Signs of Spring

In the past week I have seen many signs that Spring is nearly here: honeybees buzzing around in my yard; crocuses blooming in the garden; a killdeer in a field; and most importantly, to me, the Red-winged Blackbirds have returned!

A male Red-Winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) - photo from April 2014

Happy Snakes Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Every year on St. Patrick's Day, I share pictures of snakes. 

One of the legends surrounding St. Patrick is how he rid Ireland of snakes.  The story says that Patrick was in the middle of a 40 day fast when he was attacked by snakes.  Enraged by this intrusion, he chased the snakes into the sea and banished them from Ireland forever.

The real story of why Ireland has no native species of snakes does not involve an angry saint.  Instead, Ireland's lack of snakes can be attributed to ice.  During the last glacial maximum (ice age) which peaked around 11,000 years ago, three-quarters of Ireland was covered by a sheet of ice.  The remaining fringe of land was too cold to be inhabited by snakes (and most other animals). 

As the glaciers retreated, Ireland was temporarily connected to Great Britain and mainland Europe by a land bridge.  The existence of this bridge allowed some species to repopulate the island, but not snakes.  When the glaciers melted this land bridge was covered by the sea, severing the connection and limiting the number of native terrestrial species on the island.

Mid-Michigan was covered by glaciers during the same glacial maximum, chasing away our snakes and most other species as well.  However, because Michigan is not an island, we have not experienced the same post-glacial isolation.  In the last 11,000 years many species have recolonized Michigan, including seventeen species of snakes. 

Here are three of those snakes.

Northern Water Snake (Nerodia sipedon)

Eastern Hognose Snake (Heterodon platirhinos)

Common Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis)

Cutting Circles, Pi, and Pie

On Saturday (14 MAR) I joined other members of the Mid-Mitten Wild Ones Chapter at the Chippewa Nature Center to construct wooden oriole feeders, bee nesting blocks made of drilled pieces of lumber, and bee nesting boxes like the one below.

Bee nesting box at the Saginaw Chippewa Academy - Summer 2014

Because this is my design for a bee nesting tower, I was in charge of this part of the construction.  I brought all of the necessary materials and tools to construct seven of these structures.  Three of the structures were purchased by Wild Ones' members, three were purchased by ITC Holdings to place in rain gardens and at their corporate headquarters, and the final structure is being donated to the Chippewa Nature Center.

I wanted to get lots of photographs to detail the build, but I was too busy working most of the time.  Lucy Chargot (Mid-Mitten Chapter President) took a few photos including this one.  I am standing to the left with a drill in my hand - the most tie consuming part of constructing these bee houses is drilling and chiseling out the holes through the 4 x 6 posts.

Working on 4 x 6 posts for the bee nesting boxes - photo by Lucy Chargot

The tubes going through the posts are made of 3" Schedule 30 PVC pipe.  This pipe has an outside diameter of 3.25 inches so I use a holesaw with a 3.25 inch diameter to drill through the posts.  The saw can only cut through about 1.5 inches of the post at a time so it is necessary to use a gouge to chisel out the excess material.

Chiseling out the holes through the wood is the hardest part of the job.

Eventually we had a total of 20 holes drilled/chiseled out on the seven posts - six of the posts had three holes in each, one member wanted a post with only two holes.

Drilling out the holes is a multi-step process - Drill, chisel, Drill, chisel, drill.

The other part of constructing these bee nesting boxes consisted of cutting and gluing up the PVC pipes that fit through the hole.  I cut the pipes at home with a compound-miter saw.  This made it easy to cut each pipe at a consistent angle (30 degrees).  If you are only cutting a few pieces this can easily be done with a hacksaw.  End-caps are glued on using PVC glue.  The outside of the pipes can be sanded or painted with a PVC paint

A pile of the completed PVC pipes waiting to be installed in the posts

After the glue has dried, the pipe can be filled with hollow stems, sections of bamboo, twigs with a hollow center, or in this case cardboard tubes made as bee nesting tubes.

Each piece of pipe was packed with cardboard nesting tubes

The next time I make one of these nesting boxes I plan to take detailed photographs of the process.

One last thing about Saturday.   It was Pi Day!   What that you ask?

