Today was not the usual jaunt for me – it was kind of backwards, actually.
I follow the Detroit Audubon Society on Facebook, and earlier this week, a local photographer posted a series of shots of a snowy owl he saw at Pointe Mouillee. Several people besides me were oohing and aahing over those pictures.
Since beautiful weekend weather was predicted, I planned to go to the marshland area this morning and see if I could see this beautiful snowy owl – I’ve never seen an owl, let alone a snowy owl. So I looked at the map as I’d only been there once before and I was all set to go, but then last night, the weatherman had concerns about overnight/early morning freezing fog and black ice, especially along Lake Erie … exactly my destination. Those conditions were expected to last through mid-day to early afternoon.
So that essentially tabled my morning jaunt and I figured I was not going anywhere, by car, or on foot, where I would be dealing with black ice. The past few days at Council Point Park have been dicey with huge patches of glare ice formed on the perimeter path.
So, I decided to wait it out for my walk … by 2:00 p.m., I was good to go.
Today was like a breath of fresh air.
Since it was much later than my usual gallivantin’ time, I just headed to Council Point Park, my favorite stomping grounds. Enroute, I unzipped my coat, and stuffed my gloves in my pocket – it was 55 degrees after all. I could have left the hat at home, as well as the bag of peanuts – no squirrel experience today, as not a single squirrel came down to visit or nosh on some nuts. They must’ve been in bed for the night!
What I did see on this gloriously mild and sunny January afternoon was reminiscent of that first warm day in late March or early April … motorcycles zoomed by, music blared from cars with the windows rolled down, and homeowners’ front doors and windows were open, welcoming in the fresh air.
Even Santa Claus and his reindeer collapsed from the warm air and a garden gnome mooned me when I walked by.
Further making it seem like Spring was seeing someone in shorts and a couple of guys were kicking around a soccer ball at the Park.
Today is National Bird Day.
Though I didn’t get to see and take photos of a snowy owl, I knew there were birds to see and enjoy and Council Point Park didn’t disappoint:
I saw the heron across the Creek. No fishing for Harry today; he was just standing there, almost statue-like, enjoying the warm day.
There were Canada Geese who plopped down into the Ecorse Creek, still in their V-formation from the sky.
How graceful they were and they stayed together a minute or so, then began to disband.
A beautiful mallard duck gave me a couple of once overs …
… then that drake decided I was a threat, turned his back to me and gave me “the side eye” as he sped away.
The seagulls are still out chasing the shad bait fish – at least the Creek wasn’t frozen over.
And I saw a sweet little woodpecker way up high drilling away. I never saw his face, though I stood beneath the tree, poised with the camera, waiting for him (or her) to look my way, but no luck.
Well, all that bird activity was there for the enjoying in the first loop. When I stepped over to the cement landing to watch the seagulls and ducks, I noticed my shadow as I approached the landing. So, I had a little fun taking photos of my shadow as the sun was at a different angle than in the morning … talk about a Long Tall Sally!
From afar the landing looked like above, and up close you get a better idea of the graffiti.
“Don’t let the sun go down on me” is what I wanted to say as I took my last shadow selfies.
I walked two full trips around Council Point Park – then headed home.
Since I rarely wear a watch on the weekends, I thought I’d head over to Memorial Park and check out the marquis to see what time it was and the current temperature – oh my … this is Michigan for goodness sake!
The sun was dropping slowly in the sky.
So, what turned out to be no-go morning, morphed into an enjoyable January day. We got up to 55 degrees today after starting out with ice this morning – that’s why our state’s slogan is “Pure Michigan!”
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
When were down in Devon for Christmas, in the garden, looking into the English Channel two birds flew so close over head as to spook us. The first was a Swan which was noisy, both from its wings and some grunting like sound. The second happened at night as we were watching the light from Eddystone Lighthouse being reflected in the waves. We didn’t hear a thing, but a white shape went over our heads, banked over the width of the garden and then disappeared into the golf course. An owl probably looking for moles. Possibly the first wild owl I’ve seen, but I can hear them in the woods behind my house.
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Those swans are so huge – we have the Mute swans like are in England … I saw one at the Park where I walk every day last Winter … it was swimming, plunging through the ice with its feet and beak and it climbed up on the bank near me – I am 5′ 9″ tall and this swan was almost as tall as me! (see its photo below – unbelievable) I cannot believe I have never seen an owl and I hoped that when I got the metropark pass last year to a bigger and more woodsy park, I’d see some but I did not –
this snowy owl in the photos was so gorgeous …(https://lindaschaubblog.net/2018/03/18/the-ice-cutter/)
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Too bad you didn’t get to see the snowy owl. I have never seen one either, although I have “chased” them a few times when there were reports of one in our area. The little woodpecker in the picture is a downy woodpecker. It’s a “he”. A “she” would not have the little red patch of feathers on the back of her head. Females are all black and white. Beautiful sunset picture!
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I went out to Pointe Mouillee today and did not even see a snow-colored seagull. I was hoping to see pelicans, minks and that snowy owl, all sighted in the area lately. There is a snowy owl in downtown Detroit but not when I worked there. I didn’t realize that about the woodpecker – very interesting. I really like those little downy woodpeckers … he would not look at me. Glad you like the sunset picture. I had problem with this post tonight. I was all ready to post, and could not do a tag. There was no option – didn’t want to have to cut-and-paste all the pictures and text into another blog, so went to draft and the whole thing was there – in the meantime it looked like just the title published. It looks okay to me – but the last line of the post, I said I was falling asleep – walked 6 1/2 miles and it was just a beautiful day!
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WordPress can be wonky at times, I know! Glad you got it posted.
