Sunday Walk

 It was such a beautiful day and the park was busy....with everyone enjoying the fresh air. I was disappointed that I did not see very many wildflowers or birds...should have got out earlier in the day but it was a lovely walk.

 Marsh Marigold

 Skunk Cabbage

 I really enjoyed watching this Northern Flicker digging out a big square hole in this old Cottonwood tree. It was way up there. I love the little heart shape on the back of the neck. Males have a red moustache but I never did see the front of this bird.

Robin

Redbuds at Lower Huron

I took so many photos of these beautiful Redbuds that I couldn't decide which to post....they were all beginning to blur together...ha!

 I had a lovely walk from the south fishing pier parking lot, along the bike path to the first bench in this picture where I sat patiently waiting to see a Bluebird.  When I was driving away a Bluebird flew in front of me so I got to see one....not what I was wanting but it is always such a pleasure to see one if these lovely creatures.

 The Metropark system still plants new Redbuds every year.

from Belle Isle

Belle Isle Conservatory with city in background....

Wild Apple Trees

Liam

Troy Athens High School freshmen baseball

Flowers at the Market

Every Spring Eastern Market holds it's annual "Flower Day" around Mother's Day. Thousands converge to get a deal on wholesale flowers and just to have the experience. We used to go all the time but it got so crowded that we stopped. I bought some lovely flowers and shrubs as well as fruit and vegetables back then. Now, year around, you can enjoy these lovely flower street art.

(Click to enlarge)

Redbuds

 What a beautiful morning at Lower Huron Metropark! Redbuds peaking right now. I had a great walk and saw a Bluebird so I couldn't ask for more. Have lots of Redbud photos to post.

Tulips Again...........

 Apricot Beauty

Sorry, can't help myself....these tulips are so beautiful this Spring. Some I just planted last fall. I order my bulbs from Dutch Bulbs....you get what you pay for.

 These are new but I can't remember the name...my favorite tulip color.

 Blushing Lady, one of my favorites. Still not fully opened yet

 Oldy but reliable coming up year after year

Someone is watching you and it could be me......my facebook cover photo taken from Eastern Market street art......cool.

Eastern Market Street Art

Wow...love all of this art work!

 So much to look at and much to figure out......note the patch Whiskey in the top left corner

 Can't get the song out of my head for a week now

 Depicts the market perfectly

 Pizza kid in lower rt corner

Can't wait to get out with my new Canon!

These are some photos left from my trip to Kensington over a week ago. Hope to get to Lower Huron to photograph the Redbuds....don't know if they are in bloom yet but will check it out. Have my new camera ready to go and I have an itchy trigger finger :-)

In the rookery sat two Double-crested Cormorants. Another bird that is prehistoric looking. Related to the Frigate bird and Boobies (love that one).  Check out more on this bird on the link below.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Double-crested_Cormorant/id

Wow, it was such a gloomy morning....looked like rain at any second but later(after I left) the sun came out.

Cranes and Herons

 Both these birds are so prehistoric looking and only seems like a bird to me because they fly. They are so unusual looking that it is always a thrill to see either.
There are only 2 types of  Cranes in North America, the Sandhill and the Whooping Crane (these are rare indeed). They belong to the family Gruidae. 10,000 million year old fossils related to the Cranes have been found so they could have been flying around with the dinosaurs. They have a 7ft. wingspan. All I know is that the Cranes at Kensington are friendly birds for the most part as long as you are not getting too close to their young. They make a very harsh honking ....check it out by clicking in the link below.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Sandhill_Crane/sounds

The Heron (this is a great Blue) is from the family Ardrielae and there are several species such as the Green, Tricolored, Black-crowned Night heron, Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Little Blue plus more. Egrets and Bitterns are in the same family and there are more sub-species of these. All these birds are waders and  again, seeing them fly is amazing.
A good bird ID site is Cornell's all about birds. The links is below
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIrKD6q5Gx0wIVELbACh2tqQYjEAAYASAAEgIDgfD_BwE