American Bald Eagles

Woodland Trillium - The Forest Lillies

Our Winged Wonders

Flying flowers

Leopards, Peepers & Toads

The forests where Paul Bunyan hung his cap

The story of Michigan J. Frog

The campers guide to morel mushroom hunting

Night Flyers: a fairyland of wonderful, colorful flying insects around your campsite tonight!

Their numbers are growing and you can see them nearby...American Bald Eagles

Want to see a bald eagle in the wild? Chances are, you can, perhaps even from a campground in Missaukee, Wexford or Roscommon counties.

This month, the American Bald Eagle celebrates 225 years as the national bird and official emblem of the United States. Some states had adopted the bald eagle as their emblem as early as 1778.

Adoption of the bald eagle as the national emblem wasn't immediate or unanimous. It was first proposed by the Second Continental Congress right after the vote on the Declaration of Independence and didn't pass until six years later. Benjamin Franklin, among others, opposed the eagle.

Franklin had observed bald eagles stealing fish from other birds, especially Osprey and that smaller birds sometimes chased eagles away.

Franklin thought they were cowards and thieves and instead preferred the American wild turkey, which, he said was “ a bird of courage, and would not hesitate to attack a grenadier of the British guards, who should presume to invade his farmyard with a red coat on.”

But the bald eagle prevailed, perhaps because of a story that during an early revolutionary war battle eagles had been seen circling about the battleground, “shrieking freedom!” according to accounts at the time.

Not A Bald Head

Eagles are a member of the Accipitridae family of birds, which also includes hawks, kites, and old-world vultures.

Scientists loosely divide eagles into four groups based on their physical characteristics and behavior. The bald eagle is a sea or fish eagle.

The name “Bald Eagle” doesn't refer to the bird's white head giving it a bald appearance, as many think. The word “bald” is actually a contraction of the English word “piebald,” meaning spotted or patched in black and white.

Eagle Eyed

All eagles are renowned for their excellent eyesight, and the bald eagle is no exception. They have two centers of focus that allow the birds to see both forward and to the side at the same time.

Bald eagles are capable of seeing fish in the water from several hundred feet above, while soaring, gliding, or in flapping flight. Since most fish are counter-shaded, meaning they are darker on top, they are hard to see from above, proving just how sharp the eagle's eyes are.

Any fisherman can tell you how difficult it is to see a fish just beneath the surface of the water from only a short distance away.

Eagles, like all birds, have color vision.

An eagle's eye is almost as large as a human's, but its sharpness is at least four times that of a person with perfect vision. The eagle can probably identify a rabbit moving almost a mile away. That means that an eagle flying at an altitude of 1000 feet over open country could spot prey over an area of almost 3 square miles.

A Rough Journey

At the time of our country's birth, eagles could be found from coast to coast and in almost every state. But as the country grew, their numbers began to decline.

There were a number of reasons for this. In the early years, loss of habitat played a part. Later, as settlers moved across the country, eagles were hunted because farmers believed they attacked small livestock. In some states there were bounties placed on eagles.

Still, their numbers were healthy until the middle of the twentieth century when the increasing use of pesticides with chemicals such as PCB and DDT caused the population to crash. These chemicals affected the eagles in many ways, including causing them to delay their breeding until it was too late in the season, or even to not breed at all. Eggs that were laid often had thin shells, causing them to break in the nest.

By the 1970s DDT had been banned in the US.

Reproductive success began to improve and by 1981, the population began to increase. A 1999 survey found 343 nests that produced 321 young in Michigan. But some problems still exist. Eagles nesting along the Great Lakes coasts have higher contaminant levels in their blood than inland nesting pairs.

Where they live

Today, bald eagles can be found in every county in Michigan. According to recent estimates, there are 323 breeding pairs of bald eagles in the Lower Peninsula and almost 300 breeding pairs in the U.P.

Jerry Weinrich, who is now retired but for many years conducted aerial observations of the birds for the DNR, says there are 4 breeding pairs in Wexford county, 4 breeding pairs in Missaukee county and about 18 breeding pairs in Roscommon county, for a total of about 52 adult birds and a number of young birds in the three counties.

Lake Missaukee, in particular has always had a nesting population, even during the years in the 60's and 70's when the population was at a low.

If you are camped in Lake Missaukee County Park, there's a good chance of you seeing one of these fine birds from the campground, beach or in Lake City in the trees around the lake.

In some parts of the state, the populations are pretty impressive. Weinrich said that in the southeastern part of the state, along Lake Erie, there are breeding pairs about every three miles.

North of Cadillac, a raptor recovery center, Wings Of Wonder, released an adult female back into the wild on Father's day. A vehicle had struck the bird and the organization nursed her back to health over the winter.

What they look like

Adult eagles have a brown body and wings with white heads and tail feathers. They have a long bright yellow beak with a hooked tip and two inch gray talons protruding from their feather-less toes. They can weigh up to 16 pounds although they average about 12, and they have wingspans of from six and a half to eight feet.

Adult females are much larger than males, averaging 34 to 43 inches in length, while males are only 30 to 35 inches in length.

Young eagles are almost completely brown with irregular patches of white under their wings and tail. They stay like this for four or five years until they develop the white head and tail. When bald eagles are young they are sometimes confused with golden eagles, but there are no golden eagles in Michigan.

The only other large, soaring bird in Michigan is the turkey vulture and they can be mistaken for an eagle when they are in the air. However, they don't have a white head or tail. They are also smaller, with a wingspan of about six feet and a length of about 25 to 30 inches.

On the ground, you will never confuse a turkey vulture for an eagle. Turkey vultures have ugly bald red heads and are somewhat disgusting looking although they play a very important part in the ecosystem in removing dead animals.

Turkeys, while they are also large, do not soar, but they do fly short distances or “hops.”

When bald eagles reach maturity they select a mate, with whom they probably mate for life. In captivity, they have been known to live to 50 years, but in the wild, they probably don't reach much more than 20 years of age.

The beginning of the breeding season, from mid-February to mid-March, consists of the establishment of a territory, nest building and mating displays.

The mating "cartwheel" display begins high in the air with the two birds darting and diving at each other, then they lock talons and drop in a spinning free fall, until, at the last possible moment, they separate.

The nest is usually located in the tallest tree in the area, often a white pine or dead snag. They are usually made of sticks with a lining of grass and moss. Nests may be added to each year until they reach enormous sizes, up to ten feet in depth and 20 feet across.

From late March to early April, one to four, but usually two pure white eggs, approximately twice the size of a chicken egg, are laid. Both males and female bald eagles participate in the incubation, and the feeding of the chicks that hatch around seven weeks later. In about three months, by late summer, the fledglings are ready for flight. When the parents move for the winter the young birds are left behind.

While the increasing population of bald eagles in the lower 48 states (there are no bald eagles in Hawaii and Alaska has many thousands of them) is allowing them to be removed from “endangered” status on the federal list (they are still classified as “endangered” by the State of Michigan), the birds are protected by a number of laws.

Any attempt to harass them or the possession of even a feather can be a felony and subject a person to jail time and fines in the tens of thousands of dollars.

If you see one, enjoy the sight, and, of course, take pictures if you can. But never approach the bird.

Bald Eagles feel threatened by humans and will even abandon nests with eggs or young eagles if the nests are approached.

They're primitive and not too smart, meet...North America 's only marsupial

By N.B. Sawyer

The opossum is deeply woven into American fable and folklore. Some folk think that's the best place for him. Others find the opossum almost loveable. And some find him tasty.