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Me too Laurie – it really was strange. When I first started blogging, I used a quotation and put it in italics at the end of my post. I had done that before that particular post, but for some reason there was some type of code embedded in the post pertaining to the italics. The next time I went to do a post, the typeface was italicized. I could not get rid of it. I had to contact WordPress – they found the code and said “it happens” … for the longest time, I wouldn’t use italics anymore.
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The same thing happened to me this week. I had to type the whole post over. Ugh!
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I hate that! Since I type my posts in Word and cut-and-paste them over, I at least did not have to retype it, but I had to ensure the pictures, etc. all lined up with no mistakes … and it was late. Ugh indeed. I don’t like the new color scheme on the “like” button – I can’t tell if I’ve seen it at a glance and I don’t always read everything in Reader at one time. In the comments section of the WordPress post in Reader about the changes, someone said they changed the color scheme to make it easier to see the “like” button now that it is blue and not orange, and it didn’t help.
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I thought the same thing 5 minutes ago – the new color scheme makes it difficult to tell if you have “liked” something.
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Yes, I’ve clicked on/off a few times as I couldn’t tell and now I have to have a crib sheet to see where I left off if I don’t finish Reader at one time. I find the font size in this little Comment box and the Reader comment area very small … by the end of the day, after being at work for hours and staring at a screen, sometimes the words start to run together, let along to see that tiny blue star!
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The only snowy owl I have seen is on the weather-watcher pictures on the evening news. Do they have such a thing where you live? You should submit some of your photos online! My mother is painting birds right now and is just about to start a woodpecker, which I have also never seen. It looks like today is another good day for walking….there is actually warmth to the sun. It seems like in November we had January weather and now it’s vice-versa. Enjoy your day!
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I went to Point Mouillee today and didn’t see anything – was hoping to see a snowy owl – never saw one or any owl for that matter. I don’t think they do have anything like that here – I should look, but they may have it fore more professional photographers. I was told by another blogger it is a male downy woodpecker in that photograph. Today was beautiful and I walked 6 1/2 miles – am totally worn out, because it was beautiful weather and got lots of fresh air. Took lots of photos which I will use in a later post … I got the post ready to do tonight and WordPress acted up – I couldn’t do a tag and all of a sudden, the post published … just a title. I have some e-mail subscribers – none are awake (I shouldn’t be either) to ask if they got two of them – I don’t know what happened! Our weather is just like yours – that’s why I had concerns of making my goal … it was crummy in November, snow, ice – tonight we have freezing rain, but will warm up later tomorrow. Going to have a day off from walking and rest on my laurels. 🙂
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Yesterday was lovely, sunny and warm, but I took my mom to a couple of art gallerys and then came home and make meatloaf. Woke up to snow today Monday so no walking today and freezing cold…..they must have been wrong with the forecast which was 6 C and rain! Winter has arrived. Stay inside!
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Well, I am going to write about this in a short post tonight … ALL the weather folks predicted a freezing rain/rainy morning, so I set the alarm later. I never looked outside til around 9:15 I believe – remembered I forgot to put peanuts out for Grady – usually I would have left on a walk or went out to run the car and left them long before then. It was totally dry – the wind was howling though so perhaps it dried off the rain. Saw no ice though. So, of course I was irritated with myself for believing the weathermen. I think we are getting into Winter mode later in the week unfortunately. We had too long of a good weather run so hard to fathom Winter conditions. Winter could have stayed away longer!
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A joy to read. I see that your shadow is very tall. The photos are great and the commentary is just a little icing. Love it.
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Thank you John – that was a very tall shadow in the first picture – I was amazed and had to take the picture. I am 5′ 9″ tall and the angle of the sun was really making it so much taller than when I do shadow pictures in the morning. Glad you enjoyed the commentary too. I am very late tonight … walked and walked alot today and took a lot of pictures at Lake Erie Metropark. It is quite a distance from here and I was meandering along taking my time. It was a sunny and cold day, but nice for walking. I had some technical problems tonight at WordPress – I thought I’d never get done and this post published!
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We are enjoying a mild day today but not quite that mild. Sun has out occasionally so that’s good too.
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It was a joy to see the sun late yesterday and also today. It was a beautiful day today – I went to a large park and walked for hours – when I think of what we were dealing with a year ago, and also they are now saying by end of January, we could go into a brutal cold spell and a Winter storm, I decided to make the most of today. I’d be happy if we skip to mid-April.
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It was worth the wait! You had a beautiful day!
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Yes, today was beautiful as well! Hope you got some of this nice weather too Diane!
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Dear Miss “Pure Michigan”…………………………………those were some nice warm January pictures at the park……………………lets all just enjoy it while its here……………………….
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I know it Ann Marie – hope you waited until later Saturday as well – it looked dicey out there Saturday morning. Today was a beautiful day and I went to one of your favorite places – Pointe Mouillee … I remember you and Steven went catch & release fishing there all the time. Then I went to Lake Erie Metropark for three hours.
Going to make the most of my Metropark pass this year!
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You were so lucky. I never get good pictures of herons, I’m glad he stood still for you. Omg the woodpecker, they are in of my all time favourites. 😁 had one visit our garden feeder for a year.
Those pictures made me want to pull on some warm clothes, grab my camera and go for a wander in the park
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Glad you like the pictures Ari – usually the heron bolts while making a screeching noise – luckily I was hidden behind a tree and he was across the Creek. The woodpeckers are cute – I don’t see them there too much this time of year. After your move, you should find a nearby park and escape your busy agenda and indulge yourself. Think about it!
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I definitely will. 😊 thanks for inspiring me
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