2026 Spring in Michigan

 Four days before Spring 2026

Four days later March 20, Spring at Connor Bayou Park.

 American Bald Eagle at Connor Bayou Park.

When Spring began here in Michigan, I was on my bike pedaling down the road to see Skunk Cabbage.  It was 48 degrees with clouds and some sunshine.

This is where the Skunk Cabbage grow.

About an hour later I was in our garden where tiny chickweed was blooming. I looked up at the sky, and this is what I saw. Maybe a Sun Dog or sun halo.

The first full day of Spring we walked at Stearns Creek Park.  The temperature was 62 degrees, and it was sunny.  A beautiful Spring day!  I checked the Trailing Arbutus and saw some tiny buds.  I looked at Spicebush but not much happening there either.  Still, it was great to be outside on such a lovely day.

Then I saw a Mourning Cloak flutter past!  First butterfly of the year for me.  It was too lively for a picture, so we walked on.  Just then a pretty leaf caught my eye, it was just a beech tree leaf with the sun shining through it, or was it?  I stepped towards it and it flew away!  It was an Eastern Comma Butterfly!  So beautiful.  It landed on an American Beech tree leaf.  Of course, I don’t carry my camera anymore, but I had my phone so got a picture.

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Stearns Creek Park in Ottawa County Michigan 

This winter Mike has been keeping busy making sour dough bread and maple syrup.  We put 15 taps in our maple trees on February 16th.  The next morning, we had 5 gallons of sap. We have had many more gallons of sap since then. 

Happy Spring! 

2019 Ottawa Sands and a pair of Eagles

It was the first day of the new year and we met up with my sister and brother-in-law at Ottawa Sands in Ottawa County.

 The eagles were sitting in the top of a tree.  In the photo below, they are just two dots in the center of the picture.

 

 Eagles nest along the trail, it looks much bigger in person than in this picture.

   Man-made lake, dug to mine the sand.

A great start to the new year, 2019!

Michigan in October = wildflowers?

On October 22, 2012  My sister Marie and I went for a 4 1/2 hour walk at Riverside Park in Ottawa County Michigan.  While on our walk we identified 27 blooming wildflowers!  That is pretty good for October in Michigan. 
We also saw two American Bald Eagles flying around and around over the Grand River. 

This is one of the eagles over the river...

Some of the wildflowers we saw blooming...

                             Common Dandelion

                                Wild Strawberry


                           Some type of fleabane

                             Common Chicory

                           Yellow Sweet Clover

                                  Bouncing Bet

We spotted one of the eagles landing in a tree across the river.  It was very hard to see it in that tree, about in the middle of this next picture.  I found a log to steady the camera on and zoomed in on the eagle...

 

So this is the zoomed in picture, which I thought turned out pretty good, since I had a hard time finding the bird in the tree way across that river.

 

 

We also came across this fungus on a tree with Poison Ivy growing right through it. 

I added the car key to show size, and it is a fairly large key.

 

 

 

This beautiful Common Buckeye butterfly was still hanging around.

 

 

As always it turned out to be a great day,

we do have fun.