The mighty oak at Ilsley Park on a wintry morning

Since we seem to be heading into a warming trend, I thought I’d share the odds ‘n’ ends of what I’m calling The Big Freeze, those recent days of frigid temperatures and wind.  In the interests of preserving my camera and my numb fingers, my hikes during  the Big Freeze were shorter and the photos were fewer.

Blog by Cam Mannino

But as usual, I delighted in the sightings or even the  signs and traces of other creatures, including other humans, who shared the bitter temperatures with me.  On those frigid, silent days, I found myself appreciating the slightest visual treat that passed unnoticed in the lushness of summer  – a rock, a mud puddle, snow-covered mushrooms.  So here’s a sampling from Bear Creek and Charles Ilsley Parks of what can make a walk worthwhile even on the zero degree days of a challenging winter.

Wildlife Braving The Big Freeze

Flocks of Cedar Waxwings brightened a cold morning at Bear Creek Nature Park with color and friendly chatter.

Birds are rarer sights for me on super cold winter walks, so what a treat to come across a flock of Cedar Waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum) on two different walks at Bear Creek Nature Park. The high-pitched whistling as these winter social groups swooped and settled was quite cheering during The Big Freeze. Here are some other creatures that shared those bitter morning walks with me.

Far in the distance early one morning, a Red-tailed Hawk plumped its feathers for warmth as it surveyed Bear Creek Nature Park.

American Red Squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) don an auburn stripe down their back and tail for extra warmth on winter days.

A Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) dove through the bushes  foraging for food one snowy morning.

The Red-bellied Woodpecker’s “kwirr” call announces its presence. Its drumming is rapid, short and surprisingly soft for such a large bird.

Though I heard more creatures deep in the brambles and watched birds fly overhead, I only caught a few with my camera.  Some animals only left their tracks behind. On a bird walk at Charles Ilsley Park, we saw the neat tracks of two coyotes who’d trotted along in the moonlight the night before. Coyotes make straight, single tracks, placing their back feet in the tracks of their front feet to save energy. One of the birders said he’d heard that the coyote’s tail can leave a slight drag line as seen in the closeup below. I couldn’t find a source for that, but it makes sense since coyotes run with their tails down, rather than up like wolves or dogs. Click on the photos to enlarge; hover your cursor for captions. (Coyote photo below by amandaandmike at inaturalist.org)

Coyote by amandaandmike (CC BY-NC-SA)

A Meadow Vole (Microtus pennsylvanicus), aka a Meadow Mouse,  must have crossed the path at Bear Creek Nature Park on a snowy night and then disappeared by burrowing into the snow. Lucky for this little creature that the coyote wasn’t around! (Meadow Vole photo by Wolfgang Siebeneich at inaturalist.org.)

Meadow Vole tracks disappear into the snow

Meadow Vole by Wolfgang Siebeneich (CC BY-NC)

I’ve never seen a Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) at Bear Creek Nature Park, though others have. But I did see the hole one had recently excavated in a tree  in the Oak- Hickory forest there – with this “carpenter’s” wood chips scattered below. (Woodpecker photo kindly lent by Joan Bonin, a gifted local photographer.)

Holes excavated by a Pileated Woodpecker.

The wood chips left at the foot of the tree

A Pileated Woodpeckerer, photo by Joan Bonin in 2017

Evidence of Humans at Play During the Big Freeze

It’s always cheering to come upon evidence of other people using our parks to just play in the snow.

Odds ‘n’ Ends that Caught My Winter Eye

The austerity of winter reveals landscape features unnoticed in the lushness of spring and summer.  The birding group marveled at a fast-running spring  flowing out into the snow at Charles Ilsley Park which had been dry or hidden in the dense growth of the field the rest of the year.

At sunset one afternoon, I rounded the corner of the shed at Bear Creek Nature Park and saw a pink and blue sunset glowing in a puddle of melted snow.

The graceful “bones” of last year’s wildflowers, clusters of half-moon shelf mushrooms, even an unusual rock catch my eye when framed in white. (Use pause button if you need more time for captions.)

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 Beauty in the Big Freeze: Appreciating the Small Things

Plant material below the surface colors the ice on a wetland at Bear Creek Nature Park.

Sometimes it’s just the pale green and lavender of ice in a wetland or the high whistle of a swoop of Cedar Waxwings. The scarlet flash of a Cardinal or a dancing snowman can lift your heart on gray winter day. Feathery snow settling on a seed pod or the gaudy beauty of an early sunset – it’s just a matter of taking in beauty in smaller, more subtle doses that can buoy our spirits in the dark cold of a Michigan winter.