It was an entire day of beautiful sunshine, and, like the TV anchor quipped yesterday … it was enough to make you giddy.
I decided to start my Sunday strollin’ down at the Detroit River … I figured if the runoff from the River was still evident, I’d just get back in the car and go somewhere else. I even parked about a block away and walked through lovely downtown Wyandotte to get to Bishop Park.
The Silver Bass are running.
The boardwalk was full of fisherman this morning. They lined up and down with fishing poles pressed up against the railing and waiting patiently for their dinner.
What anglers weren’t jammed along the boardwalk, or on the pier that juts out into the Detroit River, the rest were out in boats. They were all over this morning, with huge nets and big buckets, hoping to land enough fish to grill for Sunday dinner.
It didn’t matter that a huge hulking freighter was not too far off in the distance – they were fixated on fishing.
As I strolled along the River’s edge, I couldn’t help but notice the cement sidewalk near the kayak launch area was soaking wet.
Though the water has receded since the photos on Thursday which showed the Detroit River spilling over the seawall and onto the boardwalk with each successive wave, some water still lapped up and over.
There was no waterfowl at the River this morning, not even a single seagull or tern, so I returned to my car and drove to Dingell Park. The waterfowl were nil here as well, but the fishermen were out in full force. I stayed about five minutes and headed over to Council Point Park.
The dandelions were a’bloomin’.
Unbelievably, I left Council Point Park a mere 24 hours before, and stated that there was not a single dandelion. Well, it was like a different Park today! There was a sea of dandelions this morning – there must have been thousands of them!
I’d only walked about a mile and a half at Bishop Park and Dingell Park, so I knew I had some serious steps to get under my belt to reach my six-mile goal for today. So, off I went, sallying down the pathway, peanuts stuffed in my pocket and camera in hand.
I’ll sneak in just one squirrel photo below, but I must say that the sun brought not only the dandelions out – I think everyone and everything was happy to enjoy the sunshine.
I’ve got a worm and you don’t!
Last year I took some photos of a Robin redbreast and remarked on the “head tilt” … I remembered my pet birds through the years doing the head tilt, as if they tried to comprehend something; it always made me smile, thinking of the “gears turning” inside each of their little heads.
Fellow blogger and naturalist, Wayne, of Tofino Photography commented on that post that the robin tilts its head as it listens for worms or grubs underground. I didn’t know that factoid – so, how amazing is that?
Well, I watched this one robin who permitted me to get fairly close to him as he hopped around, listening and looking for his brunch. After a patient pursuit, he landed a plump worm. The sequence of photos is below.
Who or what else did I see?
A few violets mingled in with the dandelions along the Creek edge … I have got a ton of them at the house in the back and front yards as well and I think they complement the dandelions. 🙂
Some delicate white blossoms had opened since yesterday.
Mama Mallard was sunning on the cement landing that covers the storm drain … I zoomed in on her and you can still see some storm debris. Like yesterday, her mate was nearby, but was spiffing himself up like it was Saturday night date night, so, after five minutes, I decided I’d just take her picture due to his incessant preening.
I saw the Red-Winged Blackbird which swooped down for peanuts and he is this post’s header image. While their disposition may be nasty sometimes, their colors sure are striking, aren’t they?
I watched a squirrel with muddy paws eye me like I was an intruder in his space. He was King of this park bench until I coaxed him over to the perimeter path by luring him with a couple of peanuts. Afterward, it seemed like he trusted me a wee bit more but I decided he was not a regular at the Park and probably from the nearby neighborhood.
As I meandered around the Park, from my vantage point on the perimeter path, I was still scoping out the underbrush for goslings. There were only two geese grazing and I saw no youngsters, so I guess they have not hatched or are well hidden.
I saw Gil and Sam, two guys who usually walk in the 10:00 o’clock hour. I asked them if they’d seen goslings yet and they had not. I then asked if they’d heard the bullfrog or seen any turtles as I worried for their welfare after this brutally cold Winter and seeing all the dead shad that washed up near the cement landing. They didn’t mention the bullfrog, but said “sure, the turtles are sunning themselves right now – we just passed them.” They told me where to look and sure enough, on the log were a passel of turtles enjoying the sun just like me. The pictures are not very clear as I had to peer at them through the bushes, but they lived though the Polar Vortex, so that’s good news.
While clicking away to capture the images of the turtles, I saw movement in the water. Thinking it was a diving duck, I stood poised with the camera, only to catch a glimpse of a long tail streaming behind a brown body – a muskrat! The picture did not turn out as he was submerged just seconds after spotting him. Better luck next time.
I didn’t see the Great Blue Heron and his kids, but the highlight of the day was the furry critter I saw at the tail end of my trip.
Oh no! Please don’t hate me!
I was walking on the first loop, the area with the optimal critter and bird experience, and up ahead a large critter lumbered across the pathway. I got the camera out and took its photo before trying to zoom in.
It was a groundhog.
