Spring mornings got even more amazing as of Wednesday last week when the red-wing blackbirds returned to our yard and nearby wetlands. After checking me out, this blackbird broke out in song. When he was done signing, he gazed upward. After another moment passed, he broke out in song again. It’s wonderful having the red-wing blackbirds …
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 …
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 poorly named red-spotted purple butterfly
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 …
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, …