Earth's Almanac

Secrets of Tobico Marsh

2012-02-10T13:06:00.006-05:00

all photos by Jonathan Schechter

Tobico Marsh in Michigan's Bay City State Recreation Area is one of the largest open-water
marshes of Saginaw Bay, a historic bay on the western shore of Lake Huron.
These photos   supplement the Sunday, February 12 hiking column in The Oakland Press
(www.theoaklandpress.com that profiles the 2,200 acre marsh, the State Recreation Area and
their upcoming winter festival. Tobico Marsh highlights for nature-loving humans include
a boardwalk,  two 40-foot foot observation towers, a floating marsh dock with mounted
spotting scopes, beautiful  interpretive signs and  The Saginaw Bay Visitor Center.
For wildlife it's home!
Go hike and make your own discoveries!
NOTE: After the last photo you find advance notice on a new Michigan wildlife book!

The paved Anderson Trail leads from the visitor center to the edge of the bay.

Interpretive signs tell the tale of water-loving wildlife and plants.

Mute swans rest on thin ice

Spotting scopes or a zoom lens make the photo capture easy.

Beavers engineered part of the marsh with dams of cattails and mud. See their lodge?

Here's a close up look at luxury lodging for a beaver family.

A newly rebuilt observation tower at the wood's edge is a trail highlight!

A bird's eye view of the edge of the marsh and Anderson Trail.

This summer local Michigan author/journalist Elizabeth Shaw will have her book,
The Lone Wolverine – Tracking Michigan’s Most Elusive Animal, on bookshelves.
It is co-authored with Jeff Ford, the self- made naturalist and rural science
teacher that tracked the wolverine for 370 days before capturing her first photo
in  2005 on the far side of Saginaw Bay and ended when the wolverine was found
dead  five years later. The wolverine (above) is now displayed in the Saginaw Bay
Visitor Center at the  trailhead of the Anderson Trail. The Lone Wolverine offers
an unprecedented visual and factual chronicle of our wild wolverine in its natural
habitat and her documented struggle for food and survival.
It can be preordered now at Amazon.com

A lone, perhaps lonely California wolf

2012-02-07T17:24:00.004-05:00

A Michigan gray wolf - photo by Cheanne Chellis
(NOT California Wolf OR7)

California has 37 million people, five million cows, 500,000 sheep, 30,000 black bears, 5,000 mountain lions — and one wild wolf. The wolf, officially known as OR7 is a new immigrant from Oregon that arrived in the Golden State the old fashion way.

It walked there.
California Dept of Fish and Game states: "The male wolf known as “OR7” was born in northeastern Oregon in spring 2009. It weighed approximately 90 pounds when collared with a radio transmitter by Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) in February 2011. It is referred to by biologists as OR7 because it was the seventh wolf radio-collared in Oregon. Its collar transmits location information to satellites daily and is expected to continue to function until at least 2013"

He left his pack in northeast Oregon and began a 1,000 mile wandering trek across the high desert of eastern Oregon and the rugged Cascade Mountains before heading south and crossing into California on December 28th coming within a few miles of the spot the last wild wolf was trapped in California back in 1924. Much has changed. The moment this gray wolf crossed the state line he became fully protected by the federal endangered species act administered by the US. Fish and Wildlife Service. The wolf's apparent lovelorn trek is being monitored and mapped by Federal and State agencies as he explores his new land of opportunity.

And with a wolf in California there is controversy brewing that already mirrors the thoughts of humans who despise Michigan wolves. For those that claim wolves will kill "their deer" I say wolves have more right to the deer than a hunter does and just as much right to wait for a kill opportunity at a deer hunter's bait pile as the hunter.
Wolves are free-roaming predators that keep the wild in wildlife and establish an equilibrium.
That is the way of the wolf.

Monitor OR7 wanderings on Facebook at: California Wolf
On Twitter at: CaliforniaWolf

Sand Tale of A Red Fox Trail

2012-02-06T14:31:00.000-05:00

photos by Jonathan Schechter
Tawas Point State Park, Michigan
Feb 5, 2012

Winter weather has been skewed in southern Michigan, but the lack of shifting snows on the
shores of Lake Huron give new opportunity to explore the cryptic lives of many species: the
red fox among them. Tracking and the art of seeing (perhaps I should say understanding
instead of seeing)is pure pleasure along the shoreline of Tawas Point State Park. These red
fox tracks led from a nearly obscured den in tall grasses and shrubs on the leeward side of a
dune down to the very edge of the shifting floes of ice. Perhaps the fox went for a drink.
Perhaps he went to sit, watch and listen to the ice. Only the fox knows. I suspect it was both.
But the tracks also went to a fresh pile of feathers.
The fox slept with a full belly; the story in the sand told me so.

GROUNDHOG DAY THOUGHTS

2012-02-01T21:55:00.000-05:00

Young groundhog (woodchuck) munching tender leaves in my mulberry tree last spring.
Groundhogs are related to squirrels and can and do climb trees!
The climb to avoid predators and at times to feed.
photo by Jonathan Schechter June, 2011

The legend of groundhogs day claims that if the groundhog emerges from his hibernation den
and sees his shadow its a bad omen and six more weeks of winter remain.

(I have yet to understand why winter is considered bad).

Groundhogs are perhaps the worst nature forecasting creatures ever, but
the legend has persisted for centuries and is a combination of myth, wishful thinking
and illusions of reality. Mostly illusions of reality.
Fact of the matter is clear; the Spring Equinox occurs on March 20th, but
first  we need a real winter to keep our seasons and sainity in order.
  And I wonder how many groundhogs may not survive our lame winter this year, let alone
make a weather forecast, for  their earthen burrows have not been hidden by or insulated with
protective blankets of snow. Snow over burrow entrances is nature's way.
Perhaps Punsutawey Phil will fall victim to Global Warming?
That may be his shadowy message of warning this year.

Shad + Shallow Water = Bald Eagle's Buffet!

2012-01-30T06:22:00.000-05:00

Bald Eagles at the Monroe Michigan DTE Power Plant
(Above: Barrie Lynn Totten Wood photo)
Western shore of Lake Erie - January 28, 2012
photos by Barrie Lynn Totten Wood and Jonathan Schechter

"When one tugs at a single thing in nature he finds it is attached to the rest of the world"
Those timeless words of John Muir take on a new meaning at the DTE Monroe Power Plant.
Bald eagles are common at the power plant during winter for the fishing is easy
and the living is secure because man tugged on nature.
And where is why the eagles come!
Slightly warmed water from the heat exhangers of this coal fired facility - one of the
cleanest coal plants in the nation - flows through shallow canals and ponds to Lake Erie.
Gizzard shad like warm water and congregate in the shallows.
Bald eagles, with their excellent eye sight, ability to hover, and powerful talons take
advantage of the opportunity of abundance and feast on the shad, the main entree
at this all you can eat power plant fish buffet.

Shallow water eagle habitat - photo by Jonathan Schechter

Eagle watches the water for fish movement - photo by Jonathan Schechter

A perfect kingfisher-like hover! - photo by Jonathan Schechter

A final flight adjustement - photo by Barrie Lynn Totten Wood

Juvenile bald eagle soars high overhead - photo by Barrie Lynn Totten Wood

A six foot wing span - the bald eagle - soars over the trees
photo by Jonathan Schechter

Americna coots paddle beneath the eagles and among the old giant lotus stalks
photo by Jonathan Schechter

Another moment of magestic hovering - photo by Jonathan Schechter

Joann Van Aken of the International Wildlife Refuge Alliance chats with Jamie Lanier,
the Visitor Services Manager of the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge who coordinated
the 2012 Eagle Tour with the cooperation and assistance of the DTE Monroe Power Plant.
This secure facility is normally closed to the public.
I took part as an escorted guest on the tour sponsored by the DTE Energy
Foundation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
photo by Jonathan Schechter

Timberland Swamp Trees: Twisted, bent, snapped and downed.

2012-01-27T14:27:00.002-05:00

One of the many windthrows of the Timberland Swamp Nature Sanctuary
All photos by Jonathan Schechter
January 2012

The Timberland Swamp Nature Sanctuary is a backwoods wilderness in Oakland County's
Springfield Township. The sanctuary is operated by the Michigan Nature Association and is
the surviving remnant of a massive swampland.
Today's blog is a photo supplement for the Oakland Outdoors trail story column in the
January 29th edition of The Oakland Press.
www.theoaklandpress.com

Never wise to hike here on a windy day!

A raccoon ambled away from a stream as I trudged along.

A tree with many arms!

One of many den trees.

Twisted trees!

                                                    And at the base of many trees: Snow fleas!
                                                    These tiny creatures are offically called Springtails and are not fleas. They are
                                tiny insects with the uncanny ability to jump with a spring-like appendage that unfolds
                       and launches them great distances.    They feed on decaying organic matter on warm winter days.

And in late January her swamplands, streams and reflecting puddles are still not frozen.

GOT MILK FROGS?

2012-01-24T07:19:00.002-05:00

ADULT MILK FROG
PHOTOS COURTESY OF DETROIT ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Three more months will pass before our native gray treefrogs, the chameleon of our frog world,
a beautiful frog with large suction cup toe pads reappears in the woodlands of Michigan.
Search all you want now and none are to be found for gray treefrogs have evolved the
"I'll become a popsicle" technique of hibernation to survive winter.
When late fall arrived, a special chemical in their body allowed their body fluids to take
on a slush like composition and not freeze solid. All heart beats and respirations ceased.
Yet they are alive and well in earthy hideaways, And there they will remain in a state
of suspended animation until vernal ponds thaw and warm rains soak the earth.

Does your little one want to see a frog now?

Then head for the amphibian house of the Detroit Zoo. I'ts climate controlled to the liking
of tropical frogs and one species, a tree frog of the Amazon is drawing crowds.
Meet the Milk frog!
The mission golden-tree frog ( Trachycephalus resinifictrix) lives high in the canopy of
South Americas tropical rainforest and breeds in tree cavities. Robust breeding acitivy among
the  mission  golded-tree frogs (also known as the blue milk frog because of the milky white
toxin it secretes through its skin when threatened) is also occuring at our Detroit Zoo National Amphibian Conservation Center.  About 50 tadpoles are in various stages of metamorphosis.

There is a great opportunity for zoo visitors to see these tadpoles up close.
Some are still in the early stages of metamorphosis while others have formed hind and
fore limbs  and absorbed their tails. Others have already transformed into tiny froglets!

Hop on over to www.detroitzoo.org details on hours, fees and zoo location.

New milk frog froglets at the Detroit Zoo!

Paddles on the Icy Huron!

2012-01-20T16:23:00.001-05:00

All photos on the Huron River by Jonathan Schechter
Oakland County, Michigan
January 14, 2012

THESE PHOTOS ARE A SUPPLEMENT TO THE "OAKLAND OUTDOORS" FEATURE
STORY IN THE SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, EDITION OF THE OAKLAND PRESS.
WWW.THEOAKLANDPRESS.COM

The section of the Huron River near the town of Milford between Kensington Metropark
and the Proud Lake State Recreation Area is a busy place during summer
months. In winter, it's a river of solitude, incredible beauty and some dangers.
The photo above has captured a silent killer -- not the woman in the kayak.
The tree in the river (above) is a 'strainer'. During times of fast water a capsized
kayaker could be held against the limbs by the current and drown.
The river water strains though, the victim is trapped.
Water is powerful and nature can be unforgiving.
But with a bit of caution and a PFD (life jacket) the Huron is a sweet
temptress for this nature writer with a flare for 4-season adventure.

A great way to start a winter day!

The river is a winter highway for more than paddling humans!
Look closely on the right bank: See something up ahead on shore?

A trio of mute swans rested along shore and wached our silent passage.

Nothing like downy feathers for a face wipe or head rest.

Winter: A time to hike, cross country ski, snowshoe and kayak!

And this one is me, with a zip lock bag around my neck to protect my camera from splashes.

