unyielding blanket of snow this winter eventually became stifling. Although winter and the sun duked it out for most of February and early March, I was really starting to think that winter was going to remain a permanent state and that my only chance at reprieve was to scramble southward.

But then March 17th came. The last bits of snow was melting off the fields and yards, and warm breezes lured us outside in short sleeves and even shorts! Yes, shorts. It was in the 60s in the sun (which, when you’re accustomed to 20s and 30s, feels like a sauna). And thankfully, fantastically, it also kicked off spring bird migration. :)

Autumn Forest at Nicolet Bay

Hard to believe I’m uttering the “w” word (winter) in October, especially since my brain is still stuck back somewhere between August and September. I have this total disconnect with the red, yellow and orange leaves outside my window. They are supposed to be green. Or so says my brain. ;)

My brain may be late for its own party, but the Coast Guard isn’t. I heard the Coast Guard cutter MOBILE BAY announce on the scanner this morning that they were “doing ATON in the Strawberry Islands” … which means they are likely pulling up my dearest, favoritest bell buoy off Peninsula Park.

Bell Buoy #6

I don’t know why I have such a love for this buoy. But I think of her as being my soulmate in the buoy world. She is always there, rain or shine, night or day. Her bell clangs with the rhythm of the waves, especially loud up on Svens Bluff and along Sunset Trail. At dusk her bright red light flashes, on and off, on and off, persistently piercing the darkness all night long, ’til dawn assumes command and takes over lighting duties.

The clouds are supposed to clear later today, and I will make a reluctant trek to the park to see if my dear buoy has been tugged from the water for her long winter’s sleep. I hope not! But if she has, I will at least have the memories of a few hikes on Sunset Trail during which time was marked by the irregular but constant clang of my buoy’s bell. ##

Yeah, I am about 2 (3?) months late. :)

However, flowers are pricier this year, and I haven’t been able to get to the retailers to pick up what I’d like, anyway.

I’ve always wanted to grow plants from seeds, but had limited success over the years. And yet greenhouses do it every day! ;) So this must be an achievable thing. Practice makes perfect, right?

So I will have pots full of late-blooming plants this year. I’m going to plant my seed-started plants separately so I can bring them inside this fall and enjoy their full life cycle after the world turns to brown-and-gray, rather than losing them “early” in October.

The seeds I planted today included:

Giant Violet Zinnias
Thunbergia (black-eyed susan vine)
Balsam (not the tree!)
Profusion zinnias
Mixed sunflowers
Four o’clocks
Sweet Basil
……. and, Italian Oregano

I also have a couple packets of nasturtiums that I’m going to plant up at my Mom’s house… as well as some multi-colored Columbines for her yard, too. :) We love fragrant butterfly- and bird-friendly flowers. And unlike my deck, she doesn’t have bird predators (cats) to eat our little feathery friends.

With the exception of the Four O’Clocks, which as I understand are quite fragrant (and might end up up at Mom’s as a result if they attract too many moths and flutterbies), I have tried to pick flowers this year which are not attractive to hummingbirds particularly. One of my cats is quite adept at catching the little things, and she likes to bring them in the house and eat them on my bed.

YUCK!!!

Let me tell you, there is nothing quite as nauseating as discovering a little bird leg and 50 teeny-tiny feathers in a little pile on your bedspread.

Hopefully through better flower choices this year, I’ll attract fewer hummers (because it is very upsetting to me to know they are getting murdered on my porch) and then all the cat will have to dine on is cicada bugs. Yes, cicadas. In my bed. Headless.

*barf*

Memorial Day Weekend in Door County, Wisconsin… just the sound of it brings enchanted, sunny, warm, leaf-doppled memories of years gone by. This is a splendid and perfect weekend. It is the doorway to happy, joyous summer.

For everyone else. Because I am flat on my back in bed, sicker than a freakin’ dog with a cold the size of Montana, doing my best to hack up a lung through my clogged and irritated little windpipe, watching the sun bathe the rich luxurious grass carpeting the ground in warm, golden light.

I have been in this bed since Monday. Monday!! It is now Saturday. >:(

Truly, I do not remember being this sick since winter ’03 when I had pneumonia … that was pretty grim. And the pneumonia was only outdone by July ’95 in Tomahawk, at summer camp. I should have been in the hospital for that one.

