Wild Places, Wild Birds

Over the past month, I have become a wind watcher. It seems to me that many birds have been struggling to get up into the Upper Peninsula due to almost constant northerly winds. But at the same time, the foliage is not out much, and the insects that many warblers depend on are nowhere to be found, or felt (thank goodness).  This morning, May 22, looked better, so I headed out to Presque Isle Bog, just a few minutes from our house. 

Presque Isle Park Bog is a rehabilitated junkyard being restored to its original bog conditions by the City of Marquette, Superior Watershed Partnership, the Moosewood Nature Center, the Michigan DEQ, and other state and federal agencies.

Read more about the bog here  –  http://www.moosewood.org/boghome.html,  and please consider donating to its continued restoration. 

Back to my walk – as soon as I exited the car the energy of bird songs hit my ears. Spring was arriving!

It is very wet up here this spring, after record snows and heavy spring rains, so walking in a bog was, wet. But who cares, the birds are coming in and I have a new pair of boots, waterproof, of course. 

Birding can be a sloooow form of exercise. It took me an hour to walk a mile. Part of the delay – geese –  moms, dads, and babies everywhere. And finally, a few species of warblers had arrived and I was patiently trying to get their pictures. With few leaves on the trees, I was able to capture a few nice images.