On the last day of March the temperature got up into 80s and the sunshine was abundant. It was the perfect setting for my first walk of the year without wearing even a jacket. Two friends came by and the three of us headed down to the neighborhood creek for a little adventure.
Two days earlier Tim & I had explored a bit and found a few bluets making a tentative appearance. What a difference two days made! There were bluets everywhere, clump after clump at every turn on the path. And the leaves on the trees were starting to leaf out in earnest.
As we wandered up the path following the creek we soon encountered a challenge, a steep bank on one side of the path and the swiftly flowing creek on the other. And the narrow path became a stretch of jagged rocks. There was a discussion about how or if we should continue and then, one friend took the lead and proceeded, saying, “we can do this!” And so we followed, hugging the hill, practically crawling, grabbing saplings and roots for support.
When we finally got past the steep bank and had a flat place to stand my adrenaline was pumping and I was shaking like a leaf. But I turned around, and took a picture (above) of the route we had taken. We had started down near where that tree is lying across the water so some of the “path” we took was behind the curve…
Our reward was a chance to walk around on some flat land and enjoy seeing more spring flowers. We saw some stairs leading up to a neighborhood and decided that would be our way home, and we saw a little bridge over the creek, too. So we crossed over and walked some more. There are so many paths in this forest!
There were birds singing everywhere, but they were hard to spot. I probably wouldn’t have included the following blurry pictures but I had to share my newest life bird! Although I’ve heard phoebes calling before it was a delight to actually see one!
One of our most familiar eastern flycatchers, the Eastern Phoebe’s raspy “phoebe” call is a frequent sound around yards and farms in spring and summer. These brown-and-white songbirds sit upright and wag their tails from prominent, low perches. They typically place their mud-and-grass nests in protected nooks on bridges, barns, and houses, which adds to the species’ familiarity to humans. Hardy birds, Eastern Phoebes winter farther north than most other flycatchers and are one of the earliest returning migrants in spring.
~ All About Birds website
Retracing our steps to the bridge I was able to get a nice picture of it (above) from a little bank elevation. After crossing the bridge we climbed the stairs up to the road and walked home through the neighborhood. Tired and thirsty, but feeling wonderful!
Hi Barbara, it seems that this bird has humongous huge eyes – am I right??
Hi Leelah, its black eyes are hard to see and there is no eye ring, so they blend in with its almost black head and neck. I don’t think the eyes are particularly large, looking at other, better, pictures I’ve seen of them.
How wonderful to see that full-on spring has arrived for you. Bluets are one of my favorite spring flowers. As our woods get shadier, we have fewer around our property. Happy Spring!
Happy Spring, Eliza! The bluets do love those little sunny patches in the woods. Seeing them growing along a creek is new to me. Back home they grew abundantly in my mother’s sunny rock garden on the west side of the house, far away from the shady swamp in the woods.
I like those little bluets. Yea on another new bird for you, Barbara! And I’m very glad that the three of you made it around the bend; but grabbing saplings and roots are past my comfort zone!
I was way out of my comfort zone there, TD! I was so nervous about my footing and surprised by how much I was trembling when we got to flat land again. But the reward was more bluets to enjoy and a pretty woods filled with birdsongs!
That was a fun adventure for you and the girls Barbara. Those bluets are dainty – funny they have a different name there … Quaker ladies. I like the dwarf crested iris too. I have not seen a Phoebe before but had heard about how their call is so distinct, thus their name … kind of like a Chickadee. You are brave so close to the water. At the Ecorse Creek at Council Point Park, they will be widening the Creek beginning next week. They have a bulldozer which will go into the Creek, dredge it and then chomp off the shoreline area – I hate this. I walked around this morning and took some photos as I will mention it in a post. They put orange lines and surveyor ribbons and will be clearing that land … there surely are nesting geese there. I can never see to the shoreline except for two open spots, but you can never see goose nests, then suddenly goslings emerge. Plus the squirrel kits are born in mid-March to early April and dependent on their mother because their eyes are closed and are not weaned for six weeks. I worry for those critters and hope their nests/homes are not destroyed and with offspring in them.
It was quite a day! Tim & I turned around when we got to that spot along the creek but my friends are a lot more agile and flexible so it was a completely different walking experience. My camera was actually a hinderance as I kept trying to keep it from swinging and hitting the rocks. So one hand wasn’t as free as it could have been for grabbing onto to things.
That does seem odd that they would choose nesting season to dredge and widen the creek. Why are they widening it? The big debate around here is whether or not to pave some of the paths in the forest around the creek here. Some people want paved surfaces to ride their bikes and make them wheelchair accessible and others are worried that paving them will damage the natural balance. We’ll see what happens.
