A Night Hike at Fenner

In today's post, Jen Ismirle writes about enjoying the glimpses of animals and their activities she observed on our last night hike of the summer. 

For the past few weeks, I've been wanting to go on Fenner’s Summer Night Hike, but because of family plans and the rain, I kept missing out. But finally, last Friday, my schedule opened up and rain was absent in the weather forecast; it was all systems go!

There ended up being 12 of us total on the hike, including myself and our guide, Martha. She gave a brief presentation in the library first, showing us pictures of various animal we might see and also playing the sounds that different owls make. The screech of the barn owl was particularly interesting, and scary: click here to hear it.

We headed outside after that, and it was still light out as we began our trek. I was excited though to hear Martha say that this night hike would be the darkest one yet, as it is starting to get darker earlier. As we walked about, she stopped us a few times to play bird calls from a tape player she had, but apparently the owls and other birds were feeling shy or just weren’t around right then, because the calls didn’t lure them out.

Although I was disappointed that we didn’t happen upon any owls, we definitely weren’t alone on our walk. There were many squirrels rustling around nearby, and we also saw two deer, separately. We only caught a quick glimpse of the first one as it dashed behind some trees, but we were able to watch the second one romp across the entire field before it too disappeared amongst the trees. We saw a rabbit as it wandering through the forest too, just before we headed out into the field. Unfortunately, I was too slow to catch any of the animals with my camera.

By that point, it was starting to get dark and we could see a couple bats darting around in the sky as they were catching insects. When we walked over to the Field Pond, the children on the hike spotted a spider on its web, and were extremely interested in investigating it up-close. I stayed back as I am not big on spiders myself, but it was fun to watch the kids so fascinated by the spider and asking questions about it. They were fearless!

As it grew entirely dark, we winded our way through the rest of the field and around the Central Pond. Throughout the walk, we could rustlings all around us and many different bird calls, but we could no longer see what was making these noises. The children and some of the adults whipped their flashlights around, but it was difficult to catch a glimpse of these creatures of the night. We could also hear splashes from time to time in the pond, but only see the ripples on the water.

After we made our way back to the Visitor Center, it was time for a bonfire and s’mores! And after that, since we hadn’t been able to see any owls in-person, Martha brought out some owl pellets for the kids to dissect. They were able to find quite a few animal bones inside the pellets, including a rodent skull (which is on the right below).

I am very glad I was finally able to attend one of these night hikes, though sadly it was the last summer night hike for this year. It was interesting to witness (through sight and sound) the nocturnal activities of so many different animals, which I didn't even realize are happening nearby while I am sound asleep inside my home.

Starting September 1^st, there will also be Fall Migration Bird Walks, led by the Capital Area Audubon Society. Check out Fenner’s calendar to learn more.

One Hot Summer

Jessica Rizza writes about our hot summer this year in today's post, and how this affects the animals and plants at Fenner. Come out to Fenner to see for yourself!

It has been one hot summer this year; it’s the hottest year in U.S. history (so far) to be exact! There are many ways that we all deal with the heat. Some people spend their time at beaches and pools cooling off in the water, while others choose to stay indoors in the air conditioning. We, as humans, know how to beat the heat, but what about all the wildlife here at Fenner? The native plants and animals have had to devise their own plans to deal with this hot summer, just like we have.

For example, to deal with hot temperatures, deer will find a low shady area during the day to bed down in. There, it is cooler and there are no direct rays from the sun! A shaded area with a small pond or stream is preferred even more. If you want to spot some deer in the summer here at Fenner, go hiking out on the trails and keep an eye out for shaded moist places.

American toads and green frogs adopt the same strategy. To see frogs and toads in the pond behind the Visitor Center on a hot summer day, you might have to get a little dirtier than one would think. To stay cool, frogs and toads bask in the pond under fallen logs, overhanging trees, or dead branches. An area like this is one of their favorite places to keep cool. 

The native flora, however, isn’t so lucky. With the low precipitation that we’ve had here in Lansing there is only so much a plant can do to conserve its available water. A plant can’t get up and move to a shaded moist area like animals can, thus, a lot of plants around here have suffered losses due to the extreme dry heat we’ve had (especially the open grassy areas).

 
The moral of the story is to try to enjoy the heat and being outside because we’ll have a foot of snow again before we know it!