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Public Education Programs
All programs are free of charge. Meet at the EIC.
September Morning Bird Walk Series
8:00 AM -10:00 AM, Saturdays: September 9, 16, 23, 30
Join Center naturalist Rick Simek for up to four different bird watching excursions during fall songbird migration. These walks are tailored to beginning and experienced bird watchers who enjoy an unhurried and inquiry-based approach to viewing birdlife. Binoculars are a must, so please bring your own pair, as well as a field guide to bird identification. Attend as many walks as you wish. Participants must be at least 12 years of age.
Spiders at Twilight
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM,
Friday, September 15
Spiders tend to become more active just before dark. With luck, we'll observe spiders constructing new webs for their nightly prey capture, and also hopefully catch some spider mating behavior. We'll also try to identify the various common spider species we encounter. Bring a flashlight. Participants should be at least 7 years of age. Be prepared for mosquitoes.
Owl Prowl
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM, Friday, October 20
Fall nights lend a nice setting to going into the woods to search for owls. We'll try to lure in the owls by playing recorded sounds of their calls. Our quest will be to hear, and possibly see, Eastern Screech Owls and Great Horned Owls that inhabit the Environmental Study Area. Participants must be at least 8 years of age.
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The Hawk That Didn't Care (About People)
Beginning in the fall of 2016, word around the Center spread of a young Red-tailed Hawk being seen at unexpectedly close range by dozens of visitors to the Environmental Study Area. Frame-filled photos featuring the bird, taken using cameras not typically suited to capturing such images of a wild hawk, were enthusiastically shared with EIC staff. This was clearly not your run of the mill, wary red-tail.
Things got really interesting in the winter of 2016-17, when the bird's daily rounds often included stationing itself for hours each day at the bird feeding station just outside the Center, just yards away from the birds and squirrels at the feeders. See where this is going? It wasn't long before the hawk had caught, killed, and eaten several squirrels, often in full view of dozens of Center visitors. It was like real-life National Geographic in Dearborn.
One particularly memorable drama involving this bird and its squirrel prey took place on the EIC maple tree tapping program for the public. About 50 people of a wide range of ages watched as a red squirrel was summarily plucked off a tree by the hawk, dispatched, and carried to a nearby branch, where it was eaten in full view of the program group.
Come summer, the hawk was frequently encountered at the UM-D Community Organic Garden, where it was seen catching and eating snakes and voles, again at very close range as people looked on.
Although urban red-tails are sometimes less skittish than their rural counterparts, this bird far surpassed all previous norms of wild raptor approachability by people around the UM-D campus. It actually came to where the bird would remain perched just above the ground, and, rather like a domesticated parrot, casually watch Center staff come and go in filling the bird feeders from only about 20 feet away. Expecting the unexpected from this bird became routine. Things reached a particularly unusual state of affairs when the hawk, perched on a low fence by the bird feeders, simply sat there as a string of loquacious school children taking part in a maple syrup program strolled past it, at about 20 feet away.
On occasion, while still hunting from just a few feet outside of the EIC windows, the bird would peer inside at its human admirers (see photo).
Photo courtesy of John Fennessey
All this unexpected hawk behavior naturally leads to questions about how this individual came to be so blasé about people. One possibility is that it was raised, or in falconry parlance "hacked," by a falconer or wildlife rehabilitator. I tested that concept one day by extending my arm toward it, to see if it would respond as a hacked bird would by flying over and landing on my hand. No response. I also wondered if it might have something wrong with it; however, this bird was a very capable and successful hunter and showed no signs of illness.
It seems most likely that this bird, having been hatched and raised within the 300 acre natural area that includes the Environmental Study Area, simply saw humans as just another harmless member of its habitat community. This behavioral anomaly ended up providing hundreds of people, including many school children out for EIC nature programs, with a unique opportunity to directly observe, and to experience and ponder, the life ways of this impressive avian hunter. -
Rick Simek
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Monthly Young Naturalist Program to Start Again Soon!
