A few days outdoors - a few photos to share

Last Friday I went out with my prof to help conduct a mistnetting demonstration for a small group of MSU students. The weather was hot, sunny and windy - not very good for catching birds. We caught two robins and two field sparrows and at the end of the day we caught a beautiful male yellow warbler.

Yellow warbler (male)

That evening I took Shadow for a walk around campus. Shadow retrieved sticks from the Red Cedar River. I took a few photos:

Tree reflection

Sunset on the river (this photo doesn't do it justice)

Saturday I did some schoolwork and ran some errands. I went to a friend's Backyard Wing Ding Spring Fling BBQ which was a super fun time! Her upstairs housemates are musicians with fun instruments like a washtub bass and a saw and bow in addition to guitars. We sang songs and played instruments for a few hours and enjoyed each others creativity and company. I forgot my camera but took many photos with a friend's camera. Maybe I'll post those photos later?

Byron's mom came to visit on Sunday. We picked up another friend of mine for brunch at Sawyer's Pancake House. Then we were off to walk in the 5K Race for the Cure. The weather was perfect. It was awesome to see so much support for breast cancer from men and women of all ages. After the race, we stopped into a chocolate and coffee shop for some chocolate and then we were off to grab Shadow for a walk through the woods at Lake Lansing Park. Shadow romped through the mud and made a mess of himself. We enjoyed the new plants popping out of the ground. We ate dinner at the Blue Gill Grill and then Cindy was off for home. I'm so thankful to live so close to Byron's parents!

Sunday evening around sunset I drove out to the flooded field off of Beard Rd near Perry, MI to look for shorebirds and waterfowl. I found 3 drake and 4 hen ruddy ducks. I also saw several yellowlegs but the light was too low to take any photos. On the drive back to Haslett, I saw a pair of sandhill cranes doing their courtship dance in a flooded corn field off of Perry Rd.


I went back Monday evening to the flooded field off of Ruppert and Beard Roads in hopes of finding the ruddy ducks. The males had been in spectacular breeding plumage and I wanted to photograph them. Instead, I was treated to Bonaparte's gulls soaring in the high winds along with the ring-billed gulls.

On the ground I found greater yellowlegs, some unidentified peeps, killdeer, horned larks and a scuffle between two ring-necked pheasant roosters.

Bonaparte's gulls

Ring-billed gull

Greater yellowlegs

I first heard a ring-necked pheasant rooster call but couldn't find it. So, I cued up the rooster call on the cd player in my car and played the call. The rooster popped his head up and I was able to see him. Ten minutes later, I saw a young rooster move in the brush. He saw the old rooster and hid. The old rooster flushed him out of his hide. The young rooster froze and then began to run then eventually flew to the next field. It was interesting to watch this play out before my eyes. I had never observed ring-necked pheasants like this before.

Ring-necked pheasant roosters
(the old one is on the right and the young one on the left just came out of his hide)

The young rooster runs past the old rooster who then gives chase

The young rooster takes flight toward the adjacent field

This evening I took Shadow for a walk on the trail at Lake Lansing Park. Here is what we saw:

Flowers in the marsh

Bag worms on a black cherry tree in the under story

One of several deer

This last photo is of a deer at dusk. Do you see the deer?

I hope you're enjoying the beautiful wondrous outdoors! I know I am!

Cheers!