Winter Bird Walk

At Oakwoods Metropark.

Snow Pattern

Had a great walk this morning at Oakwoods Metropark. Saw many songbirds, water fowl and a hawk. We celebrated Rita's birthday and Ulanawa came. Had a nice group...some dedicated birders. More on the walk later. I thought that you would enjoy the snow pattern on the trees made by the snow blower....not mother nature!

Belle Isle

There was nothing for it but to make it all look as really old as it feels there at Belle Isle.

Flowers and Butterflies

 Four inches of snow dumped on us this morning. OK, I love snow but enough already. Yesterday, my son that lives is Kansas, texted me and they got 10 inches and everything is closed. Luckily, Mike can work from home. The boys are off school for two days...they knew this one was coming. Q!
Looking forward to the Winter Bird walk at Oakwoods tomorrow. Hope we are lucky and spot some early migratory birds. I plan on getting some pretty snow pictures and bird photos at the feeders. Have to rush home after that and get ready for Liam's basketball game.
Can't wait for my camera class to begin on Monday. I have questions piled up from the last few months.

In The Snow

Digital slideshow created with Smilebox

I saw the Chickadee today-

I was sitting in the living room after breakfast and the little fellow landed on my climbing rose next to my front porch. I had heard him several times but could never locate him. It was the usual cawing "chick-a-dee-dee-dee". The pretty whistle "hey sweetie" is usually heard in the spring and summer. This afternoon I put a plate of almonds and blueberries (slightly soft) on a plate next to the rose bush. I'll see if it attracts him. 
You may wonder why I am so excited over a little bird that is pretty common in the woods. Well, in my neighborhood it is always sparrows.......many, many sparrows. Occasionally we see a Downy Woodpecker at Don's suet feeder. So, I want to encourage these little ones to stick around.

It made my happy today.

Orchids

These are the beautiful orchids at the Belle Isle Conservatory......beautiful flowers, good light and some pretty good photos! There are also Cyclamen in full bloom and Kalanchoe almost ready to bloom. I came across some other exotic flowers that I was not able to identify. They put identifying signs on the trees but not the flowers
I wonder who takes care of the conservatory and the greenhouses. There sure is a lot of work that needs done. The cacti room was a mess...sad to see things so deteriorated.  A lot of trimming of trees , deadheading and just general maintenance is needed. At the conservatory entrance  there was a pretty metal flower cart but the flowers that were in it were mostly dead. Too bad the city of Detroit did not agree to have the State of Michigan run the island as a state park because it sure needs a influx of cash.
Still in all, it was nice to see flowers and color in the middle of February and I had an enjoyable few hours there.