Little Creek WMA

Today (March 10, 2006) I went to Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area . The weather was beautiful: partly sunny, 65, west wind at 10 – 20 mph. There were approximately 1,000 Tundra Swans on the reservoir. Amazingly, this was dwarfed by the over 10,000 Snow Geese. There were many other species present, but this was mainly restricted to waterfowl. There were also Painted Turtles, Spring Peepers, and Chorus Frogs about. Here is the day’s species list followed by a few pictures: Trumpeter Swan, Tundra Swan, Canada Goose, Snow Goose, Common Merganser, Northern Pintail, Ring-necked Duck, Mallard, Black Duck, American Wigeon, Gadwall, Green-winged Teal, Wood Duck, Ruddy Duck, Bufflehead, Ring-billed Gull, Killdeer, Bald Eagle, Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel, Turkey Vulture, Mourning Dove, Downy Woodpecker, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, American Crow, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, American Robin, Eastern Bluebird, Tree Swallow, Northern Cardinal, Song Sparrow. Hover your pointer for a description of the photo.

Summer Garden

Last summer we had the pleasure of having a garden in Ted’s and Dana’s backyard. With their help, Sara and I ripped out most of the sod and put in vegetable beds. Some of the plant did just “okay”, but most of it went nuts. As you can see we ate fresh veggies all summer and fall and canned enough pasta sauce, tomatoes, and salsa to get us (and several others) through the winter. Hover your pointer for a description of the photo.

Walk in the Woods...

The fall colors in Michigan were spectacular in 2005. Sara and I had the pleasure of hiking part of the North Country Trail with Teddy “Cavedog” Keizer as organized by the Western Michigan Chapter of the North Country Trail Association. Cavedog was midway through completing a 50k hike in each of the 50 States in less than 100 days (you do the math). Below are a selection of pictures from the Manistee National Forest all taken on October 27, 2005. Hover your pointer for a description of the photo.