The opossum is almost always called the possum, as in the song, "Possum Up a 'Simmon Tree." That's really a persimmon tree, but apostrophes are tricky little critters, so they are usually dropped.

The possum is gradually moving northward, according to Michigan Department of Natural Resources biologist Nick Kalejs. "They are gradually expanding their range northward," he said. He said more possums are found in southern Lower Michigan, with the numbers gradually decreasing toward the north.

"Possums are a southern animal," said Elizabeth Tirrman, a DNR Nature Center spokesperson. "They don't have a thick coat, they have a bare tail and bare feet. Sometimes in the winter they lose some of those bare spots to freezing."

The nocturnal beasties look awful, something like a rat the size of a house cat. When seriously threatened, they "play dead,” hence the term "playing possum." They may not be playing. That could be an involuntary reaction.

If one is found in a campsite, just leave him alone.

"They'll just wander off on their own," said Tirrman.

Don't count on them playing dead.

"If you poke a stick at them they can get pretty ferocious," she added. Kalejs said a possum that came uninvited to a camp should be treated like any other wild animal. "Just give him some room and leave him alone and he'll leave."

Actually, both said they hear very few reports of possums invading campgrounds, unlike raccoons, which are a nuisance in many a campsite. Raccoons, however, have the appearance of cute, cuddly little things. They aren't, but appearances count, as politicians know.

A possum's main claim to fame is that it is the only marsupial in North America. That means the critters carry their young in a pouch, like kangaroos. The babies are born about two weeks after mating and crawl to their mother's pouch. The little ones are not born through the mother's nose, as folklore would have it. But the mother does often

clean out her pouch with nose and tongue just before giving birth. The young stay in the pouch for two to three months, then ride on mama's back for another month or two.

Possums have a prehensile tail, which makes it a useful appendage for holding on to things. However, adults do not hang from branches by their tails. Nor do the young wind their tails around the mother's tail while riding on her back, as a fanciful image would have it.

While some folk kill possums on general principles, and some eat them, there's a group called the National Opossum Society that loves them. The NOS wants to spread the good words about possums and keep them alive and well, like the singing group that is trying to save barbershop quartets.

Fossil evidence indicates possums were in North America 70 million years ago and are earth's oldest surviving mammal. The name comes from the Algonquin Indians. Something the Indians probably didn't know is that the possum almost never carries rabies.

They are equal opportunity eaters. Possums eat everything from carrion to fresh fruits and vegetables.

In folklore, they were a favorite meal in the Old South. Maybe that's merely an example of the protein shortage after the Civil War.

Some recipes call for simmering a possum alongside a brick for several hours, with various changes of liquid and seasonings. At the end, the diner is told to throw away the possum and eat the brick.

Others advise live trapping the critter and feeding it with cereal and milk for a week or so, to purge any toxins.

For a serious possum recipe, see the recipes pages in this issue of The Northern Camper.

There's no closed season on possums in Michigan. But Kalejs says shooting them "is not against the law, but you need a small game license to shoot one."

Maybe it's best to leave them alone. After all, they've been here a lot longer than we have, and may be here long after we're gone.

Is Michigan home to a population of GHOST CATS?

TIGER, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

- William Blake

Are there Cougars in Michigan? And if so, what does it mean to the hundreds of thousands of people who visit Michigan's parks, forests and natural wonders each year?

Cougars (Felis concolor, also known as Mountain Lions), are the largest predators in North America. They once ranged across North America, the U.S. and Canada, in the same areas occupied by their main prey, whitetail deer.

Cougars are large, tawny colored cats with long tails that go to the ground and then curl up. Full-grown cougars can be 6 to 9 feet long and weigh between 100 and 200 lbs. They seem to usually breed in the late winter, carry their kittens for three months and have litters of three kittens.

The last officially recognized cougar killed in Michigan was in 1907 somewhere between Newberry and Paradise. Since then the State of Michigan has said they are extinct. But that doesn't necessarily mean they are gone.

Reports of cougars in Michigan have continued to be received by authorities in the 100 years since they were officially declared extinct. What this means has continued to be a source of heated debate.

For years, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) said that photographs or highly reliable sightings of the animals (by their own employees, for example) were of released or escaped pets, or they were fakes.

But more recently, the DNR has admitted there may be something else going on.

The chief public information officer for the DNR, Mary Detloff, recently told The Northern Camper, “We believe there are random cougars, but not a breeding population.”

Just what is meant by “random” isn't exactly clear, but Detloff did again mention released pets. She left open the idea that the large cats may be visitors from states like North Dakota where recognized populations exist.

Detloff said the main reason for not believing that a resident, breeding population exists in Michigan is that there is no evidence of carcasses or kittens.

“I can't believe she would say that!” said Dr. Patrick Rusz of the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy. Rusz went on to explain that there have been scores of sightings of kittens (or cubs), including about 50 in the U.P. alone made by retired DNR Forester Mike Zuidema during his decades long research into the existence of cougars in Michigan.

Rusz and the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy have been verbally slugging it out for years with the DNR over the existence of cougars. The Conservancy wants the DNR to study and manage the animals, as the Endangered Species Act requires. Cougars were listed as an endangered species by the DNR in 1987.

For campers, especially those with children, knowing where these animals can be found and what to do if you encounter one is valuable information.

The controversy over cougars actually began in the 1930's with a steady flow of cougar sightings in the Upper Peninsula. These picked up after World War II and continued during the next twenty or thirty years. Often, tracks were seen and sometimes plaster casts were taken of the tracks. These reports got the attention of outdoors people and the media and resulted in several news stories from around the state. Then, increasingly, reports began to come in from the Lower Peninsula as well.

Throughout this time, the Michigan DNR continued to insist that there were no cougars. More disturbingly, the DNR scoffed at the reports and called the credibility of those making the reports into question.

Some of the reports offered more than sightings or photos. In 1984 blood covered bone fragments were recovered by a cougar shot in Menominee County. These were scientifically identified by Colorado State University as having “a positive identity to mountain lion.” In 1995 hair from an animal hit by a car in Iron County is found to match a cougar. DNR biologists then discarded the hair claiming it must be from an escaped or released pet.

In 1997 the Detroit Free Press published a clear photo of a cougar in Alcona County in the Lower Peninsula. The DNR attempted to discredit the photographer and the photo. In 1998 a DNR biologist saw a cougar in Alcona County about 10 miles from where the 1997 photo was taken.

In 2001 the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy published a technical report on cougars in Michigan and concluded that the state has a small and probably remnant population of cougars. Over the next several months the organization began to release information from field studies that identified tracks, cougar-killed deer and droppings, verified by DNA analysis, at several places in both the lower and upper peninsulas.

During this time, two cougars were seen in Roscommon and Benzie counties by the field staff.

In 2002 DNR biologists determined that livestock killed in Kalkaska County were attacked by a large cat, probably a cougar.

In 2003 the National Park Service, a federal agency, posted warning signs at the trails in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (which, in some ways, bears a resemblance to a very large kitty litter box). The signs said “You are a visitor in Cougar Habitat,” and offer safety tips. This was done after a long history of sightings by visitors and park staff and a close encounter with a cougar by one of the park's volunteers.

