Field of trillium
FSMW Logo

Tag: Fauna

  • Full Moon Nature Walk (November 16, 2024)

    Moonrise Walk to the Pond collage

    WHO: Everybody is welcome WHAT: Join us for a meditative walk to the pond to experience woods in the dark. WHERE: Meet at the main entrance to Scarlett Mitchell Woods (the kiosk west of Scarlett Middle School and south of the bus turnaround loop). WHEN: 6:00 PM Saturday November 16, 2024 WHY: Get a different…

  • Sunrise Nature Walk (October 5, 2024)

    Sunrise at the pond collage

    Judy and I walked to the pond at 7:10. We were later joined by Michael and Peter. I saw the pond, pale orange sky, ducks, geese, egret, raccoon, squirrels, reflections on the pond, small amount of fall colors, light on the trees, poison Ivy, leaves drifting down, … A gorgeous egret circled over the pond…

  • Exploration of Scarlett & Mitchell Rain Gardens Nature Walk (September 7, 2024)

    Collage image of exploration of rain gardens

    WHAT: End of summer Nature Walk Featuring Solidago & Sunflower/Pollinators & Predators WHEN: 10:00am Saturday, September 7, 2024 WHERE: Meet at the main entrance showcase (kiosk) to Scarlett Mitchell Woods. We’ll explore the rain gardens at Scarlett Middle and Mitchell Elementary schools. WHY: Solidago is the scientific name of Goldenrod. If the weather is right,…

  • Pheromones

    Flying honey bee

    Pheromones are chemicals that humans, animals and insects use to communicate. Pheromones are analogous to an excreted/secreted hormone.  Read more on pheromones on the Wikipedia page. Pheromones are involved in almost every aspect of the honeybee colony life: development and reproduction (including queen mating and swarming), foraging, defense, orientation, and in general the whole integration…

  • Traveling Cherry Millipede

    Traveling Cherry Millipede

    In 2023, I started seeing these millipedes that I had not noticed in the past. The iNaturalist site said these are the Traveling Cherry Millipede (Pleuroloma flavipes). One can see these little guys from North Dakota, to Connecticut, to northern Louisiana and even southern Texas. The traveling cherry millipede does secrete toxic cyanide compounds to…

  • Doug Fulton’s, A Naturalist’s Journal

    MSWA Logo's Bird

    Doug Fulton was a journalist with the Ann Arbor News. He wrote hundreds of articles. Many of the articles were environmental and nature based. He wrote two full page articles on Scarlett Mitchell Woods. On the ‘Mitchell Scarlett Woods Nature Area’ sign is an image of a bird. Ever wondered what’s the bird, well the…

  • Spring 2024 Serendipity Walk – Path Less Taken

    Path less taken walk collage

    The last of four Spring Serendipity Walks took place on May 18, 2024. This time we focused on Scarlett Mitchell Woods – West, sometimes referred to as the Korschak section after the previous owners.  It took 25 years to procure this section with funds from the City of Ann Arbor, a grant from the State…

  • Spring 2024 Serendipity Walk – Creatures of the Pond

    Spring 2024 Creatures of the pond, collage

    Michael led us on a walk to the pond and looked for bugs, larvae and nymphs in the water. We found a red water mite, water fleas, a blood sucker and a variety of larvae. The pond was not teeming with bugs and larvae as was expected. The bugs and larvae are food for other…

  • Springtime on the Pond

    Springtime in the animal kingdom means a time of rebirth. This was evident from this picture taken on April 26, 2024 at the pond by Pat of a mama and her 9 ducklings.

  • Spring 2024 Serendipity Walk – Birding and Mindfulness

    Birding and Mindfulness walk collage

    Thanks so much for attending our Birding and Mindfulness Walk held on Saturday, April 20 – 10:00 am.  Hope you had as good a time as I did! I looked up the swallows that were so gracefully flying over the pond and then, prompted by a list of swallows, clearly remembered that they were Rough-Winged swallows.…