Northern White Cedar - An important winter food source for White-tailed Deer

On two recent occasions I have visited locations with Northern White Cedar (Thuja occidentalis) trees.  This tree is typical found in wet, mucky soils in swamps, floodplains, and along the edges of lakes. The picture above (and the following two pictures) show Northern White Cedars growing in the Chippewa River floodplain at the Chippewa Watershed Conservancy's Sylvan Solace Preserve.  The Cedars at Sylvan Solace are restricted to this narrow band of muck soil along the edge of the river.

The next two photographs were taken at Mission Creek Woodland Park in Mt. Pleasant.  Mission Creek Park is a mixture of upland and wetland habitats.  Along Mission Creek itself is a section of swamp filled with Norther White Cedars.  Because these trees grow in habitats with a high water table, they often have very shallow root systems and are prone to toppling over in high winds or even when snow or ice builds up in their branches.  On a walk through the park last week I noticed several trees that had recently fallen over.

Northern White Cedar is a preferred winter food source for White-tailed Deer.  Often deer will eat every needle from a tree that is within their reach to a height of 6-8 feet off the ground.  In areas with a large deer population, cedars can have a difficult time reaching adulthood, they are often consumed before they have the chance to grow out of the reach of deer. 

When a mature tree such as this one falls deer are quick to discover this easy source of food.  Many of the needles on this tree have already been stripped by hungry deer.  I expect that before winter is over, the deer will eat every needle that they can physically reach.

Five years...

Self portrait with beard and mustache icicles (03 January 2018)

Yesterday was the fifth anniversary for this blog.

The first post that I wrote here was an introduction of what I wanted to do in this space: answer questions from students, focus on local nature, and highlight upcoming science and nature events in the local community.  I think I have generally stayed with that focus.

My first "real" post was about how Black-capped Chickadees survive the winter.

In the past five years, I have written nearly a thousand posts.  According to Blogger these posts have been viewed over 300,000 times!

The top 10 posts by page views have been:

     1.  Leaves of three, let it be...  What about leaves of five?
     2.  Soil Particle Sizes - Sand, Silt, and Clay
     3.  Logging Tools Part 1 - Axe and Saw
     4.  Waterproof Fur
     5.  Fungi!
     6.  Dogwood misidentification
     7.  Leaves of Three...  Revisited
     8.  Aquatic Ecology and Mother Earth Week at the Ziibiwing Center
     9.  What's in the woods? - 2, 4 & 5 May 2013
    10.  A tale of two flowers - one native, one alien


In the course of writing all of these posts, I have taken and shared thousands of photographs.  I have been contacted several times about using my photographs in books and one of my photos appeared on the cover of our local phone directory for 2015. Several of my photographs have even won awards in photo contests.

Here are ten of my favorites photos that have appeared on this site, with two pictures from each year.

2013

Pileated Woodpecker - Mission Creek Woodland Park, Mt. Pleasant, MI

Sunset - Old Mission Point Park, Traverse City, MI

2014

Stan Lilley photographs a Wild Calla - Hall's Lake Nature Area, Isabella County, MI

Oak Leaves - Mill Pond Park, Mt. Pleasant, MI

2015

Barred Owl - Mission Creek Woodland Park, Mt. Pleasant, MI

Prairie Dock leaf - Mt Pleasant Discovery Museum Garden, Mt. Pleasant, MI

2016

Grey Tree Frog - Audubon Woods Preserve, Winn, MI

Fun with maple leaves - Vowles Elementary, Mt. Pleasant, MI

2017

Northern Water Snakes - Chipp-A-Waters Park, Mt. Pleasant, MI

Badlands National Park, Interior, SD

What's coming up in 2018?  My plan is to continue frequent blog posts, with a goal of 4 or 5 posts every week during the school year.  I also want to spend more time outdoors so that I have more to write about and more photos to share.  This can actually be a challenge because my job keeps me inside most days.  While I try to never write about something original in every post, I might spend a little time revisiting some of my favorite subjects.

To everyone that has been following along - Thanks!

Red Oak in Winter

Most trees lost their leaves a couple of months ago, but many oak and beech trees have held onto their leaves until now.  Yesterday (03 January) while retrieving my trail cameras, I noticed many of these leaves scattered across the surface of the snow.  Depending on when they fell, these leaves were covered with varying amounts of fine snow.  Here are a few Red Oak leaves that I photographed.  I really like the simplicity of these images.