I know there are a few of them at either end of this Park. I don’t see them very often though. Last year, I was looking at some fish leaping high in the water while chasing one another, when out of the corner of my left eye, I saw something dark and furry on the branch next to me. I jumped back and wondered how I could have missed that huge groundhog that was happily munching on mulberries not even a foot away from me? The walkers here call them woodchucks or groundhogs interchangeably.
Well this groundhog streaked over to the grass once it caught sight of me and disappeared down into some tangled brush.
I edged closer to where it went and realized it could not have gone far and sure enough, it had dipped into its burrow to escape me. He (or she) wondered if the coast was clear and popped its head back out and saw me.
Down went the head again, but curiosity either got the best of this critter, or it figured I’d moved on, so its head popped out, this time for good. Too bad there was a shadow on its face.
Hmm – I’ll call the second picture a “Groundhog side eye”.
My camera was trained on his burrow opening and head, hoping that groundhog would scurry out again but it did not. I guess he figured I’d scold him for a lousy Winter and Spring, so he stayed put.
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
I can’t help but feel just a teensy bit jealous of your Sunday sun. We babysat our grandsons Saturday night and it rained the whole time they were here. We finally packed them up and went to the rec center to sein=m in the indoor pool, which they loved. Plenty of other kids there to play with. It is still raining as I type this, but we hope for some sunshine tomorrow.
I love that head tilt birds do too. It does make you wonder what they are thinking about, doesn’t it? 🙂
That bird is definitely up to something.
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Laurie – you’re like me with fellow blogger Sabine who lives near Portland, Oregon. She kept mentioning all the beautiful, sunny weather and spending a lot of time in her garden and all we had all week was rain – and torrential rain on top of it. We have reached the end of our nice days and now go to five days in a row of rainy days again – hopefully, most are in the afternoon. At least you found an alternative for your grandsons, who usually enjoy nature thanks to you.
The head tilt for any animal is always amusing, but with birds, being as small as they are, you have to wonder what is going on in their brains. The antics of this bird were really comical. It was if he analyzed every mood. I had another five or six shots that I left out – he was bending down like he was studying the ground. Back in the early 70s, the Detroit Tigers had a baseball player, a pitcher called Mark Fidrych. He was nicknamed “The Bird” and was quite a phenomenon until he got injured. He was nicknamed “The Bird” as he was tall and skinny and had a mop of blonde curls and people said he looked like “Big Bird”. Anyway, he had this mop of curls and he would get down on his knees and talk to the ball on the mound and lots of theatrics – the fans just ate it up.
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Bill and I are going to begin our annual mulch-fest today. Ugh! Hoping for some nice weather as we will be outside all day.
I remember Mark Fidrych (at least the name). He was quite a character!
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It’s hard work – I got a load of mulch for the front/back yards back in 2010 and they left a few yard waste bags to top off the gardens the following year. It looked great for a few years, then I went back to getting a dozen or so bags in the car. A few years ago, I ordered 30 bags of mulch as it was getting a little sparse. I got them delivered and worked my butt off. I figured I didn’t have to worry about shoveling it out of the driveway that way. So they put it on the back patio and every bag I picked up was running with carpenter ants. Having dealt with and been treated for them years before, I was afraid of them getting into the house, but no problems. I wrote a post about spending the long holiday out in the yard and climbing around in the garden to lay it all – each night I felt worse, like a steam roller had gone over me. I kept nodding off writing the post. Hope you survived – your only day of no rain and you had to work so hard.
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Ewww….my skin crawls reading about those carpenter ants! How awful! Mulching is hard work, no doubt about it. I am sore today from mulching yesterday afternoon, and we are not even 1/4 of the way done yet! Ugh!
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Oh yes, your shoulder muscles ache from taking the shovel and rake – unused muscles unless you thatch in the Spring. I used to do that hard raking, but haven’t done so in awhile. And for me, my front garden has bushes that are close together, so I must balance myself in there so I don’t fall or trip or break anything and working around an ornamental weeping tree. Not fun!
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It sure was a beautiful weekend Linda. Just what we have been waiting for eh? I’m just too tired to write about it now. Maybe I’ll post tomorrow. Love the turtle and ground hog pictures.
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This weekend was our reward for our patience Ruth. Now we need some more patience to get through a workweek of rainy days. Glad you liked the turtles – those turtles were one of many sunning themselves on logs in the middle of the Creek – the others were not as easy to see though. The ground hog was very funny – I hurried up and took a photo of his head sticking out figuring he’d run back into the burrow, but he just stayed there enjoying the warm day and watching me. 🙂
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Linda
Such beautiful pictures and captions.Loved the red breasted black bird. And the cute fat groundhog and the turtles and of course, the dandelions. And you had a beautiful day- so beautiful that everyone immediately came up from their burrows and houses and started working right in earnest. Are there no Grady tales these days?