I’ve been so tired, in pain, and feeling awful that I haven’t even had the energy (or desire) to crack open the laptop and screw around online. It was so easier to just lay here with my eyes closed and not think. Or lay here with my eyes open and not think. Just all quiet. No effort. My body was working too hard just to breathe, to make it to the next minute.

Thanks to some Claritin I found that expired 3.5 years ago :) and a rediscovered vaporizer, I am crawling back to the land of the living. Please bear with me! I will be back in the saddle just as quickly as possible.

May 10, 2008, saw first blooms of:

• White Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum)
• Large-Flowered Bellwort (Uvularia grandiflora)

A few straggling Bloodroots (Sanguinaria canadensis) continue to bloom at the trailhead next to the old Weborg Cemetery (at Weborg Point).

The Forget-Me-Nots (Myosotis spp.) are barely poking their heads above the leaf cover, in clumps. Ditto for common grasses, which will flow over the forest floor like a lush green carpet; right now it is still mostly dead brown leaves with young clumps of grass poking through.

Some wise-cracker planted a few daffodils along Skyline Rd between Middle Road and Sven’s Bluff. Please rest assured that daffodils are not native ;) they were very much planted by some creative visitor …….

The Dwarf Lake Irises (Iris lacustris) are supposed to be blooming right now, but I didn’t see any sign of them at Weborg Marsh on Sunday May 11th. It has been an average of 10-15°F below normal most days this spring, so I expect the dwarf lake irises to follow the same pattern as other flowers thus far, and probably bloom sometime in late May. ##

Happily, all 3 nests atop cellular towers in northern Door County (at least the three I watch — Fish Creek, Ellison Bay and Gills Rock) have been reoccupied as summer residences for pairs of ospreys.

The first nest activity I witnessed was on April 4th, which I thought was a little early? and it was definitely very cold for those poor things to be back. But by April 6th both the Fish Creek and Gills Rock nests were occupied and being repaired/redecorated by fastidious females.

Where the Fish Creek and Gills Rock pairs have been rather flamboyant in appearances (they don’t seem to care who sees ‘em coming or going), the Ellison Bay pair has been very low-key. Honestly I thought there wasn’t even a pair at the Ellison Bay nest this year, until last week … I hadn’t seen any nest-building activity, and I’d only seen an osprey perched out on the tower two evenings since early April. (Vs. the Fish Creek male, who seems to spend the majority of every day perched atop his Tower, overseeing his Kingdom, LOL)

Well, finally last week I drove my mobile bird blind (car) up to Tower Storage, and watched the Ellison Bay nest for a good 15 minutes through high-powered binoculars. After about 10 minutes of nothin’, the female osprey poked her head up and looked around. :-P So she’s there; she’s just not one of these “let’s stand out on the edge of the nest and screw around with stuff” types, perhaps. :)

I read online that often the same pair returns to a nest year after year. The Fish Creek and Gills Rock ospreys, I would definitely believe that is the case … they seem very familiar and comfortable with their surroundings. However the Ellison Bay pair, I’m not so sure. While last year’s pair wasn’t excited about human presence, they were nowhere near this low-key. I saw them perched out on the tower, or moving around in the nest fixing it up, a lot more (daily). This year it’s nothing like that.

Without tagging them, of course, we’ll never know. And no, I’m not calling for tagging them either. No need to stress them out like that. I’m perfectly content to watch them from afar and leave them be. ##

I broke my camera yesterday. Not on purpose, of course. I was taking pics at a major structure fire at 3:45 AM, and my tripod broke, and the camera went down lens-first. The lens housing is now jammed into the camera at an angle. It doesn’t go in or out. It is dead. :(

Everything I’ve read online has suggested repair is in the neighborhood of $250. Ouch!! For that much money I could nearly buy a new (and better) camera.

So, I am trying to decide whether I should pick up a cheapish point-and-shoot easy-shmeasy digital camera for the meantime, or if I should just pony up and pop for a new good cam and be done with it. I’m short of cash no matter which route I go, so that’s really no help either way.

All I know is that this is like having an arm cut off. My camera is an extension of my mind. My soul. My view on life. It captures those perfect moments, beautiful shapes, bits of beauty and hope. Without it, I feel like I have nothing.

No worries, my friends… although I haven’t been writing this spring (sorry!), I have been out & about snapping pictures of everything, nearly every day this spring.

