County Parks Tour (part 1)

With the advent of real spring weather comes a decline in average birding success rates. What I mean by that, of course, is that gray, rainy days and thickly leaved trees make it hard to see the birds, and almost impossible to get pictures. On the other hand, though, hiking itself is more enjoyable in a greener environment, and the wild flowers are really starting to spring open everywhere.

Last year we made a goal for ourselves to hike every single county park and preserve in Washtenaw over the course of the summer. It's a big undertaking, with over thirty sites to visit, and with so many travel plans last year we never quite reached that goal. So this year we're going to try again. We've got a map and a checklist and we're methodically crossing them off, one park at a time. If we can visit at least two parks a week, we should be good to go, and we're off to a good start.

At each park we make a record of the date, time, and duration of the visit, and the weather conditions; we note the size of the park, and describe its basic terrain and type of ecosystem or habitat; finally, we make note of all the species we see there (that we can positively identify). This week we visited two parks in the Northeast corner of the county. The day of our visit was cold and dark, but at least it was dry, and we had a good time. We spotted a variety of birds, including a turkey that was trying to hide in the grass, and identified evidence of a variety of nocturnal or crepuscular mammals. We also added wildflowers and trees to our species lists.

Tom A. Freeman Preserve

Ruby-throated Hummingbird, female

Eastern Wood-pewee

Wild Turkey, female

Indigo Bunting

Raymond F. Goodrich Preserve

House Wren

Gray Catbird

We also made a foray into a new township preserve in our area. The trails are not yet well developed, but it's a beautiful hidden spot with lots of wet areas and islands to explore. The best part of the hike, aside from the fact that we got to do it as a whole family, was our encounter with a Wood Thrush. I've wanted to see one for as long as I can remember. They have a beautiful, almost haunting call that sounds a little like water, and it echoes through the woods even while the vocalist remains well hidden, usually on the forest floor. On this hike, though, we could hear that he was close. To verify that I had identified the call right, I got out my phone and played it on my Audubon app. Not only was it the right call, but our friend in the woods answered. We had a short conversation after that, with him getting a little closer every time I played his tune and he'd answered. Finally he hopped out of the woods and onto a branch. He only stayed long enough to figure out he'd been duped and shoot me a disapproving glance, but that was just enough time for me to get the good look we'd been waiting for, and for me to snap a quick (and thus blurry) photo to share.

Wood Thrush

Tuppence a bag...

We don't do a lot of birding in the winter. Although it's a good time to spy birds in the bare trees or bribe them closer with seeds while other food sources are limited, I don't last long in the cold, and we've had some pretty cold winter days as of late. Mostly we're waiting for the spring migration before we get out with our bird lists, field guides, and cameras, but some of our homeschooling friends invited us to join them at Kensington Park when it was relatively warm yesterday. Kensington is a top birding spot in southeast Michigan, and in the winter it's a great place to get up close and personal with a variety of songbirds that have become inured to hand feeding over the years. They are still completely wild birds, mind you, but stand still long enough with a handful of enticing seeds and nuts, and you'll likely be rewarded with a visitor or two.

Plus, there's great sledding in another park of the park to top off a perfect winter day.

Junior naturalist

Our county parks program is wonderful. I've bragged about it before, but I'll brag again. I think one of the best things about the program, if it's not the fact that it's free or offers so many enriching opportunities, is that the naturalists who lead the events don't talk down to the kids. Instead, they expect great things from the little ones, and most often they are right on the mark. Kids are little sponges, something we all know, but as much as they absorb every little conversation that we didn't want them to hear in the first place (and then proceed to repeat them at inopportune times), they seem especially in tune with the natural world. Naturally.

Yesterday was the final Junior Naturalists summer class. It was an exploration of Michigan habitats—forests, prairies, wetlands. We walked through examples of each, identifying critters and plants. Calvin came home with a piece of paper certifying his abilities as a junior naturalist, but I think he was actually more excited about the hours we spent at the splash park afterwards than he was about the piece of paper. Or the splash park after, and the frog we found during the program.

Hunting the creepy crawlies

Our county park system has one of the best naturalists in the world...so says me. True, that's not a title that has actually been conferred on her, but we have always loved her and enjoyed her programs. This summer the park system offered a Junior Naturalist program—a series of workshops for kids Calvin's age who are interested in learning more about ecology and the rigors of being a good naturalist. At the end of the program, kids who successfully completed enough of the workshops will earn their own titles—as Junior Naturalists, of course. Today's foray into bug hunting (which is really bug, insect, arachnid, and other such creepy crawlies hunting) was the penultimate workshop. As always, it was a hit.

County Park Tour #6: Ervin-Stucki Preserve

Calvin and I decided that a great project or goal for this summer would be visit all of our county's parks and preserves. Several of them we are already familiar with and visit on a regular basis, but following an event that took us delightedly into uncharted territory, we decided to become more familiar with our area's offerings. Of course, it is already August and so far we have only visited only 2 of the 10 parks, and 4 of the 15 preserves, albeit some of them more than once. I am comforting myself with the knowledge that we did visit three National Lake Shores and will be camping at a state park next week, but fall should be a good time to take on the rest of the county parks anyhow.

Yesterday we went to the far southeast corner of our county to visit the Ervin-Stucki Preserve. It was a small park, with only a third of a mile of marked trails, but it still provided us with many beautiful sights. Part wetland, part wooded area on the river's edge, much of the trail was a narrow path between two privately owned farm fields, and that added to the variety of wildlife sightings, like Sandhill Cranes. We were also reminded that it is getting to be serious butterfly time around here.

the bluebird's tree...

Bluebird

Cattails

Sandhill Cranes

Checkerwing butterfly

Cedar Waxwing, watching me closely

Viceroy Butterfly

Viceroy Butterfly

Orange Sulphur Butterflies