Hawk Woods Nature Center

A Winter Walk at Hawk Woods

Oakland County, MI Government 2 Comments

WILDER SIDE OF OAKLAND COUNTY

I almost did not attend. A gloomy overcast sky had painted the world in dreary shades of gray. The weather forecast suggested a cold drizzle of rain, not my favorite conditions for hiking or photography. I had all but decided it would be a miserable day for the hike being offered by the Hawk Woods Nature Center to explore “seasonal changes” and look for signs of wildlife. However I had promised my old friend Mike Mansour, the long-term naturalist at Hawk Woods that I would be there. And so I went.

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Hawk Woods – Not Just For The Birds!

Oakland County, MI Government 2 Comments
Hawk Woods

WILDER SIDE OF OAKLAND COUNTY

The distant din of traffic from M-24 and I-75 was barely audible when I heard a rather odd sound. It seemed to come from a small pond nestled away on the west side of Bald Mountain Road in Auburn Hills. It sounded something like a hoarse frog struggling to sing an unknown melody. I knew it wasn’t a spring peeper, wood frog, or chorus frog, the three species most likely to have been singing in the last weeks of April. I tried to peer through a thick wall of invasive phragmites for a better view of the hidden songster, but had no luck. As I advanced off trail, my steps made a crunching noise on dried sticks. Then, in a burst of speed and flurry of wings the “frog” and his companion erupted into flight. That’s how my unforgettable and most delightful early morning exploration of the 80-acre Hawk Woods Nature Center began.

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