"Wolf Pack" and "Tri-City Kayakers" at our half way point on the Huron.
And we all came home! (this photo courtesy of Scott Reid)

Michigan has Rain, Israel Hail!

2012-01-17T09:39:00.000-05:00

German shepherd explores hail coating Israel's Mediterranean coast
(Israel Internet/Media photos)

Weather is skewed this winter.On this foggy Tuesday morning the temperature is
in the low 40's and light rain falls in southern Michigan. Not a single snow flake remains.
But a few days ago in Israel a hail storm swept onto the Israeli coast leaving crunchy
white on sidewalks, yards and the beaches. Does not take a weatherman to
know that Mother Nature is changing her patterns.
Today, rainy Seattle gets up to a foot of snow.
And here in Oakland County Michigan: Nothing!

HIGHBUSH CRANBERRY: Tart Treat or Gag & Spit?

2012-01-13T08:24:00.005-05:00

Highbush Cranberry, January 6 2012
Holly State Recreation Area - Oakland County, Michigan
photo by Jonathan Schechter

Winter drifted back into southern Michigan early this morning leaving our woodlands in
shades of brown and white exclusive of the green of evergreens. But if you hike near a
marshy area you may encounter bright splashes of dangling red.
Highbush Cranberries are easy to spot.
They are not so easy to eat.

Almost every field guide lists them as edible and boasts they are good in jams and jellies but
often add words like tart, or acidic in flavor. They got that right. Squish them and
smell your fingers and you might even think old kitty litter box! And perhaps that is a reason
that the berries persist well into winter. My guess, with not a shred of scientific evidence, is
that this member of the Viburnum family (with no connection to the cranberries we all know) is
not a favorite treat of mammals and bird. But I have seen deer tracks in winter that seem to
indicate they are consumed and have seen birds pecking about when little else is to be
had. Regardless of palatability and flavor this plant bears another name going back to its
traditional history, "Crampbark". A quick literaure search indicates it may have
strong antispasmodic properties.

I like this plant when I hike the woods for it warns me that when snow is deep the hidden earth
underneath my be as much water as land, a good thing to know when off the beaten trail.
And the road or trail less travelled is my way!

Great Horned Owls: Songs of the Night

2012-01-11T08:07:00.003-05:00

Great horned owl photos courtesy of Ulanawa Foote
Lake Erie Metropark, January 2012

A deep whoo, whoo, whooooooo resonated through my woods not far from my

swamp the night of the first full moon of January. I hoped to capture an image of

my reclusive resident owl but had no success. But the very next morning Ulanawa Foote,

a wonderful photographer and sometimes blogger living near Flat Rock posted pictures
of a great horned owl from her hike at Lake Erie Metropark and graciously shared them with me.
Her skilled "capture" is just perfect exposing the horizontal lines across the breast and the long tufted ears that spawned the  name  "great horned". The hoots of this fearsome night predator that hunts rabbits, skunks, voles  and  mice are not for my entertainment and primordial spirit.
Hoots define territory and great horned owls are now entering their breeding season. Before this month ends some of these winged warriors that fly on silent wings will be on their  nests making
them one of the  earliest breeders of the bird world.
(Ulanawa's blog www.turtlesaw.blogspot.com )

BEAR CREEK NATURE PARK: No bears, but upscale raccoon in tree den

2012-01-06T16:28:00.001-05:00

Five Star High-Rise Apartment!
all photos by Jonathan Schechter
Bear Creek Nature Park, January 3, 2012 Oakland Township, Michigan

NOTE: These photos are a supplement to my hiking column on the Bear Creek Nature
Park  now on-line  on The Oakland Press website www.theoaklandpress.com and to
be in the print edition on Sunday, January 8th.
My hiking columns appears every Sunday in The Oakland Press.

Bear Creek Nature Park, a unit of Oakland Township Parks, is not wilderness by
any  streach of the imagination. But these 107 acres of rolling glacial terrain,
woodlands, wetlands and fields in Oakland County are  rich in nature's way.
All you need do is look. And be patient. Sometimes very patient.

ABOVE: The oak tree above is more than a tree with "a big hole in it".
A watchful person may spot the inhabitant, a raccoon that considers this a
high rise luxury apartment. And for the raccoon it is just that.

BELOW:
#1 The upscale raccoon at rest.
#2 A not so empty cattail marsh: many creatures under ice.
#3 A muskrat lodge in the marsh.
#4 Now frozen vernal ponds are spring breeding areas for amphibians.
#5 A windthrow is perfect winter shelter for many small species.
#6 A red-tailed hawk, back to the wind and me waits for a rabbit or vole.

Open Letter of FINAL WARNING to a Squirrel!

2012-01-03T16:29:00.005-05:00

photos by Jonathan Schechter
January 3rd, 2012

Dear Mr. Squirrel: Here's the deal. Listen up and pay attention!  A few days before New
Year's Eve you discovered my BIRD feeding station. Please note the word BIRD. It is NOT a
squirrel feeding station! You Mr. Fox Squirrel (For humans reading this fox squirrel is the
species of squirrel in these pictures) are meant to be hanging out in leafy nests high up in oak
trees and  munching on black walnuts and acorns.
You are not!

From sunrise to sunset you are at my feeders. You sit in the platform feeder swinging away
and spilling a good portion of the seed in the process and eat the rest. When chickadees or
other small birds fly in you brace yourself and almost swat at them.
That is just rude and must stop!
And now when it gets windy  you move to my window feeder and you climb
inside and actually sprawl your pathetic body out on the seed as you eat like a
FAT FARM PIG* and ignore my tapping from my side of the window.
(*Sorry farm pigs, no insult intended)
This too must stop!
This may be politically incorrect but fact of the matter Mr. Squirrel; Just look at yourself!
You are becoming a morbidly obese ball of lazy fur and if you think in spring a foxy lady
squirrel is  going to want any of your fat tail, you have another think coming.
I do not know if you are susceptible to  heart disease but your days are numbered.
And here are the two main reasons:
1. You are becoming too fat to escape from a fox or coyote.
2. You are already too fat to scurry from a red-tailed hawk.

And if you do not pay attention to my warning and get back to your wilder ways of life
I have a good friend who told me that seed fed squirrel meat is just delicious.
Respectfully yours and with best regards,
Jonathan

Tree Climbing Wild Dogs!

2011-12-30T07:10:00.001-05:00

Red fox caught on my trail camera January 2010 (in meadow behind house)
Brandon Township, Michigan

You know the red fox, (Vulpes vulpes) the elusive little fox that is found throughout
Michigan and is very much at home in Oakland County. This highly adaptable creature
hunts meadow voles under snow in winter: That is what this one (above) was
doing last winter in my meadow between the barn and house. And if a chicken, squirrel,
bird or rabbit is a bit too slow, they too may join the menu. When pursued by man or
beast (coyotes and wolves kill red fox) they race for thick brush or their underground den.
But there is another fox found in Oakland County and across much of the
United States that few know of.
Meet the gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargentus)
The gray fox is smaller than a red fox and usually has a prominent gray back. But there
is a better way to tell them apart, the tip of the tail. The red fox has a white tip, the gray
fox a black tipped tail.
But perhaps the best way to tell is a behaviorial charecteristic captured perfectly by my
friend Duane Corsi duing his recent wanderings in South Carolina: Gray fox are excellent
tree climbers, the only member of the dog family with this ability. And in Oakland County
with numerous oaks in woodlands there are plenty of trees to climb.
Their claws are adapted to grasp the tree and faster than you can say, "What the heck is that?"
the gray fox grips the tree trunk and heads up for a big limb.

Gray fox watched the world from his tree in coastal South Carolina
photo courtesy of Duane Corsi

DTE Energy Monroe Power Plant Eagle Tour!

2011-12-23T07:26:00.000-05:00

Want a chance to perhaps see our national bird - the American bald eagle - in the wild?
Then submit your name and you might join the US Fish and Wildlife Service staff and volunteers, along with the International Wildlife Refuge Alliance at the DTE Energy Monroe Power Plant for an exciting wintertime adventure in search of one of our nation's most magnificent, majestic birds of prey, the bald eagle! This mighty hunter of the sky is making a comeback in Michigan and is very much at home in winter in the improved habitat in and around the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge. Follow the links below and read the entry/registration instructions very carefully. A lottery style entry form
is your only way to participate and is avialable in the poster below
                                         Deadline is December 31st.
                              Two tours are on Saturday, January 28th.
    "Wherever a man may happen to turn, whatever a man undertake, he will always end up
      returning to the path which nature has marked out for him" Johann Wolfgang Von Goeth
                Perhaps the path of late January will take you to a bald eagle on its hunt!

Join the US Fish and Wildlife Service staff and volunteers, along with the International Wildlife Refuge Alliance at the DTE Energy Monroe Power Plant for a wintertime adventure in search of one of our nation's most magnificent, majestic birds of prey, the bald eagle!

Registrations accepted only through December 31, 2011.

Click here to register: EAGLE TOUR 2012 REGISTRATION

Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge: www.fws.gov/midwest/detroitriver/

BREAKING NEWS: Santa's Reindeer Exposed!

2011-12-21T07:20:00.008-05:00

Rudolph resting at the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
photo courtesy of Alaska Department of Fish and Game

According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, while both male and female reindeer grow
antlers in the summer each year, male reindeer drop their antlers at the beginning of winter, usually
late November  to  mid-December. Female reindeer, however, retain their antlers until after they
give birth in the spring. Therefore, according to every historical rendition depicting Santa's reindeer,
every single one  of them, from Rudolph to Blitzen had to be a female. And that means only
female reindeer would be able to  drag a jolly old fat man in a poorly fitted red velvet
suit all around the world in one  night;
AND  NOT GET LOST.

The quote above is a summary of the shocking gender bending expose' making the rounds on the Internet.       My friends at Michigan Department of Natural Resources had "No Comment!"

And below, more evidence I scanned from the Internet that supports the racuous rumor good old Santa has an all female crew hauling their scantly clad thick reindeer rumps around the world
to make him look good and get the job done right.
Body fat and behavior hints Rudolf might be female.
I wonder if Santa followed a vetting process, or if there was a cover up?

"The mating season depletes males of body fat, leaving them with just 5 percent on their
scrawny frames by Christmas Eve. Females, on the other hand, retain 50 percent of their body fat. They'd be in shape to haul Santa. The extra body fat on females during winter which can be a
couple of inches thick on their rumps, keeps the reindeer toasty in temperatures as low as minus
45 degrees Fahrenheit. And that means females would be prepared for the frantic journey."

Perhaps Rudolph , if female, even whimpered to Santa, "Santa, Does this harness make my
rump look fat to you?"

If you believe in elves--why not believe that!

The FACTS I sifted out of the seasonal myths, mayhem and madness follows:

1. Reindeer males (bulls) and females (cows) both have antlers.
2. Most bulls drop their antlers before the fat man in the red suit goes for his famed ride.
3. But wildlife biologists state: Some of the younger more studly bulls carry their antlers
into spring and THAT MEANS some may well still be adorned on Christmas Eve.

So what does this all mean?

If you think a reindeer powered sled can carry ten zillion trillion toys and circumnavigate the
Earth in one night while avoiding hostile air defense and missile systems and get the delivery right without the help of GPS you are going to believe just anything.  All this without stopping to ask directions! And that means we can not disprove that Rudolph and his gang of hoofed companions are female with the certainty Alaskan wildlife bilogists claim they are. Maybe they are testosterone stoked hoofed dudes just like a friendly elf living under a colorful
Amanita mushroom in my snowless woods told me. Perhaps Santa told the truth!
Perhaps not.
If Santa does not watch his own health and weight does he care about sexing his reindeer?

But if Santa reads my ramble and my politcally incorrect comment "Fat man in red velvet
suit", you can bet your milk and cookies one thing:
I will not be on the "NICE" list.
It's a lump of coal for me.
But NAUGHTY can be NICE when science supports nature's way.
p.s. Merry Christmas!

