As we have been traveling North from Evansville we have had the pleasure of following Spring!
During the eight weeks that we were home in March, April and just into May, we reveled in a classic Midwestern Spring: shockingly hot temperatures that brought buds, blooms, and bugs mixed with intermittent cold and rainy weather. I was able to put my garden in order, admiring early bloomers while prepping the beds and plants for summer. It was also a time of a few lucky sightings of migrating birds — Rose Breasted Grosbeaks, Warblers, Orioles, Tanagers, Thrushes, and Flycatchers all made a showing in our yard, some fleetingly but some stayed for a couple of weeks.
Our camping, hiking, and biking adventures these past 12 days beginning in Northern Indiana, in and out of Ohio, then in and out and back in to Michigan have allowed us to marvel at Spring’s gentle reveal the farther North we travel. I am writing today (well, I started this blog post yesterday!) from what will be our farthest most northernly location of this trip — Tawas Point on Lake Huron. To our amazement, many trees in this magnificent forest and marshland are just now beginning to show signs of awakening from their winter slumber while some of the trees and bushes have brand new buds or fresh green leaves.
We’ve had some of our best birding yet, here at Tawas Point! Being on a peninsula, surrounded by the lake, marshes, and forests, zillions of migrating birds stop here on their way further north to fatten up — much like at Magee Marsh — but the bugs here are impressive in their abundance, keeping the birds well fed. Some birds choose this area as their nesting grounds, such as these adorable House Wrens who are cavity nesters or the Baltimore Oriole, who wove this magnificent sack nest.
Yesterday temperature of 72 was twenty degrees higher than the average for this time of year! The good news is that we were able to ride 20 miles in short sleeves and bike shorts! The other news is that the warmer it becomes, the more bug hatches there are…this morning on our walk we were enveloped in swarms of midges; thankfully, they do not bite but they do get into eyeballs, ears, nostrils, and mouths. Sigh. A small price to pay I suppose for the birds having so much to eat!