In 2005 a videotape showed two cougars, 5 ½ and 6 ½ feet long, in Monroe County. In the same year, the DNR released DNA evidence that a cougar was hit by a car in Menominee County. This was just 11 miles from where the bone and blood were found in 1984, but the DNR insisted it only meant there was one cougar, not a population.

A short time later a DNR biologist on a television program, when asked to give his estimate of the Michigan cougar population said, “my estimate is zero.”

Also in 2005, Jackson County Animal Control officers reported that a cougar killed a horse. Bite and claw marks were found on the dead animal, tracks were found at the scene and a cougar was seen less than two miles away by a Township Supervisor. Residents in the area claimed previous reports of a cougar were ignored by county and state officials.

Just a few months later another horse was killed by a cougar in Berrien County, as reported by Berrien County Animal Control. The animal's body was examined in the presence of more than a dozen television and newspaper reporters, who witnessed the claw and bite marks. The DNR claimed coyotes or dogs killed the animal. A month later, Berrien County declared a public safety advisory telling people to be aware that a cougar had killed a horse.

Finally, just last June, Battle Creek Police issued a public safety alert after police officers saw cougars on separate occasions, including a mother with two cubs.

As for cougars in this area, there have been numerous sightings in Wexford, Missaukee and Roscommon counties.

In Missaukee County for example, a cougar living in the Dead Stream Swamp area leaves repeated evidence of its existence. Signs of the cat have been found so regularly that the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy even has a name for him, “Old Reliable.”

As the controversy over this subject continues, campers need to know the following things. First, cougars exist in Michigan. Second, cougars exist in Michigan.

It doesn't really matter if the animals are a breeding population, or if hundreds of people have released pet cougars here, as the DNR claims, or if they are taking the bus from North Dakota each year. The fact is, they are here. Even the DNR admits that.

Knowing that, campers should continue to take the usual precautions that are taken to keep any large animal, including bears, out of your camp. Store garbage in the trunk of your car or in your truck and properly dispose of it as soon as you can.

If you encounter a cougar, try to make yourself look big, raise your arms. Don't turn and run. If you are with children, pick them up so they don't run.

It is extremely unlikely that you will ever encounter a cougar in Michigan, but it has happened recently in the Sleeping Bear Dunes area. It is even more unlikely that you would ever be attacked. We are unaware of that ever happening in Michigan, although it has happened, rarely, in the western mountain states.

For more on the subject of Michigan's cougars, check these websites:

http://www.michigancougar.com/ (This site has a good section on kittens and lots of photos).

http://www.miwildlife.org/ (This site contains research and position papers).

Woodland Trillium - The Forest Lillies

From late April through early May each year, the forests, still lacking the canopy of leaves, become spotted with white, Lilly-like flowers. The flower is the trillium, a delicate, three-pedaled white flower growing on a stem with three broad, pointed leaves.

There are several types of trillium and they grow across most of northern North America. The white trillium is the official flower of the Canadian province, Ontario.

Michigan is home to a wide range of trillium, including the trillium grandiflorium, which is fairly common, and the trillium undulatum or painted trillium, which is an endangered species and seems to only exist now in a few woodlots in St. Clair County. In addition, some other types are listed as threatened.

Trillium in Michigan can be found in most second growth woodlands. They require cool, moist environments with humus rich, strongly acid soils.

Picking the flowers is illegal and almost always kills the plant. The plants are very delicate and their flowers and leaves are their food source. In addition, the flower won't last long in a vase.

Attempting to transplant the plant is also illegal and the plant is unlikely to survive. Trillium require special habitat and soil conditions to grow and reproduce.

The Northern Camper, while researching this article was surprised to find at least one mail order plant company that was offering trillium for sale. The Michigan Bulb Company, located Lawrenceburg, Indiana, offers trillium plants in the spring.

We contacted the Michigan Bulb Company to see if they would share with us their secrets for propagating these delicate plants. It turns out, however, that Michigan Bulb is actually a catalogue company. They buy their plants from various vendors who ship them to people who order from Michigan bulb. Their public relations company was kind enough to check the types of trillium their catalogues offer, there are four, and none of the plants is listed as endangered or threatened in Michigan. However, the company will not divulge where the vendor gets the plants or how they are grown. This raises some serious questions and the Northern Camper does not recommend ordering these plants.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) enforces the laws that prohibit picking or removing protected species. Fortunately, this doesn't happen often, that we know of, in the case of trillium.

Some other illegal wild plant harvesting activities, however, have been the subject of DNR enforcement operations.

A few years ago, for example, a large group of people from another state was coming into Michigan to harvest wild ginseng. This plant is thought by some to have medicinal properties and the ground root can sell for hundreds of dollars. The DNR tracked these plant poachers a few years ago, according to Mary Detloff, Public Information Officer for the DNR, and made dozens of arrests which led to convictions and fines.

People who would attempt to take protected trillium in Michigan could face fines of up to $1,000 as well as sentences of up to 90 days in jail.

It makes a lot more sense to photograph the beautiful trillium. The pictures will last for years and the plants will be left alone to grow and reproduce.

For more information on the painted trillium, the endangered type, contact the Michigan Nature Association, which is buying land in St. Clair County where the last remaining plants are found. You can reach Jeremy Emmi, their Executive Director at (517) 655-5655. They take contributions and need financial help with their effort.

Our Winged Wonders
The birds you see in and around your camp could be one of the highlights of your visit

The campgrounds in Northern Michigan are the haunts of a wide variety of beautiful and even exotic birds. Here are few of the winged wonders you might see.

Woodpeckers

The Pileated woodpecker, for example, seen on the cover of the July, 2005 issue of The Northern Camper, is spotted frequently in northern counties.

Until early 2005, the Pileated was the largest woodpecker in the U.S. and Canada. That distinction came to an end, however, when a population of Ivory Billed woodpeckers was discovered in the swamps of Arkansas. The Ivory Billed, which is only about ten percent larger than the Pileated, had been thought extinct since about 1935.

The Pileated woodpecker makes a very loud noise when it pecks. It can also do a lot of damage to a tree.

There are several other woodpecker species in these parts as well, including the Hairy and Downy woodpeckers, which look almost exactly the same, but the Hairy is larger and has a longer bill. Both woodpeckers have a white back and a red stripe at the back of the head.

Other birds that hunt insects on the bark of trees include the White-breasted nuthatch that will stand upside down on a tree trunk with its head peering up and out, and the Chickadee, a small bird with a black cap on its head. The tiny Chickadee has a two-tone song you may hear in the morning.

Woodpeckers, nuthatches and Chickadees do not migrate and can be seen in our area all year around.

Colorful birds

Northern Michigan has all the more common, colorful birds seen throughout the state, including robins, cardinals and blue jays. But some of the birds seen in this area take their colors to delightful extremes.

Finches probably have the greatest variety of colors, going from a dusty red to a bright yellow and a striking blue. The blue finch, known as an Indigo Bunting, is a small, very shy bird that is difficult to spot. It usually travels with other finches and can be attracted to bird feeders.

The other very striking bird seen in this area is the Scarlet Tanager, a shocking red bird with black wings. These birds are much brighter than cardinals and not too difficult to see, usually about 30 feet up in a tree.

Another very pretty and colorful bird is the Rose-Breasted grosbeak. These birds are about 7 inches long and mostly black and white with a bright red splash under their black hooded heads. They also have a short wide bill, perfect for crunching seeds.

Finally, chances are you'll see a Baltimore oriole either in your camp or in flight near one of the farms in the countryside. The males are black and bright orange and the females gray and yellow.

