Sleeping Bear Dunes, and a Hawk Visits the Feeders (MBY Vol 7)

January 30

After getting great looks of the Yellow-throated Warbler in Frankfort (see previous post) I drove up into Michigan's "pinky" and into Sleeping Bear Dunes, hoping to find the pair of Red-necked Grebes that had been hanging out in Sleeping Bear Bay all winter. 

I arrived before Mike and Ross so I scanned the open waters of the bay for birds. All I saw were a couple heads bobbing in the waves to the west, so I struck out that way to get a closer look. It was windier here than I had hoped, with the northeast wind clearing Pyramid Point enough to ruffle the water. I shouldered my scope and started walking.

Glen Haven beach at Sleeping Bear Bay, looking west. South and North Manitou Islands visible offshore.

I got within sight of the waterfowl which turned out to be a handful of Bufflehead. I scanned the bay again but didn't see anything close enough to ID. I was now about halfway to Sleeping Bear Point so I decided to keep walking until I could see around it--after being relatively cooped up all winter it felt good to stretch my legs.

The lakeshore was without snow and fairly ice-free--the only reason grebes were even possible in the bay. But on shore every log and shrub was coated with frozen spray and run-off, and the beach was a layer cake of ice and sand.

The beach here is still substantial but much less that it's been in years past. The Great Lakes are still very high and erosion has been an issue all around the lakes. A few spots along the beach had steep sand cliffs a couple feet tall with just a foot or two of flat sand and ice upon which to walk along the shore. The stark beauty of the winter beach was captivating.

Buried tree with South Manitou in the background

The sun tried to poke through the clouds, but it gave no warmth. Snow was pushing up from the south and the edges of the storm blurred the sun.

On my way back from the point I saw a couple birders with scopes looking out over the water. As I neared I could see it was Mike and Ross along with another couple. They had not found our grebes either but had seen me down the beach. We decided to move east to Glen Arbor to see what we could from there. 

Being around the curve of the bay gave the beach in Glen Arbor just enough shelter to keep the wind down. We found lots of mergansers, and Mike saw Long-tailed Ducks far out in the bay, but still no grebes. It was starting to get late but I decided to move east around the bay to get a better look at the waterfowl we could see but not ID. 

Sleeping Bear Point (L) and the Manitous from Glen Arbor

Around the bay towards Pyramid Point there was even less wind. I scanned the waters but saw nothing but goldeneye and mergansers. There were hundreds of birds in the bay but I did not see any grebes. It was a disappointment after the success of seeing the warbler earlier that day. Checking the eBird reports for bay tonight I saw someone had seen the grebes around 1:30 this afternoon, a couple hours before I arrived, hanging out with Long-tailed Ducks.

January 31

This morning I was working on my journal, sitting at the dining table, when all of a sudden the couple dozen Blue Jays at the feeders let a whoop and took to the air in unison, along with all the other birds. The jays are often playing pranks and sending out false alarm calls, but this sounded different--more urgent. I assumed there was a hawk and got up to take a look. Sure enough, a young Sharp-shinned Hawk sat in the willow between the driveway and the feeders. I managed to get some photos of it in the willow, then it flew up into an oak. I ran upstairs and got a few more shots before it flew off. This was quite a treat as this bird is not common here this time of year, and to get such good looks at it made it even better. They can be hard to tell apart from Cooper's Hawks, so to get good identifying shots was nice. I think these are also my first "sharpie" photos, period.

Earlier in the morning I had finally seen a Red-breasted Nuthatch, who clearly favors the feeders at Lori's house over ours, as I have yet to see it here this year--and we're only a couple hundred feet apart!

Sharp-shinned Hawk, immature, looking a bit baffled.

Home, January 31

#74) Red-breasted Nuthatch

#75) Sharp-shinned Hawk

The Crystal River

After spending a few hours in Glen Arbor, we headed east out of town on Highway 22, then took a right at county road 675. The sun was just starting to peak out and I was looking forward to a pretty drive across the Leelanau Peninsula back to Traverse City. As we drove around a bend in the road this beautiful little river came into view. I quickly checked for traffic and veered off onto the shoulder, much to the delight of my fellow travelers (they like it when I do spontaneous things).

We piled out of the car and started exploring the river. Here Karin, Lori and Lisa are enjoying the scenery.

The Crystal River is a lovely, shallow, slow moving river that winds its way through the western part of Leelanau Peninsula. Karin said she has kayaked the river but that there are some parts that are so shallow you have to get out and drag your boat. Sounds like my kind of river!

The current was so slow moving there was barely a ripple on its surface.

The sunlight grew stronger as we dawdled along the riverbank. What a gorgeous fall afternoon.

So calm was the water that the opposite bank was clearly reflected on its surface.

The area is dominated by hemlocks and birch trees. I love these trees. They are both cool climate trees and so we don't see many down state. The birches especially are "north woods" tress and any sight of them makes me long for a cozy log cabin, flannel shirts and a hot cup of tea.

For me there is no substitute for clearing my mind like taking a walk in the woods. There's so much to see, so much to know, that it takes me right out of my head, erases stress, reminds me that my life is just a tiny part of the greater glory that is the world that sustains us. I cannot help but think that if people spent more time outdoors, exploring, learning, getting to know their world, that they too would be much happier for it. Our ever-increasing distance from nature is perhaps the greatest failing of modern man and our "civilized" world.

South Bar Lake and Glen Arbor

Before leaving Empire Beach on Lake Michigan we hopped across the parking lot to see South Bar Lake. This long narrow lake runs north/south just behind a dune ridge from the big lake. There are several houses on it but is relatively uninhabited.



There's a playground and a nice beach here, and we were following critter tracks on the sand when we noticed this beaver chewed stick.

In the fall beavers will fell many small poplars, or large ones and chew the branches off, and carry them back to their lodges. As winter sets in these branches will serve as their pantry--the beavers eat the bark and then discard the rest of the branch. This one must have gotten away from the lodge. Though we looked for their lodge we couldn't see it, but it was cool knowing there's an active beaver colony here.

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There were also quite a few common mergansers here, and this is the first time I've seen the male of the species.

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I would have loved to stay longer at the shore but we were hungry and daylight was short, so we headed up the road to the little town of Glen Arbor. Hosting a thriving art community, Glen Arbor is a natural place for a bunch of artists to hang out. We had lunch at Art's Tavern and then did a little shopping.

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The Glen Lake Artists Gallery features work by local artists and Lori spent some time talking with the fellow behind the counter about Susan Bullock, an artist she met while up in the area for her artist in residence.

After the gallery stop we went across the street to my favorite place, the local bookstore. I love this little shop, they are super friendly and have a great selection of books. I don't think I've ever seen a cuter shop than this! I bought Ecopsychology, a collection of essays about the importance of nature and wilderness on our psyches.

We stopped by another gallery and the local coffee house where I got a hot chocolate (don't do coffee--yuck!) and then headed out of town, thinking we were going back to Karin's. But I was behind the wheel and you just never know what might catch my eye and send me careening off to the shoulder....