Eye-catching breasts link two species

2011-12-19T07:15:00.004-05:00

American robin ( Turdus migratorius) in Oakland County, Michigan
late November 2011
photo by Jonathan Schechter

      American robins are common in Michigan. We see them lawn-hopping from early spring
  until late autumn and some hang out in Michigan all winter. Their cheerful song, rusty orange
breast and  worm-slurping behavior are trademarks.
Adults simply call them robins.
Little kids call them, "Look! A robin red-breast!!!"
Newscasters refer to them as our quintessiental early bird --the (false) harbinger of spring.

But on this blustery day at the dawn of winter robins of a different feather are on the move in the
Upper Galilee of Israel, enroute from Europe to North Africa where they will spend their winter.
The American robin (above) is actually a thrush and a member of the genus Turdus.
Our robin gained its name from homesick Europeans that settled (invaded )North America and
saw the orange breasts of "our" robin and thought back to their beloved European robins. The beautiful European robins are in the genus Erithacus and are thrush-like true flycatchers.  They share that eye-catching rusty red  breast of its American namesake.
The photos below are a European robin, photographed  yesterday during migation near
Kibbutz Kfar Blum in the Upper Galilee by my sister.
Nature is a true artist and the diversity of birds is the art of evolution.

European robin (Erithucus rubecula )
Upper Galilee, Israel 12/17/2011
photos by Laurie Schechter Rimon

Bittersweet: splashy killer exposed

2011-12-16T08:27:00.000-05:00

Oriental Bittersweet - December 2011
photo by Jonathan Schechter

The berries are beautiful adding delightful splashes of yellow and red to many trailsides of
Oakland County. But make no doubt about it: This rapidly spreading invasive species is a real
killer and has proven to be a successful invader of habitats across the Midwest. The berries are
not now "just getting ripe" as some may think, but they have been there since October, hidden
among the foliage. But now as the winds of Decemeber wash the woods clear of the
last leaves these prolific and non-edible fruits are exposed for all to see. And how do they kill?
They strangle other plants with their numerous wrap around vines and in the process change the native landscape and the species that live there.
But that too is nature's way for nature respects no boundary and has no preference.
We are one Earth and it will always change, for better or worse, but it is human behavior
and our ways that serve as the greatest catalyst.

BLACK SQUIRRELS DO NOT REALLY EXIST!

2011-12-12T17:15:00.001-05:00

A gray squirrel adding leaf insulation to its winter shelter
photo by Jonathan Schechter

The black squirrels of Oakland County are not some kind of rare species. As a matter of fact
there is no such species as a 'black squirrel'. Black squirrels are in fact a  rather common
melanistic variation of our eastern gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis),  the squirrel species that once dominated the great unbroken forests of New England and the Midwest. Some  biologists
have claimed that nationwide about one of every 10,000 gray squirrels  is black. I think that figure is way, way off. My guess, maybe 1 in 20 in Oakland County are black and litters are often mixed with black and gray siblings from the same mom. Being a black gray squirrel has a great advantage at the dawn of winter: Black fur absorbs heat during the sunny days of a cold winter. My observations seem to show black squirrels are more common  in pockets of hardwoods that are biologic "islands" cut off from larger woodlands. And in winter with leaves down we see black squirrels more often than summer since this omniverous forest species flirts with the edge of suburbia and is more than eager to raid your bird feeder.

Red-tails : Air patrol of winter's marshland edge zone.

2011-12-09T22:28:00.000-05:00

Red-tailed hawks perched on top of ITC transmission line tower
Dec 4, 2011 West Bloomfield Township, Michigan
photos by Jonathan Schechter

Red-tailed hawks adapt well to changing conditions and take advantage of human created
landscapes. Closely cropped lawns in summer offer easy hunting for careless squirrels and
plump rabbits. And when trees with excellent viewing vantage points are scarce there is nothing
like a transmission tower for a bird's eye view of the landscape. These two young red tails ( most
likely siblings) keep watch over a seemingly barren marshland near the new West
Bloomfield Trail Extension. My best guess is the muskrats that still waddle up onto the banks
in the waning days of December are on the menu as meaty fur-coated moist entrees
for the red-tailed hawks, the air patrol of our sky on the dawn of winter.

Sun-soakers of December: Two turtle doves and ------

2011-12-06T07:41:00.001-05:00

Mourning doves and a white-breasted nuthatch on the the dead limb of apple tree.
photos by Jonthan Schechter

"On the second day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
Two Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree ---"

It's hard to have a radio on now without hearing the timeless jingle of 12 Days of Christmas.
My front yard has an old hollow apple tree with dead upper branches, branches I will not cut for
they are feeding grounds for woodpeckers and nuthatch and sunny perches for mourning doves.
I doubt I will find french hens or a partridge in my front yard fruit tree - I do keep checking - but hardly a day passes in December that I don't find the mourning doves facing the late
afternoon setting sun, for that it is their way.
Yesterday a small flock of turkeys scrounged about under the tree. I told them to leave for
they are not in the jingle.
They trotted back to the woods.

FIRE IN A CREEK: A western New York wonder of nature!

2011-12-03T08:46:00.000-05:00

All photos by Jonathan Schechter
Thanksgiving Day 2011
(no images have been altered)

These images are meant as a photo supplement to my hiking column that appears in the
December 4th edition of The Oakland Press (www.theoaklandpress.com); a hiking adventure to
a secluded creek in western New York State that has a hidden waterfall with a grotto housing a
fire breathing dragon. This natural phenomena of gas seepage is the result of decomposition of organic matter from the Devonian Period, a time when great warm seas covered the land. The
gas now seeps between layers of shale and burns behind the current of water. The site is in the
southwest corner of Chestnut Ridge Park in Erie County, New York and is accessible by a
slippery hike through a mature hemlock-maple forest and then up Shale Creek.
Sitting by the water and flame is a pure primordial moment!

Shale Creek downstream from the waterfalls

Snow: a new season begins

2011-11-30T09:05:00.000-05:00

Red squirrel with black walnut
all photos by Jonathan Schechter
November 30, 2011

Dawn was silent except for the muffled sound of heavy wet snow falling from tree limbs.
A perfect start for winter even though the calender says not yet. A quick walk about my woods
and meadows revealed abundent tracks of wildlife: deer, rabbits and mice most obvious. At the
edge of the meadow a single file pattern of tracks told of a fox that went on his, or perhaps her
first snowy meadow mouse hunt. And barely 100 feet from my door a red squirrel gnawed on
a black walnut, one of the hundreds, perhaps thousands of nuts I did not gather for myself.
The snow also reminds me it is time to put away the hammock, time to pull in my wooden
'meadow observation chair' and time to dream of cross country skiing and winter adventures.

Tale of two herons in the last days of November

2011-11-28T06:51:00.002-05:00

Great blue heron sunbathing at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
(late Novemeber ) photo by Duane Corsi

Wild creatures are always adapting. These photos of two great blue  herons, one in South Carolina
and one in Michigan add visual power to the life style variations  of these widespread wading birds. Their body language says it all. Duane's great blue heron (above) is relaxed at the edge of a waterway, perhaps wating for a frog or a fish.
If a heron can enjoy warm sunlight and just take in the scenery and reflect on the moment - and
I think they can "enjoy"- perhaps that is all it is doing. And that is human like behavior.

The huddled in the cattail marsh great blue heron of Ulanawa (below) may be waiting for a late
season frog or a fish at Lake Erie Metropark in SE Michigan. But he  does not have that relaxed
pose of the southern sun-soakers. This heron may be content in the cold marsh habitat, at least
until ice covers the hunting grounds,  but the question remains: Why stay this late?
Why when the living is easy in the south and winter is at our doorstep do some herons loiter till
the last moment to fly. Perhaps the answer is not for us to understand, or perhaps it is just
evolution: survival of the fittest and exploring options; for migration too has risks.
Or perhaps it is just they want to stay. Birds and humans both make choices.
When vacation time slips my way and wanderlust fever  hits I tend to head for the mountains of
North Carolina or the lakeshore dunes of Sleeping Bear or other isolated spot of natural beauty.
And I tend to camp, while others dream of a 5-star hotel or luxury liner cruise.

Great blue heron in chilly cattail marsh of Lake Erie Metropark, Michigan
photo by Ulanawa Foote (Late November)

Turkey Lovin' Needs A Helping Hand: The untold tale of Thanksgiving Dinner

2011-11-23T20:37:00.002-05:00

Wild turkey strutting his stuff in my woods on the 'turkey trail' April, 2010
(note hen walking away)
photo by Jonathan Schechter

Wild turkeys share my woods and fields, or perhaps I should say I share theirs.
These well-adapted muscular creatures can run faster than a horse and take to flight in bursts of powerful wing beats. Flights are short but serve as as an escape from coyote and fox.
When I am stealthy (and lucky) I have spied turkeys roosting high up in trees near my swamp.
Come spring the woods are full of gobbling and Toms fanning their tail feathers and
struting their stuff in seductive attempts to lure in the willing  and lovely hens. Nature dictates
some equally fit hens will readily accept the genes offered by a studly Tom while  his elongated
and blood engorged snood dangles and wiggles while he dances sensually in the woods.
"Over here babe! Over here! Check me out!"
(A snood is a fleshy appendage on his head--lest you wonder!)
28 days after eggs are laid the little ones hatch from a hidden ground nest and the fittest survive.
That is nature's way.
That is way it should be.

And now for the rest of the story
(Rated R - But True)

The commercially bred Broad Breasted White Turkey (real name) you find frozen in a plastic
bag and take home to thaw and stuff is far removed in lifestyle from  their colorful and
physically  fit wild kin running free in the woodlands.  These farm-factory monstrosities result
from man's tinkering with selective  breeding. They are morbidly obese slobs of the bird world, so
fat and flabby and out of shape from their forced diet and confinement they can not fly. And they
are are so clumsy  and unfit from  unnatural selection they are incapable of sexual reproduction
the way  nature intended:
"Hey honey, I'm sorry, I can't even stand up straight and strut, let alone anything else, and
by the way all of your flab is in the way too, so quit your gobblin. It ain't gonna happen."
That poses a science question for this naturalist to answer. How do domestic turkeys reproduce?
Two words: Artificial Insemination
And the goal is to creature turkeys with big tender juicy breasts.

Turkey sperm is collected by humans in a method you really do not want to read about in explicit
detail before your Thanksgiving feast . But here is how the Mereck Veterinary Manuel sums up
the collection procedure, "Collecting semen from a turkey is done by stimulating the copulatory
organ to protrude by massaging the abdomen and the back over the testes. This is followed
quickly by pushing the tail forward with one hand and, at the same time, using the thumb and forefinger of the same hand to “milk” semen from the  ducts  of this organ." I want to think the
Tom turkeys do not line up and gobble, "Me next! Me Next!" After collection a device much like
a turkey baster is loaded with sperm and without any romancing, tender touching or sweet
gobbling is squirted into the not so willing females to produce a new
generation of big bossomed hens to await their time at the next Thanksgiving feast.

Summer group photo before fattening up for November! (credit: public internet source)
Bon Appetit!
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

A Toad's Art of Pilgrimage

2011-11-22T07:28:00.000-05:00

American toad about to leap to freedom.
all photos by Jonathan Schechter
Brandon Township, Michigan Nov 21st, 2011

One toad and six frogs were trapped six feet down in a neighbor's window well. With winter at the
door they had all tried to wiggle under leaves and a bit of mud for hibernation time, and their season
of near deep freeze. But there was no way up and out.
Had they survived winter, death would have greeted them in spring.
The round up took less than an hour. Each one was removed carefully from their not so hidden hideaway they had tumbled into and placed in my lunch bucket for transport to a new land that offered natural shelter and life. Their fine art of seasonal pilgrimage was a 1 mile car ride followed by a 1,000
foot hike. One by one, the climbed to the top of my lunch bucket transporter, looked about and
jumped to freedom. Sometimes nature need's a helping hand. Kudos to the Oakland County
Sheriff's Deputy ( a friend of mine) that brought their dilemma to my attention.

