I came back home to my Michigan north woods home from a trip to Scotland with summer bursting out all over. The trees have leafed out. Morels, supposedly, can still be found. And birdsong welcomes the sunrise. I’ve been able to sit outside with my morning coffee taking in vitamin D and hoping the sun can help my body get rid of my upper respiratory infection.
As I quietly sat outside, I tried to pick out all the birds singing in the forest. I started my Merlin app and 12 birds were identified in a few minutes. Most of the birds identified were in this forest for breeding. Palmer Woods, where we live, is a forest preserve of over 1000 acres of mature secondary growth from Michigan’s logging area. You can still find rows of red pine plantation planting. On our property there are red pines and oaks, maples, beeches, white pines, and cherries. Oak trees alone support over 500 species of moths and butterflies, also known as bird food.
On a recent evening, we looked outside the back door and the air was full of flying insects, from moths to little flying gnats. Living among insects takes a bit getting used to but helping to keep this forest healthy means keeping the insect population healthy.
On the other end of the wildlife spectrum, coyotes are making their presence known. We try and keep a pretty consistent schedule so at around 9 p.m. each evening we take our golden retriever out for his short nighttime walk. As we walked out the front door, we heard barking across the road. At first I thought it was a fox but then we heard a single coyote howl. Dolce, our retriever, looked at me and looked in the direction of the barks, which kept on. I think he knew this was not a domestic dog. As I’m sure you know, golden retrievers love every person and dog they meet even if the feeling isn’t mutual. As soon as Dolce finished his evening absolutions, we turned back home with the coyote barking an invite the entire time. I shall wait and see if this becomes a more common occurrence. Coyotes are sneaky bastards. I hope they are playing the same game with deer to help manage their population.
We are in for a week of beautiful weather. Sunshine and no rain. I’m thinking the farmers are hoping for some rain soon. I’m waiting for this respiratory infection to burn itself out so I can get in the garden and in the woods and start living a beautiful spring.
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