One of our family holiday traditions is hiking the trails at Kensington Metropark Nature Center, near Milford in southeast Michigan.

In the past, when our son was younger and in grade school, we would hike on New Year’s Day.

Not a day when many people are out at the metroparks; we often had the trails to ourselves.

But since our son is an adult living a few hours away, he visits us for the Christmas holiday.

And leaves for home to spend New Year celebrations with his friends.

So we’ve moved out holiday hike to a day during the holidays when we can all get together. This year, our hike was the day after Christmas.

With temperatures in the mid-50’s Farenheit, it was a spring-like walk on the muddy trails to see Downy Woodpeckers, Black-capped Chickadees, Tufted Titmouse, Red-tailed Hawks, and the few remaining Sandhill Cranes near the water.

The trails were filled with people enjoying the unexpected warm weather; we met a family who excitedly told us they saw their first Bald Eagle in Michigan.

We left the trails as the sun was setting and managed to see the albino deer on the road out of the metropark. What a treat!

Happy holidays!