Yesterday I went out with the group to get some of their actions “on film.”

Upon arrival at the site of the current mission, Gary, our stewardship coordinator, shows Bill the day’s target plants:  trees and shrubs.

The tools are readied.

One of the most important tools of the day is the chainsaw, but handsaws are equally important, especially when the chainsaw decides to be temperamental.

Loppers are just as important, especially for getting those tiny branches that  grow up in dense clusters.

All twigs, limbs and trunks are piled up in large brush piles, which will eventually be torches, completely removing them from the landscape.  In the meantime, the brush piles make great shelters for small birds and mammals.

The last step the Society takes is the dabbing.  Within the cup Pat is holding is the secret ingredient – a highly effective herbicide.  Note the sponge in her other hand.

The herbicide is applied (dabbed) directly onto the living portion of the cut plant – targeted application.  This keeps the poison in a specific location rather than spreading it willhe-nilhe across the landscape.

As you can see, only the outer ring is dabbed – this is the living tissue of the tree (or shrub).

A morning spent Cutting and Dabbing soon turns an invasive-riddled field from a gnarly collection of unwanted plants…

…into an open field with islands of native species!  The bluebirds were out singing their praise for the Society’s efforts.

All of us here at Dahlem thank them as well.  This is a monumental task, one that will no doubt take years to complete, but they have made terrific inroads on this project, and you can see the fruits of their labors as you walk the trails.

If you’d like to join the Cut-n-Dab Society, give us a call.  New hands are always welcome!

After 2-3 hours indoors, learning about equipment, the value of a reflector and a good tripod, and how to set up one’s shots using the rule of threes, we headed out onto the Dahlem trails to put what we had learned to the test.

I tend to be a perfectionist, so I’m not really in love with any of the shots I got that day, but I did work on “seeing” the landscape and picking out unique shapes.

By the time 5:00 rolled by, we were ready to head in.  This was our final stop, just as the sun was peeking out.  Here you see the obligatory photo of a photographer taking a photo of a photographer taking a photo.

All in all, it was a very informative day.  If you have the chance to take a course with these gentlemen, I highly recommend it.  It’s ideal for novice and advanced photographers both – everyone can pick up at least a few tips.

I first became familiar with these when my sister was stationed in Alaska and sent some home, although the ones she sent were actually made from cast resin – much more affordable.

I inherited a genuine piece from my grandparents, which unfortunately got broken (soap stone can be very delicate).  But I have loved soapstone art for many years now.

Imagine my delight to learn that we have a wonderful soapstone carver right here in Jackson County!  Because I wanted to learn how soapstone is carved, I lined John Hoskins up to come out to Dahlem to teach a class this last weekend.

The class proved to be so popular (we had a waiting list almost as long as the registration list) that we’ve put in a second session on 3 March (space is limited since we had some children interested – room for 10 only).

So…just how is soapstone carved?  I thought you might be interested in the process, so here it is.

We start off with a “blank,” which John had already cut into a general loon shape.  Our first task was to trim a little off the sides of the head.  This was done with a small hand saw.  The stone is very soft, so it wasn’t much more difficult than slicing a loaf of bread.

Next, using rounded rasps or files, we defined the space between the neck and the back.

Coarse-toothed rasps were used to do the rough shaping.  Here we have the bum being shaped with quick strokes.  The presence of a center line penciled onto the stone helped us keep our birds symmetrical.

Again the round rasps were used to define the head and the neck.  That triangular section was the next bit to be removed (you can see we already had cut off the excess to form the beak).

Careful application of the rasp was used to make the blocky neck into a nicely curved neck.

John next filed in the “eyes.”  This is a bit of a tricky task, since the round rasp is also tapered and has a tendency to shift.  So, to make sure we all ended up with eyes where they should be, the instructor did this for us.

Ta-da!

Then we were off and rasping, forming the rounded head.  The penciled-in eye spot isn’t really an eye.  It was a mark to remind us not to make the head too small – we were to leave that section of stone unrasped.  And look!  It is actually starting to look like a loon!

