I need to make one thing clear before I begin: I’m a HUGE fan of trees and immediately become deeply suspicious at the sound of a chainsaw.
The big White Oak tree, viewed from the Center Pond deck, on June 23, 2011. Notice the large number of trees under its canopy! ( Photo provided by Ben VanderWeide)The lower limbs of the Big Oak at the Bear Creek’s Center Pond were either dead or looking very unhealthy back in 2015 when I took this shot – without noticing its condition! (Photo by Cam Mannino)Text and photos
by Cam Mannino
So when our township Stewardship Manager Dr. Ben VanderWeide proposed clearing trees around the Big Oak at Bear Creek Nature Park’s Center Pond, I needed to know why! Ben took the time (as usual) to explain that the trees under and near its canopy were affecting the health of the Big Oak, a wonderful open-grown white oak (Quercus alba). Its lower branches were either dying or looking very unhealthy. Huge, mature trees like this provide habitat in ways that younger trees cannot, and once they die they can’t be replaced.
Specimen oaks that are lucky enough to grow without competition benefit mightily from plentiful light, rain and the earth’s nutrition around them. And in fact, widely spaced oaks in grasslands were the rule in our area until European colonization began in the early 19th century. Look at this fortunate oak at the crest of a rolling prairie in Charles Ilsley Park. Quite a contrast to the crowded conditions for Bear Creek’s Big Oak!
An oak with minimal competition at Charles Ilsley Park in spring. Notice that most of the large lower limbs are still healthy and sprouting new leaves.
Once Ben pointed out the Big Oak’s difficulty, I looked forward to seeing the work begin. But with 1500 acres for the crew to care for, I had to be patient (not a quality I’m known for, actually.) This winter Ben, our Stewardship Specialist Grant Vander Laan, and stalwart stewardship volunteers, George Hartsig and Jon Reed, found the time on a series of cold winter days to take on the job.
For at least two hundred years, the Big Oak had spent its youth putting on weight and height near the shore of Bear Creek’s Center Pond. Below is a photo of the almost tree-less Center Pond taken around 1940 by George Comps who lived on the Bear Creek property from 1939 to 1959. He wrote a book about his time on this land called Incredible Yesterdays, which is available at the Rochester Hills Library. Though we can’t be sure that the photo shows what Mr. Comps reported as “a big huge oak tree” at “the end of the lane,” we can tell that there weren’t many other trees around the pond, or “our little lake,” as he called it. The Big Oak then must have benefited from lots of sunlight!
Our Center Pond 80 years ago with few trees or shrubs. Photo taken by George Comps circa 1940 from his book, Incredible Yesterdays. Permission from the author’s long-time friend and copyright heir Janet Potton.
Since the growth stage of an oak is about 300 years, the Big Oak may have another 100 years or so of growth before it reaches stasis. At that point, it can live its mature life for another two or three centuries before it begins to “senesce,” i.e., grow old like us. But for an oak, even aging can take two or three hundred more years!
Through all those centuries, the Big Oak has fed and sheltered the birds, insects and animals of its surroundings. Last summer we watch a pair of Red-bellied woodpeckers nest in a cavity on a “small” dead branch on the Big Oak, right over the deck. Even a “small” dead branch on this tree can be quite large! Several hundred species of caterpillars, the anchor of any healthy habitat, live high in the canopy of oaks or winter in their leaf litter – and don’t forget autumn’s acorns, a winter source of nutrition for countless birds and mammals.
This could be the winter cache of an American Red Squirrel, or the result of acorns dropping from the nearby oaks during a mast yearwhen oaks produce unusually large amounts of nuts.
No other tree feeds North America’s varied habitats as generously as the oaks. That’s why it’s a keystone species nationwide and here in Oakland Township. Imagine! Centuries after every one of us has left this world, our Big Oak could still be standing tall, feeding and sheltering the creatures around it as well as storing the immense amount of carbon it pulled from the air to build and maintain its enormous structure. To learn more about the life-support system that oaks provide, check out last spring’s blog about them.
So I’m glad that Ben noticed that the Big Oak needed help and made the decision to remove the trees that had taken root beneath it. They had begun starving that magnificent tree of sunlight, rain and nutrition. And growing under its canopy, the other trees had little chance of surviving to full, healthy growth in any case. So work began on the west side of the oak.
The treated stumps of several smaller trees looked like stepping stones on the west side of the tree. All of a tree’s living vascular system for transporting nutrients and water between the canopy and the roots happens just under the bark.Ben carefully applies an herbicide to prevent the felled trees from resprouting.
As the crew completed their work on the tree’s west side in the late afternoon, the Big Oak became bathed in sunlight as the shadows grew long.
The west side of the Big Oak bathed in late afternoon sunlight once the trees there were removed.Trees blocking the sun on the south side of the Big OakBen inserting wedges to control the direction of the fall. He and his crew took chain saw training to do felling properly.
On the following day, the crew took down several larger trees, the biggest one being a Black Walnut (Juglans nigra) probably planted there by a squirrel with a nut many years ago. Ben used a carefully planned notch, back cut, and felling wedges to control the direction of the fall. The other crew members and I stepped far back from Ben and the tree, where Grant got this excellent video of the tree as it fell. It’s interesting to me that I felt real sorrow for the fallen Walnut as it made its tremendous shaking “Thud!” on the ground – and at the same time, I looked behind the devastation and there was the Big Oak standing free.
The felling of the largest tree removed in order to save the Big Oak. Video by Grant Vander Laan.
In the following weeks, Ben and his crew spent several days removing trees from the south and east sides of the tree. Some work remains. They will remove several trees from the north side of the Big Oak yet this winter to open up the area near the pond. Then, for the first time in decades, it will begin to be flooded with light! Rain will soak down to it roots in all directions, helping it reach out in every direction to find the nutrition it needs to complete its long natural life.