I did, however, draw the line at rainy days :) neither I, nor you, need to see pictures of gray-brown muddy blah.

New entries will be filed by their actual date, which means they won’t appear at the top of the page, and you might miss them. So, I will post a “Spring 2008 Journal” table of contents, which will stay at the top. As I add new articles, I will link to them in that post! Then you will be able to quickly see what’s new.

In the meantime, let’s play “count the white-crowned sparrows” :) — click on the pic to make it larger. They’re easier to count that way. :)

Took a quick run over to North Bay yesterday (Wednesday) and saw 2 pairs of common terns (Sterna hirundo), as well as 3 pairs of green-winged teal (Anas crecca).

It felt great to hear the terns’ hoarse screeching again. It’s not a pretty call, but it is part of the backdrop that makes a Door County summer.

I awoke yesterday to a persistent, endless cacophony of bird song that I didn’t recognize. It was noisy, unique, and there were lots of birds singing the same song. And I hadn’t heard it before.

I peeked out my 2nd-floor bedroom window and saw a few little brown birds with black-and-white striped heads hopping around on the trees and in the grass. I thought they were white-throated sparrows (which are very common around here), but in the back of my mind it seemed rather odd that they were so noisy. I didn’t remember the white-throats being that ……. obnoxious?

Later in the day I Googled the white-throated sparrows, and realized that I didn’t recall seeing any yellow on these little birds’ heads. Hmmmm. I listened to the white-throats’ calls online, and they did not match. Not even remotely. And yet Cornell didn’t list any similar-looking species; to hear them tell it, the white-throated sparrow was the only sparrow with that obvious black-and-white striping on it.

Now I was obsessed. :) What were those birds???? I grabbed my camera and went outside. I tried to creep gently, quietly, unobtrusively to the side yard… no matter, all the birds spooked and flew off, sort of in a brown wave. *grin* Except for one brave little soul in a tree. I took his picture.

There were several more in a tree below my porch, so I took their pictures, too. After a few minutes, another puffy little fellow hopped out of a bush and onto the grass. He was particularly photogenic. I snapped his pic and he flitted away.

Good pics in hand, I ran back upstairs and cracked open my trusty, worn copy of Peterson’s. I downloaded the pictures, although I didn’t really need to, I had gotten a really good look at the little guys out there. A-ha! There they were, no question: white-crowned sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys).

They hadn’t been here the day before. They were here all day Wednesday. Literally, they were yammering from sun-up to sun-down. And when I awoke this morning, they were gone.

This morning my Mom wrote to tell me that all 3,000 of the white-crowneds were at her house today (11 miles north of me, as the crow flies) … and that yes, their song was definitely different than the white-throated sparrows. See? I asked … now you know why I was obsessed with them yesterday!!

Nothing like a new bird on a bright spring day. :)

Peninsula State Park in Fish Creek is holding its annual Candlelight Ski on Saturday, February 9, 2008, from 5:30-8 PM.

A one-mile cross-country ski loop will be illuminated with candles.

A state park sticker is required. ##

This was a wonderful year for ospreys in northern Door County.

I previously reported the was one nest atop a tower in Fish Creek. Well, there was a second nest I wasn’t talking about ;) and a 3rd that I discovered after young had hatched. Wow!!!

The Fish Creek ospreys quickly grew accustomed to the thousands of cars roaring up the hill directly below them. They also grew accustomed to human presence at Gibraltar School. The last time I visited, they couldn’t have cared less that I was there.

The Fish Creek pair successfully raised two beautiful young fledglings.

The second osprey nest was just south of Ellison Bay, on the cell tower on Old Stage Ct. This pair is not pleased at all about human intrusion, so the closest viewing spot that didn’t upset the birds was at Tower Storage. This pair also successfully raised two young.

The third osprey nest was atop the cell tower on Sawmill Road (just off Isle View Rd) in Gills Rock. This nest is in a very remote location, so the adult ospreys are very sensitive about activity around their nest as well. The best viewing that didn’t upset the birds was on the north end of Sawmill Rd., just off Highway 42. I parked my car at the top of the farthest hill and used 16×50 binoculars to get an amazing view.

Best I was able to see, this pair successfully fledged one offspring.

