Field Note: Rx for Restoration? Fire??? Yes, Indeed!

May 3, 2023 / Cam Mannino / 2 Comments

Some of the fire crew gathered under the Big Oak during a pause in this spring’s burn. Note that the crew kept the fire from singeing the oak’s trunk, though it’s fire-adapted like all oaks. It was done out of deference to all the changes the Big Oak has experienced this year. Photo by Ben VanderWeide.

Eight years ago, when I first heard about prescribed burns, I thought “What? That’s pretty counter intuitive. Why would anyone apply fire to help plants?” Luckily, I learned about these restorative burns from Dr. Ben VanderWeide, our township stewardship manager; he had the answers.

After recent highly successful prescribed burns at Bear Creek Nature Park, I thought it might be time to discuss this seemingly strange process once more.

[Please Note: Due to an absurd mistake on my part, nearly all my photos of this spring’s Bear Creek burn were lost. I heartily thank volunteers Bob Schrader and John Reed as well as Grant VanderLaan and Ben for sharing their photos for this blog. My apologies to the fire crew for messing up big time!]

The History of Fire in our Prairies

For thousands of years, rolling prairies and oak savannas, dotted with native wildflowers and widely spaced oaks, carpeted our area of southeast Michigan. Lightning strikes periodically set the trees and fields ablaze, creating large wildfires. The Anishinaabek people that lived here also made regular use of fire, clearing land for crops and attracting game with the tender new plants that rise after a fire.

*An oak with minimal competition at Charles Ilsley Park in spring. This landscape of rolling prairies and big oaks is similar to the landscapes of the past in Oakland Township.*

As a result, our native plants became fire-adapted. They “learned to live with” fire and even benefit from it. Trees like the oak in the photo above developed thick bark, especially at the base. Some like jack pines (Pinus banksiana) even require fire to trigger their pine cones to release seeds. For others the chemicals in smoke, the heat of the fire itself, or removing accumulated thatch cues dormant seeds to germinate.

Jack Pine farther north in Michigan is regularly managed for Kirtland’s warblers with harvesting and prescribed fire. Photo by Ray Snook (CC BY-NC)

Fire Becomes an Ally in Restoration

Today, while renewing our native plants, fire also discourages or even eliminates many aggressive non-native, non-productive plants that invaded our fields, forests, and remnant prairies after agriculture ended. Their leaves and fruits are either toxic or drastically less nutritious for our native birds, native insects and their caterpillars. Fire acts as an ally in restoration by knocking back these plants that didn’t evolve with fire and therefore never adapted to it. Other invasive plants like crown vetch, Phragmites, invasive bittersweet, and swallow-wort respond positively to fire, so burning is often paired with other management techniques if these plants are found in area to be burned. Our native plants can then provide the nourishing, healthy food on which our wildlife depends.

Western Slope of Bear Creek Nature Park invaded by Autumn Olive shrubs.

Planning the Prescribed Burn

As Stewardship Manager, Ben plans the burns long ahead of time, choosing areas with good potential for restoration, especially ones with invasive and/or non-native vegetation. If the burn will encompass flat or gently sloped land, Ben often uses his staff plus trained volunteers to set and manage the fire. (Look for our annual training day each February if you’re interested!) He hires licensed contractors to conduct burns that involve large areas, forests with lots of dead wood, or steep hills which present more challenges. [Please note that any prescribed burn should only be done by trained personnel! Detailed knowledge and experience are required for a safe burn.]

*Volunteer fire crew preparing to burn, March 2016.*

Volunteers meet with Ben and the stewardship crew before the fire to review his burn plan in detail. The Parks and Recreation Commission provides our local crew with hard hats, fire-resistant clothing and face shields, as well as walkie-talkies so that crew members can communicate with one another during the burn. All members are trained to acknowledge instructions given to them by the crew leaders and to report any changes in their location or fire behavior during the burn. Once the neighbors have been notified, prescribed fires occur on days with the right wind speed, wind direction, and humidity. A fire weather forecast also gives the crew clues about how well the smoke will rise and disperse. Before the burn begins, the crew removes logs and large fallen branches near the edge of the burn unit and/or douses them with water from backpack canisters that can be refilled from a large tank carried in the crew’s truck .

Volunteer Bob Schrader carrying a water cannister while monitoring the fire. (Photo by an unidentified crew member)

Ben monitors the wind before and during the burn to prevent the smoke as much as possible from carrying into nearby neighborhoods. The natural areas stewardship staff creates or checks “burn breaks” around the perimeter of the “burn unit” days, weeks, or months before the burn day. A burn break can be pond, stream, or other naturally occurring feature, or it might be a trail, road, parking lot or other human-constructed thing that doesn’t have fuel for the fire to burn across. Burn breaks are also created around bird nest boxes, utility poles, or other fire-sensitive objects inside the burn unit.

Igniting and Monitoring the Fire

The crew first ignites the fire on the downwind side of the burn unit, creating a slow “back burn” that creeps against the wind into the burn unit. Fire slips in droplets from the tip of a drip torch as crew members walk slowly around the edges of the unit, carefully starting the fire. The crew allows the fire to create a wide burned area on the downwind side before moving around to the edges, or “flanks.”

*The crew lights a back burn on the downwind side of a burn unit to create a safe, wide burned area.*

As the crew spreads the fire around the flanks, it slowly spreads inward toward the center of the burn unit.

*North of Bear Creek’s Center Pond, volunteer Vinnie Morganti spreads fire with a drip torch while Grant Vander Laan monitors with a water backpack. Photo by Bob Schrader*.

*Fire moving to the center of the slope from two directions near the Bear Creek Nature Park lookout point. Photo by John Reed*.

The fire burns around and under trees and shrubs. Most larger trees have thick bark that easily protects them from a quickly passing fire. Many small trees and shrubs are top-killed by fire, but most resprout vigorously afterward. In fact sumacs, willows, and some other native shrubs grow better if they are occasionally pruned back by fire. In my photos below, fire burned right under a fire-adapted small oak during the second burn and when it passed on, the little oak and its spring leaf buds showed no damage. If small oaks are top killed by fire, they resprout vigorously from their huge roots.

The fire travels right across a small oak which Grant had sprayed with water a few minutes earlier.

While the basic tools of prescribed burns are water tanks and drip torches, some crew members carry tools like a flat-backed fire rake or a fire flapper to separate burning embers or rub sparks or embers into the ground. Once the fire dies down, these tools and the water tanks are used to put out any smoldering material during “mop up.”

Smoldering embers being doused with water after a 2021 burn at Bear Creek.

Wondering about the Impact on Wildlife?

I worried about this, too! But having witnessed many burns at this point, I’ve learned that once the smoke starts, creatures move quickly out of the burn units. The fire crews never burn a whole park in one day, so there are always unburnt areas in the park where moles, snakes, mice and insects can find refuge quickly. In fact, the crew tries to work the fire upwind so that rabbits, squirrels and other creatures smell the smoke sooner and have time to escape to other areas in the park or beyond.

Some animals and insects retreat to underground nests, like the ants. Remember that our native insects have been dealing with fire for thousands of years and react quickly to smoke. Our pollinators and their caterpillars will benefit greatly in future weeks from the increased population of nutritious native plants created by the longer growing season and the natural fertilizer as the nutrients in the dead plant material are returned to the soil. Many native plants flower more vigorously after a burn, creating a bountiful buffet for our pollinators.

Of course, I’ve also seen a Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) and an American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) high in the trees calmly ignoring the smoke blowing across their eyes as they watch carefully for possible prey.

At a prescribed burn in 2016, I saw a female Red-tailed Hawk looking out into a burned field with an intense stare!

Ben checked one of the burned fields at Bear Creek a few days after the March 21 burn this spring, and found American Robins, Red-winged Blackbirds, and others enjoying the easy food options on the Western Slope. Here’s his video of what he heard as he looked across the blackened field! Quite a chorus! The nearby unburned fields were much quieter.

A chorus of excited birds after the first burn at Bear Creek Nature Park this spring. Video by Ben VanderWeide.

Smaller birds and other animals benefit by foraging in the burn unit after the fire is out. The morning after the first burn, I came back to find American Robins (Turdis migratorious) all over the fields, snatching up worms or insects and a few Dark-eyed Juncos (Junco hyemalis) busily pecking their way around the blackened areas.

One of the many Robins foraging in the burn units after the burn.

Sowing Native Seed After A Burn

After the second burn at Bear Creek Nature Park this year, Ben sent this assessment to volunteers and staff:

“The burn jump-started the next phase of our restoration work in these burn units! Today [March 31, 2023] between breaks in the rain, we will spread a locally-collected native seed mix on the burned areas to help increase the native plant diversity. It usually takes 3-5 years for plants growing from seed to establish and become noticeable, so you won’t see the results of this seeding for a while. You will see the response from naturally occurring native plants, and from native plant seed that we spread years ago! Look for more growth and flowering from our native wildflowers and prairie grasses this summer!”

