The Nature Spot
Short days getting you down?
Are the short daylight hours of winter getting you down? Then you have reason to rejoice. Sunday December 21 was the Winter Solstice, and the days are now getting longer again. (Yay!) The word Solstice comes from the Latin sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still) because on the solstices, the sun’s movement north or south across the sky appears to stop as it reverses.
Photo: Winter sunshine at the Lloyd & Mabel Johnson Preserve, protected in 2007.
Solstice (Wikipedia)
Volunteer for the Land Trust, Be Rewarded by Nature
If you were one of the volunteers who helped with the fall mailing, this was the view you saw while lending a hand. Not bad!
Would you like to become a volunteer? Email Suzie at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or call 734-302-5263. (We can’t guarantee natural wonders every time, but we can guarantee good company and a good cause!)
Changing Colors - Who goes first?
One of my favorite pleasures of fall is watching the leaves change color. Not all trees and shrubs follow the same timing, though. Who goes first? Some color-change pioneers include:
Sassafras (Sassafras albidum) - look for medium-sized trees often at the edges of woods, with colors of mottled greens, orange, yellow, pink, and red
Sumac (Rhus typhina) - look for shrubs turning bright orange and red
Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) - look for vines with leaves that turn a deep purply-red
Fall is fleeting, so take the time to enjoy it! -Suzie
A Personal Connection
I was reading something from the Land Trust Alliance (the Washtenaw Land Trust is a member), and one phrase leapt off the page at me:
“We can have faith that in every part of this land, children will be able to see the stars, climb the trees, and experience a personal connection to a cherished place.”
Wow! Every word there is golden, and in particular, I love the idea of a personal connection to a cherished place. I’d like to share with you a photo from one place that I cherish.
The Land Trust’s Creekshead Nature Preserve is a springtime balm for winter-weary eyes. Its wildflowers bloom just when you fear you won’t be able to take even one more day of winter. It’s lovely in the fall, too, as the leaves of the beech trees turn a crinkly gold.
To visit: Creekshead is just northeast of Ann Arbor, on Curtis Road between Brookville and Five Mile Roads. Park along the west side of the road in front of the woods and please watch for traffic. (Map)
Do you have a cherished place, or two, or twelve? Send me an email at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address); I’d love to hear about it. And if you can, get out and visit your cherished place while the weather is sunny and clear! -Suzie
Butterflies
Butterflies love the warm, sunny days of summer. So much so, in fact, that you don’t see them much if it’s overcast or rainy, as we learned the hard way during a butterfly walk this July. (We still saw quite a few, such as the Baltimore Checkerspot. We just had to look more carefully!) If you’d like to learn to identify butterflies, here are some websites we’ve found helpful:
The Potawatomi Trail
Local resident Mr. Baker knew what he was doing in protecting his land adjacent to the Pinckney Recreation Area! (Please see the press release for more details.) At more than 30,000 acres, Pinckney-Waterloo is the largest block of public protected land in southern Michigan. By protecting buffer parcels, the natural habitat is kept intact.
Summer is a great time to go hiking, biking, or camping in the Waterloo and Pinckney Rec Areas, our local “big wild.” Here’s a trail map of public trails in Pinckney Rec Area (PDF), including the Potawatomi Trail, which Mr. Baker has helped build and maintain. Happy hiking!
Baby animals!
Our Stewardship Intern, Jackie Bilello, discovered that one of our protected conservation sites is home to a new family of coyotes.
The mystery of the missing trilliums
To prepare for the May 3 wildflower workshop, Catherine & I visited the Reichert conservation property ahead of time. As we wandered around, though, we weren’t finding any of the wildflowers we expected: trilliums, spring beauty, wood anemone, etc. We started feeling mildly concerned about the pending workshop. Where were the wildflowers? As we continued around the site, we made note of something we *did* see: a smallish yellow-orange flower called hoary puccoon. And that was the clue Catherine needed to solve the mystery.
Hoary puccoon (lithospermum canescens) is an indicator of dry soils, such as those in certain prairies and oak barrens—and that was the habitat that was actually in front of us! -Suzie
News flash: Spring blooms at Creekshead Nature Preserve!
If you love spring wildflowers, this is the weekend you’ll want to visit Creekshead Nature Preserve (the last week of April). The spring blooms are out in force!
Flowers now in bloom include spring beauty, trout lily, Dutchman’s breeches, blue cohosh, cutleaved toothwort, trillium (multiple kinds, including nodding), and more.
To visit: Creekshead is just northeast of Ann Arbor, on Curtis Road between Brookville and Five Mile Roads. Park along the west side of the road in front of the woods and please watch for traffic. View Map.
A Hopeful Sign of Spring
Spring has sprung—and she is so generous that she even let Old Man Winter stop by for another day or two…
Through the mud, a patch of lingering dirty snow, and the dead leaves left over from last fall…a delicate blue-purple flower unfurls. This photo of lovely hepatica blossoms was taken by Land Trust member Ellie Shappirio at the Land Trust’s Sharon Hills preserve last spring.
