Over the last couple of weeks, geese began calling out in the night again and song birds started waking me up before my alarm clock. When morning dawns, I can look out across the lake and see a pair of mute swans curled up on the ice. The swans resting on the ice made me wonder what […]
Spring is in the Air . . . and on the Ground Read More »
Last Friday I was watching a finch hop its way across the top railing of our deck toward one of our bird feeders. Right behind him was a mourning dove walking with its usual head jerky walk. Both were within inches of one of our bird feeders when I saw a blur of color which suddenly morphed into an
The Defiant Cooper’s Hawk Read More »
The poorly named red-spotted purple butterfly
Stupid butterfly name Read More »
Having established that the palm warbler and other smaller birds are poorly named, I began to wonder about the larger birds on my lake, namely, the geese and swans. I got online and learned that a male swan is a cob, a female swan is a pen, a female goose is a hen and a
More stupid bird names Read More »
In early May 2009, a variety of different birds migrated through my backyard, including a bird I’d never seen. The Alma College bird guru, whom I shall refer to as BirdNerd, later identified my new bird as a palm warbler. Being in Michigan, I was amazed to see a palm warbler on my pine tree,