This is the sixth post in this limited series of excursions taken on early weekday mornings in the month of June. If you missed the reason I ventured out so early, you can read about it here.
This excursion was on June 22nd and began at Dingell Park on a gorgeous, almost nippy, Pure Michigan morning. After hanging out at the pavilion area, I meandered along the boardwalk, chattin’ it up with a fisherman or two and checking out their catch of the day. My journey took me to the River’s Edge Marina and back.
Lingering at the Dingell Park Pavilion.
I was positioned at the pavilion in search of seagulls, hoping to collect a few funny shots of them. One cruised lazily overhead. But unfortunately no seagulls alighted on the pavilion or boardwalk railings while stealing a glance to see if I cared to share some breakfast with them.
Mallards lined up orderly on a log while preening or snoozing …
… and one duck alternately dabbled and paddled nearby.
There was nothing much to see here, but the spider webs on the “No Fishing” sign.
But it was an idyllic setting. A fisherman cut his motor off and dropped a line.
Suddenly, the ducks plopped off the log into the water and sped toward, then beneath the pavilion – what in the world? The seagulls likewise exited the sky. So what was up?
Mystified, I shaded my eyes from the bright sun and looked out onto the water – nothing amiss there. I decided to walk down the boardwalk. When I whirled around, I had my answer why everyone left in a hurry: a Red-Tailed Hawk! How long had it been lurking up there and why didn’t I turn around sooner as it was looming large in the tree right behind where I was standing?!?!
That Hawk’s appearance sure explained the absence of ducks and seagulls. After we checked each other out, Mr. Hawk left.
The early bird catches the worm.
Evidently there had already been some fisherpersons lurking about, as I saw several containers of night crawlers along the boardwalk.
I stopped this gentleman to peer into his bucket of fish and he had just landed one, so I asked him to pose with it. I learned it was a Wide-Mouthed Bass in case you fish aficionados out there wanted to know.
Well, nothing much was happenin’ on the Boardwalk either, save for a heron that blitzed by me, shrieking its head off …
… as if I was tormenting it. I wondered if Mr. Hawk would tangle with Mr. Heron and decided the latter was safe and did not need me running interference for it.
Along the way to the Marina.
Since photo pickin’s were slim at Dingell Park, I decided to walk to the River’s Edge Marina, about a half-mile away. In the past, I used to walk from home, down Emmons Boulevard, across the double set of railroad tracks, then I’d stop at the Marina before returning home. That was a nice, four-mile jaunt to a picturesque place, where the rowing club usually pushed off early Saturday morning and sometimes, if I was lucky, I’d see the train crossing in the background, its boxcars gaily decorated with graffiti which reflected nicely on the calm water. It was a trip I made almost all year around, but usually on the weekend, in case I got stopped by a long train. After I discovered Council Point Park in 2013, the trips here were few and far between. The boardwalk stretches along the Detroit River at Jefferson Avenue.
This dock looks a little desolate.
I wondered if there was a boating incident/death when I saw this memorial.
The reflections were great, but the train was nowhere to be seen in this scene.
It was serene, the water very calm, with no boaters, rowers … not even a single duck had ventured out. I returned to Dingell Park, taking a photo of the pavilion area as I walked toward it.
It wasn’t the longest walk I’ve been on in Summer when I can leave earlier and get in extra steps – I went three miles. I could afford to be generous and give myself some slack regarding my lack of steps since it was only June. (I hope I don’t get to the last days of 2021 and then be missing a couple of miles which I could have done that day.)
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
I enjoyed your jaunt, as always. You were really close to that hawk, weren’t you?
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Thank you Anne – glad you enjoyed it. I was right beneath the tree and couldn’t believe it. I never thought to look up. I was excited for getting that photo, then last month I had the same type of hawk sitting on the fence at the Park.
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Great!
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Nice leading lines in the photos, Linda! I sure hope that guy threw the bass back, it was too little to keep! You and hawks, maybe they are following you?! 😉 Glad you got to take a 3 mile jaunt, it was a beautiful blue sky kind of day. I’m sure you’ll get in all the miles you set as your goal for 2021.
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Thank you Shelley. Well he had other fish that weren’t too big in that fish bucket. I was at Council Point Park and watched the guy ice fishing and I could not believe how many fish he caught.
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You’re welcome. Hmm…maybe it’s different in MI? In WI we have specific measurements and if caught with a fish in your bucket that’s too small, you’ll be fined. Some people just have a knack for finding the best fishing holes!
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That’s interesting Shelley – I did ask him if he was keeping it and he said “yes” so maybe we don’t have such a law. I see a lot of “catch and release” fishermen (and women) along the Detroit River, with even bigger fish than this one.
