Seney Wildlife Refuge

At Seney Wildlife Refuge, in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The duck blind in the background is for watching birds, not hunting....

Better large. Far better. The sky, shot through a pine, at Seney Wildlife Area in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

Another trailside flower from our visit to Seney National Wildlife Preserve in Upper Michigan. Yes, I am crazy about pink roses. Camera

A Blue Flag, spotted & captured by the nature trail at Seney Wildlife Preserve in Upper Michigan. Perhaps the prettiest iris I've ever seen. Credit where due: Joan spotted it first, and took a similar photo.

Growing on the edge of the parking lot at Seney Wildlife Refuge in Upper Michigan. Sorry, haven't got the slightest idea what it is.

Seney National Wildlife Refuge, Upper Michigan. Camera: Nikon D70

We saw Great Blue Herons, Ospreys, a young Sandhill Crane, an Eagle's nest (but no Eagle), Loons, and hundreds of more common birds. And some of the finest scenery anywhere under a glorious Michigan sky on a perfect day. DEET would have been helpful, though. The flies were outrageous.

Explored! #86 on Flickr on Saturday, July 14, 2007. Thanks! One of Michigan's treasures.. If you take M-28 across the Upper Peninsula, there's a long stretch of road along the edge of the Seney Wildlife Refuge. In the sixties, when I first vacationed in the UP, the trees were all scrubs, and quite frankly it was an ugly road, a super-straight highway through nowhere. Getting off the road to see the scenery just didn't seem like a worthwhile activity; better to hurry on to Tahquamenon, or Munising, or points west. We didn't know any better. On a June day in 2002, Joan and I found these fine skies, a handful of Sandhill Cranes, and many smaller birds. And an Osprey, patrolling low over one of the pretty pools. A final note: Forty years later, the trees have matured and M-28, though still generally judged to be dull, is far more interesting. There's still little clue about these nearby delights, though. Camera: Nikon N90s

At the Seney Wildlife Refuge in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.