May 7

Last Sunday, my wife and I traveled 30 miles northeast of Alma to Chippewa Nature Center and joined a hiking group searching for wild flowers. The early afternoon weather was sunny with a temperature of 52 degrees and a noticeable breeze from the north. Leaving the Visitors’ Center, I immediately spotted colorful blossoms of Dead Nettle near the ground and Redbud up above. Also, I saw a few small bees pollinating Wild Mustard. We proceeded north on the River Trail where I stopped to observe a fork in the river channel that defined the confluence of the Pine (left) and Chippewa (right) Rivers. Continuing to flow eastward another 4 miles, the Chippewa empties into the Tittabawassee River in Midland. We continued to follow the trail north along the riverbank where we spotted blossoms of Swamp Buttercup, Cut leaf Toothwort and Dutchman’s breeches. Meanwhile, on the river, we noticed some Map Turtles basking in the sun. As the path moved into a Beech-Maple forest, I glanced skyward to see the canopy was gradually leafing over. Continuing to search for wildflowers, we found a solitary Trout Lily and some, often hidden, but lovely blossoms of Wild Ginger. Also, we found several patches of May apple displaying flower buds but no blossoms yet. Patches of ferns were also evident including Ostrich and Sensitive. Hidden in the leaf litter was a rarely seen fern called Maidenhair Spleenwort. As we turned around and headed back, I noticed a Cabbage White Butterfly resting on the leaf litter. Since it had 2 black spots on its wing, it was a female compared to a single wing spot for a male. Finally, we found the car and headed for home.

Signs of the season

Timid and bold

Out of the mud

Marsh Marigold

Peepers in the pond

Killdeer on high

Lighting on litter

Cabbage Butterfly

Creepers climb

Bluebells ring

Nature’s glory

Expressions of spring

D. DeGraaf