Spring and Citizen Science! 

This past Monday was my favorite day of the year.  It wasn’t a special holiday and there was no elaborate celebration, but it’s a day I wait for with high anticipation each and every Spring.  Days
like this usually arrive in March when you finally feel spring in the air.  You can smell it float on the warm breeze and you know that the growing season has arrived. This year, we had to wait patiently for Mother Nature to bring us springtime temperatures, and hopefully they're here to stay! 

One of the best things about Spring is when amphibians and reptiles come out of hibernation.  Salamanders, lizards, frogs, toads, snakes, and turtles emerge from their wintertime rest to bask, feed, and begin to prepare for another season. Now that they're here it won't be long before they start moving around. 
 
Keep aware and watch for them crossing roads.  You may find salamanders slithering across roads on rainy nights, frogs hopping in the misty air, and turtles moving to find food, mates and suitable nesting sites. 

If you do find any amphibian or reptile hanging around, snap a photo and share your observations with other wildlife enthusiasts by entering it into Michigan’s Herp Atlas!

The Herp Atlas is a great way to document your observations of reptiles and amphibians and the information can be used by scientists and citizen scientists alike to track any number of variables. Location information documents the range of a given species, dates of observation gives insight into the timeline of
emergence, critical for climate change modeling, and multiple photographs provide a look at identifying features of each species.  
   
There is a need for data throughout the entire state, although some counties have far fewer observations than others.  Its easy to sign up and enter your information, photographs, and map a location. 

Give it a try!  

Citizen Science is a worthy and honorable use of our time, skills, and the input of us all can really make a difference!

Happy Tracking!

To sign up and begin entering your own observations into the Herp Atlas:
http://www.miherpatlas.org/

Information on Michigan’s Reptiles and Amphibians – DNR:
http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-153-10370_12145_12201---,00.html

Michigan Society of Herpetologists – Michigan Reptiles and Amphibians Identification Guide:  
http://www.michherp.org/miherps.html

Citizen Science Alliance:
http://www.citizensciencealliance.org/


 

Tiger Salamanders!

 Now that Spring is here, I have salamanders on my mind.  The
pools around northern Oakland County are no longer covered in ice and most have filled with water from April rains and snow melt, and salamanders are out of hibernation.  

These beautiful creatures are Michigan’s largest salamander, and one that we have right here in the headwaters region as well as most of the Lower Peninsula.  They can even be found in a few spots in the Upper Peninsula.  
 
Tigers vary greatly in their appearance.  Some are black with yellowish tiger’s stripes – hence the name Tiger Salamander.  Others have greenish-grey coloring with little to no markings.  But what all Tigers have in common are their long tails and thick, long bodies, averaging 7 to 9 inches and up to a record 13 inches long!  
 
Tiger salamanders, unlike some of our other native salamanders, can be found in a variety of habitats, living in woodlands, meadows, marshes, and lake edges.  They can even be found in farmland and residential areas.  But they all require smaller, fishless ponds necessary for mating and breeding.  And, even though we have plenty of ponds in our area which might be beneficial for Tigers, habitat fragmentation due to development and roads, in addition to pollutants and toxins in the environment pose a real threat to these amphibians and they are quite vulnerable due to these impacts.   

So, maybe the next warm night, take a walk in your favorite woodland area, run a flashlight through the leaf litter, flip over a few logs, and you just might find some having emerged from their deep burrows underground to feed on worms, insects, slugs, snails, and even other salamander larvae.

 Happy Exploring!  
 
The Michigan DNR has a short write-up at:
 http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-153-10370_12145_12201-61173--,00.html

National Geographic:
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/amphibians/tiger-salamander/

Dr. James Harding has several books on Michigan’s Herpetiles:
http://www.amazon.com/Michigan-Frogs-Toads-Salamanders-Reference/dp/1565250028/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1365992296&sr=8-1&keywords=james+harding+frogs

http://www.amazon.com/Amphibians-Reptiles-Great-Region-Environment/dp/0472066285/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1365992331&sr=1-1&keywords=james+harding+great+lakes

Michigan’s Widlife Facebook Page had a great write-up on Michigan’s Salamanders on April 11, 2013:
https://www.facebook.com/MichigansWildlife

 “Herping with Dylan” video - Spotted, Tiger and Small-Mouth Salamanders:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dffOcX4Y6TQ


 

White-Breasted Nuthatch!

There is a charming little songbird I enjoy watching through all
seasons.  He is not an uncommon bird, and one that I’m sure most of you have observed, but one that so peculiar and so fascinating to watch.  

The white-breasted nuthatch is a one of two nuthatches we have in Michigan, and the more common of the two at my backyard birdfeeder.  He has a sharp colored steel gray or blue back, head and neck with a contrasting bright white face and underparts.  He is a bird simply lovely in profile and with a unique pattern of feeding by slinking down the trunk of a tree head-first, and eating side-ways or upside-down. The name nuthatch is in reference to a behavior of feeding by smacking seeds or acorns against trees in order to release the meat inside.  They also have a habit of storing food beneath the bark of trees or covering it with leaves or bits of moss to enjoy later.  
 
Nuthatches have a varied diet consisting of the aforementioned seeds and acorns, as well as insects, spiders, and caterpillars.  To attract them to your bird feeder, entice them with sunflower seeds,
peanuts, suet and peanut butter.  

The white-breasted nuthatch is found in deciduous woods or wooded edges, as well as open areas with larger maple, hickory, basswood or oak trees.  They are also found in residential areas.  Conversely,
Michigan’s other nuthatch, the red-breasted nuthatch, prefers similar habitats but around coniferous woods.  Of course, their habitats will overlap and I have observed both species at my feeders.

With nesting season at hand, you may wish to take a listen when you’re out of doors for the male’s song, a “wha-wha-wha”, or their call, a loud “yank”, and a softer “yank”, when they’re searching for food.  If his song is successful and he attracts a female, she will make a nest in the cavity of a tree from fur, bark and small clumps of dirt for 5-6 eggs, white in color with red-brown speckles.  Even after nesting season, the two will stick together throughout the year and into the winter until the following Spring.  
 
Happy Birding!

Cornell Lab of Ornithology
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/white-breasted_nuthatch/lifehistory

 National Geographic
 http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birding/white-breasted-nuthatch/

For a truly pleasurable birding experience, visit Kensington Metropark where you can walk along the trails near the Nature Center feeding chickadees, tufted titmice, and even nuthatches directly from your hand!
http://www.metroparks.com/parks/index_all.aspx?ID=6&r=0