Hummingbirds

The Ruby-throated hummingbird returns to Northern Michigan late each spring from its winter home in Mexico and Central America. They are fairly common here in the summer, but hard to see because of their size. It's easy to mistake one for a large bee as its flies through the forest.

The tiny birds are iridescent green with a needle-like beak. They take nectar from flowers and are very attracted to the color red. You might even see them checking out the red taillight covers on your car or truck.

The male Ruby-throat has an iridescent red throat that shimmers like a jewel, although seeing the red depends on the angle of the sun. If the light isn't just right, the throat will appear to be black.

The female has a white throat and breast.

If you want to hang a hummingbird feeder by your tent or trailer, you'll draw the birds fairly quickly. You can make a feed mix of one part sugar to four parts water. Boil and cool the mixture before leaving it out. Never feed them honey.

Large birds

The number and variety of large birds in Northern Michigan has increased substantially in the last 25 or 30 years, largely because of conservation practices and the re-introduction of birds like eagles and turkeys.

Your chances of seeing an eagle in this area are fairly good, especially in the north-central part of the lower peninsula. These large birds command the air and stand out because of their size. They are sometimes seen in pairs.

Turkeys are very common and might be seen in the tall grass along the side of the road. During the late spring and summer they are usually in family groups with mom and her chicks. In the winter they forage in flocks.

Turkeys can fly, but they usually prefer to just stroll along hunting for food. When startled, they'll take flight to a safe distance away and then continue walking.

Similar in size to a turkey and nearly as big as an eagle, turkey Vultures can also occasionally be seen in the area, usually around carrion. They are not a very pretty bird, with a featherless red head and neck.

There are also a number of hawks in the area that can usually be seen hunting fields in the country from the air. Crows, or ravens, are sometimes seen in this way too, but you can usually tell the crows by their long black beaks.

Finally, at night, many campgrounds are visited by owls, usually Barn owls or Barred owls. You might hear them hooting in the distance, or they might seek out the light from your camp lantern to search for insects or rodents. Many a ghost story told around a campfire has been punctuated with the sound of an owl, sure to make the hair on a child's neck stand up.

These are only some of the many birds you may see in this area and these are mostly woodland or field birds. Don't forget to watch the lakes, however, where you can also spot geese, ducks, cranes, and even seagulls!

Flying flowers

Children and puppies will chase butterflies. While kids seldom succeed in catching them, a puppy might, only to quickly spit it out when the dog discovers that the interesting wiggly little thing doesn't taste as nearly as good as it looks.

Butterflies are one of the delights of camping in northern Michigan, although some people are confused by what they see and even mistake them for moths.

Moths and butterflies are very similar. The biggest difference is when they fly. Moths fly at night and butterflies fly during the day.

Butterflies also have mouths and eat, but moths do not. Butterflies also rest with their wings clapped vertically while moths rest with their wings horizontal to their bodies. The rest of the differences are the kind that only an entomologist would notice.

Butterflies and moths both go through the same life cycle. They begin as eggs, which develop into larva (caterpillars). From this stage they go into resting stage called chrysalis (a pupa), when they usually form a cocoon. From this stage the flying adult emerges and the life cycle continues.

It is estimated that there are more than 150,000 species of moths and butterflies worldwide, of which about 28,000 species are butterflies. Of all the creatures in the insect world, only beetles have a larger number of species.

Like birds, many butterflies migrate to escape cold weather. Some only go a short distance, but some, like the Monarch, travel thousands of miles.

Monarch Butterflies

Butterfly migration is not well understood by modern researchers. Until recently, for example, it was believed that monarch butterflies, like the one on the July, 2006 cover of The Northern Camper, somehow stayed alive for months and traveled all the way from Mexico or southern California to Michigan and other points north during the summer.

Scientists now believe, however, that the Monarch migration is actually done by several generations of the insects, each stopping along the way, reproducing and going through the stages of development before resuming the journey on to the next stop where another generation will carry on the long trip. It takes about 20 to 30 days for the insect to go from an egg to a flying adult, through intermediate stage.

It is believed that Monarchs travel at about 11 miles per hour and can cover about 80 miles in a single day.

Monarch butterflies are poisonous. They get this poison in their caterpillar stage from feeding on Milkweed, their main food source. The poison is enough to cause an animal to get very sick and vomit. It doesn't usually kill them but they are left with a memory of that orange thing not being good to eat.

The coloring of the Monarch is also designed to frighten away predators. The bright orange is one of nature's warning signals (like red). One other species of butterfly, the North American Viceroy butterfly, mimics the Monarch's coloring both as a warning sign and to remind a predator of that Monarch that made it sick.

The Monarch migration is considered by some conservation groups to be a “threatened phenomena,” because of loss of habitat along the way. As we mentioned above, Monarchs eat milkweed and milkweed make cows and cattle sick, so farmers don't encourage them. Their southern winter forest homes are also threatened by warming global temperatures.

There are many places in Michigan to see groups of Monarchs. Any field with milkweed should have plenty of them, but the Michigan State forests and campgrounds also have viewing areas. A lot of these are along Lake Michigan. Check with the local office of the Michigan DNR for a location near you.

Swallowtails

Another common species of butterfly in Michigan is the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. Many people mistake these for Monarchs, but they are not the same at all.

Swallowtails have a little ear lobe shaped curve, or tail, at the bottom of their wings. They are also bright yellow, while the Monarch is more orange. The Eastern Tiger Swallow tail has “tiger” stripes on its wings and Monarchs do not.

The Swallowtail is not a poisonous butterfly, like the Monarch. They also feed on a wider variety of plants, including trees, and they can be seen flitting quickly through the deep woods.

The Eastern Tiger Swallowtail likes tulip trees, sweet bay, wild black cherry, ash, poplar, Basswood, birch, lilac, and aspens.

Butterflies in the News

The June issue of the scientific journal Nature carries an interesting story about hybrid butterflies.

Hybrids are fairly common in plants, but considered rare in animals. Many types of corn and roses, for example, are hybrids, combinations of two species brought together to get the best characteristics of the parents.

The most commonly known animal hybrid is the mule, which is a cross between a horse and a donkey. Like most other animals hybrids, mules are usually sterile and cannot reproduce among themselves.

The scientists created the hybrid butterfly from two South American species that often live near each other. Researchers had seen another butterfly in the wild near these species and had guessed it might be a natural hybrid. Lab research proved this hypothesis to be true.

The parent's species, named Cydno and Melpomene were often found near a third species, Heurippa. Huerippa was thought to be the hybrid.

This was confirmed in the laboratory.

At first generation, the females are sterile but the males are not. Eventually, through a process known as “backcrossing,” fertile females are born and these become the preferred species for the hybrid to reproduce with.

As far as we can tell, there are no hybrid butterflies in Michigan.

Children and Butterfly Collecting

Children usually find out about butterfly collecting from movies or television and they want to try it out. It seems simple, but its not.

Traditional butterfly collecting requires equipment, usually a net of some sort, a killing jar and then a sturdy display case, along with the pins to mount the butterflies.

Most mothers won't like the idea of the kids walking around with a jar of toxic chemicals to kill butterflies. In addition, storing butterfly collections is a task and mounting butterflies on boards with pins is usually too much to expect from small fingers.

We think a better method is to introduce the child to a digital camera. These have become relatively inexpensive and there are disposable models on the market that are also relatively cheap. Maybe some one has an old one sitting around.