I have a number of pictures of all 3 nests and will post them later this week. :)

I’ve found the perfect spot to watch storms come across the bay on the north end of Door County. I won’t say where it is specifically *wink* just that I have the thank the very nice residents of Sister Bay for letting me track storms from their yard. :) :)

The very south edge of the severe cell(s) swept across Washington and Rock Islands. In Sister Bay, the storm outflow quickly whipped up some good-sized waves, and made the temperature plummet 22 degrees in a matter of minutes. It was a steamy 95° until the outflow line hit with a heavenly 73° push.

Here are a few pics from when the storm was raking over Washington and Rock Islands. (I was south of the storm, looking north over the bay of Green Bay; you can’t see the islands in the pic, but the storm is directly over them.) Notice that nasty greenish hue to the clouds… tops were in excess of 60,000 ft. and Intellicast indicated it had a MESO signature.

…and a few lightning bolts I pulled off of short videos I took of the storm.

I heard on the scanner that a man was struck by a falling tree on Rock Island. I hope everyone is okay. I didn’t hear any other reports of damage, large hail, etc. but it looked pretty wicked from where I was watching!

Went for a quick birdwatching stint at Weborg Point this evening. I was dying to give my new 16×50 Bushnells a workout. :-P What can I say!!!

Saw a Spotted Sandpiper perched on a rock on the north side of Weborg Point. I had accidentally flushed it from the rocky shoreline near the pier. The sandpipers are very late migrants, and this was the first sandpiper-type bird I’ve seen this season. I patiently watched him preen, his nondescript brown back toward me, for better than 10 minutes. Then, I lucked out! He turned around and ta-da! there was his very clearly spotted chest. :D What a rewarding ID! After a few seconds he hopped off the rock and flitted over toward shore, out of sight. Way, way neat.

There was a flock of Cedar Waxwings feeding on some kind of buds or seeds in the soft-wooded trees on Weborg Point.

A beautiful male Yellow Warbler was pointed out by a very nice couple also birding on the point. (Thank you!!) The warbler appeared like he could not have cared less about the 3 cedar waxwings sharing his branch. :D

A screaming Killdeer flew along the north shore of Weborg Point… in both directions, as if once wasn’t enough. LOL :-P

American Redstarts were present in force, flying around energetically, once again re-proving my theory “if it’s in a tree and making a lot of noise, it’s a Redstart” … doggone, those birds yammer a lot.

A fisherman came by and told me that he had seen a Great Blue Heron off the point this morning. I don’t mean to sound insulting by saying this, but I have to assume he knows the difference between a Great Blue Heron and a Sandhill Crane. The only reason I mention that is because I’ve been watching for the herons and haven’t seen them yet. I’ve seen Sandhills off Weborg Point all spring — but no Great Blue Herons yet.

And of course, there were the obligatory Red-Winged Blackbirds. Not just males, but the females have just arrived!!! So now the males actually have someone to show off to… no more posturing amongst themselves! The territories have been set… now the boys have to win the girls’ hearts. As I drove through the marsh, I wondered which ones will have the biggest harems?? (Red-winged blackbirds are notoriously polygamous… a flashy male with a primo territory may have up to 15 females in his harem!) Well. Good luck to them all. ;)

Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend, and Peninsula was arguably chock-full of thousands of visitors… yet by some wonderful twist of fate, I had upper Skyline Trail completely to myself!! Well, unless you count the light rain, 3 deer, arguing wrens, whisper-quiet blue jay and perfect blue carpet of forget-me-nots. *wink*

The palette reminded me of my six weeks of summer camp at Treehaven… except that six weeks of forestry camp is not an exercise in spiritually uniting oneself with nature. Six weeks of camp is more like endless hours of tromping through tangled brush along unforgiving gridlines, pushing through no matter how crappy the weather, how bad your feet hurt, nor how desperately you need to pee. (The latter being much more an issue for us girls than it is for the boys)

But it looked like Treehaven, and reminded me of my fleeting romantic memories of how pretty it was there. (Sans the creepy ticks which rained upon us from the treetops. Ewwww.)

Flowers, pictured left to right:

Carpet Bugle (Ajuga reptans), Wood Betony (Stachys betonica), Dwarf Ginseng (Panax trifolius) – two pictures – including close-up of flower cluster, Gaywings (Polygala paucifolia), Lily of the Valley (Convallaria majalis), and Wild Honeysuckle (Rhododendron canescens) which smells divine but is all over the park!!!