"It's all about the meat" So say many hunters

2011-11-20T07:57:00.000-05:00

Buck in my tall grass meadow, late summer 2011
photo by Jonthan Schechter

"It's all about the meat!" so say many of my hunter friends. Perhaps they are right. Perhaps not.
But I cringe when I see bloodied bucks propped up on hood of cars and trucks and deer dangling
from deer poles with the proud hunters standing alongside their "monster bucks" And flip through
the pages of many outdoor magazines during deer season and there are hundreds of shots of
hunters posed with and even hugging their dead deer.
I know when I go to the grocery store for meat I never pose next to a great looking rib-eye steak
or post on Facebook an image of ground beef. But that's just me.

This tree-hugging meat eating outdoor writer (me) has a strong preference for images of deer like
the ones I shot in my yard this year - with my camera.

Doe picking apples in my front yard. Early summer 2011
photo by Jonathan Schechter

Goodbye Turtles: It's Butt-breathing Brumation Time!

2011-11-17T21:24:00.004-05:00

Sun-soaking painted turtle on Crooked Lake (Indpendence Oaks County Park) Summer 2011
photo by Jonathan Schechter

A month has slipped by since I saw my last painted turtle basking in sunlight, as relaxed as a sleepy nudist on a secluded beach. But now with the howling winds of November sending snowflakes flying painted turtles have vanished. But they are not gone.

They are snuggled down into muddy pond bottoms but they are not in hiberatation.
Turtles practice brumation, loosely equivalent to mammal hibernation. When a reptile brumates
it becomes lethargic and moves little during the cold season. Painted turtle have lungs but since
they stay under water for almost six month respirations take on a new twist: butt breathing!
This odd practice supplements their ability to exist on minimal oxygen

'Blow it out your after regions' is more than a figure of speech in the world of aquatic turtles.
Many species have a pair of sacs (bursae) opening off the cloaca (multi purpose anal opening
more or less). These areas are heavily vascularized which facilitate the uptake of oxygen.
Breathing through their butts is a trait that I fear my also be practiced
by some televangelists and the current crop of politicians.
The evidence appears overwhelming, at least to me.

Alaskan Grizzly Bear Tragedy: The Detroit connection aftermath

2011-11-14T17:58:00.003-05:00

all photos courtesy of John Gomes of the Alaska Zoo

A human caused tragedy in Alaska will bring three grizzly bear cubs to Detroit. And although the cubs have been 'saved' they will no longer truly be wild; for without living in their natural habitat they are not living as the great wild bear Ursus arctos horribilis, a signature species of the American wilderness. They will be dependent on humans for the rest of their lives, as captive/ambassadors of a species that needs wilderness and the freedom to roam to be wild. Some may debate if the relocation to Michigan was the best solution. I would vote yes. For left on their own after being orphaned by a poacher, they would most certainly would have come in conflict with humans as they searched the outskirts of Anchorage for food. A sad tale, but I salute the Alaska and Detroit Zoos for making the best of this tragedy--for the cubs--and for public safety.

Jonathan Schechter

The Detroit Zoo press release follows:

"Three orphaned grizzly bear cubs rescued this month by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) will soon call the Detroit Zoo home. The 10-month-old brothers were orphaned in October after their mother was shot and killed by a poacher. The bears are being cared for at Anchorage’s Alaska Zoo and are scheduled to arrive in Detroit in a couple of weeks.

"It's tragic that the cubs’ mother was killed. We will take good care of them," said Ron Kagan, Detroit Zoological Society Executive Director.

The poacher who shot the mother grizzly has been arrested and will be prosecuted. After the mother was killed, her cubs were spotted several times in residential areas near Anchorage looking for food. The ADFG contacted the Detroit Zoo seeking sanctuary for the trio as they felt the cubs would not survive the harsh Alaska winter on their own. A female grizzly bear typically cares for her young until they reach about 3 years old.

The cubs are approximately 2½ feet tall and weigh 100 to 125 pounds. Once they arrive at the Detroit Zoo, they will be out of public view for 30 days to ensure that they have no health issues and to give them time to adjust to their new surroundings.

The Detroit Zoo is also home to two other rescued grizzly bears, both of which were relocated twice in the wild before arriving at the Zoo as 2 year olds. Female Kintla, 27, was captured by Montana’s Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks in 1986 after showing interest in the area’s honey industry, frequently “inspecting” the beehives. Male Lakota, 26, arrived here from Wyoming in 1987 after being deemed a public threat at Yellowstone National Park and captured by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) is a North American subspecies of the brown bear and gets its name from the grayish – or grizzled – tips of its fur. One of its most noticeable characteristics is the hump on its back, which is a mass of muscles that gives the bear additional strength for running and digging. Mature males can grow as tall as 8 feet and weigh 800 pounds. Their average lifespan in the wild is 25 years.

The grizzly bear is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, and only about 1,000 remain in the continental U.S. Grizzlies still roam the wilds of Canada and Alaska."

John Gomes, Alaska Zoo
Video of the cubs in Alaska: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEE2cyG9y84

Detroit Zoo: www.detroitzoo.org

Alaska Zoo: www.alaskazoo.org

The secret life of the robins of November: False Prophet

2011-11-14T13:56:00.003-05:00

Worm-hunting robin. Oakwood Lake Township Park 11/14/2011
photo by Jonathan Schechter

All second graders and most of their moms and dads know that robins are the first bird of spring. And more than a few local newscasters will in breatheless enthusiasm report their presence once snow melts in late March next spring. The little kids and the newscasters are wrong.

Robins are false prophets of spring.
Some migrate south.
Many stay put right in Oakland County

Early this gray mid-November morning I hiked the woodland and wetland trails of Oakwood
Lake Township Park, a lesser visted 300 acre wildland in Oxford Township in the northeastern corner of Oakland County. The grassy berm at the entrance to the park was rich with robins hopping about, ears cocked earthward, waiting for a worm to give away its location. Another
flock of robins was at the edge of the swamp feasting on late season berries. In a few more
weeks snow will cover the ground but the robins that are here now will stay. We just see them
less, because when snow covers the grass, robins retreat to thickets and swamplands and switch
to a berry diet. Some even dabble in seeds at your feeder.
When snows melt robins return to your lawn and will once again be proclaimed the
first bird of spring as they slurp down entrees of squishy worms.

Beaver Brunch and Psychology in Brandon Township

2011-11-11T07:20:00.001-05:00

Brandon Township (Michigan) beaver habitat. November 7, 2011
all photos by Jonathan Schechter

It was noon Monday. I was on my way home when I detoured to a local creek to see what the
beavers were up to. It was their 'branch brunch' time and they should have been hard at work
preparing for winter. As soon as I walked to the creek bank I only caught a glimpse of one
swimming around a bend.

I relate to these flat-tailed critters. They get distracted as easily as I do.
And some of their freshly cut trees had lodged in the limbs of nearby trees making the target of
their quest inaccessible.
Their work shows another trait I share with them: scattered and compulsive behavior.
Unfinished tree projects scattered the banks of the slow flowing creek. Wood chips littered the
moist earth. And a dozen stripped tiny limbs floating in the water told me not all tree limbs were
being stashed away for winter.
I related to that too.
I smiled and walked on.
The first snow fell before dawn today. In another month ice will coat the creek and I'll be starting
one project, and then jumping to another, with the first project left hanging in the trees of my mind.
Got a feeling that beaver work behavior and the psychology behind our actions is not far apart.
But I like a good salad or well done rib-eye steak better than inner tree bark.

Pleasures of Smoky Gold

2011-11-07T12:46:00.005-05:00

A "Smoky gold" morning at Independence Oaks County Park - North
photos by Jonathan Schechter

To hike to the edge of a swampland at sunrise or sunset in the early days of November is an
adventure in pure pleasure, a sensual delight for the senses of sight, smell and touch. There is
no better time than now to explore the world of the tamarack, a deciduous coniferous tree that
looses all  her clustered soft needle-like leaves before this month ends. Walk silently near the
now golden tamarack and you discover why the term 'smoky gold' was coined by Aldo Leopold
in  his classic work, Sand County Almanac.
It's a perfect description of the result of a near magical transformation from their summer mantle
of soft emerald green to their smoky gold hue that signals the waning days  of autumn. Wait
two weeks to walk and every one of their needle-like leaves will carpet the the woodlands or float
on quiet waters leaving only the tiny cones as a reminder that spring will return.
Although these images were all captured at Independence Oaks County Park on November
7th, tamarack trees can be found in many colder parts of the northern hemisphere. In northern
Oakland County they are most common around small glacially sculpted  kettle lakes, bogs, marshes
and undeveloped wetlands.

Migration Flight: Not for every bird!

2011-11-04T11:04:00.003-04:00

Great blue heron in Drayton Plains (Michigan)
photo by Jonathan Schechter

Fall migration season is well underway. It has been weeks since I have seen a hummingbird or tree swallow.They had to leave. Not because it was getting too cold, but because their food supply was gone. Ruby-throated hummingbirds needed nectar and swallows gulp down insects on the wing.
Their store is closed.
Hawk and owls stick around all winter with plenty of voles, mice, rabbits and squirrels to eat.
Turkey vultures are leaving soon for as connoisseurs of decaying flesh, they must. Frozen carrion is not something they can consume. Black-capped chickadees and woodpeckers feast in Michigan all winter with an aubundance of seeds in fields and bugs under bark to be found. Most great blue herons headed to warmer areas in pursuit of fish and frogs weeks ago but a few loiter on perhaps quietly reflecting on their time for departure and searching for one last fish in silent waters before ice coats their hunting grounds.

Witch of the Woods--- and her name is Hazel

2011-10-31T05:53:00.002-04:00

Witch hazel is starting to bloom in the woods of southern Michigan, but the spider-like yellow flowers
are easy to  miss when leaves remain.
photo by Jonathan Schechter October/2011

Frost laced the woods of Oakland County and set the stage for the season of witch hazel.
Halloween and witches have nothing to do with this fascinating small tree that is just now
flowering, but the  name witch hazel name has mystery and myth in its history. And without
taking fun away from candy hungry gremlins and goblins that will work so hard tonight to
lay ground work  for dental visits and stomach pains here are the facts.

Native Americans knew this tree before the invaders with guns and axes in tall sailing ships
landed on the eastern shore and carved the land to suit their wants and needs.
In colonial America even as the British exchanged shots with the rebellious colonists, the
shrub's flexible forked branches was being used as "witching stick" by the dousers: folks who
held the  forked branches in hand waiting for the tip to point to hidden waters.   Bad news for Halloween fans:
The word witch in witch hazel originates from the old English word for pliable branches "wych"
and has nothing to do with a lady in black straddling an airborne broom.

Your grandmother and probably your mom (and maybe you) used this plant for a wide array
of medical ailments. It is found in a liquid form in almost all drug stores today and sold as an astringent, and for treaments of irritations, pain and itching, skin conditions and another 20 or
30 uses! .

Walk in an hardwood forest between now and Thanksgiving and look about: This understory
tree is rather common on our glacially sculpted landscape and in a few weeks afer all the leaves
fall  the branches will be lined with spidery yellow blossoms. Bring a seed rich branch inside
and you are in for a surprise. The heat of a room will make the pod 'explode' and kick the seeds
out like a mini-cannon tossing them up to ten feet away.

The flowering of the witch hazel reminds me snow will soon lace the ground.
And that makes me smile.

photo by Jonathan Schechter Nov 2010

Bizzare poaching incident of a Michigan moose. DNR needs your help.

2011-10-30T13:11:00.006-04:00

It does not get much stranger than this. I am optomistic the forensic skills of the conservation officers and crime lab and perhaps a bit of help from the public will lead to an arrest or arrests in this twisted case of a wildlife killer with more than a touch of venom towards wolves as well. And what I wonder is why this poacher thinks he is more worthy than a wolf to take down a moose. Wolves eat moose, for that is their way, and the very presence of wolves keeps the 'wild' in wildlife. This criminal took just the antlers and left the head on a rock with a warning sign of sorts.