Ben sowing seed on the western slope at Bear Creek in 2018. We may see native blooms from this seed this summer.

More from Ben: “In a few weeks you’ll start to see green growth emerging in the burn units. Early season burns often take a bit longer to green up compared to areas burned in April or early May. Later this spring and early summer we’ll scan through the burn units to look for invasive plants like crown vetch, teasel, and swallow-wort. Later summer or early fall the stewardship crew plans to scan through the burn units to spot treat invasive shrubs that were top-killed by the fire. Next spring we hope to repeat the burn, seed, and invasives monitoring sequence. This process has produced good results as an alternative prairie restoration technique for old field/pasture in Wisconsin (check out this webinar for more info – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvMy–MMM2c), so we’re trying it in the fields at Bear Creek Nature Park.”

Ben was so right about the greening up process. Here’s the Western Slope after the March 21 burn and what it looked like about a month later on April 22.

Western Slope at Bear Creek Nature Park after the March 21 burn.

Fire’s Big Payoff

As Ben says above, planting native seeds means a 3-5 year wait for the full bloom to appear while the plants grow deep roots. But if conditions are right, the result can be just amazing and well worth the wait!

Here’s one example that I cherish. In April of 2014, Ben burned the Eastern Prairie at Charles Isley Park. I didn’t get there in time to get a photo that year, but on the left below is a burn photo there from another year. After the 2014 burn and other work to prepare the field, Ben planted native wildflower and grass seed in fall 2015. And look at what a glorious show we had by 2018!

Eastern Prairie at Charles Ilsley Park after a prescribed burn.

Of course every park, every habitat is different, so we can’t quite expect such a magnificent bloom every time. And the flowers calm down and thin out a bit over time as they sort out their competition and wait for another fire. But I think this 2014 to 2018 transformation is what made me a convert to prescribed fire.

Sometimes I find an even bigger thrill simply seeing a native plant emerge whose seeds were waiting in the soil for years, or small, stunted plants that persisted for years under invasive shrubs. Freed of thatch and invasive shrubs, warmed, fertilized, showered with rain, they finally emerge again into the sunlight. And I love that renewal. Here are just a few wildflowers from different parks that have staged a comeback after prescribed burn and other restoration efforts over recent years.

Michigan Lily (Lilium michiganense) at the Wet Prairie
A Field Sparrow on Foxglove Beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis) at Charles Isley Park
The bell-shaped blossoms of Great Blue Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica) at Charles Isley Park
Bee Balm (Monarda fistulosa) lining the path at Stony Creek Ravine Nature Park
Hepatica (Hepatica americana) at Lost Lake Nature Park.
Common Blue-eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium albidum) at Lost Lake Nature Park
Hoary Puccoon (Lithospermum canescens) along the Paint Creek Trail
Lupine (Lupine perennis) along the Paint Creek Trail after a burn in 2017

The Inspiring Persistence of Nature

Native trees, shrubs and wildflowers are an inspiration for me. They’re tough, seasoned survivors, having lived here for thousands of years while coping with Michigan’s changeable weather and rocky, glacier-scraped soil. Native Wood Poppies (Stylophorum diphyllum) in our backdoor garden, some buried unceremoniously under huge piles of dirt by utility workers shortly after planting, just came back and kept on blooming. When our native Clematis (Clematis occidentalis) arrived from the grower looking like a bent, possibly dead stick, I planted it anyway. It bloomed with lavender blossoms during June last year. Insects skeletonized the leaves of our Zigzag Goldenrods(Solidago flexicaulis) its first year, but they leafed out and bloomed a year later.

Wood Poppy, a tough survivor which came back from being buried under a dirt pile shortly after it was planted.

Once native plants establish their deep roots, they take care of themselves and their needs are few. They can thrive in poor soil, tolerate drought, fight off predatory insects with their own chemicals and insist on survival without frequent watering or fertilizer. And as you can see in our parks, they can even thrive after fire, for heaven’s sake!

It’s a sad fact that native plants face a host of challenges caused by us, the brilliant but heedless species, Homo sapiens. Invasive trees, shrubs, grasses and flowers from afar were transported or purchased here by you, I and our forebears. When they escape from our yards into natural areas, they transform our fields and woodlands into dense thickets of a few non-native species. Our native habitat relies on pollinators for survival, but their numbers continue to plummet because we unwittingly chose, and in most cases continue to choose, pretty non-native plants whose leaves malnourish or kill caterpillars, the next generation of insects. And of course few of us have seriously reduced our reliance on fossil fuels which create the newly extreme and erratic climate that wreaks havoc on the complex relationships that sustained nature in a healthy, finely tuned ecosystem for millennia.

But now we know, right? And here in Oakland Township, we’re doing our best to provide native plants with a new lease on life. First, we preserve open areas and then we work to restore them to health. So when Ben and the stewardship crew ignite their drip torches, I’m delighted. We’re taking nature’s side, trying to restore native habitats in our parks and for many of us, in our yards and gardens. That’s the side I want to be on – and I’m betting you do, too. I mean, it makes so much sense! After all, nature can survive without us, but we definitely cannot survive without nature! So let’s just do what we can with what we know now. Let’s see how much progress we can make in our little green corner of the world before we leave it to the next generation.

*False sunflower and bee balm flowering at the Paint Creek Heritage Area – Wet Prairie the summer after a 2016 burn.*

A Fragile, Wet Prairie Full of Encouraging Discoveries

August 24, 2022August 24, 2022 / Cam Mannino / 3 Comments

*A patch of familiar native plants near the southwest end of the Wet Prairie – Bee Balm, Black-eyed Susan and Butterfly Weed*

Ah, the excitement of meeting interesting and beautiful strangers, eh? After all, it’s the premise of so many stories from childhood on – that moment when you’re surprised and delighted by a face you’ve never seen before. Novelists and script writers have thrived on it for centuries, it seems.

As many of you know, I’m new to the presence of native wildflowers in the landscape. Since I started volunteering with Dr. Ben VanderWeide, our township stewardship manager, he’s introduced me to a bevy of native blooms emerging beneath my feet that I was completely unaware of, despite years of being an outdoor enthusiast. So when Ben kindly alerted me to some unusual wildflowers that he’d spotted at the Paint Creek Heritage Area – Wet Prairie on the Paint Creek Trail this July, I set out to find these inhabitants of the township that I’d never met before.

[Please note: As you’ll see below, the Wet Prairie is a very special and fragile place, so you’ll find it has no trails. It is technically best described as a wet-mesic prairie, according to the classification from Michigan Natural Features Inventory. Ben and his crew go there to perform important restoration work. I’m allowed to go there periodically with permission from Ben in order to bring some of the beauty of this unusual habitat to our residents in a way that doesn’t injure this special natural area. So please observe it only from the trail.]

Why Our Wet Prairie is Wet, Unlike Your Stereotypical Prairie

*The original bed of Paint Creek north of the Wet Prairie before it was moved to its current position to accommodate the coming of a railroad. It fills with rain and snow melt each spring.*

I don’t know about you, but in the past, I’d always envisioned prairies being like the ones in the Laura Ingalls Wilder books or western movies – big flat, dry, sunny places out west somewhere. But early on in one of Ben’s workshops, I learned that our area of Michigan was covered with oak savanna and prairie before European colonization. In that era, Paint Creek meandered in a curving flow through what is now woods and fields that surround the Wet Prairie. Periodic fires – both natural ones and ones set by indigenous people – kept the Wet Prairie free of shrubs and trees, making it a moist but sunny spot. Perhaps some of my new floral acquaintances this July first settled in then.

*Loading gravel onto rail cars from a location along the Paint Creek Trail, c. 1920* (Photo courtesy of the Oakland Township Historical Society)

In the late 19th century, a railroad company moved Paint Creek east to its current position along the trail. Sparks from the trains continued to cause repeated wildfires along the track near the Wet Prairie which not only knocked back large vegetation but also favored native plants that had adapted to fire over the centuries. Shortly after the railroad arrived, an ambitious local resident began mining gravel from the current site of the Wet Prairie and loading it on train cars to sell in Detroit. Though the creek wasn’t feeding the prairie any longer, the land removal meant that the water table, with its rich collection of minerals, was left very near the surface. As a result, native wildflowers that require mineral-rich moisture could find a comfortable home there, and must have been abundant enough to establish in the newly exposed area.

*Ben felling a few trees that shaded out rare plants on the Wet Prairie*

In recent years, Ben and his stewardship crews have removed many invasive shrubs and trees that encroached on the prairie when the railroad was abandoned and eventually replaced by the Paint Creek Trail. Many of the special plants here have also benefited from the crew’s periodic prescribed burns over several years which eliminate a layer of dead thatch and allow open areas for native seedlings adapted to fire to take root. As a result of that stewardship work and perhaps the abundantly rainy spring this year followed by weeks of sunlight, some wildflowers that I hadn’t met before appeared in the Wet Prairie. I was delighted to meet them. Hope you will be, too.