Susie
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Hi Susie – glad you liked these pictures. Unbelievably, the post I wrote on Saturday I said “not a single dandelion – I saw them in the neighborhoods, on my own lawn – not here” … 24 hours later they were everywhere. I took some more pictures of them and will do a separate post … they are cheery looking in their bright yellow color and we need cheer … five days of rain coming up. Nine days of rain in a row and torrential storms and floods before this past weekend. Luckily, I will get a walk in this morning – stormy weather later today. That blackbird is mean but he sure is beautiful. The colors and his “epaulets” on his wings make him have a military look. He is bold and brazen, pushing in front of the squirrels and even the cardinal once peanuts are tossed down on the perimeter path. I was happy to see the turtles had returned as the Department of Natural Resources said the lengthy cold spell and the ice-covered streams, creeks and lakes might doom creatures like frogs, turtles and crayfish. Now we see if the frogs survived. There were smaller turtles on that log but you can’t really see them. Grady and the other porch pals are now foraging for food on their own. I decreased their peanuts because it was nicer (warmer weather), but it was not just that … the bigger squirrels (fox squirrels, like Parker) were sitting there eating all the peanuts and when the smaller squirrels like Grady and the two black squirrels tried to get one, the bigger squirrels chased them away. One day, I saw the big one chase Grady into the street and a car was coming. I couldn’t look – he got across safely. I decided that was enough. The bigger squirrels had been bullying for a little while – I had to end it and won’t feed them next year. So now everyone loses – the cardinals and jays too. Someone always has to spoil it for others – in the human world and the animal world. I didn’t know whether to write it in my blog or not – it was nicer weather and so I just let it go but will address it at some other time.
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I say you must write about it- just to get people thinking on those lines too.
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I am thinking I’m going to do that Susie as my friend who lives in Virginia just started feeding the birds and squirrels in her yard recently. She used to put a paper cup of popcorn hanging on the fence every so often for the squirrels, but that was it. I sometimes mentioned my porch pals and Park pals and she must have thought it sounded fun. She bought birdseed and peanuts … sent me some pictures of the squirrel and it was a gray squirrel like Grady. I told her she had started something and be prepared to feed him everyday going forward, so I may write the post that way.
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Good idea. It is fun to have the friendship of animals- a whole lot more gratifying than the friendship of humans.
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This is very true Susie … rarely will you get one that bites the hand that feeds you and their loyalty is unsurpassed.
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The only time I got bitten was when I tried to bundle a stray cat into a carrier to take her to the vet to get neutered. She bit my hand entirely because of fear.
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That’s true Susie – fear is the biggest element here … my friend Carol has a terrible time trying to round up her cats to put them into a carrier when it is “vet time” … it is as if they have an innate sense and they scramble and hide in the house as fast as they can.
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Those were just amazing pictures Linda – the groundhog, the turtles, I don’t think I’ve ever seen either in real life or that close. Your parks contain an astonishing variety of wildlife. It’s funny how those dandelions can pop out overnight. I envy you for your violets on your lawn – I have a few, but wish I had more.
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I’m glad you liked them Joni. I never get a good picture of the turtles as they are across the Creek and I can’t get a bare spot to take the picture … it is all bushes. But they are fairly large. I think this was a family as there were several samall ones. Last year one of the large snapping turtles dug a hole and laid eggs – we were watching her dig the hole – amazing, took pictures of her digging too. The groundhog watched me like a hawk. I have violets everywhere and a few years ago I threw down some Forget-Me-Not seeds to give some color in the backyard – they are growing like weeds … my hydrangeas did not look good either … forgot to mention that. I am despondent looking at the backyard, once my pride and joy before the rats from the neighbors, the two Polar Vortexes in a row and now this last Polar Vortex. I won’t replace anything back there now … this erratic weather is likely here to stay.
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RATS???? I don’t think I could handle that. Do you put out rat poison? I don’t think I will be spending much money on my garden this year either, unless I go to the horticultural sale next Sat, and get some dollar bargains. Most of the good stuff is gone at 8am though. I had a reply from the Happiness Engineer re you having to follow me again, and he wants to investigate further, but I’m not sure it’s worth it. He wanted your name, but I didn’t give it to him, unless you want me to? When you had to sign up again, were you on my Site, with that little button at the bottom asking for your email, or within the Reader? I’m afraid if they go poking around, it will do something to your blog, and you already have problems with comments going to spam! Going to try to clean out the garage today, as we’ve already lost the sun, then I can put out the junk for garbage pick up tonight….another exciting retirement day!
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Yes, we had a pest control service for years. We paid for our neighbor’s service as well since we got a good deal if there was a second home being baited. The house with the dog that was left out 24/7 and fed table scraps (my neighbor peeked through the privacy fence) was actually more behind her home, than this house. It was only about six feet of this property that was connected to their fence. We knew the neighbor was not going to pay for it and we wanted them gone. She was seeing rats in the yard all the time (she was not particularly bothered by them for some reason) and my mom and I never understood that. We had the baiting service come in after the first rat sighting. They baited the boxes once a month. I had to get rid of bird feeders, birdbaths – broke my heart. Found a sick rat (who ate poison) in the yard and had to call the animal control officer for the City and had one or two dead and bloated rats in the yard – I was beside myself. I spend as little time out there as possible now and understand from the neighbor (in Marge’s house where we had baited) that he sees them at night when he is outside. I don’t sit outside even in the day time anymore. I don’t feel comfortable being in the yard as all around the perimeter of the yard is dense with the roses and bushes. Lots of places for them to hide.