Information Sought in Moose Poaching Incident in

Marquette County

Conservation officers with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources are seeking information about a moose poaching incident that occurred sometime between the evening of Oct. 26 and the morning of Oct. 27 in southern Humboldt Township in Marquette County.

The DNR received a call from a township resident about a severed moose head placed on top of a rock with a sign leaning against it reading, “Wolf’s (sic) won’t get this one!!” Officers investigating the scene noted the blood had not yet coagulated and the antlers had been removed, placing the poaching of the animal within hours of discovery. The head was discovered in an area by the corner of County Road CF and East Road near Helen Lake.

Officers were able to collect fingerprints from the cardboard sign and other evidence in the vicinity. The resident who alerted the DNR to the scene said the head was not there when she came home from work the evening of Oct. 26, but was there by 9 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 27.

Persons with information about this or any natural resources violation can call the DNR’s Report All Poaching (RAP) Line 24 hours a day toll-free at 800-292-7800 or can contact Lt. Tim Robson at the DNR’s Marquette Operations Service Center between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. at 906-228-6561. Information can be left anonymously, and often monetary rewards are offered for information that leads to the arrest of violators.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is committed to the conservation, protection, management, use and enjoyment of the state's natural and cultural resources for current and future generations. For more information about the department, go to www.michigan.gov/dnr.

Wisdom from Aldo Leopold on man, wildlife and land.

2011-10-27T14:28:00.003-04:00

photos by Jonathan Schechter
Buck in my meadow, summer of 2011

Leopold has been an inspirational writer/conservationist/scientist for me ever since I discovered his writings and explored his thoughts when living in Vermont and atttending Goddard College with the Green Mountain National Forest my back yard. Today his Sand County Almanac leans on my bookshelf next to the works of Muir and Thoreau and has the added punch of timeless words that salute things and places natural, wild and free. Yesterday a gray fox trotting in my nearly leafless woods at dawn and the hooting of an owl near the house brought his words to mind. I finally found the quote I was searching for. Today a flock of turkeys trotting the meadow and a doe on the run told me it's time to post a blog for "my" wild things that are well acquainted with their woods that I share.

"The wild things that live on my farm are reluctant to tell me, in so many words, how much of my
township is included within their daily or nightly beat. I am curious about this, for it gives
me the ratio between the size of their universe and the size of mine, and it conveniently begs
the much more important question, who is more thoroughly acquainted with the world in
which he lives?"
Aldo Leopold - A Sand County Almanac

Twin fawns in early summer at the edge zone between my lawn and wild meadow.

Season of the bald-faced hornet: It's over!

2011-10-26T08:06:00.003-04:00

photo by Jonathan Schechter

Their season in the sun is over.
But before you take down an 'empty' nest for a den decoration know this: Once in awhile a few hornets 'forgot to die' and hang on into November in the papery cells. Warmth in a heated den
will send them boiling out with an attitude and taser like powers of pain, a lesson I learned years ago. If you want to take a nest inside for a natural gift of the wilds before winter winds and chickadees blow and peck the nest apart wait until heavy frosts and then cut the limb and place
the nest in a plastic bag for a day inside to make sure you
don't hear buzzing and crawling.

And where is the queen hornet? She is snuggled up under a decaying log or wood chips in
your garden. She is fertile and ready to start a new season of bald-faced hornets next spring.

Dreaming Like A Wet-Nosed Dog on an October Day

2011-10-23T09:30:00.003-04:00

photo by Jonathan Schechter

The days of autumn splendor are fading fast. As much as I love cross-country skiing and deep winter explorations, I want more time in the woods of October before snow and ice makes planning essential before trekking into silent winter woods.

But if I was a wide-eyed, wet-nosed, tail-wagging dog, wild with unleashed freedom to run the terrain without worries of private property and sensible acceptable behavior I could crash and splash over creeks, vault over downed logs, hurl myself from valley to colorful hilltops and howl in primeval excitement at dawn and dusk to meet my never ending need to be outdoors.
And if my pads became sore I could hop into a car like this floppy eared guy working with the
DNR and ride without worry and just hang my head out the window, let crisp air fill my lungs and delicious scents of the season flood my brain.

But I am human.
Rules of society make me plan.

Today I look at maps and commitments and I dream of my next multi day trek into the wilds. It has been too many months since I felt the comforting pressure of a backpack on my shoulders. And I miss the first smell of coffee after night winds rustled tent flaps and a crow speaks to dawn.
The sacred earth and nature's wilder side is calling me--again.
It would be so much easier to just run free with the canids, domestic and wild.

DETROIT RIVER INTERNATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE

2011-10-22T08:24:00.002-04:00

all photos by Jonathan Schechter (October 15, 2011)

These photos accompany the Oakland Outdoors hiking column exploring the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge (DRIWR) appearing in the October 23 edition of The Oakland Press www.theoaklandpress.com The event was a celebration of a new trail connecting Lake Erie Metropark www.metroparks.com with the DRIWR www.fws.gov/midwest/detroitriver . A job well done, for wildlife, trail users and all outdoor recreationists with help from the International Wildlife Refuge Alliance. www.iwralliance.org

TRAGEDY IN OHIO: Lesson learned (again) from the escaped "wildlife" shootings.

2011-10-20T15:57:00.007-04:00

Adult male baboon in the wild, on the move in Tanzania.
photo by Jonathan Schechter Oct, 2009

Fact one: The science of animal behavior and ecology is complex, but one fact remains clear:
Alpha nocturnal predators - the great cats (tigers, lions, ) - are skilled hunters and
deserve their reputation as man-eaters in the jungles of history and our minds. Grizzly bears
take a human being out in a single bite and baboons with an attitude think
nothing of attacking. Wolves and cheetahs are not house pets.

Fact two: An ex-con with an attitude should not be housing 48 of these great animals.
In their native habitats they were wildlife. In Ohio where the shootings occured they were
exotics, and by all accounts exotics on the move and dispersing quickly into the
surrounding countryside of Ohio.
.
The first 911 call to reach Zanesville Ohio told of a bear and lions chasing a horse in a pasture.
When law enforcement rolled up to the 73 acre property of Terry Thompson they found all
gates open and the great predators and baboons and monkeys on the loose.
His perverted version of Noah's ark had hit a rock, sank and came to tragic end. Decisions had to
be made quickly. Thomson lay dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. A corners's
report later confirmed a big cat - most likely a Bengal tiger - bit his head after his death.

In a perfect world a team of 50 skilled veterinarians with 50 rifles with tranquilizer darts and nightscope capability might have been deployed to capture the animals. (A few were captured)
But even that attempt would have been utter foolishness and pose extreme risks to humans.
If a human encountered one of the exotics in their tainted taste of freedom they would most
likely have ran, and running from a predator kicks in a predatory reponse of chase and kill.

I am saddened that lack laws and misguided actions by a few allowed such a collection of
beautiful and endangered creatures to be in private hands, but I am angry that more than few
are faulting the sheriffs deputies and the State police for their quick and effective lethal response.
That act of issuing the Shoot To Kill order took courage, but it would have been cowardly to
do anything else other than that.
Ohio politicians are now reviewing their laws.
Just where does one shop for a Bengal tiger?

The aftermath (photo from Internet - authenticated)

Silence and beauty of fallen leaves under attack.

2011-10-16T22:55:00.003-04:00

photo by Jonathan Schechter

There is no sound I dislike more in these golden days of autum than incessant screams of
leaf blowers. I am not 'that old', but I remember when leaves were raked to corners of yards and wood lots and left alone, or added to a super big leaf pile rich with color and scent.

Leaf pile were places for kids like me to play.
Leaf piles were part of the wonder of autumn.

And if they needed to be moved to meet our  peculiar whims of adjusting the natural acts of  nature hand rakes did the task well, and quietly.

October has reached the midpoint. Days are filled with soothing natural sounds of late season crickets, cranes and geese in flight, and the magical crackle of falling leaves dancing in gentle winds, wind flavored with the sweet scent of autumn. And just when the afternoon is perfect and all is peaceful an army of "leaf-thugs" arrives in trucks and assault the scene. They strap on smoke belching leaf blowers and destroy the peace, beauty and silence of the countryside. It's almost an act of war on leaves; leaves that have yet to complete their natural cycle of soil nourishment, shelter of tiny creatures, and winter slumber that is part of their way.

Dead leaves are life giving for the ways of nature.
If I had my way leaf blowers would be banned.
Selfish?
Perhaps.
But I hate them.

NOTE: As I put the finishing touches on these words I read a blog on leaves from my writer /naturalist friend Ulanawa Foote--a post with earthy prose and beautiful pictures that  celebrates fallen leaves. Her perspective is perfect. I doubt she owns a leaf blower.
It's an excellent read, a peaceful contrast from noisty assaults on fallen leaves.
A link for her words of True Colors is below in her Turtle Saw blog.
http://turtlesaw.blogspot.com/2011/10/true-colors.html

Pokeweed! A plant of folklore, beauty and danger

2011-10-13T12:24:00.009-04:00

Pokeweed (Phytolacca americana)
photos by Jonathan Schechter

Don't be fooled by the deep purple berries and munch a sample. All parts of this plant are
poisonous to mammals with the highest concentration of toxins in the roots. A quick literature
search may leave you scratching your head with the mix of folklore, fact and myth on Pokeweed,
an herb that grows six feet tall and has deep purple stems and berries. One source states that
Cherokee would harvest the young tender shoots in early spring, peel them to remove toxins and
cook them. Herbalists tend to agree that when properly prepared the very small tender spring
shoots can be consumed--but if you make an error your reward can be as simple as cramping,
vomiting and diarrhea or can be dangerous heart rhythms, coma and death.
Others have suffered allergic reactions from contact with the sap.

Pokeweed inspired the 1969 song Polk Salad Annie, a lively southern tale of woe, poverty,
    poke shoots on salads and a swamp-lurking gator consuming granny while she worked in a
     Louisiana chain gang. Poke salad continues to find its way into southern diets in 'the hills'
             and historical records seem to confirm that during the Civil War soliders use an a simple
ink made from the  juices of the plant to send letters home from the battlefield.

Pokeweed is at its deepest colors now adding a richness of nature to moist area in woods and
fields of Michigan. Medical research continues on of this plant that was (and still is) used as a folk
remedy in Appalachia for many ailments ,but for you and me, putting pokeweed in the belly in
the days of Autumn should be considered dumb, dangerous and perhaps even deadly.

A Great Leap of Faith! A tale of trails, frogs and a woman's eyes.

2011-10-10T19:16:00.004-04:00

A trailside photo by Ulanawa Foote, October 2011
Lake Erie Metropark

I discovered this photo today on the Twitter feed of nature photographer Ulanawa Foote. Afer reading her lighthearted words of wisdom and encouragement blended with the frog image I knew it was time to share her creative capture of these sun-soaking frogs of October. What a great picture.
Wish I knew what the frogs were thinking!
For more of Ulanawa's creative eye and blog posts:
www.turtlesaw.blogspot.com

Look for her native wisdom, prose and pictures on Twitter @Ulanawa
You will find my nature and science Twitter tweets: @OaklandNature

To discover the wonders of Lake Erie Metropark, a wetland rich park just north of where the Huron River feeds into Lake Erie (in SE Michigan) go to www.metroparks.com
And if you follow my columns in the Sunday edition's of The Oakland Press (www.theoaklandpress.com) look for a special hiking column later this month on Lake Erie Metropark.
Better yet, find a trail, any trail and tie those hiking boots tight and take your own leap of faith into the world of nature. Trails are perfect in autumn to connect you with nature, be it in a far off exotic location or where a local trail meets a city or town.
Hike on my friends!

A Blast of Winter's Beautiful Fury!

2011-10-07T08:03:00.002-04:00

Drummond Island, Michigan
photo by Jonathan Schechter

The temperature is set to soar to eighty degrees this second weekend of October creating a perfect opportunity to prepare for winter's beautiful fury of blankets of white powder.
And that season shall come.
Soon.

