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.