Eberwhite Woods Stewardship Committee

New Flora and Fauna from mid-late May 2018 (From left to right, top to bottom)  Ruby-throated hummingbird, Scarlet tanager (male), Baltimore Oriole, Goldfinch, Indigo Bunting Green Frog, Painted Turtle, Yellow-billed Cuckoo Red Trillium, Meadow Rue, Jack-in-the-pulpit, Wild Geranium, Spring beauty Common Split Gill fungi, Morel fungi

New species appearing in the woods this past week: contact: eberwhitewoods1946@gmail.com There is a fairly predictable succession of plants and animals each spring in Eberwhite Woods. Kids feel very empowered and connected to the natural world when they can name and identify the plants and animals around them. A strategy to help not feel overwhelmed and start learning the plants and animals is to go look for new species as they appear in the woods each spring. Here's what's happening this week: Wildflowers: The first wildflowers to bloom were trout lilies and then came the bloodroot, cutleaf toothwart, and spring beauties. Now the Jack-in-the-pulpit, Trillium, Mayapple, and bellwort are starting to bloom, while the bloodroot have finished flowering. Jack-in-the-pulpit, Trillium, Mayapple, Bellwort Frogs and Toads: The spring peepers were the first frogs to appear in the woods, then the woods frogs, and American toads soon afterwards. The woods frogs have already...

Wildflowers in Eberwhite Woods are just starting to bloom! Though it may feel overwhelming to identify new plants, the Woods wildflowers don't all bloom at the same time. Fortunately, our local wildflowers bloom in succession as spring progresses into summer and this gives us time to learn a few each week. Also, learning the names of the flowers is valuable and kids and adults are completely capable of doing so! As bird coordinator of Science Olympiad, Kevin B. has pointed out, "kids can learn bird species names if they can learn 100 Pokemon names." Names not only help us differentiate and categorize species, but they can tell us stories about particular organisms that help us connect to the wild world around us. For example, bloodroot, one of our early wildflowers, has a red root and is toxic to touch and ingest. Knowing the name of the plant will definitely keep me from putting it in my salad!  (Check out the article at the bottom of this page for more information on t...

The wood frogs and spring peepers are out! The sounds of the spring peepers is deafening in the woods right now. There are also wood frogs calling (they sound like ducks). Here are three videos taken April 13th - one of mating wood frogs (it's called amplexus when they mate), one of a male spring peeper calling (check out his vocal sac expanding), and one of swimming wood frogs. Be sure to head into the woods to listen and look for the wood frogs out before they are gone - they have the shortest window of breeding time for any Michigan toad or frog (this is why they are known as explosive breeders). Here is a little more information about wood frogs: Species Spotlight by Jenny Jacobs Very soon, spring will come to our northern woods and ponds will come alive with frog songs. These early spring frogs seem to suddenly appear out of nowhere, which leads to the question, “where do these frogs go in the winter?”. While many amphibians and reptiles burrow deep down in the m...