Jasper-Pulaski Fish & Wildlife Area

The Greater Sandhill Crane is an impressive bird with its red crown and six foot plus wingspan.  It is a bird hard to forget once you have heard the distinctive bugling call and see the elaborate courtship dancing it performs.  One of the best places to see and photograph Sandhills is at Jasper-Pulaski Fish and Wildlife Area near Medaryville, Indiana.  Each fall thousands of cranes stage here on their way to wintering grounds in Georgia and Florida.  Each morning and evening during the migration birders and non-birders alike gather at an observation deck to watch the cranes.  Photographers arrive early in the morning to get beautiful sun on the birds as they fly out to feed.  In the evening the birds are backlit and beautiful silhouettes are possible against the right sky.  My first night there I was hoping the clouds and rain would clear but unfortunately that didn't happen.  There was, however, a small clearing in the northwest sky which gave a small opportunity for somewhat different looking silhouette shots.  The next morning and evening were beautiful with very warm, comfortable conditions for November.

North Chagrin Reservation & Cuyahoga Valley National Park

North Chagrin Reservation is one of the premier locations in the country to photograph Wood Ducks.  Located near Cleveland, it is one of the city's great metroparks.  Every fall the foliage surrounding several ponds turn the water into brilliant shades of red, orange, and yellow.  Brilliantly plumaged male wood ducks perform for the hordes of nature photographers that have flocked to the park ever since its secret went out over the internet.  Normally wood ducks are extremely wary and difficult to photograph but here, at times, they appear to be ready to eat out of your hand.  It is obvious, despite the signs warning against it, that the ducks have learned bread and corn are easily obtained from the many humans enjoying the park. 

Cuyahoga Valley National Park
Cuyahoga Valley National Park (http://www.nps.gov/CUVA/index.htm) is one of the newest parks in the National Park System.  After a long grassroots campaign it became an official national park in 2000.  Lying between two major cities, Cleveland and Akron, its 33,000 acres offer much needed green space for urban inhabitants.  It is a unique park in many ways.  Parts of it were severely damaged by human action and are in various states of restoration.  Historically the valley has great significance.  The great Ohio & Erie Canal was completed in 1827 through the valley and helped open the region.  The "tow path" built two feet above the canals allowed draft animals to drag the boats through the system.  Today the residents of the area hike and bike along the restored tow path or ride the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad through the park. 

MONTEREY BAY & SAN FRANCISCO

September 22-29, 2009

MONTEREY BAY PELAGIC TRIPS

The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary is the premier destination for seabirding in North America. Its 5,300 square miles of open water dwarfs Yellowstone National Park and the deepest areas of the sanctuary double the depths of the Grand Canyon. It contains an underwater volcano whose slopes are covered with coral forests. Not only does it contain incredible variety of seabirds and other wildlife but it is very accessible year around due to the Santa Cruz Mountains which protect it from the prevailing northwest winds. On other coasts you have to travel a couple of hours to get to deep water that here you can be at in minutes.

An icon in pelagic birding is Deb Shearwater (http://www.shearwaterjourneys.com/) who has been leading tours for 35 years. I signed up for her September 24 trip. I knew from my research that seabirding is very "iffy" and signing up for three consecutive trips would give me a statistically much better chance of good weather and a lot of action. With limited time, however, and not knowing how my "sea legs" would react, and also being a raw beginner in recognizing sea birds, I gambled on one day. I lost. There had been a lot of fog offshore for a week and this trip was no different. In addition the boat was terribly crowded due to many participants from the Monterey Seabird Convention being held during this time. The back one third of the boat is the best location to see the most birds and this is where many birders planted themselves. There was mention of rotating spots but this was not very effective and I tried to roam the front half of the ship which was usually possible. If shooting conditions had been better I would have been more aggressive in moving to the back but given the fog and gray skies I simply enjoyed the trip knowing I would have to be back for another try.

SAN FRANCISCO AREA

Coyote Point Park is located where an Ohlone fishing village used to be.  Now it is a large complex of marina, golf course, beach, firing range, and wooded areas with constant jet traffic overhead from the nearby San Francisco International Airport.  The paths get a lot of use and birds are somewhat habituated to humans allowing close approach.  There are mud flats east of the marina which contained mixed flocks of shore birds along with a pond to the south where avocets, green herons, and a few ducks were approachable.  The birds on the mudflats were the most wary however as they were being harassed by dogs that their owners unleashed.  As usual low tide was best.