All Over Bear Creek, Nature is Breathing Easier
You’ll notice a lot of other transformations going on at Bear Creek Nature Park this winter. Ben hired a contractor to mow invasive shrubs along the edges of many trails, eliminating huge thickets of non-native shrubs and the deadly Oriental Bittersweet vines. Then Grant and volunteers spread wild grass seed to hold the areas until more restoration could be done. Visitors to the park will remember the stunning process that took place in the fields north of the Center Pond through invasive shrub mowing!
Thickets of invasive, non-native bushes along the western side of the Big Loop north of the Center Pond before restoration.Native Canada Wild Rye gracing the western side of the Big Loop this autumn.The rolling landscape of the north section of Bear Creek Park after Ben invasive shrub mowing.
Ben’s team and many volunteers have also been clearing an area west and north of the southern viewing platform at Bear Creek Marsh that had been heavily invaded by non-native shrubs and trees. The beautiful oak grove on the peninsula extending into the marsh was hidden behind dense glossy buckthorn, as you can see in the “before” photo below when work began in this particular area in 2019. The stewardship crew and volunteers finished clearing the last mature buckthorn on the peninsula this summer, and the giant buckthorn piles were stacked, waiting for burning as of early January this year.
Volunteers and stewardship staff remove and stack invasive shrubs at Bear Creek Marsh in fall 2019. This is about the same location as the “after” photo below.(Photo by Ben VanderWeide)Some of the large stacks of invasive shrubs and vines near Bear Creek marsh this January.
And here is my video of the piles burning on the snow on February 1. Quite a sight!
Burning piles of invasive and non-native shrubs near the Bear Creek Marsh with lots of helpers to tend them.
You’ll see there were several volunteers along with Ben and Grant to keep an eye on the burning piles – and to gather around them on a verrrry cold day. I think a few roasted sausages and baked potatoes were on the menu at lunchtime! Here’s Ben’s photo of the burn crew that day.
The burn pile crew: (L to R) Ben Vanderweide, Ethan Teranes (Six Rivers Conservancy), David Klionsky, Dave Kramer, Jon Reed, Rita Ski,George Hartsig and Grant VanderLaan
So when you see areas where invasive shrubs were mowed like the ones below at Bear Creek, don’t panic like I did years ago. Everyone on the stewardship crew and the volunteers are tree lovers like me. They are simply weeding as you would in your garden, but on a much larger scale. Eventually the areas shown below will bloom with native grasses, some native shrubs and hopefully many wildflowers. And for now, enjoy the graceful rolling of the landscape that nature created and which had been hidden from us for decades. What a gift!
Forestry mowing begins restoration at the entrance to Bear Creek Nature Park near the Snell Road parking lot.Mowing continued on the first big curve in the trail heading toward the Walnut Lane.Invasives were also removed also on the trail south of the Walnut Lane.Watch for the emergence of native grasses planted this winter.
So let’s celebrate with the Big Oak. Stewardship has come to its rescue. Let’s see what the future holds for this magnificent specimen!
The Big Oak soaking up the sunlight on the south side as restoration continues at Bear Creek Nature Park.
Southern section of Paint Creek’s original stream bed during restoration in 2020.Same section of the original stream bed, spring 2022 – full of Marsh Marigolds!A northern section of the original stream bed being revealed, December 2022
On a gray day in mid-December, while buzzing about trying to complete a myriad of Christmas errands, a message appeared on my phone from Dr. Ben VanderWeide, Oakland Township’s Stewardship Manager. He wanted me to know that he and a small crew were working in the woods at the Paint Creek Heritage Area – Wet Prairie.
Text and photos by Cam Mannino
Aha! Ben knows that restoration of that particular woods is of special interest to me! So when a free moment appeared, I grabbed my camera and headed north on the trail from Silver Bell Road to see the transformations taking place in one of my favorite restoration projects.
A Reminder about an Historic Change in Paint Creek
As I’ve explained in a previous blog, for eons Paint Creek wandered through the floodplain west of the Paint Creek Trail just north of Silver Bell Road. But in the late 19th century, the stream bed was moved to accommodate the railroad that ran along what is now the Trail. Since then, the water in the original bed comes from rain, snow melt, and some groundwater. After human intervention dramatically altered the water flow (or hydrology) of the area, non-native bushes, vines and trees invaded the wet meadows and moist open woodland along the former stream bed.
The new, non-natives had distinct advantages. Their predators – insects, fungi, animals – were left behind in their countries of origin. They could easily compete with native plants whose predators are also native. The open tree canopy closed, and the woodland floor darkened. And over the next century, invasive shrubs and vines gradually choked off or shaded out most of the native plants that had bloomed for millennia in the woodland and wet meadows and along the former creek bed.
A 1963 aerial photo showing the old bed of Paint Creek (blue), the core wet-mesic prairie area (green), and the current active restoration area outlined in red.
The Restoration Process Begins to Unfold
Most of the work at the Wet Prairie since its acquisition in 2003 had concentrated on the core wet-mesic prairie and the wet meadows to the south. In 2018, a parks prescribed burn contractor conducted a controlled burn in the north half of the park which top-killed huge thickets of non-native brush. Restoration was off and running! But much more was needed, of course, and heavy equipment was impractical in a delicate, very moist area.
So in late 2020, Ben, stewardship specialist Grant VanderLaan, staff from Six Rivers Land Conservancy, and volunteers took on the monumental task of cutting and carefully burning as many non-native bushes and vines as possible in the northern wet meadows and woodland. In some areas, careful application of herbicides to stumps and small re-sprouts followed in order to eliminate invasive species while doing as little harm as possible to any native plants still struggling to survive beneath the non-native thickets. It was an exhausting, laborious process, but what a transformation was taking shape!
