I remember a time about three decades ago when, if someone saw a bald eagle in Oakland County or most anywhere else in Michigan, it would be extremely exciting news. I live in northernmost Oakland County and for the past few months, hardly a day goes by without me and many others seeing eagles. That fact leaves me with a very good feeling and serves as a reminder that sometimes nature does find a way with a little help from her friends.
Continue reading
Medical professionals write prescriptions for ailments and illnesses. That fact is very well known. But did you know land managers write prescriptions for igniting fires in our fields, woodlands and marshes? Today’s Wilder Side of Oakland County nature blog was inspired by a resident asking me why there was a fire at Independence Oaks County Park a few weeks ago and “the fire department never showed up.” I was tempted to simply say, “They had a prescription to burn,” but instead I explained the fire situation they witnessed in an abbreviated version of today’s blog. I was a bit surprised by the question since the contractor’s fire suppression equipment was on site, just not the local fire department, which in this case would have been Independence Township Fire Department.
Continue reading
“The bluebird carries the sky on his back” is perhaps one of the most known and loved quotes of Thoreau’s many musings on bluebirds. A lesser-known quote clearly exposes his deep appreciation of bluebirds. “If there is no response in you to the awakening of nature – if the prospect of an early morning walk does not banish sleep, if the warble of the first bluebird does not thrill you -know that the morning and spring of your life are past.”
Continue reading
“High horns, low horns, silence and finally a pandemonium of trumpets, rattles, croaks and cries that almost shake the bog with its nearness, but without yet disclosing whence it comes. At last, a glint of sun reveals the approach of a great echelon of approaching birds. On motionless wing they emerge from the lifting mists, sweep a final arc of sky, and settle in clangorous descending spirals to their feeding grounds. A new day has begun on the crane marsh.” – A Sand County Almanac
Continue reading
Sunday, March 5 was a spectacularly sunny day for the Bower School Farm’s “Winter Birth Celebration.” Decades have passed since my previous visits to that educational working farm in Bloomfield Township. Back then when I was a firefighter/medic for Bloomfield Township Fire Department, the farm was in our emergency response area. I was delighted to have attended their special event and looked at it as a homecoming; after all the farm is my old “friend.”
Continue reading