I did not get asked to put in an e-mail address; I just noticed out of the corner of my eye that I was not following you and that surprised me. So I signed up again. The same thing happened with Kate Crimmons. She signs up for e-mail and Reader. She receives the e-mail and comments in Reader. When she went to Reader, there was nothing there and it had been unfollowed.
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I could not handle that at all. We didn’t een have rats or mice on the farm, as we had lots of barn cats which kept them under control. It’s too bad you can’t enjoy your yard anymore. I don’t think I’ll bother with the HEngineer looking into it then, he basically said that never happens!
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Yes, there is no joy in the yard anymore. I will see if I can send a slideshow to you of how it used to look. Shutterfly gives you that ability to do that. My friend’s grandson just had a one-year birthday party and she sent me the album of photos. It was my little paradise … no more though.
Okay, if I have any more issues, I’ll let you know. It could have something to do with the update they were scheduled to do at month end of April.
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Yeahhhhhh sunshine and beautiful pictures! I wonder what the fishermen were catching. I couldn’t wait to tell you this. Yesterday a flock of Orioles arrived at my feeders. We counted 7 just at the feeders. In 2 days they devoured half of a large jar of jelly and 2 oranges along with the sugar water! Then a pair of grosbeaks with the hummingbirds showed up too. I think they all flew north together…lol Then we already had the gold finches, woodpeckers, cardinasl and blue jays! This has been the most beautiful arrival of birds in the 27 years we have been feeding them!
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That is amazing with the Orioles Diane. I have never seen an Oriole, just pictures, but I follow the local Audubon Society as well as a local Wild Birds Unlimited. The WBU is owned by my former HVAC guy – he and his wife got the franchise and opened about 1 1/2 years ago and he is posting all the backyard bird pictures and just said this weekend he had hummers and Orioles. You are lucky to see them. I think I mentioned I had birdfeeders and birdbaths and had to get rid of them as the neighbor behind got rats, so the pest control service said no more feeding or watering of birds going forward. Broke my heart, so now I just enjoy them in other people’s yards or at the park. You are so lucky to enjoy these birds up close. I follow a blogger at “The Backyard Bird Nerd” on WP and she has the most-beautiful pictures – I enjoy seeing them. Take a peek when you get a chance … https://backyardbirdnerd.com/
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I will thanks!
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Diane – I forgot to say about the fish. The Silver Bass were running. I asked one of the fisherman. I’m nosy and the fisherman were all over the place as you saw in the pics.
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Oh that makes sense. Bass are suppose to be good eating. My son lives near Toledo and drives your way to fish. Oh and if there were rats around I wouldn’t be feeding the critters either! Yikes!
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Yes, they were bad at one time, but I understand still around after dusk and in the early a.m. – the yard is no joy at all for me, not like before. Tell your son not to come here in the near future Diane as it is too dangerous – we are expecting more rain tonight/early tomorrow and there are flood watches up for all the nearby lakes/rivers/streams, especially Lake Erie. Thinking your son may be interested in Lake Erie?
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wow what a difference a fortnight makes
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Yes, the dandelions finally make it feel like Spring again with all that color!
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WOW – that’s a lot of fishing going on there!! So fun to see all the wildlife you captured this trek – hope you did get the 6 miles in as well!? Robins are funny when they are on the hunt for worms. I’ve yet to get great photos like you did, but I’ve watched them do that dance – it is fun to watch! The bright colors from the dandelions and the violets are so fun to see, too! Thanks for sharing your walk with us!
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Yes, the River was full of fishermen in boats of all sizes – they were everywhere as it’s the first week of the Silver Bass running they said. The robin sequence was just lucky and thank you. I had intended to make a slideshow but had horizontal and vertical shots and decided to just go with individual shots. The dandelions make the Park come alive. I took some pics of them for a future post.
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Wow – that’s so many fishermen. There must be lots of fish to catch. It is fun when we can catch birds in their groove of doing what they do – makes for great slideshows! I saw a few dandelions here finally! Yay – I’ll watch for the new post!
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Silver Bass the first week in May … although a fellow blogger, Tom, who lives in Illinois and also subject to all this bad weather, and a fisherman in the past, says post-storms, the fishing is not good. We have a torrential rain right now. The only bright item in the landscape is the dandelions!
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Ah, yes, flooding makes fishing horrible. So my dad tells me often. Man…you don’t need more rain! I hope it doesn’t last long. We were supposed to have rain today, and this morning the sun is shining again.
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I never knew that until Tom made the comment. We had a pounding rain today, tomorrow light rain, but then heavy rain again on Thursday and a flood watch has already been posted.
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NO!!!!!!!! You have had enough rain?! Somebody better call in a Noah’s Ark builder soon!
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Your groundhog side eye is a wonderful photo. I think of it being too early to go fishing, but obviously I’m wrong. I do like the color violet and your photo shows it so nicely.
