June 10

It’s early morning as I leave my car parked on the side of Ennis Rd to make my way east toward another encounter with Honeyoye Creek. With temperatures in the mid 60’s, under partly sunny skies, I pass an Opossum carcass before pausing in a patch of Mayapple where I spot my first Ebony Jewelwing of the season. This attractive damselfly will eat almost any soft-bodied flying insect, including mosquitoes, flies, small moths and mayflies. Continuing toward the creek, blossoms that catch my eye include white Multiflora Rose and yellow Goat’s Beard. Exploring the dense vegetation at my feet, I notice one of many ¾ inch Amber snail. These semi-aquatic gastropods with translucent shells eat plants, algae and fungi. They are not considered plant pests but wet conditions can encourage more activity. They start life as males and become females as they age. They lay transparent eggs in sticky bunches on plants, in the soil, or on the undersides of stones. The eggs hatch into tiny snails in about two weeks and mature within a year. While trudging through tall patches of flowering Reed Canary Grass, I hear the sound of an approaching male Redwing Blackbird. Soon, he’s right overhead, noisily swooping and hovering to chase me away as he defends a nearby nest. Finally, making it to the creek, I’m being serenaded by a Song Sparrow, while watching the gently flowing water pass by a suspicious drain tile. Looking far downstream, I observe a Whitetail doe with her newly born fawn on the water’s edge next to the steep, lush bank. Moving away from the creek, I notice a small, ¾ inch Least Skipper butterfly perched in the tall grass. This species rarely flies higher than a couple feet above the ground as it slowly and somewhat choppily moves through the vegetation.. Also, in the undergrowth, I spot a Nimble Meadow Katydid. These small, ½ inch insects with their distinctive nighttime sounds are found from central Michigan south to the lower third of Ohio and west to extreme eastern Kansas and Nebraska. Nearing the car, I stop to observe a Four-line Plant Bug on a leaf with damage spots caused by its feeding behavior. This extremely rapid damage is due to the insect’s enormous salivary glands, which enable it to inject copious amounts of enzyme-rich saliva into the plant tissue. This bug is a common garden pest that can attack many different types of plants, including mint, dogwood, forsythia, marigold, peppers and potatoes. Back in the car, I drive a short distance and stop on the shoulder of M-46 to watch the creek water flow southwest toward Winans Rd.

Who enslaved you

I wish to know

Altered your ways

Flow, water, flow

Drained the fields

Crops could grow

Tainted runoff

Flow, water, flow

Back to nature

You’re free to go

A creek unique

Flow, water, flow

 

D. DeGraaf