Today is a pefect day to harvest and husk my black walnuts.
A pefect day to cut downed wood for the wood stove.
A perfect day to sit in my woods and watch chipmunks scurry.
A perfect day to listen to crickets.
A perfect day for witnessing leopard frogs in moist meadows.
And a perfect day for being just a bit lazy in the great outdoors bearing witness to the reminders
that late sunrises and early sunsets tell of a a season that has changed.
This moment of gloroius warmth will be as fleeting as a tossed stone skipping across a quiet bay----
and then sinking.

Trail Weapons: Myths and Illusions of Reality

2011-10-02T15:26:00.004-04:00

all photos by Jonathan Schechter

"In wildness is the preservation of the world."
One of my favorite quotes of Henry David Thoreau.

By the time you read these words I will about 230 miles away in a land of wildness.
And just a bit before the sun sinks into the waters of Lake Michigan I will set out
on  "my back country trail" for a night hike not many miles from the small Village of Empire. The trail is frequented by porcupines, coyotes and black bears, and more likely than
not a cougar or two  silently treks the night shadows between the crashing waves of a great
restless lake and  the silent leeward side of the furthest sand dune.

I pose a question: What is the best weapon for my journey to insure I have safe flirtations
with nature at her wildest in the blustery days and chilly nights of autumn?

If you picked the knife - you are wrong.
If you picked the bear spray - you are wrong.

However I bring both with me on most treks in lands that are wildlands.
But the best "weapon" on any trail is situational awareness, an understanding of
the creatures and hazards and weather along any trail.
(I also carry  a small "just in case"day pack with compass, fire starters, survival blanket, dried
foods and other items for an unexpected night in the woods.)

I have great respect for creatures with sharp teeth, claws and fangs but I am far more
concerned about Idiot Two-legged Beasts that persist in drunk or texting driving and may be
drifting over the center line of  M-22, my winding gateway road to northern adventures on
our magnificant and oftern stormy northwest shore.

SITUATIONAL AWARNESS
Situational awareness means I understand how bear spray works chemically, how it would affect
me in an accident, and how and when to aim and pull the trigger.
Situational awareness meansI know bear spray is a last ditch emergency deterrent, meaning it must be instantly accessible and not stuffed away in my pack.
Situational awareness means I am aware of the controversy on bear bells dangling from a pack: Perhaps the ringing tells a bear habituted to people---"Here comes another fool carrying goodies"
Situational awareness means that I know running from a predator is the worst thing I can do--for that may elicit a predatory response. Act like prey. You become prey.
If I stumbled into a black bear, I know not to play dead. That message clearing screams,
"Come on over and eat me! Take a bite! You might like me!"

Does even the slightest potential for sharing a landscape with a cougar, black bear, coyote or other great predator, add to my experience of wildness?
Does a storm churning over the lake after add to my coveted desire for wildness.
I think you know my answer to both questions.
Walk quietly and at peace with our creatures and your journey is full of goodness.
And that my friends is not an illusion of reality.

Photos by Jonathan Schechter
Trailhead signs at Sleeping Bear Dunes Nat'l Lakeshore
Situational awarness also means reading and comprehending advisory signs.

Polar Bears, Butterflies and other things

2011-09-30T19:30:00.004-04:00

Sandra Yu of Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice: Eye to eyespot with an owl butterfly.
Detroit Zoo butterfly house. Sept 30, 2011
all photos by Jonathan Schechter

Light mist was falling and winds gusting when I attended an environmental workshop at the Detroit Zoo----
"a workshop to begin a comprehensive process of assessing southeast
Michigan's knowledge of the environment and its impact on on it."
When the workshop ended a half dozen of us went out to explore the zoological grounds.
We were kids again. --A few favorite photos follow.
The zoo is great to visit with the big crowds gone, regardless of the weather.
www.detroitzoo.org

A Central American bush dog--a top predator in its limited habitat range.

Science on a Sphere (new exhibit developed by NOAA)

Michigan DNR Confirms Presence of Cougar in Houghton County

2011-09-27T10:00:00.002-04:00

Photo from trail camera in Houghton County - Michigan DNR

Allthough myth, mystery and misunderstanding surround cougars (mountain lions), what can no longer be denied is that cougars are part of the Michigan wildlife landscape, a fact confirmed again by a trail camera as another big cat returns to its ancenstral habitat. This time a stealthy ghost cat was confirmed in northern Houghton County, captured on a trail camera (photo above) on September 24th. The press release from the Michigan DNR follows. All good info but I always smile to myself when I read part of the standard warning "- try to appear larger than the cougar" If I wrote the warnings I would be tempted to add a slice of humor " - try not to wet yourself if you sight a cougar" And when I head back to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore for a night hike in a few weeks I will think of the cougars that have trekked the dune side trails. For the past several years the National Park Service has posted cougar advisory signs on those trails on our side of the big bridge connecting the two slices of wild Michigan.

DNR Confirms Presence of Cougar in Houghton County

The Department of Natural Resources today confirmed the presence of a cougar in northern Houghton County. The animal was captured on a trail camera on Sept. 24, walking directly toward the front of the camera and clearly showing it has a radio collar.

DNR Wildlife Division staff visited the property Sept. 26 where the trail cam is mounted and verified the location of the camera. The property owner wishes to remain anonymous.

This is almost certainly the same cat as was confirmed in Ontonogan County on Sept. 8.” said Adam Bump, a wildlife biologist with the DNR’s Cougar Team. “What is also interesting is that the Wisconsin DNR earlier verified two trail camera pictures of this cat as it passed through Wisconsin on its way to the UP.”

The DNR is still in the process of tracking down where the cougar is from and has been checking frequencies from collars of cats from South Dakota. Only western states currently have cougars collared for research projects, so the animal likely traveled a great distance to reach the Upper Peninsula.

The Department will inform the public as soon as more details are known about this cougar.

Cougars, also known as mountain lions, originally were native to Michigan but were thought to have been extirpated around the turn of the last century. The last known wild cougar taken in Michigan was killed near Newberry in 1906. However, sightings are regularly reported and although verification is often difficult, the DNR has verified sets of cougar tracks and confirmed the location of a cougar photo in the eastern Upper Peninsula in 2009 and several sets of cougar tracks in Marquette and Delta counties in 2008.

Established cougar populations are found as close to Michigan as North and South Dakota, and transient cougars dispersing from these areas have been known to travel hundreds of miles in search of new territory. Characteristic evidence of cougars include tracks, which are about three inches long by three and a half inches wide and typically show no claw marks, or suspicious kill sites, such as deer carcasses that are largely intact and have been buried with sticks and debris.

Reports of cougar tracks and other evidence should be made to a local DNR office or by calling the department's 24-hour Report All Poaching line at 800-292-7800. If a citizen comes into contact with a cougar, the following behavior is recommended:

- Stop, stand tall, pick up small children and do not run. A cougar's instinct is to chase.

- Do not approach the animal.

- Try to appear larger than the cougar. Never take your eyes off the animal or turn your back. Do not crouch down or try to hide.

- If the animal displays aggressive behavior, shout, wave your arms and throw rocks. The idea is to convince the cougar that you are not prey, but a potential danger.

- If a cougar attacks, fight back aggressively and try to stay on your feet. Do not play dead. Cougars have been driven away by people who have fought back.

Cougars are classified as an endangered species in Michigan. It is unlawful to kill, harass or otherwise harm a cougar except in the immediate defense of human life. For more information about the recent cougar tracks and photo, call your local DNR office to report it or report it on our website. To learn more about cougars and how to identify their tracks, go www.michigan.gov/cougars.

Before You Forage: A cautionary tale of flying reindeer!

2011-09-26T06:45:00.009-04:00

Amanita muscaria mushroom (posionous) growing in a poison ivy patch
photo courtesy of Shane McElwee

Wild edibles have been a source of fascination for me for as long as I can remember. I think
my hunter-gatherer thought process kicked in when I was five or six years old; a little explorer running barefoot through meadows and woods and puddles in rural Connecticut.
I sampled many wild treats.
I have not killed myself yet. But there was that day down by Puget Sound when I was a graduate student at the College of Forest Resources of the University of Washington when a co-conspirator and I gathered an assortment of mussels and clams and seaweeds to make a "survival soup."
That did not go very well.
But we survived and never made that soup again.

If you follow my ramblings or have hiked with me you know I am always preaching the goodness of what Mother Earth gives. But now a brief warning for these early days of Autumn. Wild berries are ripe. Nuts are falling. Leaves are changing and colorful woodland fungi is fantastically shaped. Before you forage remember if you are not 100% certain of identification walk away.
And even if Mr. Chipmunk eats something that does not mean you can.

And now--Flying Reindeer!

Just as I was thinking about writing this blog Shane McElwee, sent a photo she took in her Ohio backyard last week. The shiny green plant is poison ivy (soon to turn red with autumn) and the colorful 'shroom is Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria) a favorite of fairy-tale illustrators and artists, a mushroom with both sinister and myth rich reputations.
Its active poisons are hallucinogenic to man and beast and have been claimed by researchers and historians to be the fungi rooted origin of Father Christmas myths in Lapland and Siberia involving reindeer that fly and strange figures clad in red and white.
Father Christmas crossed the oceans and morphed into Santa Claus.
Watch what you eat when you forage, or a mystical and mysterious figure may emerge----
or you just may die. (Call that my disclaimer of responsibility)
Edibility is not learned overnight.

Back Walnuts, a certain body part of the God Jupiter and the Equinox

2011-09-23T05:53:00.002-04:00

A pair of dripping wet black walnuts hangs low over my porch after a morning drizzle.
photo by Jonathan Schechter

Today is the first morning of autumn. Daylight and darkness are equal. Not quite. The actual moment of equal day and night in the Northern Hemisphere occurs slightly later north of the equator. But none of that is really important. What is important are natural signs of seasonal change, not a date on a calender. And when black walnuts rain down like summer hail it signals me summer is over.

This year I will gather some of those nuts and not leave them all for my nut-happy squirrels.

Before reading more know this:

Black walnuts usually dangle in pairs.

I went to the Internet to check methods of de-husking and stumbled on a fact I learned long ago in New England when I was a bearded, long-haired, tree-hugging, happy young hippy absorbing everthing I could about nature and wildlife at Goddard College in Plainfield Vermont, a town with more cows than people.

I will share that fact with you.

17th Century Swedish naturalist Carolus Linneaus was the father of systemtic botany. He developed the two-part naming system using Latin still in use today by botanists.

You knew that!

Enter the Greek God Jupiter, the Great God of the Sky and Thunder.

One powerful dude with many female admirers.

I knew that!

Black walnut was named Juglans nigra, with Juglans short for "Jupiter's glands."

Go back to the picture on top and look at the nuts again:

Now you understand the rest of the nut naming story!

Greek God Jupiter with an unidentified lady friend.

He also liked hawks. Note hawk to his left.

(photo not by me)

The Final Reptilian Sunbath of Summer

2011-09-21T20:00:00.003-04:00

Northern Water Snake
all photos copyrighted by Jonathan Schechter
Crooked Lake - Independence Oaks County Park, Independence Twp, Michigan

On this final day of summer it is time for the reptiles of southern Michigan to soak in rays of
warm sunshine before the days cool, nights chill and daylight shrinks. That is their way.
In a few weeks turtles will be heading for muddy pond bottoms and most snakes will be slithering
into their hibernaculum. Our massasauga rattlesnakes will head for moist crayfish burrows and
spend their winter in a state of suspended animation below the frost line.
It did not take long to find reptiles sunning their day away on my last kayak paddle of summer,
for without external warmth they can not properly digest their meals.
All the photos are from Crooked Lake with the exception of the rattler. That native pit viper was sunning on the bike path of Indian Springs Metropark (White Lake Twp. Michigan) a month ago.