All that remained of the carving was to fine tune our shapes – get them to a point where each of us was satisfied that our loons looked sufficiently loony.

What followed next was bathing our birds.  Being birds of solid bone-structure, they, of course, sank when placed in the baths.  But this wasn’t a swimming lesson.  What we had to do was sand our birds, removing all those rough scraping marks left by the files and rasps.  The bath process occurs in three stages, each using a progressively finer sandpaper (220, 400, and 600).

The water brought out the color of the stone, and the sanding made it so incredibly smooth that it was hard to believe such smoothness was possible.

After every scratch and blemish had been smoothed out, the birds were placed in an oven (250 degrees for about 20 minutes).  This was to heat the stone completely through.  Soapstone is notorious for its heat-holding properties, which is why it is a popular substance for making woodstoves (I had a soapstone woodstove before moving to Michigan – it was WONDERFUL).

And why were we heating them?  Because once dry, the birds would return to their original pale grey color, losing the lush, rich color that the water brought out.  So, to keep them colorful, after they are heated, they are rubbed with beeswax, which seals the stone.  The heat draws the wax into the stone, sealing it from the elements.

After the birds have cooled a bit, but before the wax hardens, we used old t-shirts to buff our pieces.  If we waited a bit too long, John had blowtorches ready to reheat the stones and melt the wax.

Et voila!   Here we have four finished loons!  Each a unique piece of art.

Now, folks, if I can make one of these, then surely anyone can!  Keep your eyes on our program schedule for the next class.  If you can’t make the list for March, we may offer this again in the fall.

Back home, though, we still have some terrific things to see, even if not quite of the same caliber as a great grey owl.

Tuesday morning dawned crisp, but as the day progressed, the weather mellowed and became downright spring-like.  Most of the last few days have seemed more like early spring than mid-winter, and even the birds must agree, for the first find of our morning was a flock of eastern bluebirds perched in the trees.

As the group headed out across the prairie, I fell behind…fiddling with camera lenses will do that.

Plus I wanted to check on The Deer.  Last month we dragged a dead deer into the prairie to provide food for scavengers:  crows, coyotes, ‘possums, and maybe even eagles.  Since it had been out there a few weeks now, I was hoping to see evidence of all sorts of activity.  I was greatly disappointed.  There had maybe been a bit more work done at the posterior end of the animal, and possibly at the shoulder, where we had opened up the skin a bit, but for the most part it appeared to be in the exact same condition it was when we left it.

I continued my stroll through the grassland, looking for anything that might be a good subject for the camera.  I found evidence of another deer that had been eaten.  First, I found one back bone.

And then I found a leg bone that had been well-chewed.  Something, probably a coyote, had cracked open the bone to get to the nutritious marrow inside.

My eyes were drawn immediately to a tiny, but very loud, splash of color.  Nestled on the ground was a small patch of lichen sporting very bright red tips.  This lichen is that old standby British Soldiers, Cladonia cristatella.  This lichen is probably the most recognized of the lichens, and this is for three reasons.  First, it tolerates a lot of pollution, so it does very well where people live.  Second, it is very colorful, so it catches people’s eyes (like it did mine).  Finally, it has a common name (most lichens don’t).  Not only that, it has a common name that is terribly easy for just about everyone to remember!  British Soldiers can be found in a variety of habitats:  on wood, on bark or on soil.  The bright red part of this lichen (and there are several species of Cladonia that are green with red at the tips) is the “business end” of the fruiting body.  This is where the spores are stored.

Moving on, I found several mullein plants that already had thick, fuzzy leaves hugging the ground.  This one was rimmed with frost.