BEFORE: Paint Creek Trail edge by the Wet Prairie before invasive shrub removal on April 30, 2018AFTER: The Paint Creek Trail at the Wet Prairie in spring 2020 after invasive shrub removal.BEFORE: Looking west from the Paint Creek Trail at marker D-34.5 on June 1, 2018, before invasive shrub control.AFTER: Looking west from the Paint Creek Trail at marker D-34.5 on December 21, 2022, after three years of invasive shrub control.
This past autumn, the crew’s goal was to continue to increase light reaching the woodland floor to help the special mix of woodland wildflowers, grasses, and sedges return. To do this they reduced the number of fallen ash trees caused by emerald ash borer damage, removed any last invasive shrubs, and thinned trees that were choking out the remaining oaks in the area. As they’ve done annually for several years, volunteers also collected and cleaned a record amount of native wildflower and grass seed from local populations. The Wet Prairie woodlands were an ideal location for sowing some of it once this fall’s work was completed.
Small Winter Fires of Brush and Fallen Logs Release Nutrients Back to the Soil
Piles of branches and logs from old dead falls piled where the canopy is tall and open.
In mid-December, Ben’s message appeared on my phone with a photo of a small part of the work area. Amazed at what I saw, I left Christmas prep behind and headed to the Wet Prairie. The work crew was small by then – just Ben, Grant and hard-working volunteers George Hartsig and Jon Reed. They had removed a remarkable amount of non-native shrubs and vines and piled them along with the ash deadfalls and thinned saplings in open areas where low fires on moist ground could not reach the canopy. Then they’d set the piles ablaze on the wet soil and tended the fires until they had turned to ash. Wet winter days are ideal for this work and I was happy to see plumes of white smoke rising in multiple spots throughout the woodland when I arrived.
Multiple fires burned in the moist woodland, tended by Dr. Ben, stewardship specialist Grant VanderLaan and volunteer George Hartsig.Grant and George paused for my photo while tending the fires.The crew kept adding fallen limbs as the fire glowed within.A section of the woodland restoration area with burn piles smoking in the distance in the current work area.
I was delighted to see the woods opening further with the restoration work. Now patches of sunlight and rain could nurture the woodland floor, and struggling wet meadow plants could grow. Another part of the moist woodland could breathe again.
The “Comeback Kids”: Native Plants Return and an Iconic Bird Responds to Restoration
Though invasive plants had decimated many of the native species that once bloomed on the forest floor and along the banks of the stream bed, a few hardy survivors appear each year as restoration continues. Last year, in an area along the Paint Creek Trail formerly blanked by thickets of bittersweet, privet, glossy buckthorn and autumn olive, a gorgeous carpet of native Golden Alexanders (Zizia aurea) emerged on its own! Imagine how long those native wildflowers had waited for the sun and the rain!
BEFORE: A dense wall of non-native species on the north end of the Wet Prairie in August 2017.AFTER: A profusion of native Golden Alexanders where a thicket non-native shrubs once stood on the north side of the Wet Prairie in spring 2022
Last summer, the stewardship crew spotted a Red-Headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) exploring a possible nesting cavity on a dead tree at the Wet Prairie. These birds prefer woodlands with open canopies and plenty of standing dead trees, just the conditions that restoration work had provided over the years (with some help from the emerald ash borer, in this case.) A hopeful sign that restoration will encourage the return of other species!
A Red-Headed Woodpecker at Paint Creek Heritage Area – Wet Prairie in summer 2022.
During my December visit, Ben pointed out some of the remaining green leaves or dry stems of sturdy native plants that have emerged since restoration granted them their days in the sunshine and rain.
Skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus), Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris) with Ostrich Ferns (Matteuccia struthiopteris) in the distance at the Wet Prairie WoodsGolden Ragwort (Packera aurea) in bloom in the Wet Prairie WoodsLeaves of Golden Ragwort still green in the remaining snow of a gray December day.Tussock Sedge (Carex stricta) in a woodland opening; Photo by peakaytea at iNaturalist (cc Public domain)Dry winter stems of Tussock Sedge at the Wet Prairie in December. Riverbank Wild Rye (Elymus riparius) has shed its seeds next to the newly-exposed section of the ancient stream bed of Paint Creek
A Final Step for this Year: Sowing Native Seed
Sadly, few native plants survived the long years of domination by non-native species. Ben would like to return more native wildflowers and grasses to this special woodland. So as the fires burned low this winter, Grant used a leaf blower to open patches around the cleared area to allow native seed to reach the soil. And George spread the collected seed mixes in the woods – a mesic savanna mix for consistently moist areas and a sunny wet meadow mix for wetter spots.
Stewardship Specialist Grant VanderLaan cleared spots on the forest floor in preparation for planting.Volunteer George Hartsig spread seed in the time-honored fashion, by hand., choosing the mix according to the soil moisture.
Isn’t it cheering that native seed prefers to be sown in the coldest months? It’s so counter-intuitive and I love that! In fact, many native seeds need the cold to germinate. Then these hardy native plants spend about three years growing deep roots until they fully bloom, ready for Michigan’s unpredictable weather. We’ll have to be patient, but with luck, the wait will be worth it. Here are a few of the plants we can hope to see taking up residence in the woodland at the Wet Prairie once they’ve established their deep root systems. (Click on black boxes at the edge of the frame to move through the slideshow below.)