Collecting photos of butterflies allows the child to record and document his or her find and

Rent a Butterfly?

Butterflies have suddenly become the hottest thing in party planning. Companies sell them by the dozen, shipped to you overnight in their own little boxes so you can release them at weddings, funerals or the social gathering of your choice. The butterflies, of course, just fly away.

They are a little pricey, however, starting at about $80 to $90 per dozen.

Some companies also sell butterfly caterpillars.

If you are interested in drawing butterflies to your home, plants flowers. Many common varieties will attract butterflies, including petunias.

To draw Monarch butterflies, plant some milkweed on the edge of your property.

Critters In Camp
A few precautions can make your encounter with animals safe and fun...

Camping in Northern Michigan brings you and your family close to nature for a fun, enjoyable outdoor experience. However, sometimes nature can get just a little too close.

The wildlife in northern lower Michigan runs from tiny chipmunks and small bird all the way up to black bears and eagles. In order to enjoy your experience with animals, some precaution and a little awareness is needed.

The first thing every camper needs to remember is to not leave food or garbage out where an animal can get it. Either leave foods and garbage in your trailer or keep them in your car or truck. Dispose of trash in the receptacles at the campground. If you are camping out on federal land away from other campers and campsites, the best thing you can do is put all foods and garbage in your trunk.

Even something as small as potato chip crumbs can attract animals.

Second, if you are camping with children, make sure they understand that the animals are wild. Some children may be tempted to pet or pick up an animal and this can be very dangerous.

Third, if you are camping with your dog, keep your dog on a leash and under your control.

Here are some of the animals you may see in this area, even in campgrounds close to town.

Squirrels and chipmunks - Virtually every type of squirrel exists in northern Michigan. You can expect to see brown, gray, black and red squirrels in campgrounds with large trees. Flying squirrels can sometimes be seen at night and are often mistaken for bats. Some squirrels are quite brazen and will come into your camp during daylight if they think they see food lying about. Chipmunks chirp and sound like something bigger when heard at night.

Raccoons, skunks, possums and porcupines - These animals will generally avoid people, although raccoons are curious. Raccoons can also be dangerous around children because they are cute and kids are naturally attracted to them.

Porcupines are very dangerous around dogs. Porcupines have no real natural predators, so they are used to going where they want. Fortunately, they are more interested in the natural foods in the forest than they are in your camp.

Possums and skunks can accidentally show up. Possums are rather nasty little creatures with sharp teeth and claws. Skunks, well, we all know what their defenses are like. Some folks who live in the country recommend mothballs for keeping skunks away. It is also said that a bath of tomato juice will help remove skunk stink from a pet dog.

Bears - It's unlikely that you will see a black bear in a campground near town, but its not impossible. The campground hosts, the DNR and Forest Service Rangers will post warnings if bears have been seen in the area. Stay away from bears and never feed them. The most dangerous bear is a mother with cubs.

Bats - In recent years, more and more summer homes in northern Michigan have begun hanging bat house to attract these useful, but little understood creatures. Bats eat a tremendous number of insects each day and they love mosquitoes. Contrary to old wives tales, bats will not dive into your hair.

Woodchucks, beavers, and muskrats - You may see these near campgrounds with thick woods and water.

Deer - Deer avoid people and they are very shy. You are unlikely to see them in a campground, although in the spring the young ones may get curious and wander within a campground. Momma deer is never far away, though. Never approach or feed any young animal. The problem with deer in northern Michigan mostly involves encounters between deer and cars on the highways. Drive slowly at night and keep alert. Wear your seatbelt and remember that they can suddenly appear out of nowhere right in front of you.

These are only a few of the many animals that make northern Michigan their home. Watch for further issues of The Northern Camper for more stories on the birds, fish and insects that share your love of the outdoors.

Leopards, Peepers & Toads

Many an early morning at camp - while the coffee is still brewing and the sun is barely up - have been punctuated by a squeal of delight from a child who discovers a frog hopping from the wet grass…or a toad sitting under the edge of a trailer, full from a nighttime meal of insects drawn to the lights in camp.

Some people associate Northern Michigan, with its many lakes and ponds, forests and open grasslands as being filled with frogs, toads and salamanders. Even the venerable cartoon character, Michigan J. Frog, carries the state's name. (See more about Michigan J. Frog in a separate story.)

But while Michigan has many amphibians in sheer numbers, the number of species found here is actually small.

Of the more than 3,400 species of frogs and toads found around the world, only 13, or 14 if you count the boreal chorus frog found only on Isle Royale, are found in Michigan.

Two of the species are toads.

Frog or toad?

While some consider frogs and toads to be different types of animals, they are actually the same species, just dressed up slightly differently.

Generally, frogs have smoother skin. Toads tend to be more bumpy, or warty and they have thicker skin. Frogs also have longer legs than toads and are more likely to hop in long leaps. Toads usually move in short hops or just walk around.

Both toads and frogs go through the same life cycle. The mother toad or frog lays eggs, the eggs hatch tadpoles or gill-breathing larvae and they develop into adult frogs or toads, losing their gills and tails.

This may seem strange in one respect, since the forests are full of frogs and toads but some woodlands have no lakes or ponds. The secret is what are known as seasonal wetlands, small low gullies or bowls on the forest floor where spring rain and melting snow accumulate. Even though these seasonal ponds and marshes disappear in early summer, they provide enough habitat for small frogs and toads to lays eggs and for the young to develop.

Large frogs can be different. Bullfrogs, for example, can take more than one year to fully develop and need a deep, year around body of water.

The seasonal wetlands not only provide water, but because they are seasonal there are no fish or other aquatic predators to feed on the tadpoles. The nursery is in a safe place.

Spring Peeper frogs develop in this way. Their eggs hatch in about three days and the tadpoles become frogs in just six weeks.

The downside to this is that in dry years there may not be enough habitat for the frogs to reproduce, or the wetlands may dry up before the tadpole is fully developed and ready to breathe air.

Peepers

“What's that sound grandpa? Are those crickets?”

That's a question you might hear in late spring or early summer as a loud chirping or peeping sound fills the evening air around a campsite.

The sound is, of course, the Spring Peeper frog, a tiny little guy with a great big voice, especially when heard in unison with thousands of other Spring Peepers.

Many people believe the only sound frogs make is a “ribbet” or a croak like a Bullfrog.

Actually their voices vary widely. Probably the best way to guess what frog you're hearing is by the time of the year when you hear it.

In Michigan, the first frog to sing out in the spring is the Western Chorus frog found mostly in southern Michigan.

The Peepers come next, as spring moves northward. Then, in later April or early May, the Wood frogs begin to “quack.” Soon come the low snores of the Leopard frog (That's the Leopard frog on this month's cover of The Northern Camper).

You are more likely to hear a frog than to see one. Most frog calls are serenades, the males calling to the females for breeding. Both males and females do make noise however. Females will also give warning calls or screams when danger approaches.

The sound of a frog can carry for a long distance, especially the high-pitched sound of the smaller frogs. The males increase the loudness of their calls by ballooning out their throats like an echo chamber.

EXTREMOPHILES

Over the last twenty years, what are known as “extremophiles” have drawn a lot of attention by scientists and the public. Extremophiles are creatures that can live and thrive in conditions that should kill life.

Part of this has to do with space exploration efforts by the United States and other countries. It is possible, for example, that Europa, a moon of Jupiter, is encased in ice that hides a huge ocean underneath. Reasoning has it that this ocean, if it exists, could harbor life.