I continued up the prairie to “Earthstar Hill” – an elevated section of the grassland where Earthstars grow.  I love these fungi – they are just so much different from the regular run-of-the-mill mushrooms one finds.  Earthstars are classified along with puffballs, both producing a puffy sac that contains the spores.  The difference is that on earthstars the thick outer wall splits and as the fruiting body dries, the split sections (arms) fall back, or reflex, exposing the spore sac in the middle (not visible in this photo – it is long gone).  The downward curving arms actually raise the sac slightly, giving the fungi  just a bit more of an advantage in spore dispersal by getting it slightly above the ground and further into the windstream.  I think this might be the Fringed Earthstar, Geastrum fimbriatum, based on its size and the number of “arms” it has, but I’m willing to admit I am wrong if there is a mushroom expert out there who knows better.  If it is fringed, this is kind of exciting because while this is a widespread fungus, it is not common.

I continued poking around and found another nest of mushrooms, but these, well, I have no idea as to their identity.

I finally caught up the with the group as they were headed back to the visitor center.  All in all, it was a good morning out, grubbing around on the prairie in search of mid-winter finds.

Next fall, take the kids in your life (and that could be YOU), rake up a big ol’ pile of leaves, and have at it. Life doesn’t get much better than this.

I pulled in to work to see our trusty crew of volunteers (normally the Cut and Dab Society on Thursday mornings) busy giving our entryway a bit of a holiday touch.

Because…this weekend (Friday and Saturday) is our annual Holiday Bazaar.  Yes – it’s time to break out the checkbooks and do your holiday shopping at the Dahlem Center!  What will we have to offer?  You name it!  How about a fresh (we cut the greens three days ago) wreath, made right here on site by staff and volunteers?

We have wreathes and swags of all sizes and styles.

Some are simple, while others are a bit more elaborate.

Some are small, while others measure nearly three feet across!

Want to make your own wreath?  Then for a bargain price of only $2, you can purchase a bag of mixed greens – enough for a wreath, or centerpiece to make your home ready for the holidays.

What else will be on hand?  We’ll have rooms chocked full of all sorts of holiday goodies, including homemade baked goods.  Too busy to make Christmas cookies?  Then let our volunteers make ‘em for you!

How about some interesting gifts for the hard-to-shop-for members of your family?

Warm fleece hats!

Old-fashioned toys!

Bird houses of all sizes and shapes!

Stupid Sock Creatures!

Victorianesque Christmas balls!

Miniature boxes hand-painted by the Director’s wife!

Fun treats!

Tiny live trees for those with limited space!

As you can see, there is a huge variety of items to choose from (I only gave you a sampling).  So be sure to come out to Dahlem for our Holiday Bazaar.  It starts tomorrow (Friday) at 10:00 AM and goes until 4:00 PM.  Saturday we’ll still be here selling holiday cheer, also 10-4:00.    Our regular gift shop will also be open, with many nature-themed gifts for sale:  books, birdfeeders, garden decorations, toys, and more.

First and foremost, it was cold.  There was a good stiff wind blowing, and everyone was feeling its effects.  Even the birds, which huddled in groups along the far side of the water, where the wind was blocked a bit by the shoreline and trees.

There weren’t as many birds here as the earlier reports had reported.  No doubt they either flew further south, or were out feeding in the various fields nearby.  Even so, we had coots, canvasbacks, hooded mergansers, ring-necked ducks, gadwalls.  A Bonapart gull flew in, and we watched a bald eagle that was perched in a tree across the way.  Canada geese were well-represented, too.

My binocs weren’t powerful enough to see most of the birds very well, so I wandered along the road looking for some photo ops, like this large muskrat lodge, the architect of which opted for a modern twist by incorporating three strands of barbed wire into the construction.

Any small child would love this fence, with the knothole just perfectly placed for peering through.

The shoreline was dappled with molted feathers, which in turn were dappled with melted frost.

The fencing that is in the water was erected many years back to keep unwanted visitors from putting their boats on the water.  The land is now potentially up for sale – hopefully it will be purchased as a sanctuary for migratory waterfowl.

The in-coming birds were not as numerous as they were the last time we were here, but I did get a couple shots of some swans,

and geese coming in to land.

