Native Species Profile - Tree Swallow

On Monday (15 APR) I saw my first Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) of the year.  They were busy investigating the nest boxes at the Saginaw Chippewa Academy. 

Tree Swallow on nest box (May 2012) - photo by Shara LeValley

Aquatic Ecology and Mother Earth Week at the Ziibiwing Center - Part 2

This week I am participating in Mother Earth Week celebrations at the Ziibiwing Center in Mt. Pleasant. (Check out yesterday's post for more information about this.) My focus is on the importance of aquatic macroinvertebrates as a bio-indicator in Mid-Michigan and on the importance of clean water in all ecosystems.  This is the fourth year that I have been doing this program.

Found yesterday - a Giant Case-maker Caddisfly (Family Phryaneidae)

Coincidentally, the united Nations has declared 2013 as the International Year of Water Cooperation.

Because water is a limited resource, there is tense competition for its use, whether that use is for agriculture, industry, drinking etc.  Sometimes the role of water in the environment is neglected.  The thoughts of some people seem to trend toward the idea that water is too valuable to leave alone.  Living in Michigan, the need to protect this resource is even more apparent.  The Great Lakes is the largest available source of fresh water in the world.  As other areas of the United States experience extreme drought there are cries to pipe water from the Great Lakes to those areas.  Many of the areas that are experiencing water shortages have been populated and developed beyond their limited water resources and have mismanaged the resources that they have.  Now they turn their eyes to the Great Lakes.


There is a film about water that I wish every upper elementary, middle school, high school, and college science class would watch every year around Earth Day.  Please enjoy The Incident at Tower 37 by Chris Perry and Bitfilms.

On a completely non-water related note.  I saw two first of the year birds today: Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) and Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella magna).

Aquatic Ecology and Mother Earth Week at the Ziibiwing Center

This week I am participating in Mother Earth Week celebrations at the Ziibiwing Center in Mt. Pleasant.  Mother Earth Week is an event that focuses on environmental stewardship for elementary school students.  Students rotate through a series of activities over the course of the day including learning the history of Earth Day, learning about wild rice and having the opportunity to sample some wild rice, and a craft activity.  My station is about aquatic insects and other aquatic macroinvertebrates.  This will be the fourth year that I have participated in this event. 

As I have discussed before, water is very important to people in Michigan. The activity that I do at the Ziibiwing Center is a variation on my classroom Aquatic Ecology program.  I bring in buckets of pond water and have the students identify the organisms that they find and, depending on the age of the students, complete a biological monitoring sheet.  Then we discuss how the presence or absence of certain animals can be used as an indicator or water quality.  I like the biological monitoring data sheet from Hoosier Riverwatch, because it is easy for kids to use.

For identification purposes, I like to use the Pond and River Keys available from the University of Wisconsin Extension Office.  The original files are available as a .pdf  file and can be printed in any size desired.  It is easy for even very young students to use.  Even if they do not understand how to use a dichotomous key, they can usually find the picture of the animal and identify it that way.

UW Key to Life in the Pond

UW Key to Macroinvertebrate Life in the River

Monitoring pond or rivers is a great activity for citizen scientists of all ages.  It requires only a net and a pan or bucket to put your findings in.  You can do it on your own or join part of a larger effort.

Native Species Profile - Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrel

Of the sixty-six  species of native mammals currently found in Michigan (or sixty-seven or sixty-eight species - depending on which list you use) very few are true hibernators.  To be considered a "hibernator" an animal must become inactive for an extended period of time and its heart rate, breathing rate, and body temperature all must lower significantly in cold weather.  Some animals that we think of as hibernators, such as black bears and chipmunks, do not actually hibernate.  Instead these animals can and do wake up and become active throughout the winter.  Our only true hibernators are bats, the Woodland Jumping Mouse (Napaeozapus insignis), Meadow Jumping Mouse (Zapus hudsonius), Woodchuck (Marmota monax), and Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrel (Spermophilus tridecaemlineatus).

A Thirteen-lined Groundsquirrel

Native Species Profile - Large-flowered Trillium

Despite this weekend's forecast of possible snow showers, Spring seems to finally be upon us.  Plants are starting to push up out of the ground in many places.  Within a few weeks our spring ephemerals will be putting on their annual show.  While many of the spring wildflowers are small and unassuming, there is one that is large and stands up demanding attention - the Large-flowered Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum).

