Some Statistics from the Hike

I allowed myself a complete rest day today. The most strenuous thing I did was to fill the birdbath. It's really interesting to me that not a single bird visited it for the first three years I put it out. After they finally began to visit, it was obvious that the word got around, and birds came looking for it earlier this season. And this was after it was never put out last year at all.

Now that I'm pretty much home for the summer to keep it filled, I'll enjoy the visitors. This is an Eastern Phoebe.

Now for some number crunching about the hike. I had originally hoped to finish in 365 days. That requires an average of 13.2 miles per day with no breaks. Or, as I hoped, 4815/15 mpd = 321 days, which would give me 44 days off. Seemed like enough.

Ha! Actual hiking days... it took me 408 days to walk the trail. That is an average per hiking day of 11.8 miles. That's a lot less than I was trying for.

I also took more days off than I had planned on, logistics, weather, the flu, car trouble, blah, blah.

There are some circumstances that changed, but the truth is that although I put in some long mileage days (for me) at 18 miles, and a lot at 15, the short days just dragged down the average. Even as of Nov 11, 2022, before the snow began to take a toll, my average was only 12.4 miles. The ice storm in Ohio gave me nine days of single digit mileages. I did two shorter days after I was sick in April, until I regained full strength. The Kek and the Border Route were accomplished with almost all single digit days.

There is no way I can hike far enough on enough days to make an average recover from hits like that.

And then, once it became clear that I wasn't going to be able to hike the western UP until at least May, probably June, it became less important to me to keep the miles close to 15. The completion date wasn't going to happen until I could do those miles in the Trap Hills, so I did back off a little. The hike was taking a big toll on my body.

Although I managed to hike an amazing portion of the UP in winter, a lot of that was accomplished with single digit days.

True confession time. When I came home for a seasonal break at the end of December, I was really beat up. Even I did not realize how tired I was until I got home. Basically, I could hardly move for two months, let alone try to stay in shape for the rest of the hike. I wondered if I'd done some long-lasting damage to my joints.

But, hey! Solvitur ambulando, hiking cures everything. Maybe just moderated a little. Since there was no point in hiking long mileage days with a completion date in June set in stone (snow), I altered the plan and did a lot of days with shorter mileages. You may remember that at the end of March, Bill and I were hunting hard for any piece of trail or roadwalk that we could even hike.

So now, I've finished all the miles, all on foot, every inch... just not quite as fast as I had hoped. I'm disappointed, but not overly so. Physically, I feel great. The body healed, and I honestly don't feel any older than when I started.

I was joking in November, when the Dec 1 goal was definitely out, that I had better finish before I got to be 75. But that didn't happen either.

We are pretty sure that I am the oldest person at time of completion to hike the NCT. I may be the first person to do it twice. This has not been verified as there is another person who did at least large portions of it twice. None of these "records" is why I hiked it again. I really just wanted to see how much things had changed and to share it day by day with people.

Tomorrow- I'll thank a lot of people who deserve huge orchids, kudos, and praise.

My rest day included an unusual daytime nap. I was in one of those strange, catatonic dreams where I was dreaming that I was dreaming, but I knew it and couldn't wake up or even move my body parts. I was sleepwalking somewhere in Europe with my friends Bill and Phil and Nan trying to wake me up and not being able to. I kept falling flat on my face but it never hurt. If I knew what this meant other than that I guess I was tired, I'd tell you. Haha! Make of it what you will.

See The Final Steps

Little Things

  Cathy and I went for a 5.5 mile hike today on the North Country Trail. It was hot and humid, but there was a pretty strong breeze that helped when it wasn't blowing dirt in our eyes.

This was a fun find. It's either Pig Ears fungus, or Fireplace Cup. It's dark for the pig ears, but the Fireplace Cup usually grows in burned soil, which this was not.

There was quite a lot of it. This is a sampling.

And the wind had brought down a lot of Oak Apple galls. All the ones we saw were smaller than usual.

I cut one open so Cathy could see inside. The structure is really easy to see when they are this small.

Were you wondering about the little things on my deck? Yup... proud papa mostly perches on a bracket, and mom stays busy.

In other news: I did some editing and odds and ends before hiking. But the 3 hours of sleep I got last night has about run out now.

North Country Trail miles for 2021 is at 317. Cathy is at 42.5

North Country Trail, Manistee County, MI, Hamilton Rd north 2.75 miles and back. Total 5.5 miles

See Oak Apple Gall See Mrs. Phoebe Gets Cozy

Real Spring?

  Despite chilly temperatures, perhaps real spring has arrived. The apple blossoms are opening.

