Heritage Nature Trail - Cadillac

 After the vendor event today, I took a short hike on the Heritage Nature Trail at Mitchell State Park in Cadillac. I had been there once before in 2015 (link below).

This is a large man-made wetland area between Lakes Mitchell and Cadillac. Black Creek, seen here, used to be used to float logs between the two lakes, but it was too shallow, and a canal was eventually dug. This changed the hydrology of the area enough that this became about 70 acres of wetland.

Since it's now preserved as a nature study area, that is a good thing. Most of the trail is in the form of a raised berm that goes in a rectangle around the area. At least it's dirt. But despite being close to two busy highways, it's known for great wildlife viewing. There is a spur into the middle of the marsh with an observation platform. I went out there, but it's pretty early to see much. There were a couple of slow peepers.

I really liked this collection of hummocks along the diverted section of Black Creek that surrounds the wetland.

Saw my first turtles of the year! Just painted turtles, but that's OK. I like to play the game of "which will be first?" Some years it's been a Blandings.

I wanted to take the outer loop, and I did. But the cut-across loop was so attractive, I had to walk it too (both directions, eh?). It goes over what they call "hemlock island." Since nobody was keeping any kind of records when this land was all changed, they don't really know why it's higher, or why (uncharacteristically) hemlocks are growing that near a wetland. But it was a beautiful section of trail. Two humps with hemlocks, and one lower section with a boardwalk through the marsh.

On the walk back, I cut over to Lake Cadillac.

The willow trees are getting all sexy. This is goat willow, Salix caprea, alien. But the male catkins sure are fancy.

With the extra bits of trail I did and the out and back pieces, I managed to turn it into a four mile walk. There is lots of interpretation, and would be a nice walk with kids. Probably you'd see a lot of wildlife activity on a summer evening.

The vendor event went OK. They didn't manage to pull in a very good crowd. I sold a few books and talked with a lot of people. But a few of my friends came. Sorry, no picture of Miki, but I finally got a pretty good one of Eamon!

Total miles hiked in 2024: 193.6 of which 69.6 is North Country Trail.

Mitchell State Park, Cadillac, MI, Heritage Nature Study Trail. with spurs. 4.0 miles

See Sunday Hikes

Spring Tease

 
Today was pretty wintery again. But there are little teases that we may be approaching spring. I still have a couple of plants that come up and bloom. Here is a common primrose.



And my 'Jetfire' mini daffodils seem to hang in there. The trumpets are orange, but it never records that way on the camera.



On my walk yesterday, I saw willows with catkins. Not sure what kind of willow. ID's of those are really tough.



And someone's daffodils are in full bloom. Beautiful! Mine are still in tight buds.



In other news: I worked on various projects today. I'm a little cranky, so I'll just say... see you tomorrow.

See Spring for a Day

Five Mile Loop- Bad and Good

 
Got out to walk the five mile loop I like that isn't too far from my house. The bad news is that I forgot two miles of it are dirt which means there is ice on the road. This made the walking difficult. The good news is that there was ice on the road and I got more of a workout than I would have with five clear miles. A lot of this loop is straight and flat, but there are a few interesting dips.



It was foggy, and that made it a great day to get silhouettes of trees. I like these black willow tops.



Cattails often appeal to me, too. I liked how the ice was stained somewhat tan. It made a monochromatic background for the cattail stalks.



In other news: I finished up the interior of the book today. Just need to correct one trail name tomorrow in the text and index and add the credits for the cover photos. Spent the rest of the time on the cover. It will be very similar to North Country Cache, but with different pictures. They are all chosen and put in place. Now I just have to do the correct text for this volume.

Now I just need to do a longish walk each day until I head to Ester's on Wednesday.

See Five Mile Route

Red Roots

 
Today was the Manistee Book Expo, and after it was done I walked the Riverwalk. This was my most interesting find. Who knew that willows can have red roots?



I thought maybe I was being fooled by two trees growing close together, but I did find some other pictures on line of willows that had roots growing into water that were very red. These were really floating, wafting in and out with the gentle waves.



It was a gorgeous day. A little warm, but not unbearable.



I sold a few books, visited with a friend, took this walk. I didn't sleep well at all last night. Is it too early to go to bed?

	See Manistee Riverwalk Again
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Spots and Spikes

 
Tried to sandwich a walk in between rain events today. Got half a walk in between! The rest of the walk was pretty wet.

