The Merry Month of May

May is a special time of year at Chippewa Nature Center. It is a month of rain showers and blooming flowers, young rabbits and new fawns, paddling trips and birding trips galore. We hope you enjoy these pictures of the season, all taken in the month of May at CNC. Remember, you don't have to travel to the depths of wilderness or to exotic mountain locations to be immersed in the beauty of our natural world. All you have to do is open your door and step outside! For a full list of upcoming programs at Chippewa Nature Center, visit our website calendar.

American Robin

Painted Turtles can be found on many Nature Center ponds.

This stylized photo is a Rusty Blackbird along the Chippewa River. 

Eastern Chipmunk with a full cheek!

Serviceberry Blossoms

White-tailed Deer resting in the woods

May Apple leaves in the Beech-Maple Woods

A young Great-horned Owl perched near the Homestead

Celebrate National Walk in the Woods Day!

From http://celebrateforests.com

This Saturday, May 21 is National Walk in the Woods Day. The American Forest Foundation is helping develop and facilitate a variety of U.S. celebrations for 2011 International Year of Forests throughout the year. This year, Saturday, May 21 is National Walk in the Woods Day, and we invite you to share this day with others. Consider helping youth and adults alike to discover a forest and learn about its importance by participating in, or leading, a “walk in the woods.”
 
Here are some ideas:

• Discover your forest!  Visit a nearby woodland, city or state park, or a national forest.
• If you own woodland, invite your family, neighbors, elected officials, or other members of your community to join you for a walk on your property.
• Take your children, grandchildren, or family/friends/neighbors’ children for a walk in the woods. Conduct an informal educational activity, for example using Project Learning Tree’s “Connecting Kids to Nature” activity series.
• Help a school improve its grounds by planting trees with students and teachers; involve a local youth club.
• Go camping, or just step outside and enjoy trees and all that they give us!

For more information, click here to plan your National Walk in the Woods Day activity.

Leelanau BirdFest: June 1-5, 2011

Though many people are aware of the Traverse City area's fame for cherries, wineries, lighthouses and spectacular sand dunes, the first annual Leelanau BirdFest is another great reason to visit the area this spring. Held from June 1-5, the event promises to "offer a wide variety of unique field trips including Birding by Tallship, endangered Great Lakes Piping Plovers, a 300 acre prairie, and pontoon boat to the Leelanau Conservancy’s Cedar River Preserve.  Every field trip, seminar and keynote program reflects our conservation theme." 

The event is sponsored by a diverse group of organizations including the Leelanau Chamber of Commerce, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Michigan Audubon Society, Leelanau County Parks and Recreation and many more.

Birding highlights in the area include nesting Piping Plover (a federally-listed endangered species), nesting Prairie Warblers, and a wide variety of field species, such as Grasshopper and Vesper Sparrows, in areas of preserved farmland. For more info, you can print a checklist of birds found at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore by clicking here.

To find a full schedule of information and to register for the BirdFest, visit their website.

Choosing the Right Field Guide

Let's say you want to get started in birding so you head out to the local bookstore. With so many field guides out there, it can be a daunting task to figure out which one will work best for you outdoors! While choosing a field guide has a lot to do with personal preference, here are a few things to look for as you decide what’s right for you.

Narrow the focus
If you do most of your birding close to home, choose a guide that specializes on your area of the country. Books that cover all of North America can get confusing.

Pictures or drawings?
A photograph gives you a sample of a real-life bird in the wild, but drawings
may capture variations in plumage better.

Organization
A guide that presents bird species by family (ducks, warblers, etc.) is easier to use than
one that organizes birds by color or size.

Our top picks
Guides preferred by CNC staff are The Sibley’s Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America by David Allen Sibley and Birds of Eastern and Central North America by Roger Tory Peterson.

You'll find a great selection of field guides right here at the Chippewa Nature Center store!