I can imagine your walk was a little daunting and it is always difficult trying to make sure you stay safe and the camera stays safe too while navigating a rigorous trail. Remember when I fell in the snowdrift and worried how I would get up with one hand/elbow/arm without wetting the camera? It was the height of COVID and the young fisherman offered to help me and I didn’t want to do that because of COVID, plus he is a catch-and-release fisherman and he kept pulling a lot of fish off the hook and throwing them back into the water. Thankfully it was the digital compact camera, but it took me a while to get up from the snow. (Pride first you know.)
I think it is wrong for them to do this during nesting season – they claim it is better for the health of the Creek to widen it and clear out the debris. It is disgusting what goes on with this Creek. People throw all kinds of garbage in there and not just food wrappers, etc. The City bought nice picnic tables and always had them chained to the pavilion area. The City Parks and Recreation Dpartment thought it would be nice to put a couple of new picnic tables around the Park. The one by the Creek was there one day, then the next day it was floating in the water along with the garbage can that was near it. They fished both out and left them there – amazingly, they are not chained and have stayed put. They have volunteers cleaning up the Creek three times each Summer by floating in their kayaks or canoes and grabbing debris with long hooks. The timing is wrong and they are going to be “shaving off” (for lack of a better description) a large portion of the shoreline, trees, bushes, earth. It will alter the area along the walking path as well … that does not bother me, but the effect on the wildlife sure does.
I agree that putting a paved path through a forest will damage the natural balance and the rustic appeal will be gone. As for bikes, there are likely many areas where the bicyclists can go – in our Metroparks, they have separate large trails, but no bikes allowed on the rustic trails. That makes sense to me. And, in some of the large Metroparks, they now have special wheelchairs which are rugged enough, with tracks on them which will move along a rugged trail. I would hope the person is with someone else because sometimes, no matter the season, those trails are muddy or covered with water.
I do remember your camera in the snowdrift incident, Linda! The predicaments we get ourselves into just trying to take a walk and get a few pictures — lol!
Litterbugs are such an intractable problem. I can’t understand how selfish some people can be and how oblivious they seem to be to the natural beauty surrounding them. And then to vandalize the picnic tables put there for them to enjoy. It defies all reason.
It must be so hard for you watching them severely alter the banks of your creek. I wonder if things like that happen around here — I hope not!
Separate trails for bikers makes sense. Once back in Connecticut we inadvertently found ourselves walking along a biking trail and had to keep darting out of the way as bicycles zipped by us. It took us a while to figure out what was going on. There were so signs! A biking website was the only place that explained what the trail was for.
You counseled me on getting the DVD “Yoga for Seniors” to make me more limber after you read that post and I promptly ordered it from Amazon and have not tried it. Once I get out in the yard, I’ll be somewhat limber and decluttering the house will make me limber as well, but I have some Winter 2024-2025 “me projects” and learning the yoga moves is one of them. I’ve not accomplished much in this last week, but the fire, AT&T data breach, the weather were all bad detractions and not conducive to doing much. Today was 76 – like a Summer day and I had errands and grocery shopping – the heat wore me out!
Since I ran errands, I just drove by the Park and the bulldozer/amphibious vehicle was still parked in the same place as it’s been the last week, so they didn’t start. We have rain three days coming up and I’m wondering if that’s why they didn’t start. I’m dreading going there and seeing the mess and how they will have chopped it up. The City’s website isn’t giving any updates. We are surrounded by construction projects, every place I go, so it’s going to be a long Summer getting around.
In Dearborn where I go to the Ford Estate and the Rouge Gateway trail, they have paved everything bright green just for bicyclists to go on. Otherwise, I can’t imagine how we would know it’s a bike lane and if they’re not paying attention we would be the ones who are hurt.
It’s good to hear you’ve got plans for yoga after getting your garden and home in order. Somehow I know you will never be sitting around, twiddling your thumbs, as my mother used to say. I guess that saying has been around since the mid-1800s. We need to keep moving!
It’s true, summer is the time for construction crews to get as much done as possible before the snow flies again. It does make getting around in the nice weather almost as challenging as it is to get around in the winter. I hope you find some quiet spots where you can enjoy the nicer, less humid days.
Bicycles reign supreme here. When there is no bike lane along the road we’re supposed to yield to them in the driving lane as if they were cars. When I studied the handbook to get my license these rules were really stressed. Sometimes we have to go very slowly behind a cycler because there is no space for them on the side of the road and no space to pass. We’re learning patience. It is nice to see so many healthy people riding their bikes everywhere, and so many parents out cycling with their children.
My mother used that expression too Barbara – I didn’t know it was originated in he mid-1800s. I likely won’t get any of my long-term hobbies started now until Winter – lots to be done first plus take advantage of good weather to walk/take photos, but now there is outside work also to be done.
