Skunk Cabbage Sprouting by the Fen March 12 2006

  Skunk Cabbage Sprouting by the Fen March 12 2006 Here’s the first sping wildflower at Camp Friedenswald - the skunk cabbage.  It can be found almost anywhere at camp where the soil is constantly damp.  It’s an wetland “obilgate” species which means that if you see skunk cabbage that area has a 99% chance of being a wetland.

Smelly

Skunk cabbage is a smelly wetland plant. It mimics the smell(cadaverine & skatole) and visuals (red color) of rotten meat. It’s not surprising that its main pollinators are flies.

Hot

Temperatures inside the cone shaped spathes can reach 70 degree F. even on a day that’s near freezing. Skunk cabbage can melt its way right through the snow. Insects on a cold day get inside the plant to get warm.

And Old

Amazingly, under the right conditions, the roots of a skunk cabbage can live to be more than 200 years old.

Resources

For more on skunk cabbage check out The Nature Institute website.

Also, I just purchased a wonderful book about wildflowers called, “The Secrets of Wildflowers: A Delightul Feast of Little-Know Facts, Foklore, and History” by Jack Sanders. Wonderful photographs and great information. I highly recommend the book.

Frogs at Friedenswald- March 12 2006

Weather

Sunny in the low 60s F.

Western Chorus Frog

It’s 5:30pm which means it’s time for supper to be served at camp.  I take Massasauga Trail which leads me by the vernal pond that I had checked just 4 days prior for any signs of salamanders.  Now, just barely audible over the rhyming calls of red wing blackbird’s “cleeear cleeear” and the killdeer’s “kill deer”, I hear my first western chorus frog of the season.  The western chorus frog’s call sounds like someone is slowly pulling their finger across a stiff comb.  Like the call of all frogs & toads, these are mating calls made by the males to attract a female and also to warn other males to stay out of their territory.  Western chorus frogs are only about the size of a thumbnail but can call at tremendous volumes.  In a few weeks this vernal pond will be engulfed by this deafening chorus.

Frog Resources

“Reptiles and Amphibians of Michigan Field Guide” by Stan Tekiela with accompanying frog/toads cd is a wonderful place to start it you want to learn frog calls.  One nice aspect of this book is that it only contains frogs that you are going to encounter in your state, which is a great help when you’re starting out.  It can be overwhelming searching through field guides which contain hundreds of species many of which don’t even occur in your area.  So I highly recommend this concise guide. 

Another free source of frog calls is National Wildlife Federation’s Frog Watch USA homepage: www.nwf.org/frogwatchUSA . Here you can find the frogs in your area and listen to their calls.   

Turtle Hill - March 5 2006

March 5, 2006 6:30 pm to 7pm turtle hill at Camp Friedenswald

I live at the base of a beautiful beech maple forest called turtle hill. It’s called turtle hill because it has the shape of a turtles upper shell(carapace) As I begin my walk it starts to lightly snow. It’s the end of winter, which has been very light this year.

Plastic Skat

As I walk uphill I come upon a log with some skat (skat is a polite word for poop). Animals can be identified by there skat. This skat is thumb size and dark. As I examine it there was something that looked like plastic. I pick up a stick and pull it apart and my suspicion is right it is plastic. (Researchers are studying the effects of plastic on animals and ecosystems. Tons of plastic is entering the environment with unknown effects.)  My guess is that that the animal that is responsible for this “gift” is either a raccoon or an opossum. Here at camp we are always finding raccoons in our trash getting a free meal. I will have to check my field guides. (Yes, there are field guides identifying skat.) We have also been seeing lots of opossums as of late. 

Beech Trees 

Theses beechs of turtle hill are likely 150 to 200 years old. They have smooth bark with light ripples. Well, the bark is smooth except for the places where people have carved their initials. Beeches have complex relationships with maples.  Maples saplings grow well under Beech trees and visa versa. Turtle hill is a beech maple climax forest meaning that their will be beeches and maples dominating this woods unless there are external forces(like logging) but on the forest.

Leaf litter is thick covering the soft sandy soil. I don’t know why some leaves last longer than others?

Sandhill Cranes, Turkeys & Wood Ducks

As I continue to walk, I hear the loud calls of the sandhill crane that are on the northwest section of the lake. They are noisy creatures.

As I continue to the vernal pond on top of the hill, I hear a crashing from high in the trees. I see the large mass and recognize it as a wild turkey. It was probably settling in to roost in safety for the night.

I see quite a few deer tracks.

Leaves on the vernal pond have melted their way through the ice making an interesting visual. It looks like stencils made of ice.The sun must heat up the leaves faster than the ice itself?  I then hear more birds, this time the squealing of wood ducks and later I hear the ever present Canadian geese. The woods are stunning. The diffuse light mades it feel like an enchanted forest, and maybe it is.

I am struck by the fact that all the birds that I identify are by sound alone except the crashing of the turkey. Sounds coming from an unseen source in the fading light of day make it magical.

A wonderful thing about paying attention to nature is that you can always learn more answers that serve to unlock more questions.