Posts

Come join the fun at the 2013 Leelanau Peninsula Birding Festival, May 29-June 2. It’s nesting season in Leelanau where our fields and forests are full of bird songs and activity. For 2013 the festival is adding a bus trip to see Kirtland’s warbler with noted Kirtland’s specialist Jerry Weinrich. Jerry will lead guests to a special access site on Kirtland’s nesting grounds. As a bonus, Birdfest is arranging for the bus to journey just a short way north of the Kirtland’s warbler location to Hartwick Pines State Park for evening grosbeaks, and red-shouldered hawks. Check out the schedule of events for nine other popular field trips including Birding-By-Tall-Ship aboard the schooner Inland Seas and Birding-By-Ear at a new location, Teichner Preserve.

From staff reports Michigan’s coastline and habitat diversity have long been a draw to bird watchers and nature enthusiasts. Birders and eco-tourists spend millions each year in the enjoyment of their pursuits. Now, the Sleeping Bear Birding Trail, Michigan’s first birding trail, has been formed to connect exceptional birding areas and promote the area that […]

What’s the best-selling hardcover book in northern Michigan this year? Is it John Grisham’s Calico Kid or Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins? Surprise. It’s Chickadees At Night, a picture book for all ages by Empire author Bill O. Smith. According to Horizon Books in Traverse City, hundreds of these Chickadees have been flying off the shelves since the book’s release in late April. “People see it as an heirloom book,” says Jill Beauchamp of Horizon. “They are delighted by it and want to pass it along to their families.” Smith is quick to add that “it doesn’t hurt at all” that the illustrator is the gifted Traverse City watercolorist Charles R. Murphy.