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Thanks Ally – glad you liked the photos. I saw that critter’s glance and had to get that picture. I think of fishing more as a Summer sport too – on the water it would be pretty chilly.
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Very nice pics, Linda! 🙂
Looks like a Muskrat to me. Muskrats love to be around water.
Fishing after heavy rains is usually a waste of time (unless it is a very large body of water that cannot have its chemistry changed by plenty of fresh rain. I used to fish a lot many years ago.)
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Thanks Tom – it was a great day yesterday, warm and sunny. Well, now I wonder if that was the same muskrat I saw in the water … I just saw its tail (long, like a rat’s tail). There were so many fisherman out there – one held up a small fish, no bigger than a minnow when I asked what “fish were running today” … he said “Silver Bass, but I only got this!” Bet everyone just wanted to get out in their boat then.
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Fishermen who fish after heavy rains — like bad doctors — don’t know what they are doing.
What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist or the dusky dusk? What makes the muskrat guard his musk?
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Sunshine for Linda! Hurray! Very nice post sharing all the wonders of spring springing up around your home. I’ve never seen a muskrat, or groundhog in real life. The robins are fun to watch when they look/listen for the worms. I had one hop up to me yesterday. He came within two feet of me and just checked me out for a moment, then started pecking in the grass for a morsel to take to the nest! 😊
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Yes a beautiful day and I made the most of it Sabine. I was concerned to venture to any large parks due to the excessive flooding so stuck close to home. Glad you enjoyed the post and pictures of Spring here in SE Michigan. I never saw a muskrat until I started walking at the Park, nor a groundhog either. That robin was pretty bold and brazen and came quite close to me, like your robin did. He was looking for worms and Linda was not going to impede his progress!
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Most birds “listen” before they snatch worms and bugs out of the dirt and grass. Robins are a favorite of mine to watch do that. Nature is awesome!
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I never knew that until last year when I wrote that post. I find this fact fascinating and awesome as well Sabine. The more time spent in nature, the more there is to learn and absorb.
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Very true!
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Nature is more amazing that people sometimes Sabine. (More brain power involved in some cases as well.)
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I feel like I was walking with you…..
I’m glad the water receded (well for Sunday, hey, Sunday way Sun-day, cool).
Those robin pictures are AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! I love that you were able to watch him pick it up (though it’s a big eeky too).
That squirrel actually looks different to ‘your’ squirrels. He’s a very different expression on his face too. Kinda taking charge.
I never knew you saw turtles. I’ve never seen them in real life, except in pet shops……
I hope the weather isn’t too rainy today…….
*sprinkling lotsa blue and silver glue
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I started trying to write detailed descriptions when the person who convinced me to begin a blog, and who I used to go to different parks with, got COPD and could no longer get out to parks anymore. I’d try to write so she felt like she traveled along with me, so I am glad you feel that way too Eliza.
The water has receded, but we have a flood watch for Wednesday into Thursday – there are some concerns for lakes, rivers, streams and people’s homes again.
That robin was fascinating to watch – I took a few more pictures of it and was going to do a slideshow of him, and decided they all kind of looked alike, so just picked a few. How amazing that he listens for his food and yes he got that big worm and slurped it down a few seconds after I snapped the photo. When it is a mother robin, if she finds a worm, she takes it to the pavement, then slices and dices it up, then carries it back to the nest for her babies. I just searched in my blog and find the post about slicing-and-dicing a worm. It will give you a giggle (I think) despite the eww factor. I just killed the third ant of the day crawling on the computer. I am beside myself with the ants this year. Little ones thankfully, but I’d rather have them than centipedes as I’d have had a heart attack for sure! The turtles are very cool as well. There are big ones and smaller ones. I took pictures of the turtle digging a hole to lay the eggs – a lot of us walkers were watching her – we waited for the babies to hatch (they were under the ground) but they hatched and “escaped” overnight (bummer). Sending lotsa blue glitter and silver glue back at you. Please send more … our sky is gloomy look. https://lindaschaubblog.net/2018/06/05/tuesday-musings-51/
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*hands over the glitter shaker before going off to buy another
It is amazing! It is definitely eeky, but fascinating too.
Sending hugs to your friend. It’s gorgeous that you’re doing it for her.
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Thanks Eliza … she actually passed away in August of 2017 and I should have mentioned that in my comment. She got COPD and went from going out of the house with a portable oxygen machine, to being tethered to a full-size oxygen machine 100% of the time and only going out of the house when she had to go to the hospital and that was in an ambulance. She was close to my mom and me and after my mom passed away in 2010, I spent more time with her. She loved nature and animals as well. She encouraged me to write a blog as I’d go on a walk then send her an e-mail or Facebook message and tell her what I saw, so she said “write about it!”
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you sure had all sorts of critters Linda! Looks like they’ve all come out of their burrows for some sunshine and to pose for you of course!
Thank you for mentioning me!