Native Bulrush (Scirpus atrovirens)
Flat-topped White Aster (Doellingeria umbellata)
Cow Parsnip (Heracleum maxiumum)
Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa)
Wild Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)
A small bush, Shrubby Cinquefoil (Potentilla fruticosa)
Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum) with Joe Pye (Eutrochium fistulosum) beyond
Common Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum virginianum)
Swamp Betony (Melanerpes erythrocephalus)
Looking to the Past to Help the Future Flourish
Ostrich Ferns (Matteuccia struthiopteris) under the open canopy in a restored area within the Wet Prairie Woodlandin 2021
As I watched the fires on that gray December day, I felt that Ben and his stewardship plans were not only restoring an ancient ecosystem that nature had developed over thousands of years. Restoration will also make it possible for nature, with a bit of help from us, to once more determine what will develop and thrive there in the future. At an online workshop I attended in November, Gregory Nowicki of the US Department of Agriculture summed up restoration with a quote he found that perfectly captured what I felt as I watched those fires slowly burning down in the Wet Prairie Woods.
“Restoration uses the past not as a goal but as a reference point for the future. If we seek to recreate the temperate forests, tall grass savannas, or desert communities of centuries past, it is not to turn back the evolutionary clock but to set it ticking again.” (Falk 1990)”
Yes! Nature knows best and humans, even with the best intentions, have interfered with ancient processes that supported a healthy, highly varied habitat. Those carpets of invasive plants appeared in our parks because humans moved them here from distant lands. But in Oakland Township, we are lending nature a helping hand, letting it get back to work at filling our parks and natural areas with healthy habitat that supports the birds, animals, and insects that share the benefits of nature’s bounty with us. What a Christmas gift Ben gave me when he sent me that text!
It often happens that shortly after I publish a blog about a particular park, something interesting pops up there that I wish I could have included.
Text by Cam Mannino
So to solve that issue, Dr. Ben VanderWeide, Oakland Township’s Stewardship Manager and I decided that it might be fun to slip in a short piece, a “field note,” now and then about these intriguing and/or surprising discoveries. And wouldn’t you know, one cropped up last week!
A Young Blue Heron Discovers a New Challenge: Ice!
Readers may remember that in the recent Bear Creek Nature Park blog, my photographer friend Paul Birtwhistle introduced us to a voracious juvenile Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) who for weeks spent its mornings snapping up green frogs and fish from the drought-depleted Center Pond at Bear Creek.
Photographer Paul Birtwhistle and Stanley the Wonderdog
Well, after one frigid night last week, the pond froze with a thin sheet of ice. And of course, the Heron returned in the morning to continue its feast. But to its apparent dismay, the water had changed drastically since the day before. The heron stepped out cautiously on this oddly slick surface and looked about. In the short video below, you’ll hear that Paul was amazed at what he was filming. And the young Heron was just as surprised at finding the pond surface inaccessible after weeks of dipping into it to find a rich trove of food. [Note: Vimeo, which formats our videos, attributes everything on Ben’s Vimeo account to Ben. But this week, all of the photos and videos were generously shared with us by Paul Birtwhistle.]
“What’s this? Tap, tap, tap. The water is hard?!!! What’s this? Video by Paul Birtwhistle
This youngster didn’t give up easily! It stared at the surface repeatedly. Paul guessed that he was seeing movement under the thin ice.
I see something down there, but why is my vision so fuzzy? And how do I deal with the slick, hard barrier between me and breakfast? Photo by Paul Birtwhistle
I wonder if perhaps the juvenile thought something was wrong with its eyesight, as it tried to bend down and get closer to the ice. Or perhaps it still thought it could snag its prey if it crouched down a bit…
Hmmm…maybe I just need to get a little bit closer.That usually works. No? Drat! Photo by Paul Birtwhistle
The heron tread verrrry cautiously on the thin, icy surface but – Yikes! Suddenly its feet slipped from under it and up went those dramatic wings to help it find its balance.
Whoops! Wings up! What’s the deal with this weird pond? Photo by Paul Birtwhistle
Trying to keep its hopes up, the bird spent about a half hour stepping carefully on the slippery surface and peering down at the ice-blurred surface of the pond. The youngster appears to warm one foot by bringing it to its feathers – or maybe it’s simply scratching an itch. In any case, this young bird looks pretty frustrated at this puzzling new experience.
I just don’t get it! How annoying! Photo by Paul Birtwhistle
After more than a half hour of exploration, the young heron took flight. Let’s hope it found its way to deeper water and the society of older herons who would show this young ‘un how to fish from the icy edge of open water.
OK! I’m outta here! There must be normal water around here somewhere! Photo by Paul Birtwhistle
Paul was surprised and delighted to see a heron on ice! And so was I when I received his photos! We thought Great Blue Herons would already have migrated. But when I contacted experienced naturalist and bird bander, Allen Chartier, he explained that, in his experience, though many migrate further, some herons just keep moving south to find open water. He sees them where warm water thaws the ice near power plants, for example. He believes most of them depart by January when even large bodies of water freeze over. Cornell University’s subscription website, Birds of the World, indicates that those mighty wings carry many of them as far south as the Caribbean. So bon voyage to our young puzzled friend. Hope you found a belly-full of food before nightfall!
Meanwhile, Nearby, More Experienced Neighbors Also Coped with the Icy Pond
Muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus) have created a “push-up” or lodge on the Center Pond this year, probably because Bear Creek marsh, where they more often spend the winter, has less open water than usual. Muskrats spend the winter mostly under water. Their metabolism drops and they efficiently utilize oxygen stored in their muscles. They slowly swim about, foraging for aquatic plants, though their diet can also include frogs, snails, small fish, occasionally even small turtles – if any remained after our hungry young heron departed! Since muskrats are mammals, however, they need to come up for air. Their push-ups have a platform inside where they can enter from underwater and then eat and rest comfortably in the air. Nice arrangement, eh?
