By CONNIE THOMPSON Special Contributor to EUP News Last Friday and Saturday on August 3rd and 4th, downtown Sault Ste. Marie was chock full of people. The inaugural Sidewalk Sales/Sault Ships Sailabration kicked off with an amazing array of events to attend, food to sample, and items to shop. Approximately 40 vendors filled closed-off Ashmun Street and offered everything from [...]

By CONNIE THOMPSON Special Contributor to EUP News There was quite a bit of bird activity in July this year. Many of the nestlings have become fledglings and are out on their own by now. The only exception may be the goldfinches, which are only now starting to raise their young – in coordination with the thistle plant blooming as [...]

By CONNIE THOMPSON Special Contributor to EUP News Birds, birds, birds – they were everywhere in June! Birds singing in their territories, fledglings singing and begging to be fed, nestlings everywhere popping out of their eggs – how exciting! Our nesting box with the camera in it (that was given to us by Bill Beaudoin) was successful again this year. [...]

Michigan in May was a wonderful, beautiful sight. The birds were everywhere! We have a black-and-white camera mounted in a nest box beside our garage and we are able to monitor the interior of the box. We watched as a tree swallow pair built a nest of grasses, lined with various feathers. Then they laid an egg a day for [...]

I have always loved April – it is a month of transition and change. There is also wonder, because you never know what you are going to see. Some of the recently arrivals that we saw last month include tree swallows, chipping sparrows, evening grosbeaks, ruby-crowned kinglets, sapsuckers, turkey vultures, osprey, and hawks of all kinds including harriers, kestrels and [...]

By Connie Thompson Special Contributor to the EUP News I’ve always loved March because of the changes that it brings. While winter is still exercising its muscle, the hint of spring is in the air and summer feels like it is just over the horizon. It’s hard to describe the ecstacy that I feel when I hear sandhill cranes hollering [...]

By CONNIE THOMPSON (bbirder@hughes.net) EUPNews.com Contributor Birding In The EUP EASTERN UPPER PENINSULA – August is now over and it seems that summer has vanished with it. Gone are all our beautifully colored summer birds, with the exception of the goldfinches and the hummingbirds, of course. Instead we have drab fall birds left – sparrows of all kinds, starlings and [...]

By CONNIE THOMPSON (bbirder@hughes.net) Special to EUPNews.com EASTERN UPPER PENINSULA – Birds were coming and going like crazy in July. Most of the smaller birds have already raised their broods and they’ve flown the coop. Chickadees, purple finches, tree swallows, robins, and mourning doves all appear to be done with the nesting thing this year.