I need to get moving in many ways as I’ve been sitting too long – it is not good for me, nor my knees as I am tall and I feel it as I get up/down from a chair.. Ten hours of sitting a day is not good, so a yoga routine will be good for me. I took ballet for several years as an adult. I was very limber then. And went out, even in the snow, after dark, to the ballet class. Those were the days I think I feared nothing.
That’s interesting you have so many cyclers. I hated taking my driver’s license written test and one of the tests I took awhile ago, they asked me questions about pulling a trailer or how to position a car seat – I did not know the correct answer because, as I told them, I did neither of those things. The examiner was not amused and handed me the “What Every Driver Must Know” to study for the next time I took the test. So now I spend a lot of time reviewing the book beforehand. The problem for me is that I pretty much go down the same side streets or main thoroughfares and encounter the same signals, etc. or road markings. People don’t know school bus rules … for me, I just don’t drive past any schools because the pick-up/drop-off zone is always congested and people are in a hurry. So I purposely don’t go that way. We had a group of bicyclists in an event to raise money for charity and someone veered off the road and knocked a few over – one was killed. It is no fun driving these days – I really don’t enjoy it.
I didn’t know you took ballet! That must have been wonderful exercise as I imagine it involves strength and flexibility. I hope yoga makes you feel as good as ballet did when you get to it. Or, almost as good — lol. Our bodies will never have as much of that young adult vitality no matter how much we keep moving. 😉 It’s true, I used to be more fearless about driving when I was younger and driving my kids everywhere in mom’s taxi. But as my reaction times and depth perception got worse and worse it has become nerve-wracking. I studied the DMV booklet thoroughly before my test but I still got some of the signs wrong. They passed me anyway — phew. Not that I’m using my license that much…
It was a fun class – Bertha Ray was the woman who taught it in her studio. She was bit quirky, but I was the only one in the class and I got to know her well. She also taught Hawaiian dancing (can’t imagine where you would use it though) and ballet for kids too. It did make me limber, all the bending to touch my toes, graceful moves, up on tiptoes and barre work. She retired many years ago. I took the bus for decades to downtown Detroit. The stop was at the end of my street and dropped me off right in the business district, then I came home and just crossed over two streets, so my car stayed in the garage and I never drove in ice or snow, except the first two years I went to community college, then I switched to Wayne State and went downtown. During college I could walk to work if I wanted to – it was five blocks away. There are too many aggressive drivers these days and I’ll get a blast of a horn or someone weaves in and out or cuts in front of me and that makes me nervous.
When my mom and I visited my grandmother in Toronto, we had to take several expressways and the last half hour of the trip, we would change expressways twice after leaving Highway 401 and there was much traffic congestion by the time we got to her house. We’d leave the house at 6:00 a.m. to avoid rush hour in Detroit … I couldn’t do it now. I was a nervous wreck if I got sandwiched between two semis and every time we went to Toronto, they had construction and would divert you a different way.
What fun the three of you had, I can hear you laughing and enjoying the adventure! Seeing the tiny wild flowers emerging in all their glory, hidden from the world, makes it even more special to see them. Another lifer, woot woot!!! Eastern Phoebes have just begun to show up in our region, it’s exciting to see them again. Sweet Downy too, I love those little ones. 🙂
Thank you, Donna!!! Sometimes I flip through The Crossley ID Guide you recommended to me and can’t believe how many birds I have yet to spot out there! It’s fun that they keep coming. 🙂 I’m surprised we still have lots of juncos here. I read that some in the Appalachian Mountains don’t migrate at all. We’re not in the mountains but I’m wondering if they plan to stay here all summer. Enjoy your phoebes!
Looks like a wonderful walk! Thanks for taking us along! I was staying at a really neat place – I hesitate to call it a bed and breakfast, it is really designed for fishermen, but beautifully done – called Legends on the Farmington in Barkhamsted, CT. It is right on the Farmington river. The area is known for fly fishing, and I was watching an eastern phoebe from the deck of my room. It was diving and zipping and catching flies. Quite the sight to see!
What a wonderful thing to see right from the deck of your room! Sounds like it was living up to its flycatcher family name. Plump little active aviator. It’s been years since I’ve been to northwestern Connecticut. As a child, weeks of Girl Scout camp in the summer and then hiking the Appalachian Trail on weekends as a teen. I remember how beautiful it is there, but I wasn’t paying attention to birds back then. 🙂
What a great adventure you had! ♡ The little Phoebe bird is so cute, and I notice it has a “fish” tail too. We have a black bird here, a ‘Spangled Drongo’, so not a very complimentary name, which also has a fish tail. They are cute, medium sized birds with a lovely call.
I looked up your spangled drongo, what a striking red eye it has and those iridescent feathers must be dazzling in the sunlight! The fish tail is very pronounced. I also looked up drongo to see why it wasn’t a complimentary name! I’m getting an education in Australian slang. 😉
Haha, yes, a drongo is usually someone who says or does something really silly!