The first time Paul noticed a muskrat, it was near the heron, gnawing its way through the thin ice to keep its channels open. In the photo below, note the ice being pushed up onto the muskrat’s muzzle as it acts like an icebreaker. Its long fur helps keep it warm and it can close its ears when under water. But as you’ll hear Paul say in the video, “It looks ever so cold!”
A muskrat acting as ice-breaker. Photo by Paul Birtwhistle
The next morning two muskrats fed at the pond. The first one in the short video below seems to be eating frozen plant material pulled up from the shallow water. Watch ’til the end of the video to see the second muskrat emerge from the push-up, gnaw on some ice and then decide to make a beeline underwater toward the first one – probably its mate.
Two muskrats on an icy morning at Bear Creek’s Center Pond. Video by Paul Birtwhistle
It turns out that this affectionate pair is sharing its home with 3-4 other muskrats that Paul saw a few days later. They may be a family, though muskrats are known to hole up with unrelated muskrats in the winter. I suppose that more muskrats inside means more warmth. But the shallow water and the depleted amount of prey may turn out to be a challenge to these animals this winter. Drought like we’ve had lately can be a hazard to semi-aquatic animals. It’s much easier for predators like foxes and coyotes to reach the muskrats if the shallow water freezes solid.
The muskrat pair having a bit of a cuddle to keep themselves warm.The inside of their push-up made from dead plant material can be both a shelter and a source of food if necessary.
Amazingly enough, a savvy potential predator did indeed show up on Paul’s next visit – an American mink (Neogale vison)! I’ve been hiking Bear Creek Nature Park for many years and never seen one there. But late one morning, this powerful, beautiful animal appeared on the north bank of the pond right behind the muskrats’ push up. Hmmm…. Various sources report that though minks eat several different small mammals, their favorite food is, you guessed it, muskrat! Well, winter’s a challenging time and the mink may have a mate to feed as well since minks breed during the winter. Everyone has to eat, right? Look at the magnificent specimen Paul saw! Its size, white chin patch and small white chest spot are good field marks for this impressive creature.
An American Mink looks with great interest at the push-up of a group of muskrats, a possible tasty treat for the mink! Photo by Paul Birtwhistle
What a drama played out at the Center Pond this November! Will the young heron learn quickly how to find food on an icy morning? Will the muskrats find enough prey in the shallow water after the heron’s weeks of feeding? Will they successfully fend off the hungry mink or will this elegant, potentially lethal predator find a meal for itself at the pond? We’ll probably never know the conclusion to this series of events. But thanks to Paul, you and I had front row seats for this adventure in three acts, each featuring a creature coping with the vicissitudes of the season.
The eastern end of the Center Pond at Bear Creek after a summer drought
The Center Pond at Bear Creek Nature Park was a hub of avian activity during early fall. After a very dry summer, the water level fell significantly, exposing the muddy bottom in some areas and bringing underwater prey closer to the surface. And the birds came! Summer visitors who raised young here and birds migrating south clearly saw the remaining open water and muddy edges as an oasis. After the vernal pools dried up and even Bear Creek marsh filled with plants in the dry summer heat, the Center Pond provided an ideal place to find food!
During the dry summer heat, Bear Creek Marsh’s open water disappeared as the moist center filled with cattails and flowering plants.
I, sadly, wasn’t able to use my long lens much for birds in the last few weeks after a minor fiasco with my back – but never fear!
Text by and some photos by Cam Mannino
Two of my brilliant photographer friends, Bob Bonin and Paul Birtwhistle, generously filled my inbox with glorious shots of all kinds of birds they saw there! Through their eyes, you and I can witness what Bear Creek had to offer our avian friends in early fall. And I’ll add in a few extras from my October trips through Bear Creek’s fields and its oak-hickory forest. So let’s head out together on another virtual hike, this time with two other nature-loving photographers.
Off Toward the Slopes of the Western Meadow
The sloping Western Meadow in late October.
The gardens near the parking lot on Snell Road are shedding their seed now. They currently look a bit chaotic, but all those seed heads will be a nourishing boon to birds this winter. But one hardy species, Cut-leaf Coneflower (Rudbeckia laciniata), contributed its bright yellow rays to the fall colors until mid-October. What a heartening native addition to a late-summer/fall garden!
Hardy native Cut-leaf Coneflowers shine brightly in the garden nearest the Snell parking lot despite falling temperatures.
Paul Birtwhistle and I both stopped by the Playground Pond this fall. In September, Paul came across a female Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) banging away on one of the many snags (standing dead trees) in the pond. (Females have a black “mustache”; males have a red one.) At this time of year, she was probably seeking out wood-boring beetle larvae, though in general, carpenter ants are her preference.
A female Pileated Woodpecker searched for beetle larvae and other goodies on a dead snag in the Playground Pond.Photo by Paul Birtwhistle.
When I arrived at the Playground Pond in October with the Wednesday morning birding group, a gang of juvenile Cedar Waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum) were socializing in a dead tree. The juveniles are much less colorful than their parents – mostly gray instead of cedar brown and lemon yellow – but even at a distance, we could see the bright yellow tips on their tails and their developing black masks. (Click on photos to enlarge.)
Part of a sociable flock of young Cedar Waxwings warming in the sun on a cold morning at the Playground Pond.The black mask and yellow bar at the tip of its tail identified this juvenile Cedar Waxwing at Stony Creek Ravine Park in 2020.