Northern water snake Jonathan Schechter photo

Northern water snake - watching, waiting. Jonathan Schechter photo

A garter snake swimming in crooked lake. photo by Jonathan Schechter

I encountered a common garter snake swimming across crooked lake during my mid-day paddle.
Only the snake knew the reason; perhaps it was just a wish to get to the more exposed sunnier side.

The snake reached the sunny side and slithered up the first tree with a branch touching water.

And then it was time to streach out and soak in sun on warm tree bark.

A painted turtle found a perfect perch a few feet above the lake to position its shell towards the sun.

Another turtle sunned on a beaver chewed log inches above the water creating a perfect reflection.

Back in August an eastern massasauga rattlesnake soaked up pavement warmth on a bike trail at Indian Springs Metropark in White Lake Township, Michigan about 15 miles from Crooked Lake
photo by Jonathan Schechter

Wipe Your Feet and Join The War: You are in Michigan's national park!

2011-09-20T07:39:00.008-04:00

National Park Ranger Ryan Locke demonstrates the newly installed boot scraper at the
Empire Bluff Trail  of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.
all photos by Jonathan Schechter

National Park Ranger Ryan Locke is on the front lines of a war raging at Sleeping Bear
Dunes National Lakeshore,  a quiet war being waged to combat the spread of invasive species.
The first "boot brush station" was installed at the popular Empire Bluff Trail last month
with additional scrapers going in at South and North Manitou Islands and Leland.
The scrapers are aimed to raise the awarness of backpackers and casual hikers that they are
vectors in invasive species seed dispersal. The simple act of scraping your boot or shoe
against the brush before and after a trail hike removes hitchiking seeds while the well worded
colorful interpretive sign explains the science behind the war plan.

Congratulations to Ranger Locke who thought about a way to educate the public on invasive
species seed dispersal and provide a way for the public to take immediate action. Locke called
around to other parks with islands and then pitched the idea of a boot brush station to the National
Park Service's Invasive Species Coordinator Marcus Key who works at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.
Key ran with the plan and saw to it that 55 of these stations were produced to be placed in ten
National Parks around our Great Lakes.

Locke explained the highest priority is to educate the public about the risk of transporting
invasive species  (such as garlic mustard and spotted knapweed) in the treads of, or on the
laces of their hiking boots or hidden in camping gear to the Manitou Islands.
Do your part on your next Sleeping Bear visit:
Wipe your feet!

Holly State Recreation Area: a hike into the night photo supplement.

2011-09-17T07:18:00.001-04:00

all photos by Jonathan Schechter

Holly State Recreation Area (HSRA) is an 8,000 acre wildland, rich in primitive trails and
wildlife. The site is a unit of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources located
in Groveland Township east of Holly and west of Ortonville.
These photos are a supplement to the Oakland Outdoors hiking column on a night hike at
HSRA published in the Sunday, September 18 edition of The Oakland Press
www.theoaklandpress.com

Frogs are king on the lakeshores and in the wetlands of HSRA.

Lily pad is a great perch for a bug-hungry bullfrog---

and small bugs and a brilliant yellow jacket.

A gentle breeze made for perfect sailing and hot air ballooning.

Don't eat the oddly named "Chicken of the Woods" so named because when cooked the flesh of the mushroom
resembles chicken. Eat it and you are likley to vomit. It is also called Sulpher Shelf.
Regardless of the name the fungi of September add color to the trails!

Narrow trails are rich with targets for camera toting hikers.

Milkweed pods are draws for the curious--and the monarch butterfly.

a moment of quiet contemplation

Trail side jewelweed (spotted-touch-me-not) is at its peak color and beauty.

Hikers debate the gender of a grasshopper in Natualist Dan Farmer's right hand!

And I munch on some tart but tasty autumn olive berries as darkness descends.

the moon rises---------

---and adds magic to the woods as a barred owl calls in the distance.

A raccoon splashed away into the night shadows of small creek before I could click---

--as a trio of trail hikers stumbled over a log and which way to go (Don't tear her in half!).

And then it was time for the grand hot dog feast under a starry late summer night.

Eat The Alien Invaders!

2011-09-14T23:57:00.010-04:00

All photos by Jonathan Schechter (in my Brandon Twp, Michigan meadow)

Autumn olive is perhaps the most rapidly spreading plant in Michigan and a large
swath of the east and Midwest. It is no longer just an invasive species looking for a
tentative foothold.

This berry-rich plant has conquered our landscape and late every summer the species
flames out further in into the landscape with the speed of a wind-driven wildfire.
Autumn olive, also called autumnberry (that name tastes better in my mind) racks up
air-miles of spreading success because the juicy seeds are swallowed by birds and
then expelled out the other end after their travel time as tiny digestive track stowaways.

I know why song birds and wild turkeys, raccoons and opossums love these berries.

They are delicious!

They are also rich in lycopene, an antioxidant compound that is exceedingly good for you.

I pick them by the handfuls straight from the bush after a morning
rain and love the sweet yet slightly acidic flavor. The berries can also be used in jams
and pies and to make a juice. But before you head into the fields on foraging mission
based on my descriptions and photos a word of caution: A blog with pictures and
my anecdotes does not make for 100% certain identification. Without positive
ID you should not be munching away on berries hoping you have the right one.

Two clues help with identification.

1. The back side of the narrow leaves is silvery.

2. The berries have tiny silvery/gold specks all over them.

Autumn olive starts out as a small spindly shrub in a field and easily grows three or
four feet its first season. From there transforms into a rough and tough monster sized bush
that can get 15 feet tall with multiple and gnarly trunks. When the plant is in full sunlight
it because super-loaded with berries to the point that branches hang low.

How did autumn olive get here? Conservation agencies and sportsman organizations
in numerous states urged its planting decades ago as a plant to attract wildlife and
stabilize soil.
"Mission accomplished"

A refreshing yet tart trail treat for the tounge while hiking trails in the waning days of summer!

A cougar walks (again) in Michigan!

2011-09-14T06:52:00.002-04:00

Mountain lions, aso known as cougars or pumas are creatures of myth, mystery and misunderstanding. This beautiful and magestic creature - to some a ghost in the shadows - has been making news recently with increased sightings in the Midwest, New England and New York. And for the past several years the National Park Service has posted cougar advisory signs on the trailheads of our Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, one of my favorite stomping grounds. Fact of the matter is clear--these big cats are no longer figmnents of an over active imagination. The cougar is back. This short video clip has been confirmed as authentic by the Michigan DNR and the press release has not been changed by me except for putting some sentences in body type. It's a good read on this secretive cat, a controversial species that is difficult to study and seldom poses for a picture. And it's another nod from the Michigan DNR that past sightings that were brushed off may have well been valid.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sept. 13, 2011

Michigan DNR Confirms Presence of Cougar in Ontonagon County

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources today confirmed the presence of a cougar in Ontonagon County. The animal was captured on a trail camera on private property on Sept. 8, walking directly toward the front of the camera and clearly showing it has an ear tag and a radio collar.

DNR Wildlife Division staff visited the property Sept. 12 where the trail cam is mounted and verified the location of the camera.

“We are pleased that the individuals that caught this animal on video reported it promptly to the DNR and allowed us to verify the location of the camera,” said Adam Bump, a wildlife biologist with the DNR’s Cougar Team. “It is a very interesting sighting given the fact that the cougar has been radio-collared and ear-tagged.”

The DNR is in the process of tracking down possibly where the cougar is from, and is contacting other states with known cougar populations. Only western states currently have cougars collared for research projects, so it is possible that the animal traveled a great distance to reach the Upper Peninsula. The Department will inform the public as soon as more details are known about this cougar.

Cougars, also known as mountain lions, originally were native to Michigan but were thought to have been extirpated around the turn of the last century. The last known wild cougar taken in Michigan was killed near Newberry in 1906. However, sightings are regularly reported and although verification is often difficult, the DNR has verified two sets of cougar tracks and confirmed the location of a cougar photo in the eastern Upper Peninsula in 2009 and several sets of cougar tracks in Marquette and Delta counties in 2008.

Reports of cougar tracks and other evidence should be made to a local DNR office or by calling the department's 24-hour Report All Poaching line at 800-292-7800.

If a citizen comes into contact with a cougar, the following behavior is recommended:

Stop, stand tall, pick up small children and do not run. A cougar's instinct is to chase.

Do not approach the animal.

Try to appear larger than the cougar. Never take your eyes off the animal or turn your back. Do not crouch down or try to hide.

If the animal displays aggressive behavior, shout, wave your arms and throw rocks. The idea is to convince the cougar that you are not prey, but a potential danger.

If a cougar attacks, fight back aggressively and try to stay on your feet.

Do not play dead.
Cougars have been driven away by people who have fought back.

Cougars are classified as an endangered species in Michigan. It is unlawful to kill, harass or otherwise harm a cougar except in the immediate defense of human life. To learn more about cougars and how to identify their tracks, go www.michigan.gov/cougars.

A heated deer bed on a rainy Michigan morning.

2011-09-08T10:54:00.003-04:00

photo by Jonathan Schechter

Today was one of those days I am glad my camera was with me even though my short
rainy morning walk was on my own property.
I was just about back to my house when I noticed movement.
Something was on last year's leaf/mulch pile.
I zoomed the telephoto out -wishing I had a tripod to steady the camera - to see what caught
my attention. Ears pointed out at me. Ears I know well.
I was tempted to caption this photo, "Deer sits on her eggs." Maybe I will repost this next
April Fool's Day with that very caption.
But what is actually happening is just awesome.
Decomposing leaves produce warmth.
And if you are a deer on a chilly moist morning in Michigan what better place for a morning nap!

Green frogs of The Grand Traverse Resort: Nature finds a way!

2011-09-03T21:04:00.003-04:00

all photos by Jonathan Schechter

There is a secret world almost within the night shadows of Grand Traverse Resort

Sunset from the window of the Aerie Resuratant and Lounge

The Grand Travese Resort has an intoxicating array of amenities in their spa,

superb facilities and excellent customer service.

The cusine in its 16th floor Aerie Resturant is second to none and diners

have a world class view of East Grand Traverse Bay, a left over treat from the last great glacial

retreat. Bottom line: The 900 acres of this resort provides excellent habitat for humans.

Those facts are well established and bring thousands of guests every season.

www.grandtraverseresort.com

What is less known is the protected wetlands and areas left unmowed by design provide

excellent habitat for wildlife species, great and small.

Green frogs on sultry late summer nights find their cusine and dining comforts are

also second to none if they hop over to the sidewalk.

In late August I found myself walking on the resort sidewalk soaked by a passing

thunderstorm that swept in off Lake Michigan just before sunset.

I quickly discovered I was not alone.

Green frogs emerged from the shadows and settled done on the warm concrete to wait under

the lights -- and then leap for treats.

Their entrees? Small earthworms wiggling over the walk and bugs that flew too low.

And the frog spa? Sun warmed sidewalks and moist night breezes.

Nature always finds a way.

photos by Jonathan Schechter

Dance of the Sandhills

2011-08-31T19:28:00.002-04:00

All photos by Jonathan Schechter
Sandhill Cranes, August 31, 2011
Brandon Township, Michigan

I often hear their mystical primordial sounding musical call at dawn.
But seldom do I see them.
Today I had both treats of the wilder side of nature.

A pair of sandhill cranes with their full grown flight-tested young danced about in my neighbor's
fallow field just before 6 pm. (The pictures were all from my car parked roadside.) But the dance
of walk and stalk and leap I witnessed was not a dance of pleasure.
It was a dance of survival for the cranes and a death dance for crunchy grasshoppers
and perhaps some juicy meadow voles as well.
Each field dance ended with a grab or stab.
A diet rich in protein is essential for the great task that looms ahead: Migration!
And these birds know that their time to fly will be soon.

Spirit Song of A Michigan Ghost Forest

2011-08-31T08:11:00.003-04:00

All photos by Jonathan Schechter at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

Walk silently through the haunting landscape of the ghost forest of Sleeping Bear Point Trail and
wind spirits whisper to you and chatter among the skeletons of long dead cedars.
If you do not hear them you are not listening.
I am sure the Anishinaabek knew the song in their day on Sleeping Bear.