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Yes, all that sunshine brought them out Wayne. I liked seeing the turtles sunning themselves as it reminded me of Summer. The gopher was funny popping out of his burrow and giving me the side eye. I was happy to mention your name/site; the opportunity presented itself as you gave me that info on the robin listening for worms. That fascinated me.
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I often wonder how can a Robin not go crazy with such sensitive hearing? If you can hear a worm moving you have very sensitive hearing. Of course they are only a few inches off the ground and we are 5 to 6 feet away!
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That’s true, we are farther away, but even if we humans laid on the ground and pressed our ear to the earth, we still could not hear an earthworm move or a grub walking. For robins it must be magnified, like when a person who has difficulty hearing, gets a hearing aid for the first time. They suddenly hear every little noise and it is deafening. We had a neighbor who described that to us when he got hearing aids (both ears). He would not wear them to public places as he said he found the noises distracting.
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Did you ever see this video that made the rounds awhile ago? A friend of mine follows a Facebook site about animals and birds. So, this man helps a baby robin look for worms. It will make you smile:
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that link doesn’t work Linda? Try again.
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OK, let me try another browser – I wanted to send it without the ads.
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OK Wayne – I went out YouTube on Chrome and got another link. If it doesn’t work search “man who feeds robins worms” on YouTube and it should come out. It’s very sweet:
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sorry Linda,that doesn’t do it. It just takes me to a goggle search page.
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I wonder why – even with searching the phrase? I’ll try again. I just watched it again, he is finding worms with a pitchfork and pointing them out to the robin.
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I found it,searched on You Tube. That Robin sure was a chirpy bird! Loved it! I wonder about the birds history?
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Glad you got it Wayne and I wonder why the links weren’t working? That is a feel-good video if I ever saw one. The guy was having as much fun finding worms as the robin was eating them. Yes he was chirpy and I wonder if there is a story out on the internet about them – I’ll look now. Maybe he rescued it? I was afraid he’d spear that poor bird with the big pitchfork.
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Googling around and found a blog post on WordPress where people are enjoying the video as much as we did, so if you ever pass it along, here is a good link; https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2017/02/09/man-helps-young-robin-find-worms/
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that link worked! Its blue and highlights when I hover over it.
Who wouldn’t love to do something like this!
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I know it – I could see me doing that … at the end the two biggest worms, and he’s dropping them in her mouth … just so sweet. How in the world does one small robin eat that many worms. While I’m here at this site, I was reading about 10 ducklings surviving.
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did you notice how it reacted when he fed it. It fluttered its wings. I wonder what all that squirming in the tummy feels like?
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Yes I did and I also noticed when he was feeding it the two worms, it knew enough to open its mouth wide like and put its head back a little like it would have done as a baby. Yes, the squirming in the tummy – she was swallowing those worms whole.
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cute little thing! I wonder if Parker would eat a worm?….maybe chocolate covered!
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I will bet he would – but if it wiggled, the look on his face. This morning I wanted to take pictures of the goslings, and I crossed the grass inside the perimeter path, thus bypassing my furry friends. Mike, the walker who saw them, said they were near the water. So, I got to where they were and dug inside my coat (cold out, 41 degrees) to get the camera in my vest … I looked down and three squirrels around my feet – oops! Had to stop and feed them before taking pictures of the goslings. In this Cornell video, you can see how the mouths open – if I was the mother robin here I’d think I created a trio of monsters – look at those mouths at the beginning of the video: http://cams.allaboutbirds.org/channel/55/American_Robin/
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cute,at one point it looked like one of the chicks gave back a grub? I see one of the adults is banded.
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Yes, I think it did because the adult was chewing on it. I couldn’t believe how they lunged for the food!
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Just sent you this very sweet video from the same WordPress site:
https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2019/03/08/bears-and-cubs/
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sorry Linda I cannot finish watching this. That bear is telling him to go away and the other photographer as well. To encroach upon its den (while it has cubs) like that is wrong and to show people your doing this is doubly wrong. It sends a wrong message. It makes anyone think they can approach a wild bear. This guy is not a naturist. He’s just somebody pissing off a wild animal for their own gain photographically.
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OK Wayne, I saw a photographer up close taking those shots and marveled at him being able to feed the bear from his hand. But I also concede that just like the person letting the bear enjoy part of his ice cream cone, it is dangerous as well and in this video, yes, intruding on the den with cubs may not be smart and is invasive. If the mother bear had a bad day, he might not be using the camera with both hands.
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this guy is the poster boy for how to do everything wrong. Do you know where this was shot?
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Wayne – I just Googled to find out – it appears from this bio on Lynn Rogers, (the gentleman in the post I sent you last night), that he has been doing the studies in Minnesota for the past 50 years. He is originally from Michigan. Maybe he is not a photographer as much as a biologist and studying bears. Here is the info on him. https://www.bearstudy.org/website/about-wri/lynn-rogers-ph-d.html
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thanks Linda. Well I’m completely confused by this guy? Anyone with common sense knows that you cannot interact with a subject if you wish to truly study them. Putting up cameras that can be triggered remotely or by movement is the recognized manner of recording wildlife. By him being there he automatically is introducing a unneeded and unwarranted factor into the study.