(Thank you for sending this, Ellie!)
A Tree that Tells a Story
When you see a large, old tree whose branches reach out to all sides, spreading out wide rather than reaching mostly upward, you know something about this tree, and about the land it grows on: Even if it is now in the middle of a forest, it originally grew in the open. A tree growing in the open will extend outward, while a tree growing in the forest tends to reach upward. These open-grown trees are sometimes called wolf trees. Here’s one majestic old tree that is now surrounded by woods, but at one time stood alone.
Winter Wonderland
A recent walk on one of our nature preserves yielded a snowy treat. When the air is moist, the temperature is cold, and the wind is low, hoar frost can form on branches, coating the trees and berries in a layer of delicate, intricate crystals. Photos of this delightful winter phenomenon.
A Ball of Fluff
Just like you & me, birds appreciate a down coat when the snow is flying. They have a distinct advantage, though: they can fluff up their own feathers to keep warm! Here’s one bird doing its best to stay warm.
A Tree with Leaves like Sandpaper
On the annual site visit to the Reichert conservation property, we got to visit an unassuming but special tree: a small Dwarf Hackberry (Celtis tenuifolia). Dwarf Hackberries are rare in Michigan. They are small, shrubby trees that prefer dry, open oak forests. Their leaves have a distinct feeling of sandpaper.
Autumn in the Woods
Early October. Glorious day, clear and cool. In the 100-acre wood, autumn color is just beginning to turn everywhere you look. Wild orchids spotted where there were none. Bullfrogs commenting to one another on the perfect weather. Spice bush giving off its delightful scent. Even the poison sumac, dangerous to touch, is a dazzling crimson. One part of the wood is called “The Chapel,” and you can see why. Property lines, township lines—manmade constructions all—melt away as we watch the clear creek run past us. Staff and volunteers alike walk, and touch, breathe deep, and sigh. Good conversation and sweets from the local bakery top off a perfect day.
If you’d like to volunteer to help with annual site visits in 2008, please call us at 734-302-5263 or email (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
More information about the 100-acre wood.
Your guide to the ferns of Sharon Hills Preserve
As you walk along the trails at the Land Trust’s Sharon Hills Preserve, here are some of the ferns you may see. For more information on these ferns, stay tuned for the Autumn 2007 Journal. (Thank you to Laura Liebler of Sorus Plants for the fern information, and to Rick Neubig for these great photos!)
A Tasty Nut to Crack - September 2007
While on the annual site visit to one of the Land Trust’s conservation properties, Suzie noticed two beautiful and enormous trees that towered over the open grassy field. A quick look at the bark led to identification: Shagbark Hickory! The Shagbark Hickory (Carya ovata) is recognized by its alternate, compound leaves and loose-plated bark that peels away from the trunk. The sweet nuts, related to pecans, are said to be among the tastiest of the native hickory nuts (but make sure you know how to identify the tree conclusively, and how to clean the nuts, before attempting this.) The trees can grow to reach heights of 130 feet.
Nature Spot contest! August 2007
A recent monitoring of one of our conservation agreements turned up a familiar set of footprints in the mud. If you correctly identify these footprints, you’ll be entered in a drawing for “In Drought Time: Scenes From Rural and Small Town Life,” a lovely anthology of local poetry, photography, and art from Mayapple Press. Please email your answer to (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) by Monday, August 20, 2007. Happy sleuthing!
A Wild Find
I had a great deal of fun visiting one of our protected farms last week. In addition to saying hello to the horses, chickens, goats, sheep, bees, and even a llama or two, we ran across a plant in the swampy area that our farmer/land protector couldn’t identify. It’s a grass-like plant, green and tall, but with a spiky ball at the top, like a green star with spikes pointing in all directions. A quick pic emailed to naturalist Catherine Marquardt yielded a positive ID: Gray’s sedge, Carex grayii. Nature likes to show off, too, and this is proof. - Mark
Crows
Dusk brings a shockingly beautiful sight these past few weeks of January—hundreds upon hundreds of crows gathering in the trees across the street from my office, until there are so many that the silhouette looks like summer trees full of leaves fluttering in the wind.
The Washtenaw Audubon Society counted 30,000 crows in Washtenaw during their December birdcount, according to an article on Mlive.com. Look up - how many will you see?
Photo by Daniel Ripoll, licensed under
Creative Commons
.
Mysterious Shapes
An image taken from a microscope? Something inside your body? No! In fact, this is a map showing relative topography in Washtenaw County! Look closely and you can see the Waterloo Recreation Area (white ridge in upper left corner); Sharon Short Hills (white spot on the left edge); the high areas of Ann Arbor (white area in the center); the riparian corridor of the Huron, Raisin, and Saline rivers (black lines), and the low outwash plain around Ypsilanti leading to Lake Erie (bottom right corner). Click on the photo to see a larger version showing both Jackson and Washtenaw counties.