The Beautiful Strangers that I First Met This Summer

The first two plants below have a special designation at the University of Michigan’s Michigan Flora website. About 45 years ago, botanists and ecologists created a system for rating the faithfulness of individual native species to high-quality natural communities that retain some of the native flora found in early surveys done circa 1800. Native plants are given a score between 1 and 10, 10 being the best for indicating a habitat that is very special. Non-native plants have no score. Native plants adapted to human or natural disturbance and found just about everywhere, like boxelder, score a zero on what’s called the “Coefficient of Conservatism,” or C value. Species that are found almost always in high-quality natural communities have a high C value (greater than 7).

False Asphodel and Prairie Loosestrife in the Wet Prairie are scored a perfect 10. The presence of these native wildflowers, and others with high C values indicates that the Wet Prairie is a rare remnant high-quality natural area. This natural area hosts some of the plants that likely bloomed more widely throughout southeast Michigan before agriculture, industry, logging, and mining arrived in the early 19th century. Nature fostered a rich diversity of plants then which included these wildflowers. So the Wet Prairie producing two flowers that are rated at 10 on the scale this year is impressive! And as you’ll see below, three others are scored at 8 as well. Their appearance is a strong indicator that restoration is working in Oakland Township.

If Ben and I had seen False Asphodel (Triantha glutinosa) earlier in the season, it might have appeared to have reddish tips like the photo on left by Nate Martineau at inaturalist.org. When we saw it, however, a hot July had changed them to brown. Now in August, the sepals have folded up over the developing fruit capsule which turns red as the tiny seeds inside mature. This little wildflower feeds a wide variety of bees, wasps and butterflies. It grows largely in high quality areas all over the country and can form colonies; I hope it forms one in the Wet Prairie!

False Asphodel in early bloom when the anthers are pinkish red. Photo by Nate Martineau at inaturalist.org (CC BY-NC)

I originally identified the nodding yellow flowers in the photo below as native Fringed Loosestrife (Lysimachia ciliata), which I’d seen at the Wet Prairie before. But the centers of the Wet Prairie blossoms weren’t red like the ones with which I was familiar. (I didn’t notice until later that the leaves were radically different as well!) Ben later explained that the new ones were native Prairie Loosestrife (Lysimachia quadriflora) which prefers moist prairies and fens rich with chalky, calcium-rich soils, making it an ideal native resident in our Wet Prairie. This wildflower also scores a 10 in the Conservatism scale for being an indicator of ancient habitat here. The restoration work of the stewardship team over the last several years seems to have been rewarded this year!

Prairie Loosestrife blossoms nod toward the earth beneath.

Ben helped me locate native Harebell (Campanula rotundifolia) at the Wet Prairie. I’d only seen the nursery version (cultivar) which popped up once in the woods at my home. This delicate native beauty likes full sunlight. It may have bloomed at the Wet Prairie this year after shade trees at the prairie edge were thinned in recent years. Lots of native and non-native bees draw nectar from Harebells.

*When Ben took this photo, the Harebells still looked lovely despite beginning to fade. What a graceful shape and soft lavender hue. Photo by Ben VanderWeide*

Here and there I spotted stalks of Pale Spiked Lobelia (Lobelia spicata). This lovely, but short-lived wildflower requires full sun, but needed those days of spring rain we had in May to keep its seedlings alive. According to a website I find useful, illinoiswildflowers.info, this lobelia attracts a whole host of native bees, including miner bees, little carpenter bees, mason bees, leaf-cutting bees, plus butterflies and other pollinators. What a contribution this plant is making!

*Pale Spiked Lobelia attracts many native bees in its short life. They come for its nectar rather than its pollen.*

Northern Bedstraw (Galium boreale) likes the partial shade at the edge of the prairie. It spreads by rhizomes, underground stems beneath the soil. According to the website of Friends of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden in Minnesota, indigenous peoples used the roots to create red and yellow dyes and later, settlers used its fragrant, dried foliage to stuff pillows and mattresses.

*Northern Bedstraw can grow to over 3 feet in partial shade. Photo by Ben VanderWeide.*

Ben spotted a tiny flower that I was unable to find during my visit, native Whorled Milkwort (Polygala verticillata). Its central spike is only about 3/4 inches tall and it’s surrounded by tiny flowers that never fully open but have pink stamens protruding from the blossoms. I’m so glad Ben got a photo; I’ll look for it again next summer.

*I like the spiky leaves and pink-tipped blossoms on the very small Whorled Milkwort.* *Photo by Ben VanderWeide*

Glamorous Acquaintances That I Catch a Glimpse of Now and Then

Each year the Michigan Lily (Lilium michiganense) produces more of its dramatic, nodding blooms in various restored areas of the township. Please don’t confuse it with any other orange lily! It is distinguished by its downward facing blossom consisting of 6 six spotted petals/tepals curving dramatically upward, and a cascade of 6 stamens with dark anthers (the male flower parts) and a long pistil (the female part). Michigan Lily has whorled leaves, while the non-native tiger lily used in landscaping has alternate leaves that often have purple-brown bulblets where leaves meet the stem. Monarchs (Danaus plexippus), Great Spangled Fritillaries (Speyeria cybele) and even Spicebush Swallowtail butterflies sip nectar from our dramatic Michigan lilies!

*Five stunning blooms on one stem of Michigan Lily at the Wet Prairie!* *Photo by Ben VanderWeide*

Showy Tick-trefoil (Desmodium canadense) emerges in mid-summer and lasts about 3 weeks. Its shapely pink-lavender blossoms don’t provide nectar, but the pollen is sought after by many pollinators and the leaves provide food for the caterpillars of two lovely, small butterflies – the Eastern Tailed Blue (Everes comyntas)and Gray Hairstreak (Strymon melinus) – among others.

*Beware!* *Showy Tick-trefoil produces hairy seeds pods that are distributed by sticking tenaciously to passing animals and human clothing!*

Shrubby Cinquefoil (Dasiphora fruticosa), a member of Rose family, may not initially look as elegant as some of the other native flowers in the prairie, but it boasts a Conservatism Coefficient of 8, which means that it’s another strong indicator that that Wet Prairie is a high-quality natural area. Like false asphodel and prairie loosestrife, shrubby cinquefoil prefers to grow in areas with calcium and magnesium-rich groundwater or soil.

The small yellow flowers on Shrubby Cinquefoil have the rounded, open appearance of other small members of the Rose family.

Elegant and Important Old Friends that Arrive in Late Summer and Fall

I look for these wildflowers each year on the Wet Prairie and last shared them in detail in a Wet Prairie blog from October of 2020. Look at the link for more information about these very special plants. Two of them, Grass of Parnassus and Fringed Gentian score an 8 on the Conservatism Coefficient scale, like the Shrubby Cinquefoil – more evidence of a high quality area with wildflowers that thrived in this area for centuries.

Fringed Gentian’s four lobes (*Gentianopsis crinita*) spout like purple fountains from the grass of the Wet Prairie

More Old Friends and Some of their Insect Partners and Visitors

Here’s a slideshow of native plants I’ve loved in the Wet Prairie over the years and some of the insects partners that frequent them.

Flowering Spurge (Euphorbia Corollata) provides food for many creatures but mammals find its milky sap irritating, including some humans.
Great Golden Digger Wasp (Sphex ichneumoneus) males are harmless. Females have stingers but only use them when directly threatened or to immobilize their favorite prey, crickets and katydids.
The Silver Spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus) prepares its curvy proboscis to sip nectar from Bee Balm/Wild Bergamot (Monarda Fistulosa).
A non-native European Honeybee (Apis Mellifera) feeding on Butterfly Milkweed
The Widow Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula luctuosa) doesn’t pollinate but it does find dried stalks a good place to hunt!
A Halloween Pennant dragonfly (Celithemis eponina) may also be lying in wait for passing prey like mosquitoes, flies and midges.
This female Blue Dasher dragonfly (Pachydiplax longipennis) may be posing in the Wet Prairie for a potential mate.

The Delights of Discovery

*A native Bumblebee departs a fading Bee Balm blossom at the Wet Prairie*

I’m always beset with a marvelous sense of discovery the first time I’m introduced to an unusual plant like False Asphodel or a fascinating specimen like the Great Golden Digger Wasp. And once I see them, I want to learn what a new friend of mine referred to as their “stories,” e.g., their contributions to sustaining life in a particular habitat, their mating rituals, their migration patterns or overwintering sites, and on and on.

Of course, like most of you kind readers, I can’t possibly remember every detail shared here. But it’s satisfying to have recorded and shared that they live here with us. I want to be ever more aware of how we humans are just one species embedded in nature’s huge, intricate design that sustains us.

I’m glad you’re here to share these experiences with me. Together we can keep working to restore what humans have – often unwittingly – disrupted, damaged or even destroyed on this little blue planet. Perhaps our growing curiosity, sense of wonder and respect for nature’s brilliance will inspire us and our descendants to live a bit more modestly among our wild brethren. We can always hope, right?