This monthly series of exciting and engaging outdoor nature and natural science explorations will once again be offered to children ages 9-12. Seasonal session topics will include pond explorations, insects and spiders, birds and migration, nighttime owl calling, maple syruping, plant identification and ecology, soil science, and more. The program is tailored to children who already have a keen interest in nature, and who wish to share that with their peers in a mutually supportive learning environment. The fee for the program is $70, and includes a field pack, field journal, and field guides for the children to use and keep. Participants are expected to attend most, if not all, of the monthly sessions.
Except for the November owl prowl session, each program session will take place from 9:30AM to 12:00PM on one Saturday, per month.
The 2017-18 session dates are:
October 7
November 10 (Friday evening session, 6-9PM)
December 2
January 6
February 17
March 3
April 21
May 5
June 2.
For additional information, please contact Rick Simek, the EIC Program Supervisor, at (313) 583-6371 or email
rsimek@umich.edu.
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EIC Volunteer Power!
Volunteers continue to inspire and impress with their dedication and commitment toward supporting the Center's mission. We so very much appreciate the following individuals and groups for their recent volunteer involvement.
Girl Scouts Plant a Habitat Garden!
A recently bulldozed rainwater drainage swale adjacent to the EIC was the planting site for a wonder
ful habitat restoration project. The planting involved over 50 Girl Scouts who came
to the Center in early June for an educational program about rainwater gardening. To directly involve the Scouts in a hands-on effort related to the benefits of rainwater gardening, their Scouting organization provided over 200 native plant plugs, which they raised the funds to purchase. The plantings were of native wildflower species adapted to periodically saturated conditions, which are known to attract butterflies and butterflies, and to support native pollinators. The EIC staff greatly appreciates the wonderful support and ecological stewardship effort of the girls and their enthusiastic Scouting leaders!
AK Steel Cares
This cheerful group of go-getters pulled thousands of Canada Goldenrod (Salidago Canadensis) plants-including the remarkably tall specimen held by the volunteer in the attached photo-from the Center's native rainwater gardens. Although Canada Goldenrod is native and ecologically beneficial, it is aggressive and has a tendency to outcompete other native species planted at the site.
Boy Scout Eagle Service Projects:
Charlie Frank: New Welcome Sign Construction
Charlie planned, funded, designed, and installed this new sign housing, which will soon be posted with information that will inform and welcome visitors to the Environmental Study Area. The previous bulletin board sign at that location, which had been installed several decades ago, finally succumbed the elements. Charlie's long lasting sign construction materials include black locust posts and poles, which are highly resistant to rot. Note how the logs were peeled to add a rustic flavor to the piece. Charlie and his fellow Boy Scout assistants spent several days on their work.
Ryan Montierth: Lakeside Trail Redefinition and Restoration
Ryan's much-needed project effort entailed lining about 50 yards of both sides of the Lakeside Trail with pre-cut logs. Ryan and his fellow Scouts drilled holes in the logs, into which metal spikes were inserted in order to be able to secure the logs in place. By clearly delineating the trail boundaries, Ryan's project helps prevent the sort of off-trail foot traffic which results in trampling of plant life, soil compaction, and erosion of the lake edge. Heavily utilized by visitors to the Environmental Study Area, including by thousands of children who attend EIC programs each year, the trail is now poised to further enhance their nature exploration experience. The cut log arrangement also lends a very nice aesthetic dimension to the trail.
We congratulate Charlie and Ryan on their well-earned achievement of Eagle!
If you and/or your group would like to volunteer at the Center please contact Rick Simek, the EIC Volunteer Coordinator, at
rsimek@umich.edu, or by phone at 313-583-6371.
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City of Dearborn Television (CDTV) Airs EIC Community Involvement Video
A crew from CDTV came to the Center twice in early summer to take in the goings-on at one of Center's monthly Stewardship Saturdays and the Sprouts gardening program for children. The result was this nicely produced video segment VIEW HERE, which aired multiple times. We appreciate the CDTV's crew and producers for their involvement in getting the word out about these ways in which Dearborn residents, and many others, can enjoy what the Center has to offer.
