September 18

From its source, one mile due east of Montcalm County’s village of Vestaburg, Corbin Creek meanders southeast about four miles where it spills into the Pine River, just southwest of Gratiot County’s village of Elm Hall. For the next month or so, I plan to track this watercourse, upstream from its mouth to its source, observing wildlife along the way.This morning, with temperatures in the mid 50’s under mostly cloudy skies, I join landowner, Jerry Baker for a hike along the creek, downstream toward the mouth. Right away, I notice the creek bed and banks contain abundant sand, gravel and huge boulders. These geological features can be traced back to Michigan’s last ice age, some 10,000 years ago. As massive glaciers moved, they leveled off hills, filled in valleys, gouged out lakes and changed the existing surface by grinding, eroding and depositing. On the far bank, I spot an invasive European Marsh Thistle. These tall thistles were first recorded in Michigan in 1934 and by 1956 were considered common in the Upper Peninsula. By 1959, this thistle species spread to the Lower Peninsula.  Nearby, I spot a bunch of ripening fruit on a Nannyberry shrub. Nanny goats apparently feed on the ripe berries, hence the common name. The ripe fruit is edible and may be eaten off the bush or used in tea, jams and jellies. Sometimes called sweet viburnum, the taste is somewhere between a prune and a banana. Continuing downstream, I first spot a small Musclewood tree trunk with its sinewy texture and then a pile of Wild Turkey feathers, likely left behind by a predator, such as a Great Horned owl. Following the flowing water, I pause to notice blossoms of White Snakeroot and Common Beggar-ticks. Fungi that catch my eye, include Toothed Crust on a decayed log in the flood plain and Milk- Cap mushrooms on a decayed log, out in the water. This mushroom’s name is in reference to the milky latex that is exuded from the gills when they are cut or torn. Milk-cap mushrooms form important associations with various tree species and are valuable to wildlife. Perhaps the most exciting feature of these mushrooms is that some are edible. After trudging through the floodplain and not finding where the creek flows into the Pine River, we turn around and retrace out steps back to the house. Later on, I drive east and make my way onto a two-track, south along the Pine River (stock photo) where I find, what I think is, the confluence, which is merely a subtle stream of creek water flowing slowly through small openings in dense vegetation on the river’s edge.

Outer edge of summer

Nature’s colors revealed

Purple aster blossoms

Dot the golden field

Maples of the forest edge

Those in between

Still hold some leaves

Still show some green

Rose hips of red

Berries of blue and white

Thistle for the finch

New season in sight

 

D. DeGraaf