In September, Paul ventured further west to the steeply sloping path of the western meadow where tiny migrators foraged at the edge of the woods. And what a group of golden beauties! The Magnolia Warbler (Setophaga magnolia) nests in conifers at the tip of Michigan’s “mitten,” the Upper Peninsula or in Canada. This female or immature male with its complete white eye ring, vivid yellow breast and gray head stopped by Bear Creek to rest and feed on its way to bask in Caribbean sun for the winter.
A female or immature male Magnolia Warbler paused momentarily while busily foraging for insects at the edge of the Western Meadow. Photo by Paul Birtwhistle.
Another migrator, the Nashville Warbler (Leiothlypis ruficapilla), also breeds in “up north” Michigan and in Canada. It drops by in fall and spring when it’s migrating to and from its wintering grounds in Mexico. That’s quite a trip twice a year! Paul caught it pausing as it too sought out Bear Creek’s rich supply of insects for its long journey.
The Nashville Warbler stopped by on the western slopes of Bear Creek Nature Park. For field marks, look for its gray head with a white eye ring, and all that bright yellow below. Photo by Paul Birtwhistle.
The other little bird Paul glimpsed in the west of the park was an immature male Common Yellow-throat (Geothlypis trichas). (Adult males have a white-banded black mask, and in immature males this mask is very faint; females have a warm brown head, yellow undersides, and olive back.) This young male might have hatched from an egg right at Bear Creek Nature Park since Paul and I repeatedly saw Yellowthroats or heard their “witchedy, witchedy” call near the marsh this summer. Or perhaps this one arrived from further north. In either case, he too stocked up on insects here before winging off to the southeast toward Florida or the Caribbean.
This immature male Common Yellowthroat may have fledged at Bear Creek this summer, or he might be traveling south from farther north. Photo by Paul Birtwhistle.
Strolling Along the Walnut Lane
The Walnut Lane in late October.
The Walnut Lane which runs between two meadows serves as a favorite perusing perch for birds. When Paul arrived there on October 1, he spotted migrating Palm Warblers (Setophaga palmarum) gazing out among the golden leaves along the trail. After raising young in the Upper Peninsula or even Canada’s boreal forests, these striking birds stop by each fall on their way to Florida or the Caribbean to partake of our parks’ bounty.
A Palm Warbler on the Walnut Lane. Its rusty brown cap, light “eyebrow” line and yellowish breast are good field marks for this little migrator who’s just passing through. Photo by Paul Birtwhistle.
The same day, down near north end of the Lane, Paul spotted a Chinese Praying Mantis (Tenodera sinensis). We have two species of non-native Mantises in Michigan. This larger one, at 3-5 inches, is a highly successful predator also on the hunt for insects. Its orange back with green edges is distinctive, though sometimes Chinese Mantises are solid green like the smaller species, the European Mantis (Mantis religiosa), which is no more than 3 inches long. These two may have out-competed the only native mantis in our country, the Carolina mantis (Stagmomantis carolina) which now exists only in the southeast. This one clearly focused on Paul. Maybe she was flirting?
This Chinese Praying Mantis looks seductive, doesn’t she? But she’s probably just focusing her bilateral vision so she can escape Paul if necessary. Photo by Paul Birtwhistle.
In the late summer and fall, Eastern Bluebirds (Sialia sialis) frequently perch on the Walnut Lane. I saw a pensive female there on October 2. On October 5, Paul and I both saw a pair exploring the possibilities of a snag for insects now or perhaps next year’s cavity nest. In fact, the Lane area was full of their fluttering that day! The nesting boxes placed by the stewardship crew and tended by volunteers have added a lot of bluebirds to Bear Creek – and other parks with boxes – so keep an eye out for them!
This female Bluebird seemed to be in deep thought, though I imagine she was really concentrating on her next meal!A Bluebird couple exploring a snag against a background of vivid fall color! Photo by Paul Birtwhistle
A Ruby-Crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula) also flitted about within the branches along the Lane. Paul caught this tiny bird between dashes from limb to limb (left below), while I just caught the blur of another one’s flight during the bird walk.
A Ruby-crowned Kinglet sizing up the insect possibilities along the Walnut Lane. Photo by Paul Birtwhistle.A Ruby-crowned Kinglet in the blur of its flight
The Center Pond Feeding the Multitudes – and a Rare Visitor
Western end of the Center Pond with mud flats forming after the summer drought.
Both of my photographer friends hung out at the Center Pond, a hub of activity in the fall at Bear Creek Nature Park. On each of his visits, Paul Birtwhistle snapped his photos quickly to catch in action two large, very successful foragers. In early September, he came upon a very excited Green Heron (Butorides virescens) with a crest that literally stood on end like a “punk” hairstyle. Maybe just the thought of all those “easy pickings” in the shallow water had a huge effect on this skillful fisher! Here’s a brief slideshow of Paul’s shots of its hunting techniques.
Crest held high, this adult Green Heron looks pretty pleased at its prospects for food at the Center Pond. Photo by Paul Birtwhistle.
Ah, the perfect perch! What a fanatical look, eh? Photo by Paul Birtwhistle.
With stealth and cautious, slow movements, it spots its prey and concentrates. Photo by Paul Birtwhistle.
Up comes some sort of prey. Is that a tadpole tail? Success, even if it’s a relatively small snack. Photo by Paul Birtwhistle.
Ah, spotting what appears to be another likely meal, it takes off, literally running across the duckweed and water meal that covers the pond. Photo by Paul Birtwhistle.
Down goes the bill again! Photo by Paul Birtwhistle.
Alas, it appears the prey, if there was any, escaped, and our Green Heron is left with a bill full of aquatic plant. Photo by Paul Birtwhistle.
Ah well, off it goes, back to the pond edge to see what the shallows might offer. Photo by Paul Birtwhistle.