The ghost forest is stark evidence of shifting sand dunes and endless winds that writes new pages
daily in the story of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, an ever changing masterpiece
created by the last glacial retreat and now protected by our National Park Service.

Sand and wind in concert is powerful.

Although each grain of sand is just the tiniest of specks, in 1931 the U.S. Coast Guard buildings
now in the town of Glen Haven had to be moved from Sleeping Bear Point before the
migrating dunes buried them.

The story of sand dunes and ghost forests is without end, but to feel the earth moving forces of
ice, wind and water that sing nature's song you must walk the sands.
And I will walk there again in a land that is full of mystery and wonder, and home to
black bears, bobcats and perhaps a few cougars.

NOTE: Final photo by Shaina O'Dwyer, Environmental Management System Management Representive of
the Grand Traverse Resort And Spa.

During this most recent exploration of Sleeping Bear I was a particapant in an environmental writers ecology
tour sponsored by the Grand Traverse Resort And Spa www.grandtraverseresort.com with assistance and logistical
support from the Convention and Visitors Bureau of Traverse City www.visittraversecity.com and the staff of the
National Park Service at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore www.nps.gov/slbe.

Spirit of the Crow -- and a wary buck.

2011-08-23T22:10:00.001-04:00

crow photo by my friend Ulanawa Foote
photo reprinted with permission from : http://turtlesaw.blogspot.com/

(NOTE: Turtle Saw is a spirtually uplifting nature blog with incredible photography)

There is a quickening in the land. Seasons are changing.
Gentle rains of black walnuts signal summer is waning.
So does the endless night song of crickets.
As days shorten hummingbirds at the feeder accelerate their activity.
But pehaps no creature senses this quickening more, and shares the news more loudly than the crow.
He sees all. He knows all. And he forgets little.
And sometimes he screams his secrets, building a reputation as a noisy spirit of the woods and fields.
But somtimes he is silent.
And he just watches.
Look into his eyes and you see wisdom.
And strength.

Crow calls when the owl flies home to the pines.
Crows call when the neighbor's cat stalks birds.
Crow calls when the coyote crosses the road.
Crow calls when the tractor coughs to life.

Crow watches me walk my meadow; but this ka ka ka - if it happens at all - is not an alarm.
It is less shrill. He knows my ways and my passings.
His tail feathers and head bob with his song.
I like to think it is a greeting for me. Only crow knows.
I always "ka ka ka" my hello back as I enter his haunts.
If I lived in the city my neighbors would think me a bit strange. (They might be right.)

But for reasons I do not know when the buck of late summer walks through the tall grass meadow,
crow watches and says nothing of buck's stealthy passing.
Crows silence speaks loudly to the buck.
And buck understands.

photo by Bob Davis ( a neighbor who share his passion for wildlife)

Puffballs! Cast iron frying pan sizzles with fungi feast.

2011-08-21T20:13:00.003-04:00

Season of the puffballs!
photo by Jonathan Schechter 8/21/11

My disclaimer first:
Just because I eat something from Mother Nature's endless pantry does not mean you should.

MORE SAFETY: Never gather from a lawn that is sprayed with any chemicals. And if you are not 100% certain it
is a puffball, don't eat it. Some poisonous shrooms when first emerging - including the destroying angel - ( a deadly amanita) can be confused with a newly emerged puffball.
A photo is not a mushroom ID class!

The new batch of puffballs that just emerged after the rains is a perfect palate pleaser. I will grant you a puffball hunt does not create the romance and excitement of searching for the morels of spring, nor are the flavors and textures the same. But his fantastic fungi that is popping up all
about my meadow and lawn is tasty when young. In my book when its about six times larger
than a black walnut (see photo) it is the perfect harvest size.
Puffballs will eventually swell to the size of a pregnant basketball!

Here is my step to step 10 minute guide from waking up to consumption.

Look out my window and smile at new puffballs in moist grass.

Walk outside while barefoot and pick one puffball.

(Why barefoot? Why not!)

Make sure no little critters are napping on puffball.

Slice the puffball thinly, maybe 1/8 of an inch.

Lay slices on cast iron pan sizzling with hot olive oil.

Flip once.

Season with a hot sauce and sprinkles of feta cheese

Eat and Enjoy.

Feeling a bit wild? Chop into squares and prepare with roasted peppers, garlic and spinach!
And don't forget to thank Mother Nature for her bountiful harvest of a waning summer.

Fruits of my trespass: My confession.

2011-08-18T21:31:00.002-04:00

photo by Jonathan Schechter August/2011

I am not certain what laws I broke, but I am rather certain I am a law-breaking naturalist.
This image is at the end of my driveway and the wildflowers are growing in the right of the way of my dirt road in northern Oakland County.
Up until two years that right of way was mostly dirt and stubble and grasses that were planted by the county to stablize soil along the shoulder. One or two times a year a tractor came by to cut back any roadside growth to keep a clear view.

Late October 2009: I went to the roadside and "took cryptic measures of trespass" late one night to remove the bit of green that was growing.
I waited three weeks. Then it was time to hand sow a mix of hardy wildflower seeds a few days before the first snow fall. Nature did the rest.
Almost two years have passed: A few weeks after I took this picture of a doe sampling summer flowers, a county tractor worked its way slowly down my road with the blade streched out cutting back any plant growth. When it reached my small patch of law-breaking beauty it stopped. I watched unobserved from my porch. The blade was lifted and he drove on, lowering it again a few hundred feet down the road. I was happy that he sensed what I saw--natural beauty (created by an unsanctioned act).
Yesterday a neighbor asked me how I make the flowers grow.
I see a trend.
A good trend. He will be my co-conspirator in an expanding operation: "Seeds gone wild"
My trespass shall expand later this fall just before the snows of November.
I ordered more seed today.

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore: Most Beautiful Place in America!

2011-08-17T09:35:00.002-04:00

all photos by Jonathan Schechter

Early this morning (August 17, 2011) ABC News announced Michigan's Sleeping Bear Dunes
National Lakeshore (www.nps.gov/slbe ) as "The Most Beautiful Place in America"!
Congratulations to our National Park Service for their fine managment of this beautful resource
and a special thanks to the Sleeping Bear Dunes Visitor Bureau ( www.sleepingbeardunes.com ) for their endless promotion and support of our great NW shore on Lake Michigan.
But most of my thanks are for the glaciers, powerful winds, ice and raw power of nature
that created this incredible landscape of rugged beauty, streams, meadows, forests and wildlife
habitat, and for the people who love the land and all her inhabitants.
Sleeping Bear Dunes is a four-season wonderland and now her secret is out.

A gray treefrog, a wren box and a world of mosquitoes!

2011-08-14T13:19:00.005-04:00

Gray treefrog in house wren box
All photos by Jonathan Schechter

Sunday, August 14th 1 pm. Great flocks of newly emerged micro mosquitoes are on their blood
hunt making it nearly impossible to stand still on my rain-soaked hillside.
But I am not one to stay indoors and so I went for a quick walk to my woods and then to my mini
arbor to harvest a few tomatoes dangling from their aerial pot in back of the vacated house wren box.

And that is when I saw a hint of motion.
Back inside for the camera!

The weathered old empty wren box has a new resident, one without feathers. A content gray
treefrog, with his (or perhaps her) coloration adjusted to the shade of the wood leaned partially out
of his new window on the world, watching my arm swinging antics and perhaps slurping down
a skeeter or two on this humid Sunday afternoon of cozy comfort for amphibians, and misery for humans that sit still outside.
But it's a great day for the treefrogs, and for humans that love
wilder moments of nature and the tiny interactions all around us.

HIGHWAY PATROL : Keen eyes from the sky

2011-08-14T11:42:00.003-04:00

Red-tailed hawk
photo by Barrie Lynn Totten Wood

I try not to be a distracted driver when navigating the endless ribbon of concrete and asphalt we call Interstate 75.
But a few days ago as I headed south not far from my entry point at Exit 89 (Sashabaw Road) I could not help but be distracted.
The highway patrol is out in force.
They distract me no end.
And I noticed one pair of eyes hidden in plain sight adjacent to my entrance ramp.

If you are spotted by the Highway Patrol in the waning days of summer a quick death may await you; that is if you are a grass-chewing meadow vole, leaf-munching rabbit or nut-happy squirrel paying more attention to gluttony than the shadows and eyes in the sky.

The red-tail is a keen-sighted sky warrior, a beautiful and powerful hawk with the ability to hover in flight and then descend with sharp talons outstrechted to secure a meaty fur covered meal.
These common North American hawks adapt well to opportunity and that is what many do when major highways are part of their habitat.
Why fly about searching distant fields when one can perch roadside and still hunt, waiting for potential prey in the human created zone between the edge of the shoulder and woods?

Barrie Lynn Totten Wood photo

Perseid Meteors streaking to Earth! WARNING: You may get mooned.

2011-08-10T15:29:00.001-04:00

A brilliant Perseid meteor 'fireball' photographed in Aug. 2009 by Pete Lawrence of Selsey, UK.
photo from NASA/SCIENCE

THE FACTS, WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM NASA:
The Perseid meteor shower is caused by debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle. When Mother Earth zips through the debris field, specks of that comet slam into our atmosphere and are consumed in flashes of light. Some are brilliant, others are faint lines of light. They are all called Perseids because they fly out of the constellation Perseus. Your little one calls them shooting stars. Me too.

"The meteor shower is already underway. According to the International Meteor Organization, worldwide observers now are counting more than a dozen Perseids per hour with more to come on August 12-13 when Earth passes near the heart of the debris stream." NASA SCIENCE

Swift-Tuttle's debris zone is so vast our planet spends weeks travelling inside the debris zone . Go outside at this very moment if it is night - no matter what moment it is within a week of August 13 - and you might see a Perseid.  More likely than not--you won't. You will just feed hungry mosquitoes.

Here's Why: The peak of this year’s Perseids is August 12-13, but you being 'mooned' by a heavenly body - our moon- is much more likely than seeing stars streaking.  Our full moon will outshine all but the brightest players of this year's shooting star display. But do not give up too soon. You may get lucky and spot a brighter fireball or two despite moon shine. And since the Perseids can be seen in small numbers for several weeks on either side of the peak night, you might try to view a few when the Moon isn’t quite so full a few days after the peak period.

My Tips: Lunar glare wipes out a good meteor shower so if I was you - and I am not - I would head for the darker countryside tonight in hopes of seeing meteors streak into our atmosphere before they are drowned in moon glare. I'm lucky. No street lights in my neck of the woods. (Meteors are almost impossible to see near city lights. ) If you do not see any during moon glow in the middle of the night, get back outside just before dawn rise when the moon is sleepy and wea andsettle in a lawn chair with coffee and bug spray. You may see a few! But I'll be happy with my night meander regardless, and celebrate the whinny of screech owls from my pines, the hum of zillions of crickets and perhaps the trill of a treefrog, the deep song of a bullfrog or sharp yip of a coyote -- and of course the full moon exposure on a sultry summer night--------.
                There is no bad night in the world of nature!

And there is a bonus:
"Before dawn is also the time of the International Space Sation flyby. All week long and into the weekend, the International Space Station will be making a series of early-morning passes over the United States. The massive spacecraft glides silently among the stars, shining so brightly that moonlight and even city lights have little affect on its visibility. You simply cannot miss it if you know when to look. Check NASA's ISS Tracker for local flyby times." NASA@SCIENCE

If I had planned ahead I would be at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore sitting on a sand dune on the shore of Lake Michigan, one of the best places in Michigan to enjoy the streaking in the sky or the glow of being mooned, or just celebrating the wonders of nature and Mother Earth.
Note to self: Mark my calander for Perseid 2012.

                                                         photo by Jonathan Schechter
                                                 Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
                                                   Full moon of July 2011 from the dunes