Bear Creek Nature Park: Life-or-Death Drama…but Always the Persistence of Life

August 17, 2020 / Cam Mannino / 2 Comments

View through the woods to a wetland at Bear Creek

Bear Creek Nature Park is the Oakland Township Park I know best. I’ve walked there with my husband Reg for almost thirty years and brought some sort of camera with me for the last thirteen of them. As the winter ebbs each year, we watch for the appearance of the first narrow leaves of Spring Beauty or Blood Root under certain trees. Each May, we check out a huge hole in a particular oak, hoping for a glimpse of this year’s raccoon kits scrambling up and down within in the trunk. My husband has an eagle eye for the slowly moving hulk of snapping turtles gliding across the surface of the marsh and we both listen each summer for the banjo-like strum of the Green Frog’s song at the Center Pond.

But after all these years, we can still be fascinated by something we’ve never seen before, as you’ll see in the life-or-death drama of two determined foes fighting for life on the western slope last week. It’s a fresh experience to watch a trio of Eastern Bluebird fledglings sorting out their relationships in the Eastern Meadow. Amid all the comforts of the turning seasons with their eternal cycles of emerging, blossoming and subsiding, we can still be amazed by the persistence of life. Let me show you what I mean.

High Drama on the Western Slope

The Western Slope at Bear Creek Nature Park, August 2019

My husband and I headed for the western slope one perfect summer day and came upon two small creatures in a life-or-death contest. My husband spotted a large, yellowish/white caterpillar with five spiky, black hairs chewing avidly on a Box Elder leaf (Acer negundo). I learned later from Dr. Gary Parsons, Collection Manager and Bug House Director at Michigan State University’s Etymology Department, that it was the larva of an American Dagger Moth (Acronicta americana). When we stopped to look more closely, we saw a large, exotic-looking insect hovering nearby. Oh boy, I recognized this determined female.

An Ichneumon Wasp hovering near an American Dagger Moth caterpillar

It was an Ichneumon Wasp (family Ichneumonidae), a creature that preys on caterpillars in order to plant its eggs in or on them. When the eggs hatch, the unfortunate victim provides a plentiful source of food for the Ichneumon Wasp’s young!

This female kept her long abdomen with its ovipositor curled upward like a scorpion as she maneuvered near her target. The caterpillar clearly sensed the danger of her presence because it began to rear back its head along its body, thrashing forward each time the insect approached. The wasp first hid under a nearby leaf and then leapt forth, for all the world like a silent movie villain!

The Ichneumon Wasp appears from behind a leaf as the caterpillar begins to thrash to keep it off.

The battle went on and on in the bright sunlight. The wasp repeatedly attempted to gain purchase on the caterpillar, but its bristled body and its constant thrashing made depositing the wasp’s eggs extremely difficult.

The Ichneumon Wasp tries to land on the caterpillar but the caterpillars bristles and its thrashing are quite a defense!

They were worthy opponents. We waited a long time but the battle continued to rage – the caterpillar eating the leaf between attacks to keep its energy up and the wasp trying desperately to deposit its eggs on a nourishing food source. Eventually, we left them both to their fate and walked on into the morning.

It was a peaceful change of scene to see male and female Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) settling on plants nearby. I hope they mated and laid eggs earlier since they were landing on Common Milkweed (Asclepia syriaca) that weren’t young and tender, but too dry and tough to provide much nutrition for their offspring. Perhaps they were some of the first Monarchs to start migrating south to Mexico. [Click on photos to enlarge; hover cursor for captions.]

This female Monarch may be resting before the long journey to Mexico.

The bumps on the hingwing veins mean this is a male Monarch.

In early August, we saw a female Monarch fluttering among fresh Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) in the meadow west of the Center Pond. Monarch caterpillars specialize; they only eat milkweed leaves. Perhaps this one’s young are currently nibbling their way along the leaves of this plant, intending to molt, pupate and emerge before the migration.

On August 1, we spotted a female Monarch fluttering among Butterfly Milkweed, perhaps eating, perhaps stopping to lay her eggs.

Just a short way along the Western Slope trail, a slightly worn Viceroy Butterfly (Limenitis archippus) settled on Queen Anne’s Lace. Viceroys look very much like Monarchs and recent research indicates that both species use their color to advertise that they are unpalatable to predators. However they can be distinguished from Monarchs by the thin, black lines across the veins of the hind wings. Often, too, they tend to flutter more frequently than Monarchs which beat their wings quickly and then coast for a few moments in flight.

The black lines on its hind wings distinguish the Viceroy Butterfly from the Monarch.

Viceroys have another defense against predators like the Ichneumon Wasp. Their caterpillars look like bird droppings! Here’s a photo of one shared by a photographer who uses the name jdfish1 at inaturalist.org. What a strategy this butterfly evolved for protecting its young!

The Viceroy’s caterpillar looks so much like a bird dropping that predators may not even notice it.

On to the Pond: A Stealthy Fisher and I Share Strategies

A native Michigan Lily (Lillium michiganense) blooming in a moist area just west of the Center Pond in early August

As I turned down the path that leads to the Center Pond, I was confronted by a wriggling, bristly caterpillar who appeared to be suspended in mid-air right in front of me. The Hickory Tussock Moth (Lophocampa caryae), like the Dagger Moth caterpillar, is covered with bristly hairs that can cause a skin rash if you pick either of them up. Since it pupates in leaf litter after eating on leaves, it was wriggling out an almost invisible string in order to carefully lower itself to the ground. It didn’t look fully grown to me because it hadn’t developed the long black hairs front and back of later instars. I wished it well and passed on.

A Hickory Tussock Moth in mid-air while lowering itself to the ground.

But after a few steps, I stopped again. A young Green Heron (Butorides virescens) sat preening in a branch near the dock.

A juvenile Green Heron preening in the sunlight.

I love watching these birds fish, so I approached very cautiously, repeatedly taking a few slow-motion steps each time the heron looked out toward the pond and then pausing when it looked even slightly in my direction. After checking out its feathers, it flew down to stand in the water, stretching out its long neck. It didn’t stay there long; Green Herons often prefer to hunt from a perch rather than wade like the Great Blue Herons, for example.

A juvenile heron stretches it neck after landing in the water.

I continued to stealthily approach each time the heron’s focus turned out toward the pond. And suddenly, it flew to the dock and began to hunt in earnest. I As I watched it verrrry sloooowly step down to the edge of the dock and stretch out its neck to search for prey, a huge smile spread across my face. I almost laughed aloud. I thought, “You and I, Green Heron, have developed the same strategy, except I want a photo and you want a meal!”

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It didn’t score a meal that time. It gave up and flew to the other side of the pond. Here’s what it was probably looking for, but couldn’t quite reach – a Green Frog (Rana clamitans) immersed in duckweed, who lived to mate another day.

A Green Frog enjoying the cool duckweed and warm sun at the Center Pond.

When I reached the deck, a family of three small Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa) with an adult female were feeding off the bright green Common Duckweed (Lemna minor) on the far side of the pond. Three other young wood ducks cruised around by themselves, far from the others.

: Female wood duck with 3 of her ducklings

: Three other little Wood ducklings off on their own

I’d seen this same grouping at the bird walk a couple of days earlier. This time though, the female spotted me in the distance and disappeared into the vines at the far edge of the pond. When she returned, she appeared to have summoned the male who’d been hiding because he clearly was molting. His gorgeous iridescent green crest and curvy “duck tail” were being replaced by more sedate non-breeding plumage. He and the female quickly stood guard over their family group as if to put me on notice!

The male Wood Duck came out of the vines despite being in molt when summoned by the female to defend the young from that strange person with the camera on the deck.

The other three ducklings came a bit closer to the others, but again seemed to be happy on their own. I wondered if they were from her first brood, since Wood Ducks can breed twice in a summer, though the minimum number in a Wood Duck clutch is usually six. So maybe she just had three slightly more independent offspring and three who needed more protection? No way of knowing.

The male Wood Duck eventually decided I was not a threat and disappeared back into the tangle of vines to work a bit more on his molting process.

The male Wood Duck pulling on feathers during his molt.

My husband and I watched an Eastern Wood-pewee (Contopus virens) sally forth from the shrubbery to hawk for insects. But as soon as it returned to the dead vines at the pond edge, it almost disappeared from view. See how quickly you can spot it here:

A camouflaged Wood-Pewee disappears into the landscape while foraging at the pond.

As I left the pond, walking along the eastern boardwalk, I heard the “miaou” call of a Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis). One of the birders had pointed out a catbird there earlier in the week and I’d taken a quick photo. But I told the others that I’d always wanted a good photo of the rusty undertail coverts of these birds and I’d never gotten one. Well, two days later, I heard the “miaou” again, and there it was obliging me by showing the part of its anatomy that I’d read about but never caught in a photo.