Paul watched a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) feed day after day at the Center Pond. The first time, on October 9, he witnessed one snagging two different prey. Its first prize was a little Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides)! Some flying bird must have dropped Bass eggs into the pond earlier in the summer since this pond is spring-fed. Each prey caught, Paul reports, was dipped in the water and then shaken vigorously. Cornell University’s website explains that this process may quickly break the spine before the heron swallows it whole. Gulp!
Its second catch was a small Green Frog (Rana clamitans). The heron came back the next day for another frog. In fact, Paul’s seen a heron fishing repeatedly for two weeks! Evidently, the shallower water after the summer drought made fishing much more profitable for the water birds this year! The pond may have fewer frogs next summer but we’re sending well-fed herons south during the migration. Here’s a small sampling of Paul’s amazing photos of this impressive bird, with its 6 to 7 foot wingspan and its skillful fishing.
The Great Blue Heron pulls a small Largemouth Bass from the Center Pond. It found a fish I never knew was in that pond! Photo by Paul Birtwhistle
Herons shake and dip their prey to break the spine quickly before swallowing them whole, according to Cornell University’s ornithology website. Photo by Paul Birtwhistle
The Heron’s been busy snagging frogs as well as fish before its migration. Photo by Paul Birtwhistle
Two Wood Ducks swim calmly by as the Great Blue Heron preens. Photo by Paul Birtwhistle
The Great Blue Heron balancing at the tip of a tree near the Center Pond. It looks like it’s standing on tiptoe but Paul says the landing was successful. Photo by Paul Birtwhistle
A view of the amazing wings of the Great Blue Heron on takeoff. The heron was still foraging at the pond on October 22. Photo by Paul Birtwhistle
The Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa) have also been bottoms-up feeding at the Center Pond during October. Paul got a wonderful shot of a pair surveying the pond from the edge. They’re probably here for a variety of aquatic plants, including the bright green Duckweed (aptly named!) (Lemna minor) and Common Water Meal (Wolffia columbiana) that they scoop up with their bills when they’re cruising along.
A Wood Duck couple standing amidst a nice patch of Duckweed and Water Meal, some of their favorite aquatic plants. Photo by Paul Birtwhistle.
Male Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) molt into eclipse plumage in later summer/early fall that makes them look more like the females. Later in the fall, they molt again into their breeding colors in order to attract a mate for the next season. I think this male, with its head bejeweled with water droplets, has excellent mating prospects! What a glamor shot! Thanks, Paul!
A male Mallard in his fresh breeding plumage. What a sight for a female Mallard’s eyes!Photo by Paul Birtwhistle.
Of course, not all the foraging was going on in the water at the Center Pond. An unusual migrator appeared at the Wednesday bird walk. A Rusty Blackbird (Euphagus carolinus) settled down on the muddy shoals exposed by the drought and spent several hours flipping over leaves to see what insects, seeds or fallen fruit might be hiding there. My other patient photographer buddy, Bob Bonin, stayed at the pond for hours and caught his beautiful shot (below left). Rusty Blackbirds only pass through during fall and spring migration and their numbers are rapidly declining. I last saw them in 2015 when a small flock in their breeding colors (below right) landed in a wetland near the Center Pond. Researchers think their decline is caused by the usual suspects – agriculture, logging, development, soil contamination. So I’m glad our parks provided a rich source of sustenance for even this single Rusty in its fall plumage.
The brown tips of the Rusty Blackbird’s feathers wear off during the winter. The yellow eyes are a year ’round field mark.This female back in 2015 wore her darker spring plumage. The spring males are completely black.
Bob’s patience paid off again. In those extra hours, he also tracked the quick, short flights of a variety of small migrating birds foraging at the Center Pond. Yellow-rumped Warblers (Setophaga coronata) eat a wide variety of foods during migration – insects when they can find them, seeds, berries of all kinds, including poison ivy berries! The field mark to look for, winter or spring, is the bright yellow patch between the wings on the top of its rump, though their plumage is much more dramatic in the spring, like most birds.
A Yellow-rumped Warbler with yellow showing beneath her wings. Photo by Bob BoninThe Yellow-Rumped Warbler with the yellow patch on top of its rump. Photo by Bob Bonin
White-throated Sparrows (Zonotrichia albicollis) can be seen under my feeder during the fall and winter – maybe yours too? These hardy sparrows flooded into Bear Creek Nature Park early in October after breeding farther north. Their striped heads can sometimes be confused with the White-crowned Sparrow, but the White Throats have that nifty white patch under the beak and bright yellow spots (called “lores”) just above their eyes. Check out the pattern differences when you see a “little brown bird” pecking in the grass! It’s not “just a sparrow!” Try thinking “Which sparrow is it?” Thanks to Bob for this great identification shot!
A brush pile or tall vegetation close to your feeder lets the White-throated Sparrow feel safe enough to eat there as it pops in and out of cover during the winter. Photo by Bob Bonin.
Down on the dock, the birding group saw an Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe) doing what flycatchers do best – quickly sallying out over water to snitch insects from the air. These grayish-brown songbirds sing a steeply descending “Pheeee-buzz” song in the summer and are easily identified by an almost continuous pumping or twitching of their tails when perched.
Eastern Phoebes sing, nest and raise young here in the summer but travel to the southern US for the winter since their main food source is insects.
A Short Walk Through Alice’s Woods, aka the Oak-Hickory Forest
Let’s wind up our virtual hike with a quick walk through the oak-hickory forest, which is now named “Alice’s Woods,” in honor of the incredible Alice Tomboulian who inspired, helped found and served Oakland Township Parks for so many years. Alice was an intrepid lover of the natural world who understood the importance of both preservation and the urgent requirements of restoring that land with native species. She was an inspiration to so many, including me, and is greatly missed.