And although I'm not a big fan of pink, there is always something about this mix of pale apple green and pink and white that is extraordinarily appealing.

Even though Mrs. Phoebe built a nest, I hadn't seen any evidence of a Mr. in the picture, and she wasn't sitting on the nest at all. However, now we have a family. This is a crummy picture, but she's very shy of me getting close enough to the window to use the camera. This at least proves she's sitting on eggs. The funny strap on the left is the electric wire.

In other news: Again, it's all other news. I did more bookkeeping. I edited all afternoon, and I had a meeting this evening.

See Mrs. Phoebe Gets Cozy

Mrs. Phoebe Gets Cozy

  This year, Mrs. Phoebe did more than visit the deck.

Why does she keep looking up?

Because she built a nest on top of the light box. No peeps emanating yet.

There was also a trip to Riverside Park for an interview. Spring is coming along nicely now! Compare to the same view in March at the link below.

In other news: Marie left early in the morning, and I went back to bed for a while. The trailer door did not leak. I chained myself to my computer and edited all day.

See Phoebe Rules the Back Yard See Hello River, My Old Friend

Phoebe Rules the Back Yard

 
It's interesting to see which birds lay claim to the open space I call my back yard. Earlier in the season a pair of kingbirds were letting everyone know it was their territory.

Now, there is a little Eastern Phoebe, Sayornis phoebe, telling the world she owns the space. They are both in the Tyrannidae family. That tyrant moniker fits. Kingbirds are rude and phoebes are cute but loud!

At any rate, I caught a fairly good picture.



She usually sits on the deck rail, or the empty bird feeder (we had to give it up because of the squirrels), or the bird bath, and was quite perturbed when I went out on the deck to try for a picture that wouldn't be through a dirty window. She chased between various trees, but I persevered and caught her with the camera. Only had to take 17 pictures to get 2 reasonably good ones. Thank goodness for digital!



In other news: I wrote all morning, and worked on a pet project that I'm not ready to share yet all afternoon. Didn't make much progress because I had to do a lot of recovery on it still due to last year's computer crash.

	See Phoebe
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The Local Critter Count

 
Here's some of the local (in back of my house) wildlife of the past week. Nothing new, although one of them did something new.

First up is a female widow skimmer dragonfly. I actually got really good pictures of both the female and male in 2011. So, if you want to see them better, follow the link below and click on the thumbnails.



Next, we'll do the plain old whitetail deer. Lots of them, but they do have a certain charm (until they eat all my plants).



The dead branches at the top of one of my aspen trees is a favorite spot of the birds. Today, a flicker took advantage of the perch.



Now it's back to the insect world. This one is a little creepy, but interesting. This is a bracken fern covered with rose chafer beetles. These are annoying brown beetles that will eat certain plant leaves so fast you can almost see things defoliate. They love roses, but also hollyhock and birch. Well, I guess they also like bracken. At least for mating. The ferns in this area were black with pairs of beetles. That's better than all over my rose bush. They don't bite, but they fly and they tickle when they land on you.



Finally, the oriole. Not that this is a great picture. It's not. But it's the solution to my mystery singer. For weeks, there has been a bird here singing twitter, twitter, cheep, cheep. Over and over and over. I could not identify it or find it. I asked real birder friends. I tried to record the sound (with no success). At long last, yesterday, I heard the singer, saw it fly to the aspen, shot a picture and wow. It's the oriole! This is the first time one has ever stayed to nest around my house. I hope I can find the nest this fall to show you.

He wasn't doing a typical song for an oriole, but they are highly variable. I did find a similar one on youtube, so I'm really sure it's my mystery bird.



Saw two sandhill cranes today too. The bird I have not seen or heard this year is the meadowlark. Seems odd. They have always been dependable regular visitors.

In other news: I did some things for the Writers' Rendezvous and wrote two chapters in The Bigg Boss. Also made more rhubarb granola. This batch has more rhubarb, and I like it. I have a trip coming up. Not far away, but I'll be gone nearly a week. I think I'll be able to blog though. Stay tuned.

	See Widow Skimmers See Northern Flicker
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Bird Talk

 
I'm really happy about my bird story for the day, but it's not first in the lineup because the picture that goes with it is crappy. So I'll do the stories chronologically.

First is a vireo nest. I found it the other day at Magoon Creek. I had encountered one last year and was stumped. It looks like a tiny oriole nest the way it hangs from a fork in the branches. But much too small for an oriole. So I looked it up then, and this time I knew what I was seeing. I don't think it's this year's, because there was no bird hanging around, but I could be wrong.



