Elk Rapids Almanac-August 2020
August 15 - Bird updates: By the end of this month, our breeding Baltimore Orioles will all have migrated out of the area on their way to Central America. They will spend the winter there before returning to us in early May.
Brown Thrashers will begin their southward journey early next month. All will depart by the middle of the month. These birds are relatively early returnees among our Neotropical migrants (those species that leave our country for points south - some go all the way to Argentina), returning in the middle of April. _Kay Charter, Saving Birds Thru Habitat.
August 23 - Where do clouds come from? Why should we care? What do they tell us about the weather and the conditions of our planet? How many times have you sat quietly alone on a bench, or with a child at your side, or perhaps with a partner gazing at clouds wondering what it might be like to ride on a cloud?
The Cloudspotter’s Guide, The Science, History, and Culture of Clouds, by Gavin Pretor-Pinney, brings you closer to some of the answers to these questions in an artfully penned book that begins:
“I’ve always loved looking at clouds. Nothing in nature rivals their variety and drama…”
Replete with photos and noteworthy insights into the Low Clouds, the Middle Clouds, and the High Clouds, Pretor-Pinney’s award winning book is a ticket for a ride on clouds. Readable cover to cover, or bits at a time when you just want your mind to wander, The Cloudspotter’s Guide entices you with the secrets of a unique world floating above our existence and offers pause to appreciate the artistic harbingers of Earth’s weather. __Mike Toscano
August 24 - As late August approaches, there are small signs that fall is coming. As the nights grow colder the sunlit days grow shorter, the butterflies and moths of Northern Michigan also sense this change. It’s our annual visitor, the Eastern Monarch Butterfly, who is participating in the 2nd largest migration of any insect, who will shortly disappear through the colder days of October. This amazing butterfly has used up to 4 generations of monarch to arrive to Northern Michigan, but also then turn south at this time of year and begin a 3000 mile journey to Central Mexico, where a vast majority of the remaining Monarchs will over-winter. Currently Monarchs are at a 90 percent decline in numbers, and many residents in the area have begun to leave Milkweed plants in their gardens and landscapes to allow the majestic Monarch survive, by providing it’s caterpillar with it’s only source of food.
While Monarchs leave for the winter, there are a large number of native butterflies (and moths) that never leave our great State. Instead, they spend the winter months hunkered down in various life stages, including eggs, pupa, caterpillar and even adult stage. When yard clean ups are done each fall, I think of all the wildlife sheltering in the discarded leaves being hauled away. My personal favorite is the Mourning Cloak butterfly, one of the first butterflies seen in spring, because they over-winter as adults and feed on tree sap long before the flowers have begun to bloom every spring.
With a total of 316 butterfly and moth species found in Michigan, I’m happy to report that many native species are more considered when it comes to their survival. Perhaps it took a global pandemic to get some folks outside to discover all the wonders of nature they had been missing...as most gardening centers will report, it’s been a busy year of outdoor gardening and wildlife observations. While we are forced to adapt to a new way of interaction with people, I’m hopeful a new interaction with our ecosystems give people more reasons to help us save needed population of insects, including butterflies and moths. _Cyndie Roach, Curator, GT Butterfly House & Bug Zoo
August 15 - Bird updates: By the end of this month, our breeding Baltimore Orioles will all have migrated out of the area on their way to Central America. They will spend the winter there before returning to us in early May.
Brown Thrashers will begin their southward journey early next month. All will depart by the middle of the month. These birds are relatively early returnees among our Neotropical migrants (those species that leave our country for points south - some go all the way to Argentina), returning in the middle of April. _Kay Charter, Saving Birds Thru Habitat.
August 23 - Where do clouds come from? Why should we care? What do they tell us about the weather and the conditions of our planet? How many times have you sat quietly alone on a bench, or with a child at your side, or perhaps with a partner gazing at clouds wondering what it might be like to ride on a cloud?
The Cloudspotter’s Guide, The Science, History, and Culture of Clouds, by Gavin Pretor-Pinney, brings you closer to some of the answers to these questions in an artfully penned book that begins:
“I’ve always loved looking at clouds. Nothing in nature rivals their variety and drama…”
Replete with photos and noteworthy insights into the Low Clouds, the Middle Clouds, and the High Clouds, Pretor-Pinney’s award winning book is a ticket for a ride on clouds. Readable cover to cover, or bits at a time when you just want your mind to wander, The Cloudspotter’s Guide entices you with the secrets of a unique world floating above our existence and offers pause to appreciate the artistic harbingers of Earth’s weather. __Mike Toscano
August 24 - As late August approaches, there are small signs that fall is coming. As the nights grow colder the sunlit days grow shorter, the butterflies and moths of Northern Michigan also sense this change. It’s our annual visitor, the Eastern Monarch Butterfly, who is participating in the 2nd largest migration of any insect, who will shortly disappear through the colder days of October. This amazing butterfly has used up to 4 generations of monarch to arrive to Northern Michigan, but also then turn south at this time of year and begin a 3000 mile journey to Central Mexico, where a vast majority of the remaining Monarchs will over-winter. Currently Monarchs are at a 90 percent decline in numbers, and many residents in the area have begun to leave Milkweed plants in their gardens and landscapes to allow the majestic Monarch survive, by providing it’s caterpillar with it’s only source of food.
While Monarchs leave for the winter, there are a large number of native butterflies (and moths) that never leave our great State. Instead, they spend the winter months hunkered down in various life stages, including eggs, pupa, caterpillar and even adult stage. When yard clean ups are done each fall, I think of all the wildlife sheltering in the discarded leaves being hauled away. My personal favorite is the Mourning Cloak butterfly, one of the first butterflies seen in spring, because they over-winter as adults and feed on tree sap long before the flowers have begun to bloom every spring.
With a total of 316 butterfly and moth species found in Michigan, I’m happy to report that many native species are more considered when it comes to their survival. Perhaps it took a global pandemic to get some folks outside to discover all the wonders of nature they had been missing...as most gardening centers will report, it’s been a busy year of outdoor gardening and wildlife observations. While we are forced to adapt to a new way of interaction with people, I’m hopeful a new interaction with our ecosystems give people more reasons to help us save needed population of insects, including butterflies and moths. _Cyndie Roach, Curator, GT Butterfly House & Bug Zoo
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Baltimore Oriole
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Brown Thrasher by Jeff Kingery