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Fri, 9 Oct 2009
The Autumn Olive Walk, September 4, 2009
Seen or Heard:
• Autumn Olive berries are ripe and tasty!
• White Turtlehead is in bloom at Luckey’s
Landing. We just missed the swamp rose
mallow.
• Cardinal flower and Great Blue Lobelia in
bloom on Oshtemo Wetland and High Lake.
• Saw two nighthawks in flight over the shrub
carr between Luckey’s Landing and the Learning
Center. I didn’t expect them at this time of day.
They appeared to be going somewhere, not
feeding. It is the time of the year that they
migrate.
• Learned new flowers: Pearly Everlasting in the
Luckey Prairie, Purple Gerardia in Bear Lake prairie;
Narrow-leaved Sunflower, south of the sand
dunes.
Sorry, no photos. Camera batteries kaput.
Heidi, my writing intern for Mennonite Creation
Care Network, came with me on this walk on her
last day at Merry Lea. It was a beautiful, sunny day
with ribbons of mist in the fields in the early
morning. I was deeply flattered later when she told
me that taking walks with me was the highlight of
her time at Merry Lea!
Posted at 14:24 #
Tue, 2 Jun 2009
The Rainbow Bird Walk: May 20, 2009
Carol dropped me at the North Gate, and we went
birding on the way. We witnessed an interesting
oriole interaction at the Shew Wetlands. One male
came
swooping down on a female carrying nesting
material and another male zoomed to the rescue.
We also saw two scarlet tanagers at the North Gate.
Yellow warblers and bluebirds completed the color
palette.
Posted at 18:42 #
Tue, 31 Mar 2009
The Tracking Walk, February 2009
Posted at 15:40 #
Wed, 19 Nov 2008
The Sassafras Walk, October 16, 2008
Also seen:
Young, fresh, dewy rosettes of mullein. Oh yes, I
remember: mullein is a bienniel. These won't send
up stalks until next year.
A flock of wild turkeys near the tamarack
woods
A giant raccoon climbing a tree
...a stink bug, a witch hazel tree...
feverwort with its little orange pumpkins in the
axils...
a giant silver maple encircled in royal fern...
great blue herons, chipmunks...
The turkey vultures are still here; the dragonflies
are gone. 
Posted at 09:19 #
Tue, 18 Nov 2008
The Bur Marigold Walk, September 18, 2008
Also seen or heard:
Eight different kinds of asters in bloom; some
purple, some white. Some with tall, stiff stalks and
purple topknots; others with sprays of little white
flowers.
A dead cedar tree, wrapped so thickly in wild grape
that it looks like another species, alive and well.
The grape is fruiting.
Chickadees eating poison ivy berries; a flock of
goldfinches eating rosinweed seed; a fox squirrel, a
circling hawk.
Blue sky painted with a wash of pale cirrus clouds
and wearing a 3/4 moon like a stud earring.
An American Redstart: this little bird with yellow
sides is a new one for my life list. They are not rare,
but small and quick and hard to see.
Lichens on a patch of bark, left in the middle of the
trail. Under a hand lens, the flat colors pop out into
gray cups and a bed of mustard-colored seaweed.
Ladies' tresses orchids blooming in Bear Lake
Prairie; Cleland's Primrose still blooming near the
Luckey sand dunes.
Posted at 17:26 #
The Great White Egret Walk: August 29, 2008
A family of raccoons lounging about their den,
tamarack bog.
The resonant drumbeat of a pileated woodpecker
and a glimpse of red, white and black in the air,
Luckey’s Landing.
Two Great White Egrets visiting Onion Bottom.
These blindingly white birds always make me think
of the biblical story of the transfiguration.
Many thistles in bloom.
Indian Grass in full flower
Swamp Milkweed, one of my favorite wildflowers,
lining the banks of Onion Bottom.
Posted at 17:24 #