The quiet of a forest always soothes me, and that’s especially true in autumn light. Fewer birds, other than woodpeckers, regularly appear for me in the woods. I come across Titmice, a summer Wood-Pewee, once a Sharp-shinned Hawk, the occasional migrating warbler, the Brown Creeper and two or three times a Great Horned Owl, among others. But this October, I felt surrounded only by what I call “leaf talk.” The spinning descent of dry leaves accompanied the tree shadows slipping across my husband’s shoulders in the dappled light. In the woods, we tried to notice the small forest details that tend to show themselves when we aren’t peering up into the canopy for birds.
First, we came across an array of fallen logs, each one heavily filigreed with Turkey-tail Mushrooms (Trametes versicolor). These polypore mushrooms help break down dead wood into sugars and carbon dioxide by loosening the bonds of lignin that made the wood and bark rigid. In other words, these fungi are gradual wood recyclers – and they’re beautiful while doing it!
A tower of Turkey-tail mushrooms on a fallen limb. The green is a light coating of algae, often seen on these fungi.
A roundish bouquet of Turkey-tails on the lower edge of a fallen tree.
The entire pile of logs was being processed by Turkey-tail mushrooms.
The concentric geometry of a web spun by an Orb-weaver Spider (genus Araneus) caught our eye in a spot of fall sunlight. The spider may have expired on a chilly night, but she left behind evidence of her skill. According to Dr. Gary Parsons at Michigan State University’s Bug House, the mating process in this genus can be a bit fraught. “Males …usually need to perform some kind of species-specific signal (usually by plucking the web in a specific pattern) as they approach the female to let them know they are not prey and wish to mate. If the female is overly hungry or not ready to mate, she might turn on the male and eat him if he gets too close. If she is ready to mate, she probably will leave him alone during the act, after which the male beats a hasty retreat.” Don’t mess with an unwilling female Orb-weaver!
The vertical line in the Orb-weaver’s web is called a “trash-line.” It serves as a storage place for insects she’s caught and wrapped to be consumed later or a disposal site for ones she’s already sucked dry!
Emerging from the woods to head back to the car, we were greeted by the charmingly bug-eyed Spotted Spreadwing damselfly (Lestes congener). This little creature survives longer than most other damselflies, into October and even November. Its eggs overwinter and can tolerate temperatures as low as -17 degrees, according to my cherished guide, Damselflies of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan by Robert Dubois and Mike Reese. So glad this hardy little insect posed for me.
Usually the last of the damselflies each autumn – the Spotted Spreadwing with its half-blue bug eyes – stared up at us from a dry grass stem.
Red-legged Grasshoppers (Melanoplus femurrubrum) accompanied us along every path, springing away under our feet. In our colder latitudes, these grasshoppers are smaller and have to mature more quickly since this species only reproduces once in a season. Females will lay eggs in the soil to overwinter. The nymphs will dig their way out next spring and molt 5-7 times before being ready to mate.
The Red-legged Grasshopper’s back legs are not only a lovely color, but have quite a fancy design.
I hope you’ve noticed the sweet, buzzing song of crickets – and probably some katydids and grasshoppers too – this time of year. My sharp-eyed husband spotted one of the tiny Ground Crickets (family Trigonidiidae) whose males sing so wonderfully this time of year just by pulling the scraper-like edge of one forewing against the other. Dr. Parsons would have needed to have this tiny (maybe 3/4 inch?) creature in hand to identify it among the seven species in three genera in Michigan. He did tell me that they can survive quite cold temperatures down in the grass as long as they don’t freeze. So when the weather warms back up in the fall, the males “sing” again, hoping to mate before winter sets in.
In the autumn, at least hundreds, maybe thousands, of male Ground Crickets “sing” by scraping one wing against the other, hoping to attract a female in the meadows of Bear Creek Nature Park before a hard freeze comes.
Ensuring Autumn’s Richness Continues to Feed the Future
I like to think of autumn as a time of rich harvest in our parks. Yes, it’s true that the leaves are falling and flowers and grasses are withering – but that means seeds can feed hungry migrators before they fly further south on a north wind under the stars. Those dry seed heads in our parks, or left for the winter (we hope) in your drying garden, can nourish our avian neighbors who tough out the winter with us. Insects have left behind chrysalises, cocoons, and galls, where their young will gradually transform next spring into dancing butterflies, fluttering moths in a summer night, and the millions of caterpillars and adult insects needed to feed next summer’s frogs, flycatchers, soaring swallows and thousands of baby birds. It means seeds and nuts will rest on or in the cooling earth, ready to crack open and thrust out new life when the soil warms again. While we humans sip our sweet cider and bite into crisp apples, nature is serving up food for the multitudes and sowing new life in its endless cycle of abundance.
If we continue to preserve natural areas and restore them to the health that nature designed through millennia, we can hope that endless fruitful autumns stretch ahead on our planet home. Here in Oakland Township, we’re doing our best to do just that in our parks. It isn’t enough to simply preserve open land, as crucial as that is. Through the yearly cycles of restoration work performed by our stewardship crew and volunteers under Dr. VanderWeide’s expert guidance, we are continuously caring for the land. We are slowly restoring as much of its historic diversity, richness and beauty as we possibly can after years of human use or neglect. And that transformation, that commitment to nurturing the land, sustains my commitment to the future, to a healthier world for the young, even when the nights grow longer and bare trees sketch black tracery against the autumn sky. I hope it does that for you, too.
Stewardship Manager Dr. Ben VanderWeide and volunteers gathering native seed to enrich other township parks.
Natural Areas Notebook 