Tagged: birds

Even as Mother Nature plays her own little cat & mouse game with us regarding whether or not spring has actually arrived, there is one unimpeachable source telling us that, despite the chilly temps and snow showers, spring is here.

No doubt you've heard the welcome sounds of birds chirping. That harbinger of warmer weather to come got us wondering: what's the State of the Michigan bird?

For those who may not know, the Michigan State Bird is the American Robin, which has been the official state bird declared by the Michigan Audubon Society since 1931.

Late last month, some of the state's top conservationists, biologists and professors came together for a statewide Michigan bird conference.

If we're lucky, we can catch a glimpse of a migrating bird or two as they pick their way north, but most pass over without us ever knowing.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology describes it this way in their Round Robin blog:

An invisible river of animals, rivaling any scene from the Serengeti but consisting of half-ounce birds that pass quietly overhead, in the dark.

Every spring, instinct tells the ruby-throated hummingbird to head from Mexico to northern states, including Michigan. But experts say it’s making that trip earlier than ever.  That early migration could be a sign of trouble for the tiny powerhouse of the avian world. 

During the presidential debate the other night I joked that Mitt Romney seems to have a problem with birds. The only memorable moment from the first debate was when he famously brought up Sesame Street’s Big Bird. Legends take on a life of their own, and most people now seem to think the candidate said he was going to “fire” Big Bird. In fact, what Romney really said was that he was, quote “Gonna stop the subsidy to PBS,” something he said he was sorry about because, as he put it, “I like Big Bird.“

Everyone loves a comeback story, and this is a good one. Just 13 years ago, there was only one osprey nest in southern Michigan. Today, there are at least 49.

The large raptor, known as the “fish hawk,” began disappearing from the Great Lakes region in step with increasing use of DDT and other pesticides. Scientists have found that these chemicals cause thinning in osprey eggshells.