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I can’t imagine cleaning small fish – it’s tough enough when they’re the legal size ;-)! But, I’m sure many people are more experienced at it than I am and fish is fun to eat!
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I guess if he caught enough, it would be worth his while but it was a small fish wasn’t it!
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Indeed!
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Wonderful shots Linda, I love seeing the boats at the piers, so colorful. Spider webs are every where right now.
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It is a small marina Shelley, but a great place to go for reflections if you go early enough in the morning. Oh yes – those spiders that I’m afraid of and so easy to walk into a big web – ugh!
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We use fish that size as bait out here. One of my Eagle friends wouldn’t get off their perch for something so small.
Your walking regime is coming along nicely!
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He might have been making a fish stew so it didn’t matter? A lot of people fish for sport and toss them back.
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When wildlife scurries there is usually a predator around. I find my birdfeeders empty when one is in the area!
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Yes – the predators move in quickly and the squirrels give their warning cries to one another from the treetops and the Blue Jays shriek even more than usual as they alert their brethren. I do hate those hawks – it has put a pall on the Park this Summer for sure.
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What a nice morning walk Linda! Glad you took us along….I think I could get up and walk early in the mornings if I had something scenic to look at like you do.
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Glad you liked it Joni and I wish you could tag along with me. All too soon, this River venue will be covered in ice and people will flock to the pavilion to get pictures of the eagles flying down to the ice floes to fish. I am lucky there are so many local parks to visit and this one is just a stone’s throw away from Council Point Park.
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I can’t think of any city which has as many scenic parks as you guys do – it’s a credit to whoever in the past thought ahead to when we would be valuing green space! A beautiful day to take pots down today…..going outside.
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Yes, we are lucky in that regard and if I didn’t mind driving on the expressway, there would be many more parks to go explore. It has been a beautiful weather week and I’m sorry to see it end this weekend when we get rain both days late in the day. I took everything in/down two weeks ago when they were predicting last week’s two-day siege of rain. I have not turned the water off yet (just in case).
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I changed my mind and didn’t take anything down – everything still looked so good that I decided to leave it awhile longer…..I hope I don’t regret that some chilly day.
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I just took everything in as it was such an abysmal Summer that I was sick of looking at it, but my garden is nothing like yours. It is only real flowers in the backyard. Your garden is beautiful so it would be a shame to take it apart too soon. I took in the hummingbird feeders – Hope had not been there in months, then she showed up about three weeks ago. Put back out one feeder but didn’t see her back. The hummingbirds are migrating south – them and the butterflies are now gone until next Spring. I hate wrangling with the hose once it gets cold, so I dealt with it early this year.
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I did take down the more bedraggled looking pots, as they had way too much rain and were looking yellowish, and even though we haven’t had any frost they looked like they had. Just left the tropical stuff, as it is still very nice. Hopefully we have some nice weather ahead.
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Well I heard we were to have a warm October, so you may have the tropicals around for a while, so good thing you left them. I see beautiful mums in the neighborhood, perfectly shaped, in planters or in harvest arrangements mostly – I just didn’t have the knack for mums.
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PS. you must be enjoying walking in this cooler weather! Do you think you will meet your goal?
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I have liked the cooler weather Joni – unfortunately I had the furnace company out twice this week for furnace issues. I actually had a furnace tune-up scheduled for one day, but it started shutting itself down so I contacted them and they investigated. Yesterday they re-vented the furnace. I hope this will cure its ails. I did walk the other days though and this morning before errands. I think I will meet my goal if the weather is nice in October – I have had some Octobers where there was frost and/or black ice making it dicey, even snow. The sun is getting up too late and cutting into my walking time. I hope I am not squeaking in at year end!
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Hard to believe these morning walks were over three months ago, Linda. Where did summer go? Here in Colorado, the heat we complained about a good chunk of the summer here is about to subside. Tomorrow we drop into the ’60’s indefinitely. With October on the near horizon I’d say summer is in the rear-view mirror. Forecasters predict a La Nina pattern this winter, which means below-average temps and below-average moisture for us. Not sure how La Nina impacts Michigan and the Midwest? Maybe you’ll get more than your share of mild days so you can complete your mileage goal.
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I’m so behind in “reporting” on my Summer walks Dave because I went to just two posts a week. I’ve taken three trips to the Henry and Clara Ford Estate in Spring, Summer and Fall and have not written about that yet. I want to include some history about the beautiful gardens Henry Ford had designed for his wife … that will be a Winter project I guess. We had 72 degrees today but it was a fluke and normal weather will return tomorrow. La Nina is supposed to cause SE Michigan to have a snowier-than-usual Winter. I know I need to get cracking to rack up the miles in October and early November.
