Happy Pi Day! What is 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 today?
Today is the 14th of March. Otherwise expressed as 3/14 or 3.14. Just like the number pi.
To learn more about Pi Day and how to celebrate the event please visit the official website of Pi Day.
Monday, March 14, 2016
Friday, March 11, 2016
A Change in Seasons
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| An early morning Red-winged Blackbird (11 March 2016) |
The calendar may say that Spring does not begin for another 9 days, but the Red-winged Blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) beg to differ. On Saturday (05 March) I began to hear them in the Lansing area. By Wednesday (09 March) they were everywhere in Mid-Michigan. To be more exact, male Red-winged Blackbirds are everywhere. They are busy trying to impress each other and jockeying for territory. It may take a couple of weeks to sort out which bird ends up with the best places in the landscape. In the meantime, the females should find their way north to Mid-Michigan. They will then set about choosing their own territories (within those of a male). A dominant male bird may have several females living in his territory and will mate with each of them. The females select a mate based on territory - a male with a good territory will more likely have good genes to pass on to his offspring. So it doesn't bother them that their mate may have other mates.
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Into the woods - A walk at Mission Creek (Part 2) and the Wildflowers of 2016 (#1)
This is the second half of a lengthy write-up about a walk that I took through Mission Creek Woodland Park yesterday (08 March 2016). For Part 1, please look here.
With all of the recent snowmelt, Mission Creek is running full and is full of sediment. It has the color and clarity of chocolate milk.
Once I crossed over Mission Creek and into the Cedar-dominated swamp, it was like stepping into an entirely different season. South of the creek the snow is almost gone, north of the creek the ground is still covered. This has to do with a couple of factors. The canopy cover in this section of swamp is much denser than the Red Maple section, blocking more sunlight from hitting the ground and melting the snow. Also, the creek itself is bounded by a very tall bank, when the sun is at a low angle in the sky (such as during the winter months) it can't reach some sections of the cedar swamp at all.
Instead of run-off from melting snow, the northern edge of the park is full of running water from seeps where groundwater flows out of the ground and drains into Mission Creek. This constantly running water means that much of the ground here never freezes solid, unlike other locations in the park.
This section of Mission Creek is my favorite place in any of Mt. Pleasant's parks. It is such a different habitat compared to the other parks. Cedar swamps are rare in this part of Michigan so this is like a small piece of northern Michigan dropped into the local habitat.
Many years ago, when I worked for the Mt. Pleasant Parks Department, I hauled a bunch of lumber down along the Mission Creek and built two sections of boardwalk over very wet and eroded areas. One of the sections was just laid as a tread atop sections of log on the floor of the swamp. The other section of boardwalk was more substantially built up. The log section has begun to decay because it was placed right atop wet soil - the higher section is still standing through a grove of cedars. It's doesn't seem like much, but it has kept this small spot from suffering further erosion due to foot traffic.
Although the trail through the park is fine, I always discover more when I move off the trail. Even though I have spent dozens (maybe even hundreds) of hours in this park. I often discover new things. Yesterday I found an interesting old cedar stump. The stump itself is not that interesting, the area was logged long ago and there are larger stumps hiding in the woods. What was really cool about this stump was the pair of trees growing from the top of it.
Sometime in the past, a pair of seeds landed on this stump and germinated. One of the seeds came from a Northern White Cedar, the other belonged to a Yellow Birch. Seeds often germinate on top of old rotting stumps, but most do not survive. Both of these trees have managed to survive. As the stump decayed, the two trees began to outgrow their home. They both reached down toward the ground with their roots, seeking additional water and nutrients. Eventually, the stump will decay completely. If the trees survive, they will be raised above the ground by their stilt-like roots.
