Saturday, June 06, 2020

Beautiful Early Summer Weather

Ducks, geese, and killdeer searching for food on the far side of this pond: a good place for birding.
The location is on Vreeland Road in the eastern part of the county.
Socially distanced birders looking at a vesper sparrow also on Vreeland Road.
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We found this beautiful little bird -- a dickcissel -- before looking at the vesper sparrow with the other birders. The birders had all arrived separately, without coordination, other than an online indication that an interesting sandpiper had been seen at that location the previous day. None of us saw the sandpiper.

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Another bird in a field on Vreeland Road: a bobolink. The species is related to blackbirds, and is very vividly colored with black and white and a straw-colored patch, which is visible in Len's photo. The number of bobolinks is declining, though they are still seen in open grasslands like this.

In the afternoon we took another walk along Ann Arbor's Huron River bank. Oops! crowds of sun bathers! We're worried about their type of behavior reversing the current reduction in new coronavirus cases in the county and the state. While lockdown restrictions have been easing up, we don't think this shows the right attitude.




All photos in this post © 2020 mae sander for mae's food blog.

20 comments:

Angie's Recipes said...

That's nice. Last week was really warm here..some days the temperature even reached to 27C..but last two days I needed to grab my down jacket when I went out. Hopefully the summer will arrive here in time :-))

eileeninmd said...

Hello,

Great birds and photos. I love the Dickcissel and the Bobolink. The young people do not seem to worry about catching the virus. We are still playing it safe and keeping our social distance. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Enjoy your day, wishing you a great weekend. PS, thanks for the visit and comment.

rhapsodyinbooks said...

What a beautiful day you captured!

Phil Slade said...

A couple of really smart birds there Mae. I only ever saw an autumnal Bobolink in the UK and never a Dickcissel. Over here I think borders have been more respectful of the lockdown than Joe Public, probably because they are often a target of the press out for a "story".

~Lavender Dreamer~ said...

We got to see a flock of Bobolinks for the first time a couple of weeks ago. It was exciting! You saw some neat birds and had a fun outing! Happy to see people taking precautions!

Anu said...

Hello. Great photos of bobolink and Dickcissel!
Have a wonderful weekend. Take care!

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

It's nice to know that if I ever have another bird species in my back yard I can't identify, I can go to you, rather than the internet. Your bird photo is incredible.

I also have trouble with the social distancing problem. Seems people are letting their guards down now that the lockdown has eased.

Jeanie said...

I have never heard of a dicksissel. They're very pretty! What a great find and a great shot.

Yes, I'm with you on distancing. No desire to get too close!

kwarkito said...

Une très belle série de photos. Ce dicksissel, m'est totalement inconnu et il est très beau très coloré. Profitez bien des mesures d'allègement du lockdown.

Bill said...

What a beautiful day you had and captured some beautiful photos of the birds. I don't think I would be comfortable around those people by the lake. They are way too close to each other. We just had our restrictions eased beginning on Monday. Stores will open and we can travel within our county. That will be nice. Social distancing is important, very important. Have a nice weekend.

Catalyst said...

I agree with you about the people NOT practicing social distancing. Here in Arizona our Governor has opened up the state and the numbers of infections and deaths are on the rised. :(

betty-NZ said...

You captured some lovely birds!


Feel free to share at My Corner of the World

Tandy | Lavender and Lime (http://tandysinclair.com) said...

I think people will not social distance unless they've been affected by the virus.

Marg said...

Looks like a beautiful day!

We are in cooler weather. It feels like it is really winter already!

Adam Jones said...

Two very good looking birds.

Mariette VandenMunckhof-Vedder said...

Dearest Mae,
What a lovely day indeed and worthwhile for having your camera ready.
My very first visit to the USA was in April of 1983, arriving in Chicago and by car we got brought to Holland Michigan where Pieter did some seminars. Never will forget the many geese at Lake Michigan where the farm manager brought us to watch. It was cold and windy though...
Hugs,
Mariette

Chapter 10 I'm at now, a big one and the final chapter 12 is huge too. But making progress...

Nancy Chan said...

A beautiful day to be out bird watching. You saw some lovely birds. It is worrying that some people tend to forget about social distancing.

My name is Erika. said...

The birds are gorgeous. And I know what you mean about restriction eazing and people's behavoir. It is scary to me that some people have no respect for the power of this virus. Or don't care. Enjoy the rest fo your weekend. Hugs-Erika

Debra Eliotseats said...

It was a glorious weekend here. I worry about some of the crowding at tourists sites, open air or not. Love the photos as always.

Tina said...

The skies are beautifl. We get so much cloud cover here and I would like to see some blue skies. Always enjoy your bird posts.

We currently have a Towhee who dosn't know his mate is dead (we saw the carnage in the field, probably a hawk) and he is relentlessly banging into our windows. He must be convinced she is inside, They are beautiful birds.