Water Over The Dam

Snow, rain, snow, hail, rain, ice

2011-02-21T16:30:00.004Z

It has been an interesting few days, weather-wise. I never understood why people would think talking about the weather was interesting until I moved to the midwest.
Last night's ice storm brought down some big tree branches and coated everything with a thick crystal layer. This is the American Cranberry - a native, but it seems nothing likes to eat its fruit.

The branches of the elm that fell across our driveway were covered with round buds. Encased in ice, they clattered like a shaman's rattle as we dragged them out of the way.

Golden Morning (Chinese New Year)

2011-02-03T18:33:00.004Z

In the light of sunrise, golden mist rising from the river as it pours over the Boys' Dam. The river seems to be frozen almost solid behind the dam. But there are many beneficial dragons!

Sun and Ice

2011-01-23T16:55:00.000Z

Ice on the river almost reaches the top of the dam, stopped only by the fast-moving water.

Portage River sunrise

2011-01-02T09:49:00.000Z

January Thaw - for New Year's

2011-01-01T12:32:00.000Z

New Year's Day at the Boys' Dam.

Christmas Day

2010-12-25T16:23:00.000Z

By the Portage River.

Blog Action Day Post

2010-10-15T22:46:00.004Z

The Blog Action Day topic is "water" which is appropriate here. Southwest Michigan has lots of water; it used to have a serious malaria problem to go along with the water, too. The vast network of rivers provided irrigation and transportation to the Mississippian culture mound builders and farmers, and later to the Potawatomi and other groups. Water power and water based transportation created wealth for the first U.S. settlers in the 1800s; today the rivers are used mostly for agricultural irrigation and for recreation. Dry areas of the US would like to have the water piped from here to their area to pour the water on golf courses and lawns, and allow real estate interests to make money building new subdivisions on now dry and unsellable land.

Meanwhile, other parts of the world would like more water to drink, or maybe fewer people to drink what they have.

Change.org|Start Petition

October Sunset

2010-10-10T13:41:00.001Z

From the top of the dam.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-19T23:01:00.002Z

A nice but wet snowfall today, and it is surprisingly warm, 26 degrees F. The water continues to run over the Boys Dam, but there is ice all around.

Cold water, warm air

2009-11-09T17:05:00.002Z

Fog hung over the dam in the morning, but the day was sunny and warm, mid 60s at least. I took a trip up the Portage River in my kayak - and on the way back was caught against a log and flipped - not once, but twice! The water was cold! What I learned: Don't wear a cotton shirt while paddling the river - it holds that cold water like a sponge.

Twice I saw big fish leap and hit something on branches sticking out of the water. I couldn't get a clear look at either of them, moving too fast. Catching bugs?

Lobelia

2009-08-28T04:40:00.003Z

Great Blue Lobelia, Lobelia siphilitica, growing in the marsh below the dam. There are quite a few of them in bloom. Around it are jewel balsam and the little white aster. It was getting dark, I'll try for another photo later.

Musk Turtle (Sternotherus odoratus)

2009-08-10T02:15:00.003Z

This forward little critter was found toiling up the steep banks, heading for the street. I thought it might be a female looking for a place to lay eggs, but it was so small (3.5 - 4 inches, less than 10cm). She had a very pointy nose, with that and the color I ID-ed her as Sternotherus odoratus. I didn't get "musked" but the common name is "Stinkpot"! Her back was covered with green algae, not dried out so she must have come up the bank pretty speedily.

From Michigan DNR: "Rarely bask, are generally seen foraging along the bottom in shallow water. May be nocturnal in summer. They eat snails, crayfish, insects, tadpoles, etc. If disturbed, glands along lower edge of shell secrete a foul-smelling musk, hence the common name "stinkpot."...mostly inhabits clear lakes with sand or marl bottoms."

The Portage is a pretty clean river.

Nodding Dragon

2009-07-31T14:49:00.002Z

Last year a little, now there is a lot! The marsh below the dam now is covered with the bobbing, nodding flower plumes of Saururus cernuus (nodding dragon or lizard tail.) Another mysteriously named plant. The flower spikes are fluffy and dance on the wind, and "give nothing" of lizards.

Big Fish

2009-07-19T22:11:00.002Z

A man pulled this fish out of the Portage River below the dam. I asked if he was going to eat it and he said maybe, but first he was going to enter it in a big fish contest!

He also said he had caught a walleye in the same place a few days ago, one of the biggest caught in the county this year.

Fish!

2009-06-19T20:01:00.006Z

On Tuesday there were a whole school of pike - or muskie? Swimming around below the dam. Impressive! They are beautiful and strange looking (and not easily fooled by fishermen.) I didn't get a picture but did get (a blurry) one of a large fish - a carp or sucker - jumping up on the face of the dam. They do that a lot, but my camera is too slow to catch them. A fisherman told me they were eating the algae off the face of the dam.

Besides the human fishermen, there is the heron.

June 14

2009-06-15T20:33:00.002Z

Nice sunny day. I pulled my kayak into the water below the dam and paddled down to Scidmore Park. A very fast current and some downed trees made the trip more exciting, but all of the sunken hazards were well under water. Upstream is more fun!

April Flowers

2009-04-30T17:03:00.003Z

Marsh marigolds by the Portage River below the Boys' Dam.

Juneberry.

Trillium on the banks above the river.

Mayapples unfurl with an odd little knob on top. The flat brown lentil like seeds are from the redbud.

New redbud blooms, Portage River in the background.

April 2009

2009-04-18T17:56:00.004Z

Skunk-cabbages in bloom on April 8, and the marsh marigold buds are opening on the 18th in the marsh by the Portage River. Some are blooming in front of the old horse-drawn piece of farm equipment that is stuck in the mud.

