April 20, 2022

Media contacts
Questions about wild birds: Ed Golder (DNR), 517-284-5815
Questions about poultry or domestic birds: Jennifer Holton (MDARD), 517-284-5724

The flicker of a golden-winged warbler and the peent of an American woodcock usher in the signature start of springtime in Michigan. To enjoy the return of migratory birds, grab your binoculars and explore one of our Grouse Enhanced Management Sites (GEMS).

GEMS are areas of publicly accessible land managed for wildlife habitat and wildlife recreation. Each area provides abundant food and shelter for a variety of wildlife, including migratory birds. While these areas are primarily used for upland game bird hunting in the fall, they provide excellent birding and wildlife recreation opportunities year-round.  Each area is complete with walking trails, parking areas, site information and maps. The trails, accessible to people of varying physical abilities, are the perfect location for new birders or hikers to explore.

To learn more about Michigan’s bird species and to plan your birding trip, visit Michigan.gov/Birding.

Are you brand-new to birding? Check out Audubon’s How to Start Birding webpage. You’ll find everything you need to get started, including necessary equipment, places to go birding, safety tips, how to identify different birds and more.

Explore GEMS ?

Contact: Doug Rich, 906-353-6651

DNR approves land gift increasing acreage at Craig Lake State Park in Marquette County

The U.P. Land Conservancy has gifted nearly 1,300 acres of pristine highlands wilderness in Marquette County to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to protect the property from degradation and maintain public access.

“We are please to have this wonderful legacy donation to add to the very special Craig Lake State Park,” said Ron Olson, chief of the DNR’s Parks and Recreation Division.

The property includes three parcels that made up the conservancy’s Peshekee Headwaters Nature Preserve, which lies along the eastern edge of Craig Lake State Park.

Among its attributes, the property contains nearly 90% of the watershed that fills Indian Lake, which is headwaters of the West Branch of the Peshekee River, along with 10 miles of hiking trails that connect to the adjacent state park. Read more

Introduction to wildlife photography

Saturday, April 23
8 a.m. to noon
Wolf Lake State Fish Hatchery Visitor Center
34270 County Road 652 in Mattawan (Van Buren County)

Get your feet wet with capturing wild critters on camera. Designed for those with little or no experience in wildlife photography, this class will introduce photography basics, equipment requirements, how to photograph wildlife, and managing and editing photographs.

Cost is $10. For ages 16 and older. Participation is limited to 25. Read more

April 15, 2022 – About 82% of the U.S. population lives in urban areas, and that number is growing. People are drawn from near and far to cities for jobs, restaurants and entertainment. They also enjoy green spaces within a bustling cityscape. Parks, forests and tree-lined streets provide respite and recreation, places to pause and ponder. Trees in urban areas also benefit residents by lowering cooling costs and improving mental health outcomes.

Several U.S. cities, shown in yellow, may be hotspots for tree mortality from the invasive emerald ash borer beetle. The map also shows other locations in the insect’s path over the next 30 years. Dark blue areas have lower risk, while lighter blue and green areas may experience greater risks and costs. (Source: Hudgins et al. 2022 Figure 2d)

“Frequent travel to and from cities means that trees in urban areas have high rates of exposure to invasive species like the emerald ash borer,” said Frank Koch, a USDA Forest Service research ecologist and co-author of a new study about the impacts of invasive insects on urban trees.

The emerald ash borer is a wood-boring beetle native to Asia. First discovered in the U.S. in 2002, the beetle was brought here accidentally – likely on a wooden pallet filled with imported goods like toasters or electronics. The emerald ash borer is now found in 35 states and Canada and has killed hundreds of millions of ash trees. Read more

Hunters encouraged to share harvest results via online survey

Though Michigan’s 2021 deer hunting seasons ended in late January 2022, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources is continuing to accept feedback from hunters about their experiences. Hunter harvest surveys have been sent to a random sample of the state’s deer hunters. In addition, hunters can take a brief online survey. Final harvest survey results will be presented later this summer.