Large-flowered Trillium - note the three petals and three leaves

Dressed in Black

Well, you wonder why I always dress in black  

Why you never see bright colors on my back  

And why does my appearance seem to have a somber tone  

Well, there's a reason for the things that I have on.

                     - Johnny Cash 

                          "Man in Black"

Yesterday I went to Chipp-A-Waters Park in Mt. Pleasant  to see if any wildflowers had begun blooming - they hadn't.  Part of the trail system at Chipp-A-Waters goes back to an observation deck that overlooks an oxbow pond.  The pond frequently has one or more species of waterfowl in it.  There was a pair of Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) in the pond that began honking as soon as I got within their sight.  There was also a pair of Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos).  While I stood on the observation deck, two male Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa) taxied in for a landing and hid themselves around the corner of the oxbow.  Within moments another solo Wood Duck followed.  None of these ducks were within shooting range of my camera.

I started walking back down the trail toward the parking lot when a small bird foraging through the leaf litter distracted me.  Over the years, I have learned that I should always (I repeat always) follow small birds and mammals through the forest.  They have a tendency to lead me toward bigger and better things. After following the small bird (a wren) for nearly five minutes without taking a photograph I turned just in time to watch another male Wood Duck coast into a tree ahead of me.  I tried stalking closer to this drake and took several long distance photographs, before a Wood Duck hen that I had not seen took off out of another tree and flew off taking the drake with her.

A Wood Duck drake living up to its name

I followed their flight path through the woods for a short distance hoping to see find them in another tree, but looking down I spied something else.  Wild Leek (Allium tricoccum) shoots were beginning to push up out of the ground.  How could I not photograph something so green?  It was hard enough to not stop and graze - wild leek tops have a mild onion taste.  Five minutes  and thirty-two photographs later I was again walking back down the trail.

Wild Leeks - also known as Ramps, Ransom, Spring Onion, etc.

If I had not stopped to chase a wren, stalk a duck, and tiptoe through the leeks I would have been back to the parking lot 25 minutes soon  and would have missed the best find of the day.  As I was walking the next to last curve of the trail before the parking lot a duck skidded in for a landing less than 20 yards away.  First impression was that of a Mallard, right size and shape, but... something was not right about it.  The color was all wrong.  It was a male American Black Duck (Anas rubripes).

American Black Duck - note the chocolate brown flanks, gray face, and olive-yellow bill

The duck swam slowly against the current which carried him closer to the shore I was standing on.  I was able to get several pictures before it ducked out of sight around the bend of the river.

The purple-blue secondary feathers (speculum) on the wing are barely visible

My attempts to get a clearer view must have spooked him because he took flight downstream thirty yards where he joined up with a female Mallard.  Black Ducks and Mallards can successfully mate and create hybrid offspring.  This hybridization (and outcompeting by the Mallard) have resulted in a decrease in the population of American Black Ducks.

Black Duck drake (left) and Mallard hen - not the white border on her speculum

For more information on the American Black Duck visit the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website.

Native Species Profile - Carolina Spring Beauty

Usually around this time of year I can find several species of wildflowers blooming in local woods including Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica). 

Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica)

There is another plant in the Claytonia genus that can be found throughout Michigan - Carolina Spring Beauty (Claytonia caroliniana).  The Carolina Spring Beauty is very similar in appearance to the Spring Beauty.  Both plants have five white to pink petals with purple nectar guides.  Both plants can grow up to 6-12 inches tall, but are usually shorter.  Both plants grow throughout the eastern United States and Canada.

The main difference in the plants is the shape of the leaves.  The Spring Beauty has narrow grass-like leaves; the Carolina Spring Beauty has wider oval shaped leaves.  Another difference is in their bloom times.  The Spring Beauty begins blooming up to a month before the Carolina Spring beauty - late-March versus late-April.  Both plants will continue blooming into mid-June.

Carolina Spring Beauty (Claytonia caroliniana)

Basic Information

Carolina Spring Beauty

Claytonia caroliniana

Height:  6-12” tall

Habitat:  woodlands, uplands

Flower Color:  white or pink, with pink veins

Bloom Time:  late April – mid June