I first fell in love with these spring beauties as a young teacher in Portage, Michigan, a city in southwest Michigan with a strong Dutch heritage. Masses of tulips in many colors and varieties brightened yards, businesses, and municipal buildings. My love affair with tulips continued wherever I lived, including Northport and Traverse City.
After my friends Don and Diana, and I photographed the nesting cranes, we drove south to one of my favorite places, Esch Beach. We had the place to ourselves and enjoyed the views of Empire Bluffs, the vast shoreline of Platte Bay, and Otter Creek, that flows into Lake Michigan. It was nippy but we enjoyed taking pictures, looking for stones, and finding bear tracks all over the sand.
On my next outing with friends Don and Diana, we headed to the Lakeshore where we’d seen cranes in a wetland at the base of the Dune Climb. We were lucky again as the pair was nesting not far from the roadside. One crane moved around in the water, preening and distracting us from the mate sitting low on the nest. We watched a while then moved on, hoping to be back to see chicks sometime soon.
I heard that a nearby cemetery was a great place for birding. Turns out it was. Quiet. Not a lot of people moving around. And there were plenty of birds. Crows, as expected, blue jays, robins, a tufted titmouse. Then I heard drumming and went looking for a woodpecker. Lucked out when I found this beautiful Red-Headed Woodpecker. Oh, and there were some really big birds flying overhead too.