I wasn’t able to get pics of the wildlife, since it was late afternoon and the light was low. Something about blowing kisses to a yearling doe and having her go from wigging out and scared, to totally relaxed and moseying about, that is just the coolest. How beautiful.

Peninsula is such a big park, so it sort of cracks me up how I end up focused on the smallest details. I drove out the other night thinking, “dang! I just spent the last hour looking at pinhead-sized flowers!” LOL! :D OK, they were a little bigger than pinheads, but not a lot.

My favorite moments are where I’m just chugging along and I glimpse something out the corner of my eye. My breath catches – I stop – and I carefully, quietly creeeeeeeeeeep backwards.

Such was the case with the mated pair of Common Mergansers on May 14th. I was tooling down Shore Rd. just below Eagle Bluff Lighthouse when I spied them near shore. They don’t like people, so I had to grab the shot quickly before they rushed off.

The mergies have been paired off since mid-April. In fact they arrived to Door County already paired up this year. In years past they have arrived in mixed flocks, but not in 2007. This year they were already cruising along two by two.

Anything purple catches my eye ;) and I was just tickled to catch these **EDIT** Dame’s Rocket (Hesperis matronalis) … see, I’d always thought these were phlox, but no! Turns out phlox has 5 petals, but Rocket spp. have only 4 petals on each flower. Rocket it is. Found these near the park superintendent’s house.

Watching new leaves pop from their buds on the birches and aspens was particularly gratuitous from the overlook above Nicolet Bay. From May 8th:

Look at that fresh, young, untouched and unspoiled green of those newly-fledged leaves! I was never aware of how many different shades of green there are, ’til the last couple weeks.

If you are anywhere in the vicinity of Peninsula State Park, take a quick drive in, to the area of Shore Road and Skyline Road. Turn right (up the hill) on Skyline.

The ground is carpeted — and I mean carpeted — with beautiful blue forget-me-nots. It is a cross between a magical fairy-land, and mystical clouds of blue… set off by this amazing bright young energetic green of freshly-sprouted leaves above and below.

It is, simply, breathtaking. Showing for a limited time!! Hurry!!!

The cherry trees bloomed early this year, May 10-15, 2007. As of today (May 16) most of the trees have passed their peak.

We had a bit of a double-whammy weather-wise on May 14th.

First, the weather was gorgeous throughout the day. Prevailing southwesterly winds pushed temps in southern Wisconsin near 90°… however at Peninsula State Park, the warmest I found it was 81°. 81 glorious, sunny, fabulous degrees. :D Interestingly, it was much cooler from Sister Bay-north. Ephraim was warm — 78° — but Sister Bay was a cool 64°, and it didn’t budge upward.

At Peninsula State Park, the ovenbirds (Seiurus aurocapillus) had arrived, their “teacher! teacher! teacher!” call echoing through the woods near Welcker’s Point and Tennison Bay Campground.

The forest floor was blanketed in forget-me-nots (Myosotis spp.) at Tennison Bay as well. It’s boggling how such a tiny flower can make such a beautiful effect. Periwinkle blue is so unexpected on the forest floor.

(Do you see the early spring bumble bee hard at work, in picture #2?)

Near the old site of Camp Meenahga, an odd shape caught my eye, poking up in the woods. Initially I thought they were cattails… but wait, upland? In well-drained soil under white cedars? No way! ;) I threw the car in reverse to have a better look. I was treated to early-season ferns, slowly unfurling their tender green shoots.

As I left the park, I was suspiciously eyed by a defiant male red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus), perched in a rare primo tree that overlooks the marsh.

…and then he chickened out (maybe he felt outmatched by the car?) and he flew off with a fuss.

Then the weather hit. In the evening, what I would guess was a secondary front passed through, bringing with it strong, very humid, very warm southwesterly winds. It had been in the low 60s at that point, with a reasonable dewpoint. In less than an hour, this amazing heat/moisture pump had jacked up the temperature to 82° and the dew point to 72° — between 10:30 and 11:30 PM!!!

This heat/moisture pump fueled lines of thunderstorms, which developed over Oconto County and moved eastward. As one line would pass over Door County, another was firing up across the bay. We listened to the thunder rumble for a couple hours before it ever arrived here. The light show from the lightning flashing in the clouds in the distance was, honestly, beautiful.

