• Thursday-What'sUP June 9 - 12:56 pm

Finding a nest full of baby robins here UP North, is exciting in itself, but catching them on film is quite an accomplishment, especially with Mom in the picture too! Carl Schroeder is the man behind the lens, who stumbled upon these babies while they were calling out for someone to come feed them. Then he had the patience to sit there still enough, so that Mother Robin felt comfortable swooping in to feed her brood, giving Carl a great photo opportunity! Of course if you're a Michigander, Michiganian or Michiganer, you know this is our State Bird, but did you also know it's Wisconsin and Connecticut's State Bird too?

For all you early birds on July 1 at Pasty Fest in Calumet this year, Pasty Central will again be giving a free pasty to the first 500 attendees. The parade down Main Street Calumet begins at 10 am, and then the crew at the Pasty Central tent in Aggasiz Park will start serving at noon.

Can't make it to Pasty Fest this year? You can still take part in the "Pasty Poetry" contest announced today on the What'sUP page. Poet Laureate Captain Don Kilpela will give us his interpretive reading of the winners after lunch on July 1. You need not be present to win... but you'll sure wanta be!

A follow-up on yesterday's message about the Pasty Cam Calendar. The 2007 Pasty Cam Calendar will be a 10th anniversary edition. Once again, our members and visitors will decide which photos to include in the Pasty Cam calendar.

You can participate by voting on your all-time favorite photos from any year, that's eight years of Pasty Cam to choose from. All you need to do is find your favorites, cut and paste the link from your browser address bar, and send the links to 2007Calendar@pasty.com (please vote for no more than four).

We will compile the results and include your choices in the new 2007 Pasty Cam Color Calendar.

The voting deadline is June 15.

Where do you start? So many choices, so little time. You may want to start by browsing the Wallpaper of the Week (WOW) pages, which will provide weekly highlights back to 2001.

You could also use the "this week in years past" links right on the Pasty Cam page.

If you follow our "cam notes", you find day-by-day links to photos from the last three years.

Have a great day.

Dean Woodbeck, Pasty.NET

good morning - nice pic of a shaky nest

I love birds. Aren't they a marvel? We have bluebirds nesting and we watch them feed their young every day. Last year we saw 2 families of four or five in there. The one family we watched take their first flights. It was so cool. You could tell one of them wouldn't make it because he wasn't much of a flyer (ever see Land Before Time?). And sure enough, the very next day there was one lying on the ground. Can't be sure if he was the same one, but one would think so. Anyway, don't know who took these pictures but they sure are nice; nature at it's best.

Oh, sorry! When I first looked at these, Mary's post wasn't there. I guess Carl took them, and he sure did a great job. And no, I didn't know the robin was Wisconsin and Connecticut's state bird too. You learn something new every day on this site.

Mornin', birds are awake and chirping.

Ya know, I used to feed the birds until every morning when I went outside to the feeders they always called me "cheap"!!

Hahaha!
What on earth were you feeding them? : )

Ahh the venerable American Robin, Turdus migratorius. A precursor to spring weather indeed as she assidiously forages for salubrious sustenance for her progeny. Kudos on the fine shot.

Wheatman

Wheatman, You have to be an English Major.

Some robins built a nest over the boat in the carport. My husband will not move the boat until the young ones leave the nest. What an adorable softie - husband - not the birds - though they will be cuter when they get feathers.

Hi Mr. Wheatman!!!!

Beautiful day all in SW Michigan.

What awesome pictures. Truly amazing shots.

Glad to see you are back Mr. Wheatman.

Appearently some pretty good food Moi, they would clean my feeders dry in a half-day!! The birds we were always fascinated with at the feeders were the Redpolls. It was nothing to have 300-400 at one time in the winter. Only problem was, they liked the expensive food so we were constantly buying thistle seed, but we were also the only house on the block that had them.

I'm no bird expert, but it seems that the same Robin will come to the same nesting site year after year. Has anyone else noticed this?? The reason why I mention it is because we used to have a Robin with one eye come back to the same notch in the same cherry tree every year to have little ones......

Hey Mr. Wheatman! You're back! Glad to see you. I always enjoy
reading the words you write.

We should take note...
God gives every bird its food.....but He doesn't throw it into the nest.

Capt'n Paul, we have had a robin come back to the same nest that was built under our deck floor for about 5 or 6 years now. I'm sure it must be the same robin because she isn't freighten off anymore by us, our two Scotties or our Doberman Pinscher.

It looks like you had a nice sunny day today, the bridge cam is pretty. The robins are nice but the darn blackbirds that got into my soffit are NOT!!

Glad you are back Mr Wheatman.

Welcome back Mr. Wheatman! It's been far too long since we have heard from you.