Black-bellied Plover                                             

Marbled
Godwit                                    

Black Oystercatcher

The Golden Gate Bridge

Being a loyal Michigander, one immediately begins to compare the the Golden Gate with the Mighty Mac.  Michigan definitely has the longer bridge when measured end to end but the distinctive color and beautiful setting make the Golden Gate a worthy competitor.  When everything is considered, however, I regretfully have to cast the winning vote for the Golden Gate.  I base this on the criteria of user friendliness.  On any nice day the people of San Francisco jog, walk, bike, or push baby strollers across San Francisco Bay enjoying the view and getting their exercise.  In Michigan only Labor Day gives us a taste of what San Franciscans can enjoy any day. 

Fisherman's Wharf and the Waterfront

Golden Gate Park

This large city park ranks as one of the finest  urban parks in the world.  It is larger than Central Park in New York and is for the most part man-made.  Built on leveled sand dunes it contains two museums (The De Young Museum and the California Academy of Sciences), about a dozen small lakes, specialty gardens, golf courses, wild areas, and of course, hippy hill.  On maps it stands out as a rectangular green area surrounded by concrete.  An aerial view makes it very easy to understand why a tired migrating bird would find it easy to descend into this area before crossing San Francisco Bay.  Thus it becomes a great "migrant trap" during spring and fall migrations as does any  significant green space surrounded by urban sprawl.  The boundaries are not subtle.  One moment you are dodging city traffic and the next you are surrounded by wild space.

Napa Valley

My impressions of wineries in the Napa and Sonoma areas northeast of San Francisco can be summed up in the image on the left.  Rolling hills of picturesque vineyards along with beautiful buildings and tasting rooms.  The quality of the california wines are legendary but when comparing tours, however, to lesser known wine growing areas such as the Traverse City or Fingerlakes regions I would prefer touring the lesser known wineries.  Napa seemed much more pretentious and expensive.  Stretch limousines delivered patrons door to door and traffic was horrendous even on weekdays.  All in all, the beautiful vistas in the finger lakes area along with a more laid back attitude made me forget Napa Valley as soon as I left it.

Filoli and Half-Moon Bay

Filoli (http://www.filoli.org/) is  a historical site spreading over 654 acres and including a 36,000 square foot 20th Centrury Georgian-inspired country house containing 43 rooms and 17 fireplaces.  Many people would recognize the house from the Dynasty t.v. series but many movies have also been shot here including "Heaven can Wait" with Warren Beatty, "Wedding Planner" with Jenifer Lopez, and "The Game" with Michael Douglas.  A 16 -acre formal European Style Garden surrounds the house. 

Half Moon Bay

A nice trip back to San Francisco following a tour of Filoli is to head west from Filoli to Highway 1 and head north.  A must stop is Sam's Chowder House (http://www.samschowderhouse.com/).  When Edie found out that the NBC's Today Show had named the Sam's Lobster Roll as one of "America's Top Five Sandwiches" she made the fastest menu decision I had ever seen.  After finishing it she said Al Roker was right.  After finishing your meal grab one of the wooden beach chairs outside with your favorite beer for one of the best ocean views around.  If you can't get there this week check out the live "Sam's Cam" on their web site.

Conneaut, Ohio

September 2009

Conneaut is a small harbor town on the shores of lake Erie near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border.

It has a spit of land that is used by water sports enthusiast but for birders and bird photographers it is well known for shorebirds during the spring and fall migrations. The most interesting bird images taken there are gotten using a "low down and dirty method". This technique gives bird's eye level photographs with beautiful backgrounds. Images taken this way seem to put the viewer in the flock as a member of it. The only problem for the photographer is that it requires crawling through the mud pushing expensive equipment in front of you. A bath in Lake Erie usually follows photo sessions.

Least Sandpiper

Semipalmated Plover

Red Knot

Wisconsin/U.P.

July 7

This trip was supposed to occur earlier but was postponed. While photography was not the main purpose of the trip, I did load the car with all the equipment just in case.