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I wonder why the dearth in avian diversity that day? I mean before Mr. Hawk intruded, of course. The mains looks rather tidy. Funny no one about in the early morning – must have been really early!
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It was really early Eilene, but after daylight. I’ve been down there in all seasons and usually there are seagulls galore. I once took a picture of a group of seagulls on the ice in a huddle as it was so cold. You raise a good point that maybe Mr. Hawk had cruised by already. It was funny that I looked up and it stared at me so intently. First time to see a Hawk here.
This pavilion area is packed in February and March when the Detroit River freezes over. The local bald eagles go to Mud Island across from the pavilion and stay there all day, returning to their nests elsewhere at night.
They swoop down to the ice floe to catch fish. The photographers go there with long lenses to get up-close shots of the eagles.
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Dear Miss “Aficionado”…………………………..I did have to look up your new word………………………everything looked so serene back then in early June…………………
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Ann Marie – since you and Steven were avid fisherpersons, I figure you might have known it was a wide-mouth bass … but not me. I had to ask. Yes, it was a serene day, just beautiful and I went out the following two days and on that Friday was that first big flood of the Summer (6 inches of rain).
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You keep finding those hawks and the squirrels will get jealous! What a eerie sight that must have been with no birds flying around. Beautiful pictures Linda!
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Thanks Diane – that hawk must have terrified them. That pair of hawks at Council Point Park cruise around and the squirrels disappear and go to their trees. They sure make the smaller critters stop and take notice!
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You got some nice photos despite the lack of wildlife. A great shot of the hawk! Is there a shortage of trash cans in the area or are those fishermen too lazy to walk to one to dispose of their empty containers?
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That hawk was such a surprise Ruth and I was excited to see it so close-up so imagine my surprise at the Park a few weeks ago to have the same type of hawk sitting on the fence looking for squirrels. No, there are plenty of trash cans – amazing isn’t it? It happens at Council Point Park too as people fish in that Creek as well.
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Beautiful picture of that hawk!!! I love the way he is looking at you and the camera. The marina looks so serene, yet deserted, but I bet at other times it is bustling with activity. The water was so smooth. You’re lucky to have so many places you can walk when the weather is so pleasant. Hopefully your memories of June got you through the awful summer. Hope you make up any missing miles for 2021 before the snow flies!
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Thanks Barbara. I thought the hawk looked a little gleeful that he had pulled a fast one over on me as here I was looking out on the water to see if I could see anything and I could not. There really are a lot of nice places to walk that are really close. This photo was just a few days before that first big flood where we had the 6+ inches of rain and then the rain just kept on coming, often times torrential, the rest of the Summer. It was a forgettable Summer of 2021 – that is for sure!
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I wonder if any rainfall records were set for you guys this summer?
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We did set a rainfall record Barbara and we had been in moderate drought mode until the first torrential rain on June 25th where we got almost 7 inches. That became a state of disaster, plus we’ve had multiple torrential flooding events on expressways that nearly rivaled that first flooding disaster on June 25th. I heard we were going to hit 25 inches of rain by the first day of Fall and I’m sure we made it, then started the first two days of Fall with back-to-back torrential rain again!
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Great posted Linda. Did you see your hawk has a ring on his right leg?
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Thanks Andy – I went back and looked and no, I never noticed the ring on his right leg. Thanks for pointing it out to me. Too bad I had not zoomed in better as I might have been able to find out some info on it. I fumbled with the camera once I saw it and got only three pictures – one picking its feathers and not clear, this one and flying away so a little blurry. I really thought it seemed happy to have pulled a fast one on me!
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I think the only ones you could get details by picture would be the coloured rings. Some of our waders have coloured mixed rings you can see at a distance example -red & green 1 leg blue on the other. Then big birds like swan may have a coloured ring with big number. Metal rings like on your hawk would need to be netted or found if the bird is found diseased. One of the parent Kestrels’ I watched on the nest here was ringed expect done while she was a chick on the nest.
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That’s interesting Andy. I’d have never noticed and I went back to look at the hawk’s photo from Council Point Park – no band there. There are two juvenile hawks there and this was one of them. We mostly have the mute swans, in fact they are now considered invasive here in Michigan as they eat so many reeds that it is destroying the ecological balance for snails and crawfish that live on/amongst the reeds, so I doubt they would band them.
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So many hawk sightings?!! I can see why the birds are staying out of sight. I do not want to witness the natural food chain process.
Great pictures of the dock, birds, and fishermen!
Have a great weekend and happy explorations…
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Thank you Esther – same to you. I shudder when I think of what goes on when I’m not there. I have not seen any hawks in three days thankfully – my fingers are crossed, hoping that they are migrating, so leaving the area soon (for good would be perfect!)
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