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First Spring Wildflowers: The Season Begins
It is always a challenge picking the dates, weeks in advance, for early spring wildflower walks. The challenge is in selecting a time when the short-lived blooms are visible. They are called “ephemerals” for a reason. This year Spring has been colder than average here in Detroit and first flowering is later than normal. But, […]
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Hemp Dogbane: Extended Seed Dispersal
One of the advantages of walking in the same park regularly — and of taking pictures in different seasons — is that I have the opportunity to see and to review later the ways in which different species develop over the months. As I approached a patch of Hemp Dogbane in Eliza Howell Park this […]
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Cavity Nesting Birds: The Season Begins
As I indicated in the last post, April is a month for checking the forest floor, looking for and admiring the emerging spring wildflowers. April is also a month for checking dead trees or limbs as well as holes/cavities in live trees. There are approximately 14 bird species that (always or usually) nest in tree […]
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Focus on Forest Floor Flowers: April Watch
One of the annual field trips offered by Detroit Audubon is a spring woodland wild flower walk in Eliza Howell Park. In winter, I select a date for that event, long before I have a sense of how quickly spring will progress. Based on past records, this year’s date is April 23. It’s a cold […]
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Mourning Cloak: An Unusual Butterfly
The last week in March was warmer in Detroit in 2021 than it is this year. On March 27 a year ago, I saw the first butterfly of the year in Eliza Howell Park, a Mourning Cloak, definitely one of my favorites. Because it is one of the few butterfly species that spend the winter […]
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Redbud in March, Redbud in April
Three weeks into March, the Eastern Redbuds in Eliza Howell Park in Detroit still look like they did when the leaves fell last Fall. But three weeks into April, the Redbuds will represent the brightness and beauty of Spring. What a difference one month makes! (The April photos are from April 20, 2021.) The flowers […]
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Praying Mantis Egg Cases: How Many Species?
Watching Praying Mantises is an annual nature walk activity in Detroit’s Eliza Howell Park in late Summer and very early Fall. When Winter comes, long after the Mantis adults have died and the leaves have fallen, the egg cases (“oothecae”) are much easier to spot. Based on the many oothecae visible this year, the Praying […]
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Mourning Doves Are Cooing Again: Paying Attention to a Common Bird
Now that March is here, there are new signs of emerging Spring almost daily in Eliza Howell Park. One is the cooing sound of the Mourning Dove, a sound not heard for several months. The small-headed, long-tailed Mourning Dove is one of the most common birds in the United States. Mourning Doves have been present […]
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American Sycamore: A Distinctive Tree
In Winter, when almost all the trees in Eliza Howell Park are leafless, American Sycamore trees stand out, with their attractive multi-colored bark. While some of the Sycamores appear to have been planted for parkland purposes, more have grown naturally, especially along the river. American Sycamore is native to eastern North America and is often […]
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BIRDS NESTING: A Field Course
One of the annual highlights of Eliza Howell Park nature walking is spring nesting season. From April through June, I typically see some 20 differemt species building nests, incubating eggs, and/or feeding young. Baltimore Oriole is one species that nest here regularly, carefully weaving hanging nests. Eastern Bluebirds nest in cavities. I am able to provide […]
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Eliza Howell Nature Walk 