Mars has ice caps at both poles and large amounts of water frozen in its soil or lurking just underneath. There is speculation that there could be microbial life there, or once was.

Part of the reason for this speculation is the discovery of several species of creatures on earth that can survive under very extreme conditions.

Discoveries in the late 20th century off the coast of Oregon found life growing around a hot water spring on the dark floor of the Pacific Ocean. It was so deep, no light came through. The pressure was enormous and it was about as cold as water can get. But something was growing.

In western states, boiling hot water comes up in springs and life has been found in these springs. Some of the springs are also highly acidic.

In Michigan, the Peeper is our Extremophile. It seems to die and freezes as thick as an ice cube each winter and then wakes up in the spring.

Years ago it was assumed frogs wintered like turtles, dug deep in the mud at the bottom of a lake, in hibernation. Hibernating animals have a very low metabolism, little breathing and a very slow heart rate. They survive the winter off the fat their bodies accumulated over the summer.

But frogs can't do this. Because they breathe through their skin, being buried in mud would suffocate them. Frogs actually rest on the bottom, even occasionally moving about, while their systems slow down.

Toads dig into the soil, which, unlike mud, allows some air.

Peepers stay in the forest and freeze solid. Their hearts stop and their breathing stops for most of the winter. They freeze as solid as ice, but come back in the spring.

Their secret seems to be an antifreeze their bodies create which keeps the cells from shattering in the frozen state. Scientists are studying this for applications in medicine.

Bug eaters, animal food

Frogs and toads survive on insects. Bullfrogs do eat fish, and small birds and mammals, but small amphibians, and those on dry land, would love, simply, to eat the mosquito that just bit you. They are good to have in camp, just be careful you don't step on them.

If you've ever seen a frog eat an insect, you may have wondered why it closed its eyes. When a frog swallows, it closes its eyes and they sink into its head, providing the necessary pressure to push the food down into its stomach.

Frogs and toads also play an important part in the total food chain. A single frog may lay hundreds of eggs each year, sometimes thousands. Out of these eggs only a few survive to be wise old frogs. Most are eaten by larger animals and birds. But they supply a vital food source for the life of the forest.

Finally

All Michigan frogs and toads don't just hop around on the ground. The beautiful and exotic tree frog spends most of its life high up in the branches of the trees, disguised very convincingly as an iridescent growth of moss.

Toads do not cause warts.

For you crossword puzzle freaks, a group of frogs is known as an “army.”

Amphibians depend on wetlands and they should be respected and protected where need be. Michigan is blessed with both state and federal lands that have been preserved for our use. Let's make sure we pass it along, clean and healthy and growing. Ribbet.

The forests where Paul Bunyan hung his cap

Campers and outdoors people of many stripes have been drawn to northern Michigan for well over 100 years, drawn by the quiet, the wildlife and massive expanse of forests.

What you see around you now, in the campgrounds and the beautiful woods, are trees that are descendants of that original virgin forest. Only a few isolated stands of virgin woods still remain in Michigan, in places like the Hartwick Pines, which are set aside and protected for visitors to see.

But there was a time when America was still rapidly growing that the forests in Michigan were logged to fuel that growth and to provide the wood needed to build homes and towns and cities.

Much of the lore of that logging era still survives today. Take, for example, the legend of Paul Bunyan.

The story of Paul Bunyan first appeared in print just 100 years ago as a story published in the Oscoda News in 1906. An expanded version was published four years later in The Detroit News. That story was written by Paul MacGillivray who had worked from 1865 to 1875 at the H.M. Loud Company, a logging company in Grayling. There, MacGillivray met Fabian “Saginaw Joe” Fournier, a French Canadian lumberjack said to be the source of many of the Paul Bunyan stories.

The legend of Paul Bunyan was later adopted by cities and states across the country as logging moved west. Many towns today claim to be Paul Bunyan's hometown, from Minnesota to Oregon.

But while logging in Michigan and tales like Paul Bunyan go back less than two centuries, the true story of Michigan's forest goes back much longer.

The history of Michigan forests

Glaciers from the last ice age covered much of Michigan (as well as other northern states and Canada) until about 12,000 years ago. As the glaciers receded they left behind sand and gravel spotted with ponds, lakes and rivers. As time went on, primitive plants, like moss, gradually appeared, broke the sand and gravel and provided nutrients for more complex plants like grasses, shrubs and trees.

Trees and other plants moved from the south and east and began to grow in areas where the glaciers had retreated and the primitive plants had fertilized the soils.

Because the climate was cooler then, the first trees to grow were trees like spruce and pine. Slowly, as the glaciers moved further north and disappeared, other trees like maples and oaks began to appear and replace the firs.

In the centuries and millennia that followed, the forests matured. In some places trees grew from 200 to 400 years old. In other areas, natural fires or insect damage or severe weather conditions brought the trees down and they were replaced by new growth.

In time, the forests of Michigan became a patchwork of new and old trees with patches of fir trees, grassy areas and hardwoods, all growing depending on the soils, winds, proximity to water, occurrence of natural fires and the climate.

Climate and the Great Lakes

The Great Lakes have a significant impact on Michigan's climate, and, as a result, on the types of trees found in various locations.

The huge amount of water found in the Great Lakes has a huge effect on Michigan's climate. Water takes longer to cool and warm than the air. This evens out Michigan's climate, making winters a little warmer and summers a little cooler. It also means that the seasons change more gradually than they would if the lakes weren't there.

In addition, the temperatures across the state are influenced by how close an area is to the shoreline. Differences of as much as 10 degrees Fahrenheit are common between shoreline and inland counties.

The temperature differences can determine what types of trees are found near the coastline or inland, allowing some southern species like dogwood to occur farther north along the coastline than inland. On the other hand, northern species like white pine can sometimes be found in cool, sheltered areas to the south.

The Great Lakes also have a huge impact on the amount of rain and snow seen in different parts of Michigan. The winds blowing across Lake Superior and Lake Michigan pick up moisture and deposit it on land as snow and rain. The west coast of the Lower Peninsula, for example, gets more rain and a lot more snow than the rest of the Lower Peninsula. This, in turn has an effect on the types of trees seen in these areas and the rates of forest growth.

In fact, rainfall and temperature (along, of course, with the type of soil) are what determine where certain trees will grow. Temperature is the most important. The change in average temperatures from the southern part of Michigan to the northern parts effects the distribution of trees and forest types. In southern Michigan, hardwood trees are the primary type of forest tree.

Although several of these, including sugar maple and beech, can be found in both southern and northern Michigan, most of the oaks and hickories are only found in the Lower Peninsula, mostly in the southern half. Low temperatures or late frosts can kill young trees like these during the growing season.

North of a line from Bay City to Muskegon, trees like white and black spruce, tamarack, hemlock, and white, red, and jack pine are more common. These species are adapted to heavy snowfall and long periods of freezing weather. Several hardwoods such as yellow birch, white birch, balsam poplar and trembling aspen are better suited to these harsher conditions and also become more common in the north.

Logging in Michigan

When Michigan became a state in 1837 very little logging had taken place. At that time, settlers were primarily here to harvest furs. While only about half of Michigan is forested today, at that time it was said that a squirrel could cross the entire state without ever coming down from the trees. Soon, though, large-scale logging began.