: The Gray Catbird on the day of the bird walk.

: Likely the same bird showing me his rusty undertail feathers.

In the meadow west of the Center Pond, the Wednesday birding group also spotted a male Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea) dropping down into the grass to feed and then quickly rising again to the nearest branch. I got a quick photo then to share with you, but didn’t see the bird again during the week. Keep an eye out when you’re there. He’s a beautiful eye-full, even when looking a bit bedraggled either from parenting duties or perhaps the beginning of his molt.

An Indigo Bunting foraged in the meadow west of the Center Pond.

Out on Bear Marsh with Snappers!

Bear Creek Marsh on a breezy summer day

In the woods on the way to the marsh, a movement at our feet caught our attention. A tiny American Toad (Anaxyrus americanus) about 3/4 of an inch long, hopped onto some leaves and froze, hoping perhaps to blend into the background and escape notice; camouflage is a basic survival strategy for toads. Though they breed in shallow water, they spend most of their time on land. I love this little toad’s chubby legs. Small as he is, he’s off into the larger world to feed and if lucky enough to survive, produce another generation of toads.

A tiny American Toad. Juveniles like this are more active during the day than adult toads.

Along the way, some small white mushrooms stood tall along a seam in a log. Crown-tipped Coral mushrooms (Clavicorona pyxidata) are aptly named. They do resemble undersea corals and their tips are recessed and surrounded by little points. They grow only on dead wood, especially hardwood that has lost its bark. So they are helping to recycle the forest for us and creating this odd, but lovely life form in the process.

This Crown-tipped Coral mushroom is probably at bit past its prime since it’s no longer white. Or it may just not have gotten enough sunlight.

A couple of striking insects also appeared as we passed through the wood toward the marsh. A Northern Pearly Eye butterfly (Enodia anthedon) landed in a bare spot on the trail, sunlight shining through its wings. This butterfly doesn’t feed on flowers, but on tree sap, rotting fruit, decaying vegetation, even carrion – transforming death back into life. The life cycle of butterflies is full of amazing transformations, so why not one more?

The Northern Pearly Eye frequents shady wooded areas unlike many other butterflies.

Dr. Gary Parsons of MSU also helped me identify this cartoonishly cute, metallic native bee near the marsh as being from the family Halictidae. They are commonly called Sweat Bees, the ones that are attracted to your perspiration. But this tiny one was sipping from the drying blossoms of a native wildflower called Jumpseed (Persicaria virginiana), so called because according to Michigan Flora, if the plant is disturbed, it can propel mature seed about 9 feet, a nifty means of dispersal!

A native, solitary bee from the family Halictidae sips nectar from native Jumpseed.

At least six Common Snapping Turtles (Chelydra serpentina) moved slowly through the water at Bear Creek Marsh, their shells looking like moving clumps of mud. Snappers are generally shy and harmless except when bothered on land. Their plastron (the lower shell) is small, leaving parts of its body exposed and vulnerable. They can’t completely disappear inside their shell and be safe like many turtles. So on land, their only protection is flinging out their very long necks and biting. Snappers clean our lakes and marshes of bacteria much like vultures clean our land, by consuming underwater carrion, but unlike vultures they also forage for live prey and aquatic vegetation.

A large adult snapper gliding slowly through the water at Bear Creek marsh.

The edge of the dock at the northern entrance to the marsh is blooming with Arrowhead (Sagittaria latifolia), a lovely aquatic plant that produces white flowers sprouting from both sides of a stalk or “raceme”- and the large, vivid arrow-shaped leaves are almost more beautiful than the flowers! Dragonflies cling to them like bright baubles. What a sight on a summer morning!

Male flowers sprout above female ones on the stalks of Arrowhead.

A female or juvenile Widow Skimmer (Libellula luctuosa)

Male Eastern Pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis)

The Eastern Meadow: Young Birds Out on Their Own..Sort Of

The Canada Goldenrod (Solidago canadensis) is just getting ready to turn the meadow gold. A male American Goldfinch (Spinus tristus) stood on a thistle and happily tore off some of the Goldenrod buds, possibly to feed either his mate or young. Goldfinches don’t start breeding until late summer when the thistles provide down for nests and seeds for growing broods.

A male Goldfinch stands on a thistle while feed on Goldenrod buds

Once he looked up and saw my camera, he gave me a wary glance but went right back to foraging.

A male Goldfinch giving me and my camera careful consideration before returning to eating or gathering seeds.

Joe Pye (Eutrochium maculatum) blooms in soft patches of bright pink blossoms with purple stems along the eastern trail. There’s just enough moisture to keep their “feet wet,” and the Bumblebees (genus Bombus) hum contentedly as they search for nectar from both the buds and the shaggy, open blooms.

A Bumblebee sips on Joe Pye buds

A bumblebee moves delicately through Joe Pye blossoms

A Common Wood Nymph (Ceryonis pegala) butterfly bobbed along pausing periodically in the deep grass. I mistook it at first for the Little Wood Satyr because they look similar. But the Wood Nymph is almost twice as big and frequents grassy fields while Wood Satyrs prefer shady woods or wood edges. The Wood Nymph also appears a bit later in the summer than the Wood Satyr. Glad my source, Butterflies of Michigan by Jaret C. Daniels set me straight!

The Common Wood Nymph likes sunshine and is twice the size of the Little Wood Satyr.

When I first saw three fledgling Eastern Bluebirds (Sialia sialis) near the top of the trail, they were all sitting on a sign together. But as I approached, two of them rose into the air and began mock fighting, banging into each other, flying away, settling for a moment, and then mock fighting again. They were too quick for me to snap a photo. Meanwhile the third little bluebird went off on its own, first looking about and then pecking quietly in the grass as it had no doubt seen its parents do.

A solitary little Bluebird fledgling left its siblings to forage in the grass.

Eventually it flew to a bare tree far off in the field and calmly surveyed the whole field. The blue on its wing tips and tail feathers was much more apparent in the full morning sunlight.

The blue tail feathers of the solitary fledgling Bluebird shone in the light.

The two more social siblings finally settled next to each other on the edge of a sign. After all that mock fighting, they snuggled up against each other – though I wonder if an ornithologist would tell me that the play fighting was dominance behavior and the positioning of the one fledgling’s head over the neck of the other meant that they had settled the pecking order between them.

Two bluebird fledglings settle together after play fighting over the field.

I later spotted two fledgling Bluebirds next to a male adult in a tree along the Walnut Lane. I wondered if the two fledglings were the scrappy pair who rested on the sign. All three seemed to be focused on the field. Maybe they were looking for the solitary fledgling who preferred to be off on its own. It was fun to imagine family dynamics among bluebirds.

An adult male Bluebird with two fledglings in a tree along the Walnut Lane.

What I think was a small Amber Snail (family Succinea) left a shining trail behind it on a milkweed leaf as I left the Eastern Meadow. Amber snails are described as land snails but they also live in moist environments. I was a bit surprised to see one out in the sunshine when we’ve had such blistering hot days this summer!

An Amber snail explores the possibility of a Common Milkweed leaf.

At the curve of the path that leads to the Walnut Lane, a busy adult Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea) did its best to keep up with a very flighty fledgling that begged insistently as it bounced from branch to branch. As you can see from the slight blur in its photo below, I had some trouble keeping up with the youngster myself! Dr. Ben VanderWeide, our township Stewardship Manager, showed me a Gnatcatcher nest that fell near his home. So imagine how tiny that fledgling had to be at birth to fit in that lovely nest with possibly as many as four other hatchlings! Look for the white eye ring and the white feathers on either side of the dark tail feathers to identify these active little birds.

Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher foraging to feed its active fledgling.

The frenetic Gnatcatcher fledgling waiting to be fed.

A lovely Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher nest found by Dr. Ben

A Short Trip Through More Summer Blooms

A glorious abundance of Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis) below the boardwalk north of the playground.

I couldn’t detail all the wildflowers and grasses that I enjoyed at Bear Creek Nature Park in the last week, so take a short stroll through the rest of them here. Their color adds so much joy to a summer walk!

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Life Calls Us Out to Explore

Little Henry explores Bear Creek Nature Park

Reg and I met twenty-month-old Henry trotting along the path west of the Center Pond as his parents took a rest on a nearby bench. He looked content to just keep moving up the trail, seeing what he could see. It was clear he was happy to be there. Henry reminded me of the third Bluebird fledgling that I described earlier – happy to be off on his own, exploring the big beautiful world that he’s just beginning to understand.

What’s so great is that Henry’s experience is accessible to all of us, no matter our age. If we get out in the natural world with our curiosity and eyes wide open, we can’t help being surprised and delighted by it all – even two small insects determined to fight the other off to pass on their DNA to a new generation. Bird parents exhaust themselves caring for their young. Wildflowers fight their way up out of hard soil to bud, bloom and send their seeds forth into the world. Butterflies, turtles, even fungi recycle death back into life. Life in all its multifaceted glory keeps struggling to persist. And it’s our responsibility as stewards of this glory to keep working hard to make that possible. Here in Oakland Township, the residents have made a commitment to support that call to stewardship – and even in the midst of a tough 2020, I think that’s something to celebrate. Bet you do, too.