You also mentioned he fed it a ice cream cone. Plus he introduced a second camera person who it appears the bear didn’t know and she reacted accordingly. All of this is not something I would expect from a professional.
It totally sends the wrong message to the public.
Another guy did the same sort of thing,Charlie Russell. He dealt with Grizzlies in Russia. The bears ended up being killed.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/charlie-russell-naturalist-who-lived-among-bears-has-died-76-180969071/
I didn’t know he had died and it appears one year ago almost to the day.
thanks for sending the info Linda!
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Well in the case of Lynn Rogers, perhaps he had a few bears like this one and her cubs, who are like your bears, accustomed to you and so he could take liberties with them. So he showed this family in this video … you don’t see the other times when he does not befriend the bears. When that mother bear kept swiping at him, I sure was surprised to see him hand feeding her a few moments later. But, like you, he’s seen generations of bears in his fifty years in Minnesota, just like your years at Tofino, so those cubs grow up to trust him and their cubs do as well. Like Peggy and Piglet. I did reference the ice cream cone – that wasn’t Lynn Rogers. That was a while ago that I sent you a short video from The Weather Channel I believe of one time when a guy who got an ice cream cone and was feeding it out the window to a bear and you said that was not good to show those videos as people get the idea to do it themselves. So, the videos should come with the disclaimer “don’t do this at home!” I read the article on Charlie Russell – thanks for sending it. Very interesting and amazing how he walked amongst bears fearlessly in the video, right in the water or on land. Those tumbling cubs sure were sweet too. I would be devastated, just as he was, if I thought that those bears had to die because he had befriended them – how sad to make a statement by pinning a gallbladder on his cabin. And reading that he went fishing for salmon with the bears, pointing out the salmon carcasses in case the bear missed them … it was deja vu of the man fleshing out worms for the robin with his pitchfork.
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I guess my biggest objection is the whole thing being video taped. There really is no scientific reason to do that. Because of his presence with just being there he is automatically skewing/altering the data. The natural reaction will have a bias and so not he cannot be truly studying them. The data is corrupted by his presence/influence.
I think there is part of us that when we were growing up and we had a huggable Teddy bear and would like to recreate that in a physical manner. If you asked anyone ( If people knew they wouldn’t be attacked) If they would like to interact with cubs and a mamma bear,they’d all put their hand up high!
Thats what made Winnie so famous! People were not only allowed to enter into her cage but the children could take food from her dish and she wouldn’t object. She was very well fed all the time! Her personality was such that she was very grounded. Remember that wild bears are far more stressed because they have to compete for food to survive but Winnie had only known a life where she was always fed and I might add very well!
So she as a result was not as stressed as say her forest cousins would be.
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You’re right Wayne. People only associate that favorite Teddy Bear with a real-life cuddly cub – not the same thing. Because I liked and collected teddy bears, many years ago my mom and I went to the Toledo Zoo one time as they had an exhibit on koala bears. I always thought they were so cute, so we drove all the way there and the koala bears may have been cute but they slept all the time. Here we saw the sweet little creatures and you could go near their enclosure to see them up close. All koala bears eat are eucalyptus leaves and they are mostly water – so not much sustenance for them. Therefore, they lay down on the tree branches and sleep. People’s expectations don’t match reality sometimes. It sounds like Winnie had a charmed life, full of love and an audience who loved her!
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now thats one bear I would of liked to meet!
Nobody really knows that Winnie had a sibling. It escaped the prospectors aim. So while Winnie was living the life of Reilly,she had either a brother/sister back in Canada near White river that was having a tough go of it and I bet Winnie outlived its sibling by many years too. Animals in Zoo’s typically live far longer than their wild cousins……but we’ll never know?
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btw…….Koala bears are nocturnal. So it would be like you working the night shift and people constantly bothering you while you tried to sleep Plus they are not bears. Its just a term that has stuck,they are marsupials.
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I think we got one sleepy-eyed gaze from one of them the entire time we were at the exhibit. We drove an hour to see them and people had driven many more miles from other states and were mad that they were sleeping. The person in charge of the exhibit said they sleep alot of hours because the leaves don’t provide much energy for them. We were at least hoping she’d pick one up and hold it in her arms, but nope … didn’t happen. Yesterday I got up very early as we were expecting severe weather last evening and I did my post about the goslings from Wednesday morning. They were sweet and the parents had them tucked away somewhere safe as I looked for them last week (from the trail, I wouldn’t go anywhere and disturb them) and saw nothing. They were fairly large – I’ve seen goslings at this park that were much smaller. The gander was too close to the path so I had to take photos a distance away and zoom in. https://lindaschaubblog.net/2019/05/09/meet-mama-and-her-brood/
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I think they were more sleepy from staying up all night rather than their diet. They should of explained better and had some night time surveillance video to offer up.
I’ve heard the same problem with many zoo creatures. I’ve also heard the males tend to pee on people who get too close.
