Travelling ~ Baldwin, MI to Ishpeming, MI

I got a couple of newspapers (Grand Rapids Press) at Housemans, went to Big Star to fill feeders and stopped briefly at Bowman's Bridge where I spotted a male redstart. Maria, Deborah and I made yearly spring trips here and always saw this warbler, usually several, both male and female. But it was cold, windy and misting rain so not exactly birding weather. I did remember last year when Maria spotted a woodcock on the ground and another year we saw an indigo bunting, causing paroxysms of delight. This I will miss so damn much..this sharing of all the natural world offers every day.

I left Townsend with a heavy heart and drove out on Peacock Trail, to the north, instead of my usual departure route which was south.

Being Sunday morning, there was little traffic and I took the state highways instead of the interstate going through Traverse City (grabbing coffee at a Starbuck's in Meijers and a to-go sushi deal) and driving through Charlevoix and Petoskey and all the smaller towns along this route. On one lake, there was a pair of common loons close to shore. Loons are the quintessential northern birds, heavy-bodied, moving low in the water, their unique call/song both beautiful and mournful to me, and especially so this spring.

As always, the Mackinac Bridge was a bit of a thrill. It is such a magnificent structure. There were high wind warnings and everyone drove carefully.

I headed toward the area in the woods where one can often hear and see Connecticut warblers. Very specific directions had been given on eBird: Take route 123 north from Trout Lake, turn onto forest road 3344, drive 1.4 miles to a flooded sphagnum moss area with Baccinium all over, and an understory of alders and small maples. The person reporting had seen the CW singing near the top of a small Jack pine. I found all this easily enough except for the specific Jack pine and except for any warblers at all, except one yellow-rumped. The road was a sandy two-track, easy to drive, and I could have continued on it for 25 miles to the UP town of Hulbert. I thought about it but didn't. The weather was not conducive to finding warblers as it was very windy and mostly overcast, cold and the middle of the afternoon. I would have been surprised if I had found my target, but that's the fun of birding: one never knows.

As I headed north to US28 and then turned west, the sky cleared and it was absolutely stunning, as some of the route goes right along the shores of Lake Superior. I passed a tiny protected cove with evergreens on the point, a wee sandy beach and white-capped waves coming in from the north. The sun was out; the air was as clear as it gets, crisply defining everything. A wild beauty.

My motel room had a window in the back looking out over the riparian flora along a small creek. I walked along this for a bit listening to a robin singing non-stop. A bunny hopped into the thick greenery. I flushed a deer.

I had bought a pasta deli salad at the store in Baldwin and had that for supper.

I found a tick on my arm and, without thinking, flung it off onto the floor, whereupon I couldn't find it again so spent the evening about 1% concerned it would find its way back to me. But it didn't keep me from sleeping soundly.