Initial data from Michigan’s 2021 deer hunting seasons – including chronic wasting disease testing results and deer license sales information – was presented at Thursday’s meeting of the Michigan Natural Resources Commission in Lansing, with highlights shared below.

A shift in CWD testing

The DNR has finalized its 2021 surveillance efforts for chronic wasting disease, ultimately testing just over 7,200 deer. The more targeted testing goals are part of the department’s new region-by-region strategy aimed at detecting new outbreaks rather than revisiting known ones.

“We want to thank hunters for their cooperation in helping us meet our CWD surveillance goals,” said DNR Director Dan Eichinger. “Strategic testing for chronic wasting disease is of primary importance for the department, and we couldn’t meet these goals without the committed assistance of deer hunters.”

Eichinger also praised the work of deer processors, taxidermists and local businesses that help collect samples for testing, and other key partners who provide necessary assistance to the department.

In all, 25 CWD-positive deer were confirmed in 2021. Three cases of CWD were detected in Isabella County, which represents a new county where the disease has been found. (Since Michigan’s first confirmation of a CWD-positive wild deer in 2015, CWD has been detected in white-tailed deer in Clinton, Dickinson, Eaton, Gratiot, Ingham, Ionia, Jackson, Kent and Montcalm counties.) Read more

Learning and remembering bird songs can be a difficult aspect of spring birding activities, but now there is the ultimate bird identification app for your cellphone – the free Merlin Bird ID app that now has sound identification. Just hold your phone facing the mic in the direction of the song in question; press record, and Merlin will help you identify which bird is singing in real time. It’s like having a birding ID wizard in your pocket! And that’s not all; Merlin provides an impressive list of state-of-the-art help for birders in the field – and the Merlin app is FREE!

Merlin, named after the small falcon, is a bird guide that provides color photos of each bird species, sound recordings, range maps, and quick identification aid for all levels of birders to help you learn about the birds you encounter. In fact, you can also take a photo of a bird, or use one in from your camera’s photo file, and Merlin’s Photo ID will provide possible matches. Photo ID works completely off-line, so you can identify birds in the photos you take wherever you are birding. Even if you travel beyond our borders, Merlin provides global bird identification options.

You know Merlin is developed with the highest standards because it comes directly from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and you can learn all about all the impressive Merlin options at Merlin Bird ID – Free, instant bird identification help and guide for thousands of birds – Identify the birds you see (allaboutbirds.org)

To learn more about extraordinary activities related to preparing for and undertaking migration, Audubon recently tracked down some information to answer some of the most frequently asked questions about migrating birds. Obviously, birds have super-skills far beyond human abilities: They depart on time without the use of a calendar or watch, and they navigate long distances without a smartphone or map. They fly for days with few, if any, rest stops. Their bodies undergo remarkable changes so they are in top shape to undergo long migration flights.

How do birds prepare their bodies for flight? Migrating is a major physical challenge for birds. To get ready, some birds can make huge changes in their bodies in a matter of days. Birds rely on fat to fuel migration flights, in contrast to humans who burn a lot of carbohydrates and sugars during exercise. Some birds double their body weight before migration by gorging on insects, berries, earthworms, or mollusks. Others increase the size of their flight muscles, charge up their metabolism, and even grow or shrink digestive organs to increase or lose weight.

For example, during a study of Gray Catbirds, University of Rhode Island physiologist and ecologist Kristen DeMoranville found catbirds’ flight muscles were larger during migration. And while the birds wintered in the tropics, their hearts were reduced in size; but they gained fat, perhaps in anticipation for the spring migration season.

Biologists like DeMoranville are working to understand what genes and proteins are responsible for such body-morphing abilities, using information from human medical research as a starting point. The results could signal which foods are crucial for birds’ migratory flights, which in turn could help conservationists identify and protect the most important sources for nutrition for various birds.

How do birds know when to migrate? Varied cues help birds decide when to start their migrations, explained University of South Carolina ornithologist Nathan Senner, including day length, temperature, rainfall, food availability, and body condition. Birds may also pay attention to social cues to decide when it’s time to leave wintering areas. Read more