Photo of the Week: Signs of Spring

purple bell-shaped blooms rise on long slender stalks from the leaf-covered ground.

With the extreme changes in weather we’ve had in southeast Michigan—from wind chills below zero followed by temperatures in the high-forties, all in the same week—you wonder if spring is ever going to arrive. But when you finally see the beautiful late-winter Lenten Rose (Helleborus orientalis) in bloom in the garden, you know spring is… Continue reading Photo of the Week: Signs of Spring

Photo of the Week: Wood Ducks are Back!

brightly colored white, red, and green male Wood Duck and his rather drab mate in her brownish plumage

You know spring has returned to southeast Michigan when you see the unmistakable Wood Ducks in the ponds of flooded harvested corn fields.

Wood Ducks are one of the first migrating waterfowl to return to southeast Michigan in late winter and early spring.

And there’s no way anyone can mistake the brilliant colors of the male Wood Duck with other waterfowl. Continue reading Photo of the Week: Wood Ducks are Back!