Slowing down is natural as we grow old. But I feel like I was born for a slow pace. I have always preferred canoes, bikes and hikes. Expressways make me nervous. I told my Dr. about it. He asked what I did about it? I told him, “ I drive country roads instead”. It’s true. One day a few years ago I decided I would permanently avoid them whenever possible. When I tell people this they look at me funny. Society is all about cars and living fast. But I chose a different path and I don’t regret it.
Living sans interstate turn my trips into journeys…not destinations. Lately I’ve put a lot of miles on country roads. When my art festival season ended I decided I needed to spend more time with nature. Actually, my last art festival was a birding festival. I participated in the Crane and Art Festival in Marshall, MI. I had a great weekend selling art. But what I really enjoyed was the experience of watching the Sandhill Cranes come in to roost at night. The weather was great. Each night I would spend the evening sitting on the observation hill under the moonlight to listen to the cranes in the Baker Sanctuary. I soaked in the changing colors of the night sky. Each morning I woke up early, made coffee and took off to watch the sunrise burn through the morning fog. I drove the back roads to enjoy the fall colors. Every now and then I would pull over and watch the cranes fly overhead as they left the sanctuary for their day time feeding grounds.
After the festival I drove the back roads to Dexter, MI to canoe/flyfish the Huron River with my friend Sherm. We didn’t catch much but we did see plenty of birds. My favorite bird along the way was an Osprey with his piercing call. The Huron Metroparks are great sanctuaries in southern Michigan for nature lovers. I particularly enjoy the Dexter Huron Metropark with it’s variety of Oaks along the river. My favorite thing to do there is to look for Burr Oak acorns.
The following weekend I drove the country roads to Thorn Lake in southeastern Jackson County. Along the way I pulled over a half dozen times to photograph Sandhill Cranes in the local farm fields. I stopped to look at old barns, small ponds with Kingfishers and the occasional Kestrel on a wire. Thorn Lake is a sanctuary in itself with waterfowl numbering in the thousands. I was even fortunate to see a pair of Bald Eagles hunt and catch an unlucky Coot for dinner. To really see or ID the birds you need a scope. I’m putting a scope on my Christmas wish list.
On a drizzly day last week I spent an hour or so walking through Furstenburg Park along the Huron River in Ann Arbor. Ruby-crowned Kinglets were bouncing around in all the trees like pinballs. I like this park in the winter too. It’s a great place to see Pine Siskins as they feed on Black Alder trees along the river. The paved trail from Gallup Park to Nichols Arboretum is also nice. Warblers hang out along the river during migration. I saw my first Cape May Warbler there this Spring.
The other day I drove the country roads to the Haehnle Sanctuary near Jackson, MI. Birders are showing up in large numbers to get a view of the Sandhill Cranes as they fly in to roost for the night. Some leave disappointed because of the low numbers. Before they hop back on the interstate to head home I want to tell them to take the country roads home. They may find them in large numbers along the way in the fields. The water levels at the marsh are not ideal this year. Weve had a lot of rain this fall. So most of the Sandhills have been bypassing the marsh. But it’s still pretty awesome to see them fly directly overhead.
This past weekend was the best weekend of all this month. A friend invited me over to her property in southwest Lenawee County. Being a Lenawee County resident I love to go birding here. Birders are hard to come by in Lenawee. Lenawee is a farming community. As Leopold stated in his Sand County Almanac, bread comes before conservation in hard times. And Lenawee has seen some very hard times lately. Hard times made it easier for the mineral industry to come in and drill. Hard times push farmers to maximize the crop acreage which reduces riparian buffer zones and grassland habitat. Hard times bring in industrial farmers and CAFO’s. Hard times have been bad news for clean water and bird habitat. It’s been so hard I’ve considered writing off Lenawee County as too far gone. The conservation battle seems too great. The constituency here does not support conservation. But there are passionate people here willing to work for conservation. Lynn Henning is one. And, my friend Janet is another. She broke the drain tile in her farm field and reestablished some old wetlands that were previously drained for farming. She invited me over to go birding on her “farm”. It’s true that it used to be a farm. But it’s a sanctuary now. It’s not just a sanctuary for birds, trees, wildflowers and amphibians. It’s a sanctuary for those who cannot live without pasque flowers, according to Leopold. It’s for those who love to fall asleep to the sound of Chorus frogs, those who still remember the sound of a Northern Bobwhite and those who prefer Gentian to Garlic Mustard. My day with Janet on her “farm” renewed my hope for Lenawee. It is not “too far gone” as I once believed. There are conservation efforts in Lenawee. You just have to get off the interstate and look for them.
To see some of Janet’s work visit her youtube channel.
The Heron 