Next is a brown thrasher. There is usually one nesting somewhere near our house, but I think this one might be checking out the forsythia bush right in the front yard. It was there yesterday, and again today, so I ran for the camera. This isn't the forsythia (stupid autumn olive), but it didn't go far away. We'll see if it's back again tomorrow.

The baby thrasher that Maggie and I found a few years ago wasn't much farther away, but not right by the driveway.



Now for the best! Remember my lament about the bird bath that the birds never use? Well, I like lost causes and improbabilities, so I put it out again this year. I had added a rock in the middle thinking maybe the birds didn't like the smooth ceramic edge to sit on.

Also, remember the phoebe bookends that would come sit on the two empty bird feeders last year? They came back this spring. Do pheobes mate for life? I have no idea, but I'm guessing at least one of them is the same. So, they've been sitting there, one or two at a time. I suspect the nest is back in the aspen grove.

Last night, when it was still so hot, one of them dipped down to the birdbath and sat on the ceramic bird. I guess that means they aren't scared off by those fakes. Then it took a drink! No chance of a picture.

Today, one of them has gotten a drink five times that I saw. And I've been sitting around with the camera hoping to catch it. I know it's not much of a shot- through the window and screen, and I only caught it sitting on the edge (not the rock- so I guess they don't care), not actually drinking.

But I feel awesome to give the birdies a place to get water on a hot, hot day! I hope others will figure it out. Oddly enough, a few days ago there was a robin on the deck rail, and then a pair of mourning doves. I'd never seen either of those birds on the deck.



In other news: I did book sales accounting, wrote half a chapter in The Bigg Boss, and then wrote my monthly newspaper column. Took a short walk early before it got too hot. Might go out again now. It's cooling a bit- below 80 anyway. Reading another book- about as energetic as I feel at 90 degrees.

	See Bird Bookends See Baby Brown Thrasher
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Bird Bookends

 
This has been the view out one of the windows to the deck quite regularly for the past two weeks. It's a pair of phoebes that have a nest somewhere out in the aspen grove.



They come and sit on the empty birdfeeders like bookends around the unused bird bath. It's like a bad joke.

I've tried to get better pictures, but they are so nervous they won't come near the deck at all if I sit outside, and they don't sit still anywhere longer than a few seconds. This is the best I got, through a window. You can almost sense the wariness.



Still, I'm glad to have their company.

I added a rock to the center of the birdbath in case it was the smooth edges the birds don't like. Nothing doing. No feathered creature has been near it. I wonder if the ceramic birds on the rim scare them off.



Look who's in one of the dead aspen branches. A cedar waxwing! They don't usually show up until the mulberries are ripe.

	See Phoebe See Two Birdbaths, No Birds
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Wildlife on a Walk

 
Om and I took a little walk today at a park in Ludington. It didn't warm up as much as the weather people predicted, but some of the wildlife was acting spring-like.

There were a lot of squirrels running around. This one was playing tag with a black one. Maybe the black one wanted the nut the gray one was carrying around.



Not that squirrels or ducks are anything special, but the mallard male was looking very colorful today.



This was a nice find! I thought it was an Eastern Phoebe, but when I got home and double checked in the bird book, the white bars on the wings seem to indicate it's a Wood PeeWee. I'd usually doubt seeing one of those out in the open sitting on a cattail. They are commonly heard in the woods (they say "pee-o-wee") and not seen. However, it is spring, and birds are on the move. The Phoebes sure don't have those white bars.



Finally, these koi were in a landscape pond. I would think it's really cold to put them out, but I don't know much about fish. They were also in a very small pond. But they were pretty. I like the gray one with yellow spots.



Supposed to rain all week. That should green things up, but might curtail the walking.

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Phoebe

I was sitting at my desk this morning when I heard a bird out on the deck. I knew just what it was, but wondered if I'd be able to get any pictures. This is a little bird that says its name, Phoebe.



If you are at all familiar with the northeastern birds you know that the little chickadees also say "Phoebe." But once you know the secret, you'll never mix up the sounds. The chickadee almost whistles the word; it's very clear and smooth.

The eastern Phoebe says "Phoebe," but it's a harsh, raspy voice, like the bird has a very bad sore throat.



Isn't it cute? The wind is not just ruffling its feathers, they really do have a tiny bit of a crest, like a flycatcher. I was also lucky enough to catch this behavior, which the bird book even mentions- it spreads it's tail to show off.

This one may be a juvenile since the wing bars show so clearly.



What was it showing off for? The next thing it did was to fly off with another Phoebe. Seems a little late in the season to me to be starting a new family, but they sure seemed to be romantically inclined- just teenage hormones?

I had to take the pictures through the window again, so they aren't as clear as I'd like.