The large pine forests of northern Michigan were the first to be cleared. They were very attractive to investors, many of whom had already cut the pine forests in Pennsylvania and New England.

Michigan led the world in lumber production in the 1880s and 1890s. By the early 1900s, millions of Michigan pine trees worth more than all the gold mined in California had been felled in the Lower Peninsula. As the pine forests were becoming depleted in the Lower Peninsula, logging companies moved to the Upper Peninsula. At that time, hardwood forests were being cut to make charcoal for iron smelting, and timbers for building construction, posts for fences and firewood for fuel.

In addition to timber harvesting, human activities at this time included cutting brush, pulling stumps and piling everything up and burning it. Fires often got away and burned huge areas before going out. Entire towns were lost, and sometimes people died in the fires. Most of northern Michigan burned during this period, many areas more than once. The charred pine stumps still found throughout the north are reminders of these widespread fires.

All this cutting and burning changed the landscape so much that it looked more like barren desert than forest land. Animals requiring large areas of mixed hardwood forests such as the American marten and woodland caribou disappeared. The passenger pigeon, one of the most abundant birds in the Lower Peninsula, became extinct because of the destruction of the oak and beech maple forests and widespread hunting. Wildlife more common to prairies such as the coyote, cowbird, badger, prairie chicken, and meadowlark appeared, taking advantage of the new habitat.

In 1903, the state government formed "forest reserves" from lands that had been cut and returned to state ownership due to nonpayment of taxes. In 1920, the Conservation Department, now the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, was created. Its major duties were to control forest fires and to manage the forest reserves, later known as state forests, for timber, wildlife and recreation.

In addition, farms were abandoned during the economic hard times of the Great Depression and reverted to state ownership. Most of that acreage was added to the state forests, bringing total state forest system lands to more than 3 million acres. (Today, Michigan's state forest system totals 3.9 million acres and is the largest in the United States.)

During the Depression, young people working for the federal Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) planted almost a half-billion pine trees on state forestlands.

Lands no longer used for farming also began returning to forestlands. Aspen (like beautiful white Birch) and young hardwoods appeared on much of the forested area, leading to high populations of deer, ruffed grouse, and snowshoe hare - species that do well with young, dense forest cover.

The federal government also began to identify some of Michigan's land as National Forest Land during this period. In this part of the state the Huron National Forest was established in 1909 and the Manistee National Forest in 1938. They were joined as a single management unit, the Huron-Manistee National Forest in 1945.

Where to see the Old Forest

As was mentioned earlier in this story, there are some areas in Michigan where the old forest remains uncut and untouched. Three such areas exist in the north-central part of the lower peninsula.

The two most accessible spots are both near Grayling. They are the Hartwick Pines State Park and the Crawford Red Pine Tract.

Hartwick Pines features mature white pine trees. Any Michigan Department of Natural Resources facility should be able to give you directions to Hartwick Pines or you can call them at (989) 348-7068.

The Crawford Red Pine Tract contains old growth Red Pine. They can be reached at ((989) 348-6371.

The story of Michigan J. Frog

The story of Michigan J. Frog rivals almost any career born out of the glitz, glamour and fantasy we know as Hollywood.

Born of a legend almost one hundred years old, the cartoon character shot to fame on just one short film and ended up the symbol of the fledgling Warner Brothers television network (WB).

That career, the high point of his celluloid life, came crashing down just weeks ago when WB Chairman Garth Ancier announced that Michigan J. had been, unceremoniously, dumped.

In a July 22, 2005 press conference, Ancier said, “The frog is dead and buried.”

Ironically, WB claimed Michigan J. Frog was too “youthful” for the growing network. The frog turns 50 in December.

Michigan J. Frog made his premier appearance in a 1955 six-minute cartoon called One Froggy Evening, directed by Chuck Jones, the driving force behind Looney Tunes.

In the cartoon, a construction worker finds a box in the cornerstone of a building being razed. He opens the box and out jumps the frog in a top hat and cane, singing “Hello My Baby.”

The construction worker takes the frog to the Acme Theatrical Agency, but he will not perform for anyone except the construction worker. The construction worker finally gives up, dumps the frog in a box and puts the box in the cornerstone of a new building going up.

Years later, another construction worker finds the box, opens it and the frog begins to sing and dance…but only for him.

The cartoon never mentions the frog's name. It was added on years later.

Jones, the director of the carton, said the name came from the song “Michigan Rag,” written for the cartoon. WB says that all cartoon characters they know of have a “J” for a middle initial.

The true story of the frog's origins is even more bizarre than the story of the cartoon character.

In 1897, a horned toad was placed in a box in the cornerstone of the courthouse in Eastland, TX. People remembered the event but no one thought much of it until 1928 when the courthouse was demolished.

Three thousand people were on hand to watch the opening of the old cornerstone. Inside laid the horned toad… flat, covered with dust and ALIVE and 31 years.

The toad was named “Old Rip,” and he became a national sensation. He toured the U.S. and even met president Coolidge.

Eleven months later, the toad died. He was embalmed, placed in a tiny, velvet-lined casket and put on display in the lobby of the new courthouse.

The campers guide to morel mushroom hunting

Of all the things that pop up out of the ground in the spring, nothing is quite like the morel mushroom.

They are at once, one of northern Michigan's worst kept secrets, yet devilishly hard to find. They make burly, hard boiled, conservative farmers act like French gourmets, daintily hiking through the woods, delicate mesh bag in hand.

They are a mother's nightmare, “don't eat that, it might be poisonous!” But they are considered the easiest wild mushroom to identify.

Mushroom hunting in the spring is a wonderful outdoor activity for families and people of all ages. And it seems appropriate that The Northern Camper should share with our readers everything we know about morel mushrooms, since the two, the magazine and the mushroom, both pop up about the same time each year.

Where to find Morels and when

The “when” is the easy part. Morel mushrooms start coming up in mid to late April in Michigan and they continue into early June. The black ones come in earliest, and then the white ones (see more on this below, in “How to Identify a Morel.”).

Morels are found in many parts of the United States and Canada. Regions to the south of Michigan will see them earlier, because spring is earlier there.

Morels seem to prefer growing in hardwood forests, especially the black ones, but they can also be found in natural grass areas, brush and even lawns. It all depends where the wind carries the spores.

There are almost as many tales concerning where to find morels as there are mushroom hunters. Some people will say to look to the north, or the east or the south side of a tree. Some people will say they will be near beech trees, or maples or elms or another hardwood.

None of these theories seem to hold much water. Aside from the fact that they seem to like being near older trees, nothing else much matters. We've found them in forest clearings, both in bunches and by themselves and near many different kinds of trees.

One tip does work. When you find one mushroom, look around the immediate area and you're very likely to see more of them. Some of the same spores that blew off a mushroom five years earlier probably landed in about the same place and spawned other morels.

While campgrounds are likely to be too well-trafficked to support fragile mushrooms, it's not impossible to find them there. The best place for campers to look, however, is probably on any state or federal land in northern Michigan.

Never go mushroom hunting on private land without the owners permission. Always check local maps for public land, and if you're not sure its public land, stay off it.

While deer hunters are notorious about protecting their private hunting lands, hell hath no fury like a 65 year old farm lady finding somebody from “downstate” poaching her mushrooms.

You don't want to go there.

How to Identify Morels

Morels are the best mushroom for novice hunters since they are easy to identify no other wild fungi that we know of share all of their characteristics. A good look at the photos on the cover and accompanying this article will show you what to look for.

