Traverse City Record-Eagle

On the Wing: Small gull makes big splash
One morning last month, I was in the barber chair at Shear Pleasure in Northport when a call came in from my husband. He called to tell me that Annette Deibel said there were flocks of what she thought were Bonaparte's gulls in front of her home.
On the Wing: Pileated woodpeckers
Three weeks ago, a message in my e-mail inbox had a picture of a dead tree attached. The tree was riddled with deep, elongated holes. Her message was short, "What is doing this?"
On the Wing: Crane finds Michigan
At one time, whooping cranes were once scattered throughout a wide range, extending from central Canada south to Mexico and from Utah to the Atlantic coast.
On the Wing: Rio Grande attracts friends
Ten years ago, an assignment to write about the great kiskadee sent me to the Rio Grande Valley to find my favorite south Texas bird. The Fourth International Partners-in-Flight Conference took me back to the valley this year.
On the Wing: Surprise at treatment pond
When my husband and I were visiting our San Diego friends Mike and Ellene Gibbs, we discussed the possibility of meeting in Tucson next year for a bit of birding. I said we would take them to the sewage treatment ponds. Ellene responded dryly that the suggestion sounded exciting.
On the Wing: 'Home' is where the wildlife is
A little more than a week after my review of his book appeared in this space, I had the good fortune to spend a day birding with Douglas Tallamy. His book, "Bringing Nature Home," provides a wonderful template for ways each of us can help those birds whose populations are declining.
On the Wing: Native plants provide 'Home'
Last month, on the day that my niece got married, I helped her -- along with her mother, her aunt and her elegant satin dress -- into the limo that would shuttle them off to church. Then, with less than an hour to get ready myself, I picked up my new book and began to reread a favorite passage.
Bobolink is melodic 'rowdy of the meadow'
In the middle of the 19th century, Emily Dickinson paid homage to bobolinks in her poems. She equated the bird's melodic morning song with the dawning of the day -- and when the birds migrated in fall, she declared that the "rowdy of the meadow" was gone. This beautiful member of the blackbird family is particularly close to my own heart, and was the species I most hoped would come to nest when my husband and I bought the property that is now Charter Sanctuary.
Kay Charter: Birding from the Capitol Limited
Late August found me again traveling on Amtrak, this time aboard the Capitol Limited bound for Washington, D.C. Several invitations to present programs on bird conservation from nature centers in New England was the reason for the trip, and I used the opportunity to spend Labor Day Weekend in our nation's capital, where I was able to bird with Greg Butcher.
On the Wing: Habitats face varied threats
While it may not seem plausible, the use of cypress mulch in gardens, a cormorant population explosion in the Great Lakes and "beach grooming" have a great deal in common. All three, in fact, result in significant habitat destruction.