Two things, however, were “the big find” for me.  One was this stand of American bittersweet!  This native vine is hardly ever seen anymore.  The primary reason is because oriental bittersweet is such an aggressive invasive that it has pushed much of the native vine out of its habitat, but also the oriental will hybridize with the native.

The difference, when you look at these plants, is in the berries.  Not only are the native berries darker overall, but they also grow in clustered clumps at the ends of the vine branches.  Oriental bittersweet is a brighter orange, and its berries grow scattered along the whole vine.

The other thing I saw today that tickled me was this sign:

Next week the Tuesday morning group will be back touring the grounds at Dahlem.  Migratory birds are now pushing through, so there’s no telling what we might find.  Anyone who would like to join us should be at the Dahlem Center by 9:00 AM on the 29th.  Dress for the weather!

Our trip took us out past the prison, where many sandhills were feeding in the recently harvested fields, and over towards the booming metropolis of Munith.  We made a pitstop, took in the sites, and continued on our way.

The land north and east of Jackson is rolling farm country and quite lovely.  Okay, the land in the photo below isn’t really “rolling,” but to either side of this field it was.

We did most of our birding from the vehicles – scanning every field of cranes for that one white bird.  Sandhills, at this time of year, are mostly grey, so a whooping crane, which is very white, stands out like a sore thumb.  Sadly, we didn’t find it.

As we cruised by this wetland, things started to look a bit familiar to me.  Hey!  This is one of the two areas of Haehnle Sanctuary that was burned two weeks ago!  (See my account of the burn here, if you are interested.)

We ended up at the observation hill at the Sanctuary.

No cranes – wrong time of day.  But we did see some coots and mallards down in the marsh.

Gary set up the spotting scope so people could see more than just dots moving on the water.  The birds that caught most of our attention, however, were three red-tail hawks, which we think were a family unit.

A juvenile sat in a tree way down by the marsh.  We got a good look at it through the spotting scope.

Meanwhile, two others, presumably the adults, flew overhead, soaring lazily on the thermals and occasionally calling out to each other.

It was such a lovely morning that we soon abandoned the hill and took to the trails.  The weedy tangle to the right is prime habitat for all sorts of songbirds.  We played recordings of a screech owl and a fox sparrow in hopes of stirring up some sputzies.  Gary pointed out the calls of the fox sparrows, which are newly arrived from up north, but we didn’t actually see them.  The tangle hid them well.

Although the volunteers at Haehnle Sanctuary are working hard to get invasive species under control, nature has a way of spreading them much faster than people can keep up with them.  And even though these honeysuckles are invasive, they certainly are pretty in the fall.

We came across the territorial markings of a buck.  He had chewed the heck out of this branch,

and scraped up the ground underneath.  If you look carefully, you can see some deer tracks in the scrape.  Perhaps a doe came to visit this spot?  Or maybe another buck, checking out the competition?

Now, this plant threw us all for a loop.  It was tall, had wonderful pods, and there were about a half dozen or so in this one spot.  We looked at it, examined it from every angle, and no one knew what it was.

I looked it up this morning because my curiosity was driving me nuts.  It turns out this is a plant known as velvetleaf (Abutilon theophrasti).  It is also known as Indian mallow, butterprint and buttonweed.  And yes, it is an invasive species.  How invasive?  Well, it all depends on where you look.  In some states it is merely considered a noxious weed, while it other states it is given the highest classification possible and comes with a warning to quarantine the plant and its seeds.

This plant’s homeland is China, where it has been under cultivation for over 4000 years!  In its native habitat, it is valued for its strong, jute-like fibers, and for its edible leaves.  It is also grown for oil, and is used in a variety of medicines.

In the rest of the world, however, it is an aggressive alien and is considered to be extremely damaging in agricultural areas, especially those that grow corn and soybeans (like this part of Michigan).  Are there any controls for it?  Back in China there are a variety of fungi and insects that keep it in check, but none of them are host-specific, so we can’t turn them loose here.  If you find this plant, remove and destroy it.