None of the storms were severe. On average most locations in the county received 0.20-0.40 inches of rain. There were no reports of wind damage nor hail. There was a lot of lightning with these lines, which made for a good show… but that was about it. ;)

The summer-like temps were short-lived. By the next morning, we were back in the 50s. This evening it is 45° with a stiff North wind at 19 MPH.

Sometime between 11:30 PM and 2:30 AM, summer arrived. A southerly wind brought crying killdeers, moistened the air, and the air warmed considerably. The moon is a hazy yellow, with an almost eerie foreshadowing look to it.

It smells different though. Crickets and bugs are twittering, like in a romance novel waxing of warm steamy nights…. not a whole lot of romance going on in my little microcosm ;) but it has that sound and smell to it. Almost a sweetness. I turned off the heat and cranked all my windows open. It’s the most perfect song and feeling to sleep by.

The leaves popped at the mall during that time too. Just, POP! on the little red maples. When I left, the branches were bare. When I came back, brand new bright green leaves were backlit by the mall lights.

HAPPY SUMMER!!!

3:11 AM — 57° F / winds W-5 / barometer 29.96-S

Nights like this bring life — and the relativity of it all — into focus.

… my old stomping grounds, Rowley’s Bay, at 12:30 A.M.

Peninsula State Park revealed a few more signs of spring’s arrival this evening… not the least of which were tree buds bursting with new green leaves, persistently drumming ruffed grouse, and the melodious chorus of not one, but two hermit thrushes!!!

Tonight I started at Weborg Point, took Hemlock Trail over to Sunset Trail, and hiked north on Sunset Trail to Tennis Court Trail. It was getting late… about 6 PM… so I didn’t dawdle. I sacrificed silence for speed. There are few things I dislike more than being caught out on the trails in the dark. I can do it fine, I just don’t like it. *wink*

The wild honeysuckle and other trees are absolutely bursting with life. The sight of fresh, bright young green leaves soaking in the evening sun, cheered my heart. The birches and aspens were also just starting to pop:

But the raucous — and I mean raucous :D — hermit thrush singing from high atop the trees at the intersection of Sunset and Tennis Court Trails is really what pulled my chain.

I’ve heard many hermit thrushes. Theirs is my favorite bird call. I have never not stopped to admire the almost-magic, mystical, ethereal perfectly tuned chords that these amazing little birds just seem to spill out.

But I’ve never actually watched a hermit thrush sing. Not only did I get to watch this little fellow, but he humored me for over 10 minutes. I stood right below him (her?), snapping pictures, my head jacked backwards, just watching and listening in awe. It was a delight!

Finally the light was getting low, the raccoons were crashing about in the understory (LOL!) and I knew I had a bit of a trek in front of me. I headed back south on Sunset Trail.

As I passed the old gravel pit, I spied a male wild turkey wandering around. And in the distance, to the east-southeast, I heard yet another hermit thrush. It wasn’t the same as the first one, as I’d just left earshot of it not 30 seconds before. The 2nd hermit thrush was probably around the north end of Weborg Marsh, a bit south of Mengelberg Lane.

The sun set about as I reached Nelson’s Point. It was truly a picture-perfect ending to the day.

May arrived sunny and warm here in Door County. Hundreds of pristine white trilliums were blooming along Beach Road, just north of Sister Bay.

A pair of ospreys is treating Fish Creek to a rare and amazing view this year, having built a nest atop a cellular tower near the Top of the Hill Shops right in the middle of bustling Fish Creek.

I spent a little time watching the nest on April 28th. The evening before, I had spied an osprey fishing in Weborg Marsh at Peninsula State Park. Needless to say I was surprised — ospreys are not a common sight. Well! Surely that was the male osprey catching a fresh dinner for his mate. On the 28th, though, fishing was done… he was now perched next to the nest, overlooking their territory:

If you would like to watch these beauties, please do not park under the tower. Do not stop your car under the tower. And do not walk under the tower. All of these things will freak out the ospreys, and they literally need every ounce of energy they can get, just trying to hatch those eggs and rear their young. Humans freaking them out by getting too close, may well cause the young to die. Please keep your distance.

That said, there are some great viewing spots. :D Try parking at Gibraltar School (after school hours only, please) and walking through the playground. I have sat at the picnic tables in the grassy area… this is an amazing spot to watch their nest!! Bring binoculars for a really close-up view.

