Snowshoes

This afternoon Birgit and I partook in a little demo at the Hudson Mills Metropark in Dexter sponsored by REI about how to use snowshoes. For only $2, it was a nice hour walk in the woods, and a great introduction to how snowshoes work. We also learned that you can rent them through your local REI store. Good to know for the future!

Birgy buckles upI model my sexy snowshoes

We also learned a lot while on the hike. We saw the first bloom of the year, a little signal alerting us that, alas spring was indeed coming. Too bad it's a plant called "skunk cabbage" that gives us that first hint. Apparently once they bloom, the flowers are almost maroon in color, but are not exactly beautiful. Breaking or tearing a leaf on the plant also produces a pungent odor! This keeps animals and humans alike from eating it.

Pretty views of the woods

Next we heard about a variety of birds, specifically insect-seeking birds in trees. There was a yellow-bellied sap sucker that drills holes into trees and eats the sap and insects drawn to it. There was also a giant woodpecker called the pileated woodpecker (think Woody the Woodpecker) that's drumming can be so loud that it often sounds like someone striking a tree with a hammer.

Linear peckings from yellow-bellied sap suckersOvertly large holes from the Pileated Woodpecker (Michigan's largest)

Near the end of the hike, we also learned a lot about something called a gall. It's defined as an "abnormal outgrowth of plant tissues and can be caused by various parasites, from fungi and bacteria, to insects and mites." From the way I understood it, it works like this. Every wonder what happens to mosquito's in the winter? In the late fall, they bite plants, plants produce a chemical that creates sort of a pod or outgrowth on itself, that then traps the insect inside. In the spring, the insect then bites it's way back out to haunt us. Flipping weird. However, very inventive, and highly cool.

A gall close-upAn overwintered field of goldenrods

So that's that. It would be really cool if I could get out there and snowshoe again sometime this winter. Here's to maybe not being so disappointed by yet another large dumping of snow, as I know Birgy is game to join me on another adventure!