Morels are generally 1 inch to 6 inches high, with a spongy, somewhat cone shaped cap with a stem attached to the base of the cap (it is one piece). Both the stem and the cap are hollow. Sometimes the color varies slightly, but they are generally black or almost white. The black ones are usually smaller than the white ones.

The only mushrooms we know of that are similar are the “false morel” and the “beef steak.”

The false morel does not have a hollow stem. If you find one of these, discard it. The beefsteak is more round, or even flat and has a “brain” shaped cap. It also has tendrils winding inside the stem and cap and is reddish in color.

One way to tell if you have morels is to ask somebody. Most people in northern Michigan have seen them or know somebody nearby who has.

Once you've collected three or four of them, you'll be able to tell pretty quickly when you see one.

How to hunt for Morels

First, remember its spring in Michigan. Dress warm enough, with long pants and long sleeves to protect yourself from branches, since you'll be tracking through the woods. A comfortable hat is always a good idea. Comfortable walking shoes that protect your feet are a must. Other things to bring might include a compass or a Global Positioning System, a whistle, drinking water and a snack.

As you walk into the woods, look ahead of you 20 feet in each direction, not straight down. Look for little cones sticking up from the forest floor. As you move ahead, look down occasionally as you go, then pick another spot ahead and go to it, occasionally looking down.

Black morels can be a little harder to find, but the white ones will stand out.

If you can, use some sort of a mesh bag to collect them. Onion or orange bags work ok, just be careful the mushrooms aren't cut by the mesh. You use a mesh bag to let the spores back out onto the forest floor to “seed” new mushrooms. If you can't find a mesh bag, punch many small holes in a paper bag. A woven basket will also work fine.

When you find mushrooms, cut them off at the base. Some people say if you pull them up, you'll destroy the tiny “root” network in the ground. Other people say it doesn't matter because the root network doesn't extend far. We suggest playing it safe and cutting the stem off. In any event, you won't be putting soil in your mushroom bag.

Preserving Morels

Ok, you found a nice bag of morels. Now what?

The most common way of preserving morels is to dry them. This is about the only way you'll ever see them for sale in grocery stores, and even that is a new phenomena. Until just a few years ago, it was pretty much accepted that morels defied commercial growing. That's part of the reason they are so expensive in the stores, costing over $120 a pound in some areas.

Some parts of the country have morel mushroom cooperatives where groups of mushroom hunters pool their “catch,” and dry and package the mushrooms for store sales. In recent years, however, growers have figured out how to cultivate morels, although with mixed results.

Drying morels is easy. You simple place unwashed morels out in the sun on a nonmetallic screen, off the ground so air can circulate around them. Washing them first will make them darken and get hard. Leave them unwashed. If you're worried about small insects, cut them in half, lengthwise, before drying. The bugs will leave.

Placing them over concrete or a even a black plastic bag on the ground can help dry them out. Set them out in the morning and take them in before the sun sets. This usually takes about 10 hours, depending on conditions, like humidity and cloud cover.

They can also be dried indoors. A small fan and a little heat will help. This can take longer than outdoor drying.

Once they are dried they can be stored in paper bags. If they remain dry, they'll keep for years.

A couple of ounces of dried mushroom will rehydrate to about a pound. To do this, soak in cool water for at least a couple of hours.

Morels can also be frozen. We've taken them right from the woods to a freezer bag, sealed so some air stays in the bag. Wash them as you take them from the freezer and let them dry on paper towels before cooking them.

You can also sauté the morels in butter and when they begin to shrink, remove them from the heat, let them cool and put them in a freezer bag. When you take them out, put them frozen into the fry pan and continue sautéing.

You can also can them. One way is to cook them to about half their size and pack them hot in clean, warm jars. Add salt, if you like. Cover the mushroom with cooking liquid or boiling water, adjust the lids and process at 10-15 lb. pressure for about 30 minutes for pints or half pints. Always follow the directions with the pressure canner.

Night Flyers: a fairyland of wonderful, colorful flying insects around your campsite tonight!

As the sun sets over your campground, the night shift begins. Hundreds of creatures, from nocturnal mammals like flying squirrels and bats, to tiny and delicate moths, come out of their daytime hiding places to begin their search for food or a comfortable place to lay their eggs.

North America, east of the Rocky Mountains, has an incredible variety of moths. Some are so tiny they can hardly be seen. Others, like the Luna moth on August, 2005 cover of The Northern Camper, or the Cecropia (pronounced si-crow-pia) moth, are bird-sized moth-mammoths with wingspreads that can be more than 6 inches wide.

Butterfly or moth?

While butterflies have long been recognized for their beauty and grace, moths deserve recognition as well. Thousands of people trek across the United States and Mexico every year to see the beautiful Monarch butterfly, known for its annual migration across thousands of miles. But when was the last time you heard someone say they were driving across the country to see a moth? They tend to be the Rodney Daingerfield's of the insect world.

However, the differences in moths and butterflies are very insignificant, including their beauty.

Both butterflies and moths have the same lifestyle, from an egg to a caterpillar to a winged creature, with some molting and cocoons in between.

Their differences are very minor, with some only an entomologist would notice.

The most noticeable difference is that butterflies fly during the day and moths fly at night.

A second difference is the antennae. Butterflies have knobbed antennae and moths do not, although moth antennae can vary considerably.

Butterflies rest with their wings clapped vertically. Moths rest with their wings horizontal to their bodies. This resting position can help their camouflage work. In fact, some larger moths, like the Cecropia, mimic the face of an animal, with the eyes peering out, to discourage birds.

Butterflies are, on the whole, less hairy than moths. Finally, butterflies lack the tiny hooks that join their front and hind wings. This is one difference that is without exception.

For the most part, butterflies have mouths and eat, but moths do not. The legendary damage that moths can do to clothing, for example, is done by the moth caterpillars. In spite of this seeming handicap, however, moths make sounds while butterflies do not. The sound they make is pitched high and usually can't be heard, except by bats.

Some moths also have ears and can hear bats before bats can detect them! The hearing of these moths is so good they can detect bats at 30 yards away and can evade the bat fully half the time.

How to attract moths

This would seem like a no-brainer, just turn on a light, but there are some tips that can increase your chance of seeing and photographing them.

A bare light bulb on the outside of a motor home or trailer will do a good job of attracting moths. Sometimes, you can just sit inside and watch them land on the window. This can be best for the more squeamish or children who might feel overwhelmed by a thick swarm of moths flying around and landing on everything.

One tip: If you are attracting moths to your trailer, roll you canopy up. This will allow the moths to see the source of the light when they fly overhead. A light under a canopy will not attract as many moths.

Don't use a lantern with a flame, if you can avoid it. You'll end up frying a lot of the little guys! Use a flashlight hanging upside down or pointing to the side of your trailer. Finally, if you're trying to photograph them, hang a white sheet or large piece of white paper near the light to give good contrast to your picture. And if you're photographing a moth on a window, shoot from the side so your flash doesn't bounce back at you and ruin your photo.

Children and collecting

We've all seen insect collections in museums and schools where the moths and butterflies are displaced in a glass covered case. Sometime children will want to try this and usually if they do, the results are mixed at best.

Collecting insects usually requires a “killing jar” with a dangerous chemical that kills the insect. Next the delicate insects have to be spayed and pinned down, usually a job too hard for small fingers.

Then there is the storage of the display cases, etc.