Across the street you’ll find Sonny’s Pizzeria. Ask for Early. He can tell you all about the ospreys, he and his family watch them carefully every day. While you’re there, get one of their made-from-scratch pizzas, or my favorite, a cheeseburger & fries. Seriously The Best cheeseburger & fries in town. ;)

Was treated to a small, active, talkative flock of Bonaparte’s Gulls in Sturgeon Bay, just off the shores of Potawatomi State Park.

I currently use a Nikon Coolpix 5700. It actually takes very nice pictures compared to the little instant/pocket Olympus I used to use (before I killed it on a fire scene)………

As you review my pics here, you will likely be thinking, dang, her picture quality sucks!!! Well, yes but no. Here’s the thing……. most of my critter pictures are taken using super-duper zoom. The reason I went with the 5700 is because it has 10x digital zoom. I needed a super-zoom camera like that, because I can’t get on top of a 2500° structure fire, or crawl in an osprey nest, to get pictures of these things. The mega-zoom is what gets me on top of subjects from quite a long distance.

So consider that what you’re actually seeing, is a small little critter photographed at a LONG distance. With a point-and-shoot automatic digital camera, no less. :) Not half bad, all things considered. And sometimes I over-expand and over-crop my pics on this site, so you can see some of the important details that aid in positive identification.

My next camera is another story. :)

A big Nikon fan :) I have my eye basically glued to the Nikon D80 10.2MP Digital SLR:

What I like about the kit is that I am not floundering around trying to hen-peck the right pieces and parts to be fully operational. It even has the 18-135mm AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor Lens, which of course is a necessity for zoom-freak here. LOL!!!!!

The Nikon Coolpix 5700 has been a great in-between camera… and I’ll continue to have some sort of workhorse camera like the 5700 for most high-stress photography (structure fires, accidents, storm chasing, etc.) and save the D80 for “safer” and more controlled scenes. It would break my heart to fry (or crush) a $1k SLR at a fire scene when a $400 point-and-shoot would have done the job just fine…

It was a blustery, snowy, windy afternoon in Porte des Mortes passage. It was, frankly, miserable………. much more typical of an early March afternoon than early April. But the snow was flying, the waters were rough, and I was waiting patiently on shore at Northport Pier, watching for my favorite ship on the Great Lakes, the Edward L. Ryerson, which was supposed to be upbound to Escanaba. On a clear day, she’d be perfectly visible. Not that day though. Snow squalls blocked the view.

But what did keep me happily entertained was a flock of delightful divers, clearly on a rest-stop during their migratory journey northward. The mixed-flock appeared to be Buffleheads and Scaups at first glance, but once I downloaded the pictures and carefully scrutinized them, only then did I realize I’d seen even more!!

Picture #1: Male and female Buffleheads (Bucephala albeola), the smallest of the diving ducks, were present in force.

Picture #3: Also present were many male and female Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis) … I suppose it is possible that a couple of Greater Scaups were in there as well, but the water was rough, and the wind brisk, making the necessary really clear pictures impossible.

Picture #2: Without a doubt, however, I did capture at least one male Ring-necked Duck (Aythya collaris). His white shoulder patch and white ringed bill are unmistakable.

The birds were still there on April 8, 2007 when I returned for the actual passage of the Ryerson through Porte des Mortes. The weather was no nicer on the 8th, though.

March 25, 2007 broke with unseasonably warm temperatures, glorious bright sunshine, and the undeniable chorus of new birds!!! The distinct calls of several species echoed across the fields. I tugged on my boots, grabbed my camera and was out the door.

At Site #1, I found the season’s first pair of Sandhill Cranes (well, first for me) hunting grubs deep in a field along Pioneer Rd., near Townline Rd., in the township of Liberty Grove.

At Site #2, between Welcker’s Point and Eagle Bluff Lighthouse, I spied a couple of Canada Geese snoozing on an ice floe. They were oblivious to the sound of my car atop the bluff above them. The picture they made was gorgeous.

Farther down the road, I marvelled at the joyous, raucous, energetic diving ducks which dotted the water’s edge at Peninsula State Park. The male Common Goldeneyes showed off their distinctive, impressive courtship dance as both males and females chattered amongst each other.