Trail camera pictures (December 2017)

I went this morning and removed my two trail cameras from Mission Creek Park.  Animal activity has decreased greatly in the past month.  During November the two cameras recorded over 1,600 pictures combined.  The same two cameras in December recorded less than 600 images.  Part of the difference was the primary deer rut (mating season) occurred in November; by December bucks had largely stopped chasing does so there was less deer movement overall.  A second factor affecting movement was increased activity at the park - Snow means crowds of people sledding!  Finally, snow and cold weather hinders the movement of many of the smaller animals that I typically capture on camera such as opossums, raccoons, and squirrels.

Here are a few of the images captured since December 1st. 

A buck chasing a pair of young does on 02 December

A small buck on 04 December

Snow fell on 09 December - it's still easy for squirrels to dig through at this point

A herd of does and fawns in deeper snow on 18 December

Deeper snow makes it more difficult for squirrels to search for hidden caches of nuts

With mating season mostly over bucks have started to form small groups - there was a group of three small bucks that appeared on camera several times over the past three weeks.

Another one of the three young bucks

 

The squirrels seemed to be spending as little time on the ground as possible

Happy New Year 2018!

Happy New Year!

How did you start 2018?

I began the year by getting up at 5:00AM for a sunrise hike at the Chippewa Watershed Conservancy's Bundy Hill Preserve. 

I wasn't alone in my determination to see the first sunrise of the new year from the highest oint in Isabella County - nine other nature lovers joined me for this hike.  This has become an annual tradition.  On January 1st 2017, a group of approximately 15 hikers made the same trek to begin the new year.

In 2017 we experienced a great sunrise.  Unfortunately we were not so lucky this year.  An overcast sky prevented us from seeing the sun.  Still it was a great opportunity to start the new year off with a dose of nature.

While most of Isabella County is flat or gently rolling, Bundy Hill is part of a glacial moraine that rises above the rest of the county.  The trail to the summit climbs more than 160 feet from the parking area and can be a bit of challenge when covered with snow.  

It's easy to overheat when climbing hills in the winter.  Remember to take it easy.  You don't want to break a sweat when the temperatures are near zero degrees;  when you stop moving the sweat means that you get cold fast.  It's better to remove layers or open zippers and be a little chilled when beginning a winter hike than to freeze later once your clothes are sweat-soaked.

Starting up the final seep section of the trail.

We arrived at the summit about 10 minutes before official sunrise (8:09AM).  We stood around talking for a few minutes, hoping that the sun would break through the clouds.  When it became evident that we were not going to get our wish we snapped a couple group pictures and headed on down the hill to get an early start to the new year.

While leaving I saw my first wildlife of the year - a pair of White-tailed Deer.

A walk in the park (20 December 2017)

Tuesday was my last classroom program before schools went on break for the holidays.  With that freedom of schedule, I managed to get outdoors yesterday (20 December) for a short visit to Mill Pond Park. 

Here are some of the photos that came from that trip.

This small creek remains flowing through a swamp.

Shallow roots and waterlogged soils mean fallen trees.

 

Air bubbles captured in ice in a puddle in the woods

Fertile fronds of Sensitive Fern poke up through the snow.

Oak and maple leaves

Cattails, cattails, and more cattails!

Sedges and leaves frozen in the ice

Rushes and frozen pancakes of ice

These patterns in the ice remind me of waves in Japanese woodblock prints, fabrics, and pottery.  

Winter Solstice 2017

An early winter sunrise (2013)

Winter begins tomorrow (21 December 2017) at 11:28AM.

The moment this change of seasons occurs is known as the Winter Solstice.  The word Solstice comes from the Latin words sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still).  Tomorrow the sun will have reached its lowest position in the southern Sky, giving us our shortest day of the year.  On the Summer Solstice, Mid-Michigan received approximately 15 hours and 26 minutes of sunlight.  Tomorrow Mid-Michigan will see only 8 hours and 56 minutes of sunlight, but from now until the Summer Solstice each day will grow longer.

The Earth rotates around its axis approximately once every 24 hours.  However this axis is tilted at 23.5 degrees from the vertical.  The points on the globe that the axis revolves around are referred to as the North and South Poles.  The axis is always pointed toward the same location in the sky.  The North Pole points toward the "North Star" - Polaris.

As the earth revolves around the sun, sometimes the North Pole is closer to the sun, sometimes the South Pole is closer to the sun.  When the North Pole is at its closest, we experience Summer in Mid-Michigan and the Southern Hemisphere experiences Winter.  When the North Pole is at its furthest, we experience Winter and the Southern Hemisphere experiences Summer. 

If you were to arise at dawn every day of the year and record at which point on the horizon the sun rises from you would be able to track the progression from the Summer solstice (in which the sun rises furthest North) to the Winter Solstice (in which the sun rises furthest South) and back again.  Tracking the position of the rising sun was one of the earliest astronomical observations.  Many ancient monuments were constructed to act as solar observatories, recording the longest and shortest days of the year.