Manistee Audubon Sanctuary - today's beauty

This afternoon, my sisters and I went to the Lake Bluff Bird Sanctuary in Manistee. I'm staying in the area in my sisters' cottage near Lake Michigan, and when I found out the Audubon Society had a wildlife sanctuary here, I was really happy.  

http://www.michiganaudubon.org/conservation/sanctuaries/index.html/title/lake-bluff-bird-sanctuary

http://www.michiganaudubon.org/about/chapters/chapters.html/title/manistee-audubon-society

And I still am.  It's beautiful there. 

 It was a lovely day for a walk - temperatures in the seventies, sunny, a slight breeze... just about perfect. 

We didn't see as many birds as I had hoped, but I saw two birds I'd never seen before. That is, I'm sure I saw many birds I'd never seen before, but two species I hadn't! Both are birds I had said I'd like to see at some point, but I wasn't thinking of them today. A nice surprise.

my first Cedar Waxwing sighting
I don't even think I'd heard of them till a couple of years ago.  I just didn't used to pay a bit of attention to birds.

The bird sanctuary goes all the way down to the water.

I'd love to see this one at some point. No ducks to be seen today.

beautiful Lake Michigan

my first Indigo Bunting!

Over the river and through the woods...

Here is an interesting plant:

Look at the seeds/berries/whatever they are in the middle.  Anyone know what this is? Maybe some kind of trillium? I really know nothing whatsoever about plants.

I'm sure some critter is having a wonderful time with this tree.  Any ideas here?

I love chickadees.

Now, any of you who know birds, I have a question for you.  I thought this next one was a Downy Woodpecker. Now I am looking at the photo, and I see that his red spot is on the top of his head instead of towards the back.  I'm confused. Nothing in the book I have with me in Michigan that quite matches.  

What kind of woodpecker is this?

This next one I'll just have to look up later.  Sparrow? Finch? Female Indigo Bunting? It will wait - it's getting late. Something to look forward to tomorrow. Among many, many other things.

I'm so grateful for this beauty and for the chance to share it with my sisters. Family sisters, in this case. God is so good.