The cedar has another twist to its story. When it was a young tree, something bent it toward the ground - perhaps heavy snowcover or a fallen branch. This caused the tree's trunk to curve downward, but the end of the trunk grew upwards. The result was this S-shaped bend in the trunk
I also found my first wildflower of the year! Not surprisingly, Wildflower #1 of 2016 is the Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus). I half-expected to find this plant. It is not unusual to find Skunk Cabbage flower poking up through snow. In 2013, I found my first Skunk Cabbage on almost exactly the same date; my first 2014 Skunk Cabbage was almost a month later. I didn't find a lot of Skunk Cabbage yesterday, but I found enough to think that spring is on its way. Many of these flowers are not yet fully mature. However a few were open, exposing pollen to insect visitors.
Although I photographed a few more things before leaving the park, this seems like an appropriate way toe end this post. Now, I will probably have to wait several more weeks before I find my second wildflower species of the year. I look forward to it...
With all of the recent snowmelt, Mission Creek is running full and is full of sediment. It has the color and clarity of chocolate milk.
 |
| Mission Creek is full of muddy water |
Once I crossed over Mission Creek and into the Cedar-dominated swamp, it was like stepping into an entirely different season. South of the creek the snow is almost gone, north of the creek the ground is still covered. This has to do with a couple of factors. The canopy cover in this section of swamp is much denser than the Red Maple section, blocking more sunlight from hitting the ground and melting the snow. Also, the creek itself is bounded by a very tall bank, when the sun is at a low angle in the sky (such as during the winter months) it can't reach some sections of the cedar swamp at all.
 |
| This short stream originated from a series of hillside seeps |
Instead of run-off from melting snow, the northern edge of the park is full of running water from seeps where groundwater flows out of the ground and drains into Mission Creek. This constantly running water means that much of the ground here never freezes solid, unlike other locations in the park.
This section of Mission Creek is my favorite place in any of Mt. Pleasant's parks. It is such a different habitat compared to the other parks. Cedar swamps are rare in this part of Michigan so this is like a small piece of northern Michigan dropped into the local habitat.
 |
| The trail runs through a cedar swamp along the edge of Mission Creek |
Many years ago, when I worked for the Mt. Pleasant Parks Department, I hauled a bunch of lumber down along the Mission Creek and built two sections of boardwalk over very wet and eroded areas. One of the sections was just laid as a tread atop sections of log on the floor of the swamp. The other section of boardwalk was more substantially built up. The log section has begun to decay because it was placed right atop wet soil - the higher section is still standing through a grove of cedars. It's doesn't seem like much, but it has kept this small spot from suffering further erosion due to foot traffic.
 |
| A short boardwalk along Mission Creek |
Although the trail through the park is fine, I always discover more when I move off the trail. Even though I have spent dozens (maybe even hundreds) of hours in this park. I often discover new things. Yesterday I found an interesting old cedar stump. The stump itself is not that interesting, the area was logged long ago and there are larger stumps hiding in the woods. What was really cool about this stump was the pair of trees growing from the top of it.
Sometime in the past, a pair of seeds landed on this stump and germinated. One of the seeds came from a Northern White Cedar, the other belonged to a Yellow Birch. Seeds often germinate on top of old rotting stumps, but most do not survive. Both of these trees have managed to survive. As the stump decayed, the two trees began to outgrow their home. They both reached down toward the ground with their roots, seeking additional water and nutrients. Eventually, the stump will decay completely. If the trees survive, they will be raised above the ground by their stilt-like roots.
The cedar has another twist to its story. When it was a young tree, something bent it toward the ground - perhaps heavy snowcover or a fallen branch. This caused the tree's trunk to curve downward, but the end of the trunk grew upwards. The result was this S-shaped bend in the trunk
 |
| A Northern White Cedar (left) and Yellow Birch (right) growing from an old stump |
I also found my first wildflower of the year! Not surprisingly, Wildflower #1 of 2016 is the Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus). I half-expected to find this plant. It is not unusual to find Skunk Cabbage flower poking up through snow. In 2013, I found my first Skunk Cabbage on almost exactly the same date; my first 2014 Skunk Cabbage was almost a month later. I didn't find a lot of Skunk Cabbage yesterday, but I found enough to think that spring is on its way. Many of these flowers are not yet fully mature. However a few were open, exposing pollen to insect visitors.