On a more positive note, we found some lovely native plants that are equally pleasing to the eye.  The one below that is being fondled is round-headed bush clover.  This is a tall clover that grows in native grasslands around here, and even now, when the plant is dry at the end of the season, the flowerheads are soft.

Here we have one of the foxtail grasses.  Unless one is a grass expert, grasses can be very difficult to ID.  Just when we thought we knew which one this might be, we found a clue that suggested we were wrong.  So, if anyone is a grass expert out there, and you know what this is, please drop us a comment below!

The blackberries were still holding on to their leaves, which were glorious in their autumn splendor.

We stopped along the side of the lake, just in case the whooping crane was here.  No luck.

We found some beautiful fungi sporting the russet colors of fall:

The recent spate of warm days has caused some buds to swell.  We saw a red maple that looked like it would burst into leaf in a week or two, and right along the trail the spicebush flower buds (below) were tightly swollen, too.  It’s odd to see green this time of year.

The trail brought us out to the other burn site from the 10th – a patch of prairie.  Here we found a lovely sample of turkey scat.

And woolly bears!  These to Isabella tiger moth larvae were quite energetic and didn’t stay balled up in my hand for very long.  One even left me a gift.

We never did see the whooping crane, but in the end we still had a lovely, educational morning outside, taking in the birds, plants, mammals, fungi and insects of autumn.

Sadly, not all of the color is good.  Here we have a classic example.  That beautiful rosy glow you see in the woods below is caused by Japanese barberry.  You know the plant – it’s the one landscapers often plant at places like grocery store parking lots, where it will make a colorful splash and not be eaten by deer.  It has thorns, you see, which make it well nigh deer-proof.  Unfortunately, birds will eat the little red berries the plant produces and later on poop them out, which results in the scene below.  Take home message:  don’t plant Japanese barberry in your landscape, for it will take over the woods all around you.

These red berries, however, are ones we are very happy to see.  They are from our native spicebush (Lindera benzoin).  Although not blessed with thorns of any kind, this shrub is often touted as being fairly deer-proof, too.  I first met spicebush during my very first naturalist internship, twenty-three years ago!  We walked past the lone shrub with every school group and plucked a leaf to pass around so each student could smell its light, aromatic scent (I wonder if that plant is still around).  We would then tell the students how this unassuming shrub was once very important to the early settlers, for they used it to spice up their foods (the berries, dried and powdered, substituted for all spice, and the dried bark served as a replacement for cinnamon), earning it the name “wild allspice” .  It was also part of the colonists’ medicinal arsenal, helping treat colds, dysentery, and even intestinal parasites.  Today it is mostly used as an ornamental shrub, which suits the spicebush swallowtail, one of our butterflies, just fine – this is the host plant for its larvae.

And just when you think all the flowers have stopped blooming, you run into the spidery yellow blossoms of witch hazel (Hammamelis virginiana).  This is another plant I met during my first internship and haven’t seen since.  And yes, witch hazel is the plant from which the antiseptic, also known as witch hazel, was made.  Is it still made from this plant, or is it all derived from chemicals these days?  Witch hazel is famous for helping shrink/contract blood vessels, making it idea for treating cuts, bruises and even piles.

Now here is a beauty that I’m willing to be few of you have ever seen.  This is not a flower, despite what it looks like.  Nope, this is the fruit pod of the eastern wahoo (Euonymus atropurpureus), which is in the bittersweet family.  How beautiful is this!  We have a specimen of this small tree on the property, and its identity came as a wonderful surprise to our staff.  Unlike the other wahoo, or burning bush, this species is native and one that we want to have around.

We had a bit of rain Tuesday morning, so I tried to capture some of the droplets on the grasses out on the prairie.  Invariably, as soon as I got out my macro lens, the wind started to blow.  I really need to get myself a wind box.