We took the mid-morning Lake Express from Muskegon to Milwaukee. The two hour plus trip was smooth and uneventful. Upon arriving in Wisconsin we discovered all the needed information for the trip was left home. This consisted mostly of addresses of places we wanted to visit. These addresses were to be put into the GPS (methods of navigating have sure changed from pre-Tomtom days.) We pulled over, hauled out the laptop, and soon had the missing info. Our first stop was for German food in the Old World 3rd Street area. We began at the famous sausage maker, Usingers. We were hoping to eat there but they only operate a retail shop where one can buy and have their products shipped anywhere. We walked across the street to Mader's, which was established in 1902, and is still run by the same family. Since their website boasted that they are often voted "America's finest German restaurant", they had a lot to prove. I ordered the Bavarian platter which promised three kinds of Usinger meats while Edie had the traditional weiner schnitzel. Both were excellent. As I ate, I could see Usinger trucks, with their mischevious elves painted on the side, pulling out of their complex filled with meat.

Our second stop was the small Lakeside Brewery. If you don't like the large corporate tours, this is definitely the tour for you. They let you start drinking as soon as you get there. For $6 you get a plastic cup and four beer tokens. You can exchange the plastic cup for a beer mug at the end of the tour. This seemed to be a very popular tour for the twenty somethings as we looked to be the only ones in the room over thirty. The tour leader was a former owner who had been bought out by his brother and appeared to be intoxicated. The tour was folksy, humorous, low budget, and at times somewhat cheesy but nobody seemed to mind as they swilled their beer throughtout the tour. We were told that the big breweries spill more beer in one shift then they can make in an entire year.

Our third stop was the Boerner Botanical Gardens. We had the place pretty much to ourselves. The peony show was completely finished and the rose garden seemed to be in transition but the herb garden and bibical plant area was very extensive.

We debated on visiting the Harley Davidson Museum, but since it was 7pm Michigan time and being old and feeble, decided we were tired and ready for the "Stagecoach Inn", a bed and breakfast in Cedarburg.

July 8
We slept in, went down for breakfast, and then shopped Cedarburg's stores in the morning. We made it to Cedar Creek Winery at the north end of town a little before noon and were able to sneak under the deadline for their tour. The limestone winery building originally started out as a woolen mill in the 1860's. The highlight was a demonstration on how a person could crawl thru a tiny hole to enter the 2000 gallon wooden wine barrel when it needed cleaning. A wonderful experience for claustrophobic individuals. The tour leader was especially informative on the etiquette of ordering, tasting, and evaluating wines.
We had lunch at the Anvil. The $3.50 seafood chowder was outstanding and turned out to be the best value of the day.

We traveled to Mayville and arrived at the Audubon Hotel mid afternoon. This hotel, restaurant, and bar is a must stop for anyone interested in birds. It was originally built as the Hotel Beaumont in 1896. It had its ups and downs over the years but eventually became a "flophouse with biker bar". The town merchants decided that they had to present a better image and in 1985 a Chicago businessman put three million dollars (a half million in woodwork alone) into renovation. The rooms are large with whirlpool baths and four poster beds. The dining room has John James Audubon prints and beautiful stained glass art windows with various birds featured. Listed as one of the 100 finest restaurants in Wisconsin we expected fantastic food but unfortunately were somewhat disappointed. The bar next to it has been called the most beautiful bar in Wisconsin because of all the glass etchings, stained windows, and glass ceiling.

We took a late scouting trip to Horicon Marsh, the largest freshwater cattail marsh in the United States, and got decent shots of snipe and virginia rail. There were a lot of black fuzzy rail babies, and also coot. Least bitterns, black terns, yellowlegs, and night herons were also present.

July 9

I got up early and drove to Horicon and had the place to myself for the first two hours. The numbers of birds here was staggering in places. Most of the birds are tight into the cattails, but where openings appear you get an idea of just how important this area is to wildlife.

I returned to the hotel around ten. Edie had scouted out the shops and reported there wasn't much in town. We drove south to the town of Horicon but their mainstreet was all torn up so we decided to pack up and drive into Door County. We arrived at the "Landing" in Egg Harbor where we spent the next two nights.

July 10

We spend the entire day exploring. At noon we ended up in Bailey's Harbor and stumbled into a folk music concert which was part of the weekend festival that the county holds yearly. Three bands played Balkan, Scandanavian, and Irish tunes while local enthusiasts danced. Needless to say, we were not familiar with the tunes and although I encouraged Edie to dance she declined. In the evening we attended the traditional fish boil.

July 11

After breakfast we drove leisurely towards Green Bay and into the Upper Peninsula stopping along the way for Wisconsin cheese and bird feeders which Edie had to have. We ended up in Mackinaw city for fudge and then decided that we had spent very little time on the east side of the state so we headed to Roger's City for the night. That was probably a mistake since not much was happening around there.

July 12

Slept in, ate breakfast and made a executive decision to head for home.