Pi is a number - expressed to the ten-thousandths place it read as 3.1415.  The circumference of any circle is its diameter times pi.  The are of any circle is its radius squared time pi.  So what does that have to do with Saturday?

It was March 14th 2015.  3/14/15.  3.1415.  So how did we celebrate, besides cutting lots of circles?  With pie of course!

Happy Pi Day - enjoying some pie

A Quick Thank You

I would like to offer thanks to the Chippewa Valley Audubon Club.

Last night at the club's monthly meeting, members voted to contribute $350 to support the 2015 Bird Day Celebration at the Ziibiwing Center.  This money will pay half of the appearance costs for speakers at the event.  This is the second year that the club has made a donation to cover speaker fees.

Our main presentation will be by Rebecca Lessard from Wings of Wonder.  Wings of Wonder is a bird rehabilitation center located in Empire, MI.  Rebecca gave a presentation on raptors at last year's Bird Celebration and was so popular that we ask her back again this year.

Here is a picture of Rebecca and Doolin the Turkey Vulture at last year's event.

The other person that we are pleased to invite to the program this year is Amelia Hansen.  Amelia is the artist who did the artwork for the 2015 International Migratory Bird Day poster.  Amelia is from Kalamazoo, MI and I was very excited to have here come to our Bird Day Celebration.  Amelia will be giving a short talk and signing poster during the event.

Here is her poster design - I love that almost all of the species can be found in Michigan during some part of the year.  We will be giving out free full size copies of this poster at Ziibiwing during Bird Day.

Again, thank you to the Chippewa Valley Audubon Club for helping sponsor this event.  As soon as an event flier becomes available I will post it here.

Sunset Photo (26 FEB 2015)

Just a pretty picture today. This sunset photo was taken about 2 weeks ago (26 FEB) just east of Mount Pleasant.  On that date, the high temperature was only 13 degrees Fahrenheit - during the night of the 26th/27th the temperature would drop to -13 degrees.  Today the high temperature is supposed to reach 51 degrees!

Michigan Logging Photos

Most of the year, I spend giving presentations on science topics, but during the Winter I switch gears for a couple of months and do a lot of history programs.  One of those programs is about the history of logging White Pine in Michigan (and other Great Lakes states).   This is one of my favorite programs.  Over the past couple of years I have amassed a collection of logging tools, photo postcards, and photographs.  I have shared a few images in the past in three posts.

     Days Gone By - Logging Photos

     Logging Tools Part 1 - Axe and Saw

     Anatomy of an Axe

Here are a few more photographs from my collection. Each of these photos shows logging operations somewhere in mid-Michigan.

This first image shows a group of "river hogs".  River hogs would accompany the logs down the river during the spring log drives to prevent and clear logjams.  Information on the back of this photo identifies the location as the Sugar River in northern Gladwin County.  This was one of the last years that logs were run down the rivers in mid-Michigan.

River hogs on the Sugar River, Gladwin County, MI - 1906

Feeling Shrew(d)

Last Thursday, between classroom presentations I drove to Mill Pond Park for few minutes.  As a I was driving into the parking lot I saw a small dark shape along the curb.  I quickly jumped out of my truck, grabbed my camera, and hurried to find this...

This small mammal could be confused at first glance for mouse or vole, but instead it's a shrew..

I think it was probably a Water Shrew (Sorex palustris).  There are several species of shrews that can be found in Michigan's Lower Peninsula: the Masked Shrew (S. cinereus), Pygmy Shrew (S. hoyi), Water Shrew (S. palustris), Least Shrew (Cryptotis parva), and Northern Short--tailed Shrew (Blarina brevicauda).

Three of the species can be eliminated right away.  The Pygmy Shrew, Least Shrew, and Short-tailed Shrew could all be eliminated by overall size or tail length.

The Masked Shrew could be eliminated by fur color and the amount of fur on its tail.  The Masked Shrew has light brown fur and a lightly furred tail - this animal was almost black and had a moderately furred tail.

Therefore, my best guess at identification is that this animal is a Water Shrew.

During the winter it is unusual to find a shrew on the surface of the snowpack.  Normally they would be found traveling through the subnivean zone where they are hidden from avian predators.  This shrew seemed to be searching for a way back beneath the snow.