The willow trees are trying hard to look spring-like. Lots of pussies fuzzing the stems.



The other kinds of spots were all hanging from branches. I was so mentally focused on the water drops I didn't realize about the spikes till I got home and looked at this picture. I like the contrast of the vicious thorns with the soft droplets.



It was so wet the fish were swimming in the road. OK, not really, but it sure looks like one.

	See Little White Spots Before My Eyes
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Sprouting Off

 
What happens when you lop off the main branches of some trees? The weeping willow just grows new sprouts.



You know what I "see" when I run across something like this?



I'll be off to work for the night in a little bit. I need to retain the good humor.

	See Orange Day
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Little White Spots Before My Eyes

 
Taking my walk today... lots of little white spots dancing in the branches.





A closer look sorts them out. One is willow galls covering the shrubby tree.



The other? Wow- spring is popping early. Pussy willows (catkins of some willow variety)



And... saw the first redwing blackbird of the year, and the second and third, and a couple of robins.



I should be happy, but it's really too early. This could be very bad news for the fruit farmers.

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Evening Wanderings of the Bag Lady

 
Good thing Chuck says he likes going on my walks with me (virtually speaking- he lives over 100 miles away), because I tend to look rather marginal. I leave the house pretty much ok, but almost always return with a bag full of bottles and cans.


I did walk later than usual today. After work I did errands and came home and ate. The morning's gray and rain gave way to a nice mild evening, so I decided to take a different road loop that would get me the full five miles today. It's not a loop I usually walk, so I saw different things. I think I need to walk it more often because there are several interesting wetland areas.

However, the first novelty was a very wooly sheep who was quite curious about me. I think she needs shearing soon!



Sharing the same space with her were several good-looking chickens.



One of the things I love most about spring is watching the trees begin to color up before the leaves appear. Weeping willows turn yellow. This one looks great behind last year's corn stubble and contrasting with the pines.



And here's another miniature world waiting to be explored. Are the islands inhabitable, or are they the dangerous places with the brown plains between the better spaces?



Best of all, passing one of the wetlands, I saw three ducks. Too far to see what kind, but sometimes if I can get a picture an ID is possible later on the computer. One of the ducks was by itself, and I caught a shot of it, and then they all took off with an amazing cacophony of squealings and squawkings. If I were a good birder, I would have known right then what they were. As it was, I only knew they weren't any of the ducks that quack! (And for language lovers, squeal, squawk and quack is an interesting collection of words, don't you think?)

Sure enough, as soon as I opened the picture, I realized I'd learned this duck before. This is a female wood duck. Sure wish I'd gotten a picture of the other two. But, even so, it's the best picture I've gotten of a female, and it's a good reason to walk that loop again. You can see the blue patch on her side and the rows of spots below that. And now I'll remember what they sound like!



Getting in shape! Thanks for coming along.

	See A Ducky Solution
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Willow Mysteries

Remember the picture I posted a few days ago of a tree with fluffy things up against the sunny sky. What the heck were they? I was stumped. Saw red osier dogwood there- they don't have a flower like that. Saw alder there- they don't have a flower like that.

Found a whole lot more of them the other day, down closer where I could get a good look and sort out which branches went with which things. It's generally a scrubby little shrub of a tree.


Here are the fluffy things, closer. They are clearly catkins, as in male flowers.


Very pretty! Next, I found a definitive piece of information. Clearly is is a willow. You can see the "pussy" on the same branch.


And here are some of the pussies that are beginning to grow into the fluff ball caterpillars.


So, I went hunting in my "Shrubs of Michigan" book. I don't recall pussy willows turning into these monster caterpillars when I was a kid. And, AHA, they probably didn't. I think this is Salix glaucophylloides var. glaucophylla, which is somewhat particular to Michigan, or at least coastal areas. It likes sandy soil around the Great Lakes. Common name Broadleaf Willow. I'll have to go back when the leaves come out. I'm not certain enough of this yet to declare it a done deal.

And in another effort to throw the identification off, many of the twigs sport galls, which on the tree I saw at distance seemed like alder cones. Close-up, I knew exactly what it was.


I had to do a little sleuthing to learn who causes it. It's called a willow cone gall, and is caused by a midge (Rhabdophaga strobiloides). They lay eggs in the terminal bud, which grows this gall creating a nice home for the new midges to grow until the next spring.

Of course, willows hybridize like crazy, but I think I'm on the right track.

	See 87 Years Strong
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