Bear Creek Nature Park: Nervous Fledglings Venture Forth and Missing Native Wildflowers Reappear!

July 13, 2019July 14, 2019 / Cam Mannino / 1 Comment

Monarch heaven! Common Milkweed flourishes in the eastern meadow at Bear Creek Nature Park, providing lots of leaves on which Monarch caterpillars can thrive.

Summer is finally taking hold. Many of the flowers, butterflies and other insects are late this year, but they’re slowly appearing. Warm days allowed fledglings to emerge from their nests and use their tiny wings to pursue their parents into the fields and marshes, begging to be fed. Many of the young birds look a bit shaky out on their own. Parent birds whisk back and forth, beaks lined with seed or bearing a drooping caterpillar. Wildflowers, long buried under invasive shrubs that were removed last fall, are emerging from the seed bank in all their glory. A time of renewal for sure!

Text and photos
by Cam Mannino

So join me on a virtual circuit of Bear Creek Nature Park – from the meadows, to the pond, through the woods to the marsh and back to monitor the bird boxes. I’m happy to have you along!

Fledglings Venture Forth into Sunny Meadows

As I began my walk, rambling along the path through the eastern meadow, I was suddenly aware of lots of movement and noisy chattering in the bushes and small trees. Little fledglings were perching there, occasionally fluttering and calling, reminding their busy parents to bring them a meal. A little Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) struggled up onto a branch near an adult who took off immediately to look for food, leaving the youngster looking just a bit insecure!

A fledgling Red-winged Blackbird seems not quite ready to be alone in the world!

Another youngster perched on a branch seemed on high alert as it looked out on the meadow. The striped feathers and the fact that adult Song Sparrows (Melospiza melodia) were nearby makes me think that it’s their fledgling.

A young Song Sparrow looks anxiously off into the distance, waiting to be fed.

On a birding walk a week earlier, Dr. Ben VanderWeide, our township Stewardship Manager, heard the high, wheezy call of the small Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea). Looking up we spotted a tiny nest near the top of a walnut tree. Two adult gnatcatchers were industriously taking turns bringing food to their young. The left photo shows what we could see of the nest and the parent bird from below, though the group did catch a glimpse at one point of a fluttering wing as a nestling leaned out to get the goodies. I’ve included an earlier photo of an adult Gnatcatcher as it forages. (Click to enlarge; hover cursor for captions.)

: Blue-gray gnatcher at its tiny lump of a nest high up in a walnut tree.

: Blue-gray Gnatcathcer foraging for insects on tree bark

Dragonflies and Damselflies Hover and Dart in the Meadows

Dragonflies maneuver across the meadows, moving up, down and forward, in their search for unwary insects or possible mates. The broken wood of the mowed invasive shrubs makes a handy resting place for them. A juvenile male Common Whitetail dragonfly (Libellula lydia) rested quite near a more adult one, perhaps learning the ropes? The white patches at the bottom of the hind wings are field marks for the juvenile. When mature, the whole abdomen is covered in a dusty white, referred to as “prunescence.”

A juvenile Common Whitetail perches, hoping to catch a passing insect.

An adult male Common Whitetail uses his white tail to establish his territory.

The male Eastern Pondhawk dragonfly (Erythemis simplicicollis) also found the woody shards a great place to lie in wait. Though the female is bright green all over, the male’s colors transition from a green face, to a blue-green thorax and a slaty blue abdomen. Quite a handsome fellow!

The Eastern Pondhawk male has a green face and blue-green thorax with a lovely blue abdomen.

Lots of orange dragonflies cling to stalks in the meadow grass. They belong to the genus Sumpetrum, but knowledgeable folk in the Facebook group “Odonata of the Eastern United States” inform me that you can only determine the species of orange dragonflies if you have one in hand with a magnifying glass! And of course, I’m never in a summer meadow, it seems, without seeing the striking Widow Skimmer (Libellula luctuosa).

: A dragonfly from the genus Sumpetrum – but I can’t tell you which species!

: A juvenile Widow Skimmer, probably a female since she has no white bands next to her black patches.

Damselflies seem more likely to prefer shady areas. But I do occasionally see them in tall meadow grass. Here’s a male Emerald Spreadwing Damselfly (Lestes dryas) I saw when wading through deep grass one warm afternoon. Like dragonflies, they consume a lot of mosquitoes, which pleases me and you too, I bet.

The Seed Bank Awakens as Restoration Begins

Perhaps the biggest thrill for me in the meadows this week, though, was the reappearance of long lost wildflowers. Evidently, beneath those invasive shrubs in the meadows near the pond, seeds and small plants of native wildflowers had been waiting for maybe decades while the fields were covered either with grazing fodder for cattle or abandoned to non-native plants. Now the sun and rain have reached the earth over them again and they are making a comeback!

Out in the meadow west of the pond, large patches of Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) have emerged where previously we only saw a single plant here or there. And as you’ll see further down in the blog, the Monarch butterflies are already finding them.

Butterfly Milkweed spreads its brilliant orange in two big patches west of the Center Pond.

A spectacular wildflower blooming this year is one neither Ben nor I have ever seen before in Bear Creek Nature Park – the Michigan Lily (Lilium michiganense) – not to be confused with the non-native tiger lilies or the much less glamorous Orange Daylily (Hemerocallis fulva) which originated in Asia. I’d only seen this striking native with its cup of curved petals, arching stem and showy stigma near the Wet Prairie on the Paint Creek Trail. But this beauty at Bear Creek waited patiently. Once warmth and moisture reached it, up it came just west of the Center Pond. Michigan lilies can be tempting to hummingbirds and many butterflies. I saw one other bud, so I’m hoping for more!

The dramatic Michigan Lily reappeared in Bear Creek once invasive shrubs were removed.

Tall Meadow Rue (Thalictrum dasycarpum) and Fringed Loosestrife (Lysimachia ciliata) have staged a comeback, too. A Jack-in-the-Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) at the edge of the path had produced its bright green berries on a wide spadix. The berries will turn a brilliant red in the fall. Who knows what else will emerge over the summer and fall?

: Native Fringed Loosestrife bends its pretty face toward the earth.

: Native Tall Meadow Rue, a native wildflower, reappeared where invasive shrubs were mowed last year.

: A native Jack-in-the-Pulpit showed up at the edge of the forest next to the mowed field.

Butterflies Arrive – but Not Enough for Me, Yet!

As the mid-summer wildflowers finally begin to bloom, the butterflies are begging to appear. Sun-loving Butterfly Milkweed hosted a Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) last week. Since this is a female Monarch, we can hope that it will lays its eggs either on the leaves of this milkweed or on one of the many Common Milkweeds in the eastern meadow.

With its long proboscis stuck in a blossom, it appears that this Monarch found the nectar to be just what it needed after its journey to Michigan,

A Silver-spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus) took a while to show me the bright white spot on the lower (ventral) side of its hind wing. It looks quite different when the “silver spot” is out of sight!

: The Silver-spotted Skipper looks quite plain when it first lands on a leaft.

: But when it raises its wing, you can see where it got its name.

A very tired, worn, Black Swallowtail sat quietly on the path one afternoon. According to Wikipedia, Black Swallowtails are generally longer-lived than other butterflies, unless subjected to bad weather or deprived of food. We’ve had pretty wild weather and the flowers are behind schedule, so perhaps that took its toll on this unfortunate female.

This Black Swallowtail with worn wings and a ragged swallowtail may have been ready to succumb from bad weather and an insufficient supply of nectar.

The Little Wood Satyr (Papilio polyxenes), though, seemed be just fine as it danced along in its bouncing flight from shade into the sun and back again.

Little Wood Satyrs venture into grassy areas that are near the shade of trees.

On to the Pond and Its Frog Song

White Water Crowfoot , an early summer native, is winding down at the Center Pond as the weather warms.

A few blossoms of White Water Crowfoot (Ranunculus longirostris) still peek from the background of abundant Duckweed (Lemna minor) at the Center Pond. The Northern Green Frogs (Rana clamitans) sprawl comfortably among it, floating at the surface and croaking in their banjo voices to attract mates. Since males have a tympanum (circular hearing device near the eye) bigger than their eyes and a yellow throat, this one staring at me intently was definitely a male.

A male Green Frog among the duckweed at the Center Pond

Frog “talk” this July:

I smiled at this small Midland Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta marginata) who seemed to be listening to the frogs right along with me. But more likely, it was just basking in the warm sunlight after a cold spring, and trying to ignore the frog voices. It’s decorated nicely with bits of Duckweed.

A small Midland Painted Turtle basked in the Duckweed while the frogs croaked around it.