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If I remember correctly, we had to observe them behind a glass panel. I just Googled “Koalas at the Toledo Zoo” and it looks like the exhibit was there in 2002. I knew it was awhile ago. The article says they sleep 22 hours a day – that’s no fun! When I went to the alpaca farm last year I did not get spit on – I guess alpacas like to spit on people. I guess I passed muster with them.
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I hear they only spit at someone who is bothering them. Like getting too close too quickly for instance.
22 hours! Man they literally sleep away their entire life! Thats what my Mother use to say I was doing but she obviously never raised a Koala!
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Yes, that’s what the article said when I Googled to see if there was a picture of the old exhibit – they said they had a new Koala bear coming after a 15-year hiatus and mentioned the 22 hours of sleep. Ha ha with your mom saying that … you could have countered and said “sleep is good for a growing boy!” At the zoo, they told us they slept because the eucalyptus leaves were water and that was not sustenance for them and made them “weak” … this article says they have to sleep/rest a lot to get rid of the toxins in their system from the eucalyptus leaves. A little different story than we were told.
https://www.toledoblade.com/local/2017/05/04/Toledo-Zoo-welcomes-koalas-back-with-Coedie/stories/20170503347
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Well my friend posted it from “The Dodo” on Facebook and so when I put this in Google ”
Man who looks for worms for robin” I got this. That’s where I originally saw it. Try this (if you’re on Facebook):
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got it,thanks Linda~
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Miss Linda…………………………fabulous close up pictures of Mr. Groundhog………………………….thank you for scolding him for his not so correct prediction way back on February 2
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I loved his head poking out of the burrow Ann Marie and stealing a glance my way. I saw another groundhog this morning, but he was browner than this one and at the other end of the Park. I scolded him on your behalf too! You’re welcome!
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The dandelions are officially taking over! I can’t believe you got that close to the Robin without it flying away- so cute. Ahh a groundhog!! That’s an unusual critter to see out and about- he is giving you that side eye, huh? Hehe. Thanks for sharing, Linda!
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Yes that Robin was so focused on finding a worm that he just ignored me looming over him. I like watching their antics, as well as the groundhog popping out of the burrow. That was an unexpected find. I see a groundhog foraging at the opposite end of the Park where is it more woodsy and the trail ends before that area, so he doesn’t have to worry about humans, but this was a rare find. Wait ’til the mulberry bushes have berries and he’ll be around more. Glad you enjoyed them Mackenzie.
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Ohhh I bet those mulberry bushes are pretty too! Can’t wait to see more of him- you may just need to give him a name 🙂
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You are right – what can we call him Mackenzie? I saw him last year in what I thought was a black raspberry bush (and later discovered they were mulberries) … this is a long post, but if you scroll to the very bottom, you can see him eating berries … he was not far from me and I about freaked out when I saw him in my peripheral vision! There are a lot of berries on these bushes along the Creek and a couple of women come and eat them off the bush and collect them to take home. https://lindaschaubblog.net/2018/06/15/the-last-school-bell-til-fall-rang-today/
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Hmm I feel like a groundhog would bode well with a human name hehe- maybe cause I am subconsciously swayed by Punxsutawney Phil! Maybe Barry! Since he was so close to the berries?! Just an idea 🙂 I look forward to hearing what you choose! He is such a hoot. Thanks for sharing this post! can’t wait to read!
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Barry it is – I never thought of naming him and now I’ll look for him to christen him with that name. In all the years I’ve walked there (six) I’ve only seen the groundhog there a handful of times. There is another burrow more out in the open but he pops into it so quickly … now you see him, now you don’t! We have another crummy morning, drizzly and foggy and still trying to embrace the rain, but it is only about 42 degrees out there now – we are finally going to get to 70 the end of the week – fingers crossed that happens. This is more like March weather. The weatherman quipped it is May Madness.
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What a great resource to explore for natural world wonders!
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I had a great day last Sunday Pam – every time I turned around there was something new to see. The sun brought everybody and everything out. We all wanted to gaze at the sun in wonderment as we don’t see it around here much anymore.
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Same here. It’s raining again!!
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Here too Pam … an all-day rain and another ugly day tomorrow. This is why we have to seize the day when it’s beautiful outsider, even if it means abandoning everything else (when possible of course).
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Carpe Diem, Linda!
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I love your blog, photos are just perfect!
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Thank you Daisy Dust – I appreciate that and thank you for following my blog as well. I hope to not disappoint you with the photos. If you like dogs, you’ll find a ton of them in today’s extra-long post which I finished a short time ago.
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Awesome close up of the groundhog, I have never seen one that close and I love the video of the man helping the baby robin find worms. How cool is that. 🙂
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Yes, he was big and I have been looking for the video of the robins and didn’t realize I used it. I thought I would use it with a picture of a robin for a Wordless Wednesday. Oops – good thing I didn’t. Yes, I loved that video of the guy and I often point out peanuts to the birds and squirrels and will stand there til they find them – it takes forever as they meander over to the pathway and the pathway is higher up than where they are poking around sometimes. Yes, the guy is all happy sharing worms with the robin – a real feel-good video.
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