One of my goals, photographically, is to photograph, successfully, the reflections inside raindrops.  I almost succeeded with this double droplet image:

And here is Asian bittersweet – it is easy to see how it is related to the eastern wahoo.  This colorful vine, however, is personna non grata – highly invasive.  Not only that, but it hybridizes with our native bittersweet, which is very difficult to find anymore.

As you can see, there is still plenty of color out there in the woods.   All you have to do is put on your walking shoes and take a stroll along our trails.  Walk slowly and keep your eyes open.  Look up.  Look deep into the woods.  You just never know what you might find.

Today’s walk began with a mystery object brought in by Bill – a baggie of tiny bits that he scraped off his boat when he pulled it out of Brown’s Lake this fall.  We passed it around to see if anyone knew what the baggie contained.

Those in the know recognized the substance immediately:  zebra mussels.

These tiny molluscs are the bane of lakes and boats across much of our land, and they are spreading.  An alien invasive (originally found only in the lakes of southeast Russia), this critter came to our shores in the ballast water of ocean-going vessels.  When they dumped their ballast upon reaching their destination (say, a port along the shores of one of the Great Lakes), the mussels were set free in a new environment, where they bred and spread with great abandon.  They glue themselves to hard, stationary surfaces and from there their colonies spread.  They clog up drains, get into the workings of boat motors, and cut the feet of those who wade barefoot into the water.  Yes, they do make the water clearer, but that’s because they are consuming all the nutrients that float about invisibly in the water, thus taking food away from other small filter-feeders.  In other words, these are not good critters to have around.

What can one do?  Well, once zebra mussels are in our waterways, our options are very limited.  What we can do, however, is to make sure we clean our boats when we remove them from the water.  Clean them of mussels and plants before putting them into another body of water.

It was a beautiful frosty morning.  The crispy leaves upon the ground are all lined with frosty edges – a lovely decoration.

And you just can’t beat the early morning light this time of year.  At about 8:15/8:30 it has a warm orange glow that is just perfect for photography.  By 9:30 the light was more yellow, but still made for some brightly glowing leaves and berries.

We hadn’t gone far down the trail when Gary spotted this (there are actually two things in the photo):

The first, and most obvious item, is the scraped up ground.  Who is out this time of year pawing up the leaves and stomping about in the dirt?  Deer.  More specifically, male deer.  It is the rut, folks – that time of year when male deer do some strange things to a) impress other male deer, trying to make these potential rivals think a big, tough dude is around and they should steer clear, and b) impress the females, hoping to make them think a big, tough dude is around who is ideal fatherhood material.  The bucks paw up these scrapes and pee in them – olfactory signals are very important.

The other clue in the  photo is a bit harder to see.  See the twigs and branches below?  These are directly over the scrape.  Apparently (and I just learned this today on this walk) bucks select scrape sites that are located under low branches, which they proceed to chew.  Deer have glands in their mouths, and chewing these branches leaves behind another scent mark to impress any other deer who might be passing by.

Shortly after this stop, a small group of us got separated from the main group, so we missed some of the discussion in the pines, where signs of owl activity were the main target.  “White-wash” down the sides of trees (streaks of uric acid from owl droppings) are a good sign that owls are roosting in an area.  If one finds trees with whitewash, this is a good indication for one to dig around beneath the tree in search of owl pellets.  Some of the walkers were looking, but no one found any pellets.  We did find some old raccoon scat, though.

Leaving the pines and getting back onto the trail, we passed this wonderfully mushroomy log:

The colors were perfect for fall season!

Speaking of autumn colors, check out the gold below!

The Next Big Thing was this turkey vulture lurking in the trees about 30 feet off the trail.  He didn’t seem to mind about twenty people peering at him from the trail, but he certainly didn’t do anything to make our viewing any easier.

The frost was well melted by now, and even though the leaves were no longer outlined in crystals, the melted ice still left beauty behind.

So take advantage of these final days of autumn, especially in the golden morning light.  Head for the outdoors and take your camera with you – ’tis the time of year for some stellar photography.