Into the Woods

The woods just west of Bear Creek Marsh, now more open since cleared of invasive shrubs

The woods on the east side of the park let in so much more light now that the invasive shrubs have been removed! I keep hoping I’ll see more woodland wildflowers because of it. But deer are plentiful at Bear Creek so that’s a slim hope; they love to eat native plants and young saplings. But a couple of woodland flowers escaped their notice, probably because both of them are a bit fuzzy, which puts deer off: Enchanter’s Nightshade (Circaea canadensis) and Panicled Tick Trefoil (Desmodium paniculatum). Both thrive in the dappled sunlight of the woods so perhaps I will see them spread as sunlight reaches more of the forest floor.

Panicled Tick Trefoil has tiny hairs on the stem

In the fall, Enchanter’s Nightshade will make prickly seed pods that can be carried by passing humans or animals.

Unfortunately for humans, native Poison Ivy (Toxicodendron radicans) is more abundant in the woods and everywhere else this year. But if you stay on the paths, you’ll be just fine. Look for a three leaved plant on which the center leaf has two “thumbs” but the right and left leaves have only one “thumb” – or look for a vine with that leaf arrangement and reddish “feet” clinging to the bark. Poison ivy isn’t poisonous for animals, though. It produces green berries that turn white in the fall just at the time when other berries are disappearing. So migrating birds gobble them up, enjoying a boost of energy and protein before heading south. Northern Flickers, Bobwhite Quail, Eastern Phoebes, Cedar Waxwings, Woodpeckers, Tufted Titmice, and American Robins all readily eat Poison Ivy berries. Raccoons and deer can eat the whole plant – and they’re welcome to them, as far as I’m concerned.

Poison Ivy berries feed migrating birds in the fall and the whole plant is browsed by deer and eaten by raccoons!

I followed the song of an Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus) high in the treetops as I entered the woods. I paused, listened, moved a little – no luck at seeing him in the high treetops. After about 10 minutes of following him from one tree to the next, I gave up and moved on. Luckily, the following week ,the birding group spotted one in the open at Cranberry Lake Park, so at least I can show you a somewhat fuzzy photo of “the one who got away.”

An Eastern Towhee singing his “Drink your Teeeeeea” song at Cranberry Lake Park after one eluded me at Bear Creek

A Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) sang one of its summer songs repeatedly, but it was also hidden in the leafy branches. It’s a classic, summer moment when this unmistakable, ebullient call reverberates from the treetops!

Damselflies love the “spotlight effect” they get from the filtered light in the forest. I came upon a female Ebony Jewelwing (Calopteryx maculata) who seemed to be trying to seduce an oddly unmotivated male. Each posed on a sunlight leaf, but she would periodically fly briefly onto his leaf, making him jump off for a few moments. Perhaps she hoped to be pursued, but it was not happening while I was there. I’m afraid I caught her at an indiscreet moment when she paused to poop a few moments later….

: The male Ebony Jewelwing sat placidly in the sunlight on a leaf.

: The female failed to get him interested and went off for, shall we say, a potty break?

A woodland moth slept soundly on a leaf at the edge of the woods one afternoon. The caterpillar of the White Slant-line Moth (Tetracis cachexiata) feeds on all kinds of native trees, so it’s a common moth in woods and forests all over Canada and the US. I love the simple design of its bright white wings and subtle yellow stripe.

The White Slant-line Moth’s caterpillar can feed on lots of North American trees so it’s a common sight in forests.

As I walked off the path in the woods to follow the Towhee, clouds of what I think were Hangingflies (genus Bittacidae) rose from the greenery under my feet. These harmless creatures are a relative of the also harmless Scorpion Fly (family Panorpidae) I saw last year at Bear Creek, named for the upward curve of the male’s abdomen. Both belong to the order Mecoptera. But the delicate legs of Hangingflies cannot support their body weight! So instead they hang by their front legs beneath leaves and capture aphids, moths and other passing insects with their long back legs! Nature always finds a solution. I felt lucky to find one suspended in a spot of sunlight beneath a grass stem.

A Hangingfly can’t stand on its legs. It hunts by hanging from its front legs and catching other insects with the back ones.

Bear Creek Marsh – Wet, Green and Full of Life

A view of Marsh at Bear Creek looking incredibly lush in mid-summer.

The native Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) has round, green buds just waiting to burst into balls of white blossoms in the summer heat. It lines one half of the southern platform overlooking the Bear Creek Marsh.

Buttonbush is about to bloom around the southern platform at Bear Creek Marsh.

Here’s what each of those buds will look like shortly!

Buttonbush Blossom in bloom!

At the northern platform, my husband spotted an adult Green Heron (Butorides virescens) standing among the cat-tails and rushes across from the deck. It probably had been probing the mud for food. According to the Cornell Ornithology Lab, it has a wide ranging diet – from frogs to fish, snails, insects – even rodents! This one took off and landed high in a tree overlooking the marsh. I just learned from Cornell that Green Herons actually nest in a large fork in a shrub or tree with overhanging limbs to hide the nest from predators like snakes, crows or grackles. I’d love to see the nest or young of this handsome bird!

A Green Heron among the cattails at Bear Creek Marsh

As usual in the summer, we looked for slow-moving mounds of mud or moss in the water, a sure sign of Common Snapping Turtles (Chelydra serpentina). We eventually saw four, a large one and 3 smaller ones. It helped when the big one raised its head on that long neck. The snappers weren’t much interested in each other at the moment and spent a lot of time munching on fresh underwater plants.

A Snapping Turtle cruising along in the marsh.

Of course, Red-winged Blackbirds dotted the marsh as well, clinging onto cat-tail stems and trilling. On my first visit, a female scolded me continually while I sat on the bench. Eventually, I realized that her nest was nearby when a male appeared with a worm or caterpillar in his beak. He quickly dropped into the grasses near the water to feed his young.

A male Red-winged Blackbird with a worm or caterpillar for his nestlings and some pollen on his head!

A week later, I saw a Red-winged fledgling watching a male pick apart a cat-tail for seeds. The little one tried to do the same but with little success since its cat-tail head had already been mostly eaten. Later the small bird landed on a cat-tail in the distance where the male obligingly stuffed some seeds into its beak, thank goodness!

A fledgling Red-winged Blackbird tries to pick apart a cat-tail like the adults do – but not as successfully.

Down below the platform, the American Bur-reed was in all stages of blooming – from buds to blossoms to fruits. Marsh plants clean our waterways by storing nitrogen and phosphorus that would otherwise starve the water of oxygen. And Bur-reed is one of the most effective marsh plants, storing four times more than some other aquatic plants. Plants like Bur-reed are one of the reasons conservationists value wetlands so highly!

American Bur-reed cleans our waterways by storing the nitrogen and phosphorus in run-off.

As I headed back to the parking lot, I walked back along the boardwalk by the playground pond and noticed a sleepy, nocturnal Gray Tree Frog ( Hyla versicolor) resting peacefully on a lower railing.

The nocturnal Gray Tree Frog curled up on a railing at the playground pond.

Stewardship Fosters Nature Here – and Far Beyond the Township

Thanks for taking a virtual hike through Bear Creek with me. I find it heartening that the stewardship crew and Dr. Ben are restoring habitat and fostering the wildlife in this park with all of its natural variety. The invasive shrubs are removed and the seed bank brings back native flowers. The native flowers bloom and butterflies and other insects thrive by feeding at them. The nestlings are fed with the insects’ caterpillars and venture out of their nests and nest boxes to soar over the meadows. In the fall, some of them will travel great distances, bringing their beauty and their role in maintaining healthy habitats to places as far away as South America.

The humble bur-reed is allowed to flourish in the marsh. Because it cleans the water as it stores nutrients in its stems and leaves, Bear Creek’s water is healthier as it flows out of the marsh, eventually reaching Paint Creek. And the fish and other aquatic creatures and plants there benefit from cleaner water – and on it flows into the intricate, inter-locking systems of the natural world.

Stewardship is a lot of hard work but the reward is that it makes a difference not just in our township, but far beyond. Wherever the creek’s water flows, wherever native seeds are carried by creatures, wind or water, wherever migrating birds and butterflies travel, a little bit of our township’s stewardship work has played its part in preserving our natural heritage.

Out and About in Oakland: Rare Beauty on the Wet Prairie Again! (Paint Creek Trail)

July 29, 2016 / Cam Mannino / 4 Comments

Blog post and photos
by Cam Mannino

As runners and bikers sail along beside you on the Paint Creek Trail, perhaps you, like me, wonder if they notice all the beauty around them. But sometimes a walker misses glorious sites as well. This week and last, Oakland Township Stewardship Manager Ben VanderWeide alerted me to two beautiful wildflowers that I would have missed! Both were gracing lesser known areas of our park system, areas full of life and a surprising variety of native wildflowers. I thought I should share them with other walkers, runners and bikers who might have missed them, too.