 |
| Most of the Skunk Cabbage that I found was growing in flowing water |
 |
| This Skunk Cabbage flower is beginning to open for business |
 |
| Skunk Cabbage - Inside the flower on the left you can just see the pollen that shows this flower is open for business. |
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
Into the woods - A walk at Mission Creek (Part 1)
After spending much of the past four days inside listening to speakers, I am getting a little stir-crazy. So this morning, after completing two classroom presentations, I decided to head to the woods at Mission Creek Woodland Park for some needed "nature time". Because i took so many photos during this walk, I am going to break this down into two separate posts. Expect part two to be posted tomorrow (09 March 2016)
Before I even entered the park, I found something that I wanted to look at closer.
Before I even entered the park, I found something that I wanted to look at closer.
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| The woodchips at the base of this Eastern Hemlock trunk are the result of Pileated Woodpeckers searching for ants and other insects within the trunk |
Monday, March 7, 2016
Wildflower Association of Michigan Annual Conference 2016.
It's conference time for me. On Friday, I attended the Michigan Science Teachers Association annual conference. On Saturday I was at the Quiet Water Symposium. Yesterday and today (06 and 07 March) I am attending the Wildflower Association of Michigan annual conference at the Kellogg Center in East Lansing. This is my sixth year attending this conference. I first attended the WAM conference in 2011 when my wife was awarded a grant to install a garden at her school. You can find many pictures of this garden here on my blog. This garden started my work at installing native pollinator habitats. So far I have helped plan and install four of them around Isabella County.
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| Saginaw Chippewa Academy Native Pollinator Garden (June 2015) |
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| The garden in June 2014 |
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| The garden as it appeared in July 2013 |
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| The garden site as it appeared in 2011 before planting |
Every year the Wildflower Association of Michigan is able to give grants up to $1000 dollars to schools and other organizations across the state. This year WAM was able to give out 11 different grants. One of the grants was awarded the Little Forks Conservancy to expand demonstration gardens at their offices in Midland. Congratulations to the Little Forks Conservancy and all of the other awardees.
Make sure to check out the Little Forks Conservancy and learn more about their preserves and conservation activities.
Thursday, March 3, 2016
Happy National Reading Month!
Quite often students ask me the question "How do you know so much?" I let them in on the secret - I read a lot. I read all of the time. Every year I keep track of the number of books that I read, including the number of pages in each book. In 2015, I read 68 books totaling more than 22,000 pages - this doesn't count magazine, newspapers, web journals, etc. My goal every year is to read at least one book a week over the course of the year - I usually meet that goal.
Many of the books that I read are about science and nature. I thought I would take the opportunity provided by National Reading Month to recommend a few of my favorites from the past few years.
Swampwalker's Journal: A Wetlands Year by David M. Carroll (ISBN 0-618-12737-2)
It is no big secret that I love wetlands (just type the word wetlands into the search box to the right) and I love this book about wetlands. In fact, this is one of my all time favorite books. It was originally published in 1999. I think that I first read it in 2001 or 2002 and have re-read it multiple times since then. The author takes you on a year-long journey to explore the wetlands of the northeastern United States. Even better, the text is interspersed with the author's illustrations of many of the plant and animal species encountered during his wanderings. Every time I read this book, I get inspired to go outside and explore - this book was part of the inspiration of my 2014 Wildflower Big Year. It has been several years since I last read this and it's on my list to read again this spring.
Hunting From Home: A Year Afield in the Blue Ridge Mountains by Christopher Camuto
(ISBN 0-393-04915-9)
This book is about hunting and fishing, but more importantly it is about close observation of nature and living a life close to nature. Hunting from Home was originally published in 2004 and I read a library copy soon after its publication. I have been searching bookstores for a copy ever since. This is such a good book that I wanted to own a copy. I finally broke down and bought a copy on the internet this winter. This book contains my all time favorite passage about hunting (and life).