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Interactive, graphic story of the Environmental Study Area
The fascinating and insightful story of how the University of Michigan-Dearborn came to have an Environmental Study Area (ESA) adjacent to the Henry Ford Estate is now featured in an interactive
GIS Story Map
, available through the EIC website. Titled "From Henry Ford's Backyard to the Environmental Study Area: A Birdseye View" the piece features a series of aerial photographs from 1937 to the present. Accompanying the photos is a narrative written by Rick Simek, the EIC Program Supervisor and Natural Areas Manager, which describes how human land-use decisions strongly influenced, and were influenced by, the changing natural character of the ESA, leading to the present.
An interpretive highlight of the piece is an aerial photo overlay feature which allows the viewer to slide photos from successive years over each other. This allows for a time-lapse comparison of landscape changes from one aerial photo to the next. This creative and useful feature was imagined and developed by UM-Dearborn student Jacob Yesh-Brockstein, whose outstanding GIS skills and dedication to the mission of the EIC were pivotal to this effort. Jacob was helpfully supervised and guided in his Geospatial Analysis and Mapping (GAM) Lab work by faculty member Claudia Walters. Thank you Jacob and Claudia for your tireless efforts!
Having an on-campus Environmental Study Area that engages university students, faculty, staff, and the public is one of the things that makes UM-Dearborn unique. We hope you
take the time to explore this historical account of how it came to be.
Click on this link to get started.
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David Susko
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"Emergency" Housing
Resourceful wildlife often exploit human structures to suit their needs. Peregrine falcons and European rock doves (commonly called pigeons) choose rocky cliffs on which to live and nest, so it's no wonder they both view concrete high rise buildings as suitable substitutes.
Pictured here is another "alternate use" for the emergency telephone near our picnic tables and program staging area. If you look closely, there is a high rise building, constructed of assorted sticks of varying sizes, atop the red emergency phone. A little House Wren selected this piece of real estate as one of several sites to woo his mates.
This chickadee-sized bird is a taupe gray/ brown color, known for its lack of field marks, with a "popsicle-stick" tail, usually angled toward the sky
and, in spring and summer, frequently pauses to deliver cheerful, bubbly songs while announcing its claim on food, water, shelter, space, and mates.
House wrens typically nest
inside tree cavities and nest boxes.
Because
they're cavity nesters, they thrive around buildings, yards, farms, and other human habitations with their assorted nooks and crannies. (T
he shelter of the phone kiosk must have had enough cranny curb appeal to fill the bill for this chap.) M
ales will start several nests in almost every cavity that can be filled until a female chooses which, if any, of his "starter homes" meets her standards. Numerous unoccupied starter nests, sometimes called "dummy nests," may serve to discourage other birds from nesting in those cavities. People who maintain bluebird houses have learned to dump out these dummy nests once a female house wren has made her choice. This helps bluebirds find a space to nest....at least until next spring, when that male house wren gets busy again.
House wrens pile twigs into the cavities they choose to nest in, as this one did, either to make a bed on which to build a soft-lined cup, or sometimes mounded up into a barrier to protect the nest from cold weather, predators, or cowbirds. The nest cup itself is built into a hollow in the twigs and lined with less than a ¼ of an ounce of feathers, grasses and other plant material, animal hair, string, snakeskin, discarded plastic, and spider egg sacs.
As the season progresses, house wren nests may also house other unwanted inhabitants. Their nests can become infested with mites and other parasites that feed on the wren nestlings. This is possibly why spider egg sacs are incorporated into the nesting materials. In lab studies, once the hungry spiders hatched, they helped the wrens by devouring the nest parasites!
Speaking of hungry, house wrens e
at a wide variety of insects, including beetles, caterpillars, earwigs, and daddy long-legs, as well as smaller numbers of more mobile insects such as flies, leafhoppers, and springtails.
Rarely sitting still, l
ook for house wrens hopping quickly through tangles and low branches in search of fast moving insects.
Their "housekeepers" should be careful, too-they also eat spiders!
-Dorothy McLeer
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A Bird Silhouette Challenge
Can you identify the large, bulky bird perched on a branch in this photo?
Taken in the Environmental Study Area at dusk by Center volunteer Joe Turek, the photo shows the rather unexpected nighttime tree-roosting behavior of this mostly ground-dwelling species.
Answer: Wild Turkey
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