The Wet Prairie (Paint Creek Trail): Michigan Lilies and More

A “wet prairie” sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? Prairies are always sunny, but the soil can range from wet to very dry. Sometimes, in the flood plain of a stream, or other area with a shallow water table, special fire-adapted wildflowers and grasses find a footing. Conditions are perfect at this spot on the trail. The original channel of Paint Creek and its floodplain cross this 10 acre parcel on the west side of the trail. Last fall, we published a blog of the autumn flowers that bloomed here last year. And in June, we showed the stunning native Yellow Ladyslipper orchids (Cypripedium parviflorum) hidden in the grass. Now look at this summer bloom!

Native Michigan Lily near the Wet Prairie on the Paint Creek Trail

How’s that for a spectacular native plant! The Michigan Lily (Lilium michiganense) might remind you of the non-native Orange Day-Lily (Hemerocallis fulva) or what we used to call “Roadside Lilies.” But this is a much fancier, native lily. They don’t last long in hot weather – and deer frequently eat the buds before they bloom, which prevents them re-seeding. So we’re lucky to have them this year! Take a look as you hike or bike near the prairie.

Other native wildflowers are blooming on the Wet Prairie now too. Of course, orange Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) dots the area. Here’s Ben’s photo from last summer.

The grand finale, this milkweed takes the show. A beautiful milkweed for your garden, this species form clumps instead of spreading widely.

Butterfly milkweed dots the Wet Prairie with bright orange blossoms. Ben’s photo.

Native Shrubby Cinquefoil (Dasiphora fruticosa) tilts its blossoms to the sun near the trail, too.

Native Shrubby Cinquefoil loves the moist ground and the full sun of the Wet Prairie.

The lavender blooms of native Showy Tick Trefoil (Desmodium canadense) are drying in the heat but the Joe Pye (Eutrochium maculatum), a native wildflower that likes moist feet and sunlight, is just getting ready to go!

: Native Showy Tick Trefoil is almost finished blooming.

: The Joe Pye is just getting going!

Insects swoop from plant to plant in the Wet Prairie searching for either food or shade. Here a female Widow Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula luctuosa) pauses on a bare twig.

A female Widow Skimmer dragonfly on the Wet Prairie

This young male Eastern Pondhawk dragonfly (Erythemis simplicollis) still has chevrons on his tail. As he matures, a waxy coating will move up from the tip of his tail, turning his abdomen light blue. Eastern Pondhawk males fiercely defend about 5 square yards of territory from “intruders,” according to my insect “guru,” the Bug Lady at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

A young male Eastern Pondhawk dragonfly. Males defend about 5 square yards of territory.

A modest brown butterfly paused for a moment on some dried flower heads. I think it’s a Columbine Duskywing (Erynnis lucilius), but it may be another Duskywing. I love its striped antennae.

A Duskywing butterfly with striped antennae

Native False Sunflowers (Heliopsis helianthoides) shine golden in the shade beneath the trees just south of the Wet Prairie.

False Sunflowers west of the Paint Creek Trail near Silverbell Road.

The prescribed burns and removal of invasive shrubs have given the native Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta) lots of room just at the edge of the tree canopy south of the Wet Prairie.

That Other Wildflower Surprise – Gallagher Creek Park

Ben notified me too about another native that’s blooming right now at the little 15 acre park at the corner of Silverbell and Adams Road. So I hurried over to see it, of course, and wow! So many native flowers, so much birdsong, a frog, dragonflies, butterflies – all kinds of life is emerging in that small park at the headwaters of Gallagher Creek! I plan to dedicate a piece to it very soon. But this week I wanted to share this elegant spike of white blossoms called Culver’s Root (Veronicastrum virginicum) because its blooms only last a couple of weeks. So if you want to see it, hurry over to Gallagher Creek Park, too. The flowers are just to the west of the parking lot, swaying gracefully in the tall grass.

Culver’s Root, an elegant native wildflower, swaying in the breeze at Gallagher Creek Park.

It’s wonderful to have friends who share their discoveries with you. Thank you, Dr. Ben! I hope some of you readers will use the comment section when you make discoveries in our township parks. The more eyes we have looking, the more beauty we’ll discover in the meadows, prairies and forests when we’re “Out and About in Oakland!

Footnote:  My sources for information are as follows: Ritland, D. B., & Brower, L. P. (1991); Stokes Nature Guides: A Guide to Bird Behavior Volumes 1-3, Allaboutbirds.org, the website of the Cornell Ornithology Lab at Cornell University; Wikipedia; http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org; Herbarium of the University of Michigan at michiganflora.net; various Michigan Field Guides by Stan Tekiela; Butterflies of Michigan Field Guide by Jaret C. Daniels; University of Wisconsin's Bug Lady at www4.uwm.edu/fieldstation/naturalhistory/bugoftheweek/ for insect info; http://www.migrationresearch.org/mbo/id/rbgr.html for migration info; invaluable wildflower identification from local expert, Maryann Whitman; experienced birder Ruth Glass, bird walk leader at Stoney Creek Metro Park for bird identification; Birds of North America Online; Audubon.org; Nature in Winter by Donald Stokes, Trees in My Forest by Bernd Heinrich, Winter World by Bernd Heinrich, Savannah River Ecology Lab (Univ of Georgia); Tortoise Trust website www.tortoisetrust.org;  An Orchard Invisible: A Natural History of Seeds by Jonathan Silvertown; The Ecology of Plants by Gurevitch, Scheiner and Fox; other sites as cited in the text.

Natural Areas Notebook

Natural Areas Stewardship in Oakland Township Parks

Michigan Lily

Field Note: Rx for Restoration? Fire??? Yes, Indeed!

The History of Fire in our Prairies

Fire Becomes an Ally in Restoration

Planning the Prescribed Burn

Igniting and Monitoring the Fire

Wondering about the Impact on Wildlife?

Sowing Native Seed After A Burn

Fire’s Big Payoff

The Inspiring Persistence of Nature

A Fragile, Wet Prairie Full of Encouraging Discoveries

Why Our Wet Prairie is Wet, Unlike Your Stereotypical Prairie

The Beautiful Strangers that I First Met This Summer

Glamorous Acquaintances That I Catch a Glimpse of Now and Then

Elegant and Important Old Friends that Arrive in Late Summer and Fall

More Old Friends and Some of their Insect Partners and Visitors

The Delights of Discovery

Bear Creek Nature Park: Life-or-Death Drama…but Always the Persistence of Life

High Drama on the Western Slope

On to the Pond: A Stealthy Fisher and I Share Strategies

Out on Bear Marsh with Snappers!

The Eastern Meadow: Young Birds Out on Their Own..Sort Of

A Short Trip Through More Summer Blooms

Life Calls Us Out to Explore

Bear Creek Nature Park: Nervous Fledglings Venture Forth and Missing Native Wildflowers Reappear!

Fledglings Venture Forth into Sunny Meadows

Dragonflies and Damselflies Hover and Dart in the Meadows

The Seed Bank Awakens as Restoration Begins

Butterflies Arrive – but Not Enough for Me, Yet!

On to the Pond and Its Frog Song

Into the Woods

Bear Creek Marsh – Wet, Green and Full of Life

Stewardship Fosters Nature Here – and Far Beyond the Township

Out and About in Oakland: Rare Beauty on the Wet Prairie Again! (Paint Creek Trail)

The Wet Prairie (Paint Creek Trail): Michigan Lilies and More

That Other Wildflower Surprise – Gallagher Creek Park

The History of Fire in our Prairies

Fire Becomes an Ally in Restoration

Planning the Prescribed Burn

Igniting and Monitoring the Fire

Wondering about the Impact on Wildlife?

Sowing Native Seed After A Burn

Fire’s Big Payoff

The Inspiring Persistence of Nature

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Like this:

Why Our Wet Prairie is Wet, Unlike Your Stereotypical Prairie

The Beautiful Strangers that I First Met This Summer

Glamorous Acquaintances That I Catch a Glimpse of Now and Then

Elegant and Important Old Friends that Arrive in Late Summer and Fall

More Old Friends and Some of their Insect Partners and Visitors

The Delights of Discovery

Share this:

Like this:

High Drama on the Western Slope

On to the Pond: A Stealthy Fisher and I Share Strategies

Out on Bear Marsh with Snappers!

The Eastern Meadow: Young Birds Out on Their Own..Sort Of

A Short Trip Through More Summer Blooms

Life Calls Us Out to Explore

Share this:

Like this:

Fledglings Venture Forth into Sunny Meadows

Dragonflies and Damselflies Hover and Dart in the Meadows

The Seed Bank Awakens as Restoration Begins

Butterflies Arrive – but Not Enough for Me, Yet!

On to the Pond and Its Frog Song

Into the Woods

Bear Creek Marsh – Wet, Green and Full of Life

Stewardship Fosters Nature Here – and Far Beyond the Township

Share this:

Like this:

The Wet Prairie (Paint Creek Trail): Michigan Lilies and More

That Other Wildflower Surprise – Gallagher Creek Park

Share this:

Like this: