July 1

Last Saturday, my wife, Caroline and I drove 18 miles west of Mt. Pleasant to Hall’s Lake Natural Area to participate along with 20 others in a nature scavenger hunt sponsored by the Chippewa Watershed Conservancy. The mid morning weather was cloudy with a temperature of 64 degrees and a steady breeze from the north. We left the parking area and followed a narrow trail north into a mature hardwood forest where we heard repeated calls of the American Redstart. On the ground among the leaf litter, I noticed the small white blossoms of a Wild Strawberry look-a-like called Swamp Dewberry as well as tiny orange Waxy Cap mushrooms. Further ahead, I spotted other kinds of fungi including Elder Whitewash and two types of slime mold. Continuing north, I could barely make out Hall’s Lake through the dense woods. Circling around, I came upon a birch tree snag marked with Yellow-bellied Sapsucker holes. This bird makes two kinds of holes in trees to harvest sap. Round holes, small and deep, are where the bird inserts its bill to probe for sap. Rectangular holes are shallower and must be maintained continually for the sap to flow. The sapsucker licks the sap from these holes and eats the cambium of the tree too. New holes usually are made in a line with old holes or in a new line above the old. On the ground nearby was a single crow feather. Native Americans believed certain birds and their feathers possessed supernatural powers that could give someone the traits and attributes of that bird. A crow’s feather symbolized balance, skill, cunning and release from past beliefs. As the wind increased, we hiked back to the beginning, found the car and headed for home.

Wild creatures are hard to see

Their presence fools you & me

What’s that in a meadow near

Hard to tell, could be a deer

Leopard Frog’s spots of green

It hides well, can’t be seen

Redwing nests on reeds within

She sits still, blends right in

Sphinx moth’s black and gray

Is that one there? Hard to say

Survival in the forest and field

Nature’s handiwork revealed

D. DeGraaf