One November the hunter will not be in the woods and neither the deer not the woods nor
the wind will know or mark the difference his absence makes. If you hunt, and if you have taken
your modest share of game---not as trophies but as food for your table--- then you will
understand the beauty in that unmarked difference in the woods. Folks who are on their way to
heaven or some other imagined paradise where the trus cost of living does not have to be paid
won't understand or accept this. But I am not trying to get to heaven. I am trying to get to earth.
Hunting from Home is the next book on my list to re-read. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in both great nature writing and great writing about hunting.
A Sting in the Tale: My Adventures with Bumblebees (ISBN 978-1-250-07097-5) and A Buzz in the Meadow: The Natural History of a French Farm (ISBN 978-1-250-06588-9) by Dave Goulson
This pair of books by British biologist Dave Goulson were the best natural history books that I read in 2015. I read A Sting in the Tale and immediately bought A Buzz in the Meadow. Both of these books deal with the lives of insects. Although they are written from a European perspective, the message about insect conservation work equally well for an American audience - especially given the severe decline of many North American bee species. I highly recommend these books to anyone interested in learning more about insects, their natural history, and the impact that we have on them.
The Salamander Room by Ann Mazer (ISBN 0-679-86187-4)
Not every book on my list can be for adults. I love The Salamander Room. It is about a small boy that finds a salamander and wants to take him home as a pet. The book is basically a conversation about habitats between the small boy and his mother who has concerns about whether the boy's room would be the best place for the salamander. It is great introduction to studying the living requirements and habitats of any species. The story is accompanied by beautiful illustrations by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher that turn the boy's bedroom into a woodland paradise fit for any salamander.
Song of the Water Boatman & Other Pond Poems by Joyce Sidman (ISBN 978-0-618-13547-9)
The final book on my list is sort of a companion to Swampwalker's Journal. Song of the Waterboatman is a wonderful book of poetry written about wetland habitats and their resident plants and animals. Each poem is paired with a colorful woodcut illustration by artist Becky Prange. Additionally, each poem is accompanied by a short natural history paragraph highlighting the subject of the poem. While this book was written for children, the poetry and illustrations are equally enjoyable for adults. It deserves a place on everyone's natural history bookshelf.
I could easily add another dozen books (and more) to this list, but I am going to hold myself back. If you would like any specific recommendations please feel free to contact me.
Many of the books that I read are about science and nature. I thought I would take the opportunity provided by National Reading Month to recommend a few of my favorites from the past few years.
Swampwalker's Journal: A Wetlands Year by David M. Carroll (ISBN 0-618-12737-2)
It is no big secret that I love wetlands (just type the word wetlands into the search box to the right) and I love this book about wetlands. In fact, this is one of my all time favorite books. It was originally published in 1999. I think that I first read it in 2001 or 2002 and have re-read it multiple times since then. The author takes you on a year-long journey to explore the wetlands of the northeastern United States. Even better, the text is interspersed with the author's illustrations of many of the plant and animal species encountered during his wanderings. Every time I read this book, I get inspired to go outside and explore - this book was part of the inspiration of my 2014 Wildflower Big Year. It has been several years since I last read this and it's on my list to read again this spring.
Hunting From Home: A Year Afield in the Blue Ridge Mountains by Christopher Camuto
(ISBN 0-393-04915-9)
This book is about hunting and fishing, but more importantly it is about close observation of nature and living a life close to nature. Hunting from Home was originally published in 2004 and I read a library copy soon after its publication. I have been searching bookstores for a copy ever since. This is such a good book that I wanted to own a copy. I finally broke down and bought a copy on the internet this winter. This book contains my all time favorite passage about hunting (and life).
One November the hunter will not be in the woods and neither the deer not the woods nor
the wind will know or mark the difference his absence makes. If you hunt, and if you have taken
your modest share of game---not as trophies but as food for your table--- then you will
understand the beauty in that unmarked difference in the woods. Folks who are on their way to
heaven or some other imagined paradise where the trus cost of living does not have to be paid
won't understand or accept this. But I am not trying to get to heaven. I am trying to get to earth.
Hunting from Home is the next book on my list to re-read. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in both great nature writing and great writing about hunting.
A Sting in the Tale: My Adventures with Bumblebees (ISBN 978-1-250-07097-5) and A Buzz in the Meadow: The Natural History of a French Farm (ISBN 978-1-250-06588-9) by Dave Goulson
This pair of books by British biologist Dave Goulson were the best natural history books that I read in 2015. I read A Sting in the Tale and immediately bought A Buzz in the Meadow. Both of these books deal with the lives of insects. Although they are written from a European perspective, the message about insect conservation work equally well for an American audience - especially given the severe decline of many North American bee species. I highly recommend these books to anyone interested in learning more about insects, their natural history, and the impact that we have on them.
The Salamander Room by Ann Mazer (ISBN 0-679-86187-4)
Not every book on my list can be for adults. I love The Salamander Room. It is about a small boy that finds a salamander and wants to take him home as a pet. The book is basically a conversation about habitats between the small boy and his mother who has concerns about whether the boy's room would be the best place for the salamander. It is great introduction to studying the living requirements and habitats of any species. The story is accompanied by beautiful illustrations by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher that turn the boy's bedroom into a woodland paradise fit for any salamander.
Song of the Water Boatman & Other Pond Poems by Joyce Sidman (ISBN 978-0-618-13547-9)
The final book on my list is sort of a companion to Swampwalker's Journal. Song of the Waterboatman is a wonderful book of poetry written about wetland habitats and their resident plants and animals. Each poem is paired with a colorful woodcut illustration by artist Becky Prange. Additionally, each poem is accompanied by a short natural history paragraph highlighting the subject of the poem. While this book was written for children, the poetry and illustrations are equally enjoyable for adults. It deserves a place on everyone's natural history bookshelf.
I could easily add another dozen books (and more) to this list, but I am going to hold myself back. If you would like any specific recommendations please feel free to contact me.
Tuesday, March 1, 2016
Woodworking for bees
Over the weekend I built a pair of nesting blocks for native bees. Many species of native bees (such as leafcutter bees, mason bees, and small carpenter bees) are solitary cavity nesters. Individual female bees will seek out abandoned beetle tunnels in wood, hollow plant stems, and other cavities in which to deposit their eggs. It is easy to help these species by providing nesting sites in the garden. Our home garden has a nest site that has been used for several years and I have recently begun placing nesting sites in school gardens.
Nesting blocks for bees can be incredibly simple. The ones that I constructed over the weekend consist of a block of untreated lumber with holes drilled in it, a backboard for attacking to a post or other structure, and an overhanging roof. The blocks of wood that I used are more than six inchhes deep - many species of bees will not nest in short tunnels.
I'm not sure where these nest blocks will go as of yet, but I plan to build several more before spring. With luck, next winter the drilled holes will be filled with overwintering bee larvae and pupae. The picture below shows several leafcutter bee larvae in a bamboo stem that I recently pulled from from the nest site in our garden.
Next up on my woodworking projects list is nesting box for bumble bees.
Nesting blocks for bees can be incredibly simple. The ones that I constructed over the weekend consist of a block of untreated lumber with holes drilled in it, a backboard for attacking to a post or other structure, and an overhanging roof. The blocks of wood that I used are more than six inchhes deep - many species of bees will not nest in short tunnels.
I'm not sure where these nest blocks will go as of yet, but I plan to build several more before spring. With luck, next winter the drilled holes will be filled with overwintering bee larvae and pupae. The picture below shows several leafcutter bee larvae in a bamboo stem that I recently pulled from from the nest site in our garden.
Next up on my woodworking projects list is nesting box for bumble bees.
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