April began with snow; this picture of the river and the Boys' Dam through the trees taken on April 6.

Dawn, Jan. 1 2009

2009-01-03T15:02:00.006Z

Jan 1 morning; ice cantilevered over the Boys' Dam and, at the base of the dam, round ice floes scattered across the surface of the Portage River like white water-lily leaves. All melted away when the sun hit, but ice remains at the top of the dam.

Goldeneye! The first of the year, courting on Hoffman Pond. The male dipped his beak in the water, stretched his neck and beak up to the sky. The female held herself low in the water, even dipping her head under a few times, and then stretched her neck and beak up to the sky as well.

Addition -- on the 5th I saw a brown creeper (Certhia familiaris) walking up the trunk of a maple by the river. Only the second one I have seen in two years.

December 2008

2008-12-11T17:16:00.004Z

The apparently inedible red fruits of the cranberry viburnum hang over Hoffman Pond. The birds and animals will only eat them when there is absolutely nothing else. It's a very pretty native plant though, sold in most nurseries. (Viburnum trilobum, sometimes listed as Viburnum opulus var. americanum.)

Snow and sunshine. This year we had snow for Easter, and snow for Thanksgiving, but still, a lot of blue sky. Swans, geese, mallards and grebes. Signs of beaver.

Not sure what this is

2008-11-09T17:11:00.002Z

Along the river. Could it be the elusive native bittersweet (Celastrus scandens)? It doesn't look very much like the invasive Asian bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus). No leaves, just the fruit visible.

Because it's June

2008-06-08T03:20:00.004Z

Right from cold to hot. The peonys in the garden opened today; round fat buds have been waiting, and all popped open at once. The green curtain has descended and the long winter views are gone, hidden behind the sugar maple leaves.

Everything is suddenly growing, moving. The baby birds have already fledged, heartstopping days as they crashed into the bushes and sat there peeping for food. Bad with feral cats everywhere. Twice this week we have had bats in the house!

Buds have shown up on the milkweed...

May

2008-05-30T23:52:00.004Z

I seemed to have missed May.

It came crashing in on a wave of yellow pollen and I was washed under. The fast change from stark to lovely to lush to dank jungle happened while I wasn't looking, or at least not able to pay attention!

The fishermen and swimming boys are back at the Boys' Dam. The dark woods are full of ticks. Jack in the pulpit is blooming and the skunkcabbages are especially big and lush. Puffs of cotton from the cottonwoods are floating around now; the tree flowers are done.

Flowers!

2008-04-11T18:03:00.001Z

April 11: after a cold night and thunderstorms, flowers! Marsh marigolds pop into bloom while the skunk cabbages unfurl their new leaves. The red leaf-buds of the silver maples, that look so much like flowers, are opening where the trees hang over the water. Another tree is in bloom - I still don't know what it is.

Also various non-natives and invasives have started blooming, but I'm not counting them; since they are from somewhere else, their blooming doesn't signify anything.

Something I hadn't seen before: I've wondered why we are not infested with starlings, since they are so common in the downtown area of Three Rivers, which isn't that far away. Maybe an answer - I saw a starling this week. It was being mobbed by the grackles! I knew I liked grackles, with their shiny purple-black heads, yellow eyes and long tails. Lots of robins, lots and lots of house finches, a few nuthatches and cardinals. The woodpeckers aren't coming to the feeder. Geese are marching along the water's edge, the male watchful, his long neck stretched up high, while the female eats frantically. At one point a female was carried off by the swift current; she looked baffled, sailing backwards, while the male ran along the bank. They sometimes seem to forget that they can fly!

Clouds of mosquitos are rising in the swamp. Good for those that eat them. A sign of trouble to come; drifts of seeds washed into the swamp from the winter flooding. I recognize vast amounts of a twisty herbaceous vine that wraps all around the water willow growing upriver.

High Water

2008-04-01T21:24:00.004Z

In a tragic reminder of Nature's forces, a local school was seen washing over the dam today.

More here: Something Strange

March 1, 2008

2008-03-02T16:18:00.011Z

Sunrise over Hoffman Pond and the Boys' Dam. March 1st was sunny and in the high 20s. Side roads are still hard going, but most of the main roads are clear. Lots of Canada geese out on Hoffman Pond.
(last year's March 1 picture and article)

***End of March Update***
Buckets and bags for maple sugaring are attached to the big sugar maples along the back country roads. Throughout the month we had snow, snow, snow. Kids built snowmen for Easter! One storm mid-month dropped about eight inches. It snowed again on the 26th. When it warmed up slightly, there was spectacularly high water.

It was sad to see the red red robin bob bob bobbin' in six inches of snow.

The skunk cabbage blossoms, pink and yellow, stuck up above the snow like Easter eggs in the marshes along the river.

Mergansers (common) were seen almost daily on Hoffman Pond throughout the month. Hooded mergansers were spotted right above the dam, doing a courtship dance, on the 17th. They would bow and flip open their "hood". Goldeneyes also were seen throughout the month. They make me think of penguins.

Usually the mergansers are gone by the end of March, but here they were, at the same time that the geese were walking the banks of the river, scouting for nesting sites. The geese think it is spring. And then it snows again.

At the feeder the pair of cardinals were daily visitors, along with nuthatches, house finch, an occasional bluejay, and downy woodpeckers. I heard the downy drumming his song on tree trunks in the woods.

On the 29th, a Carolina wren appeared on the redbud tree, head tipped back and singing his monotonous song for all he was worth.

(Lily's Easter snowman)

February 1st, 2008

2008-02-02T04:28:00.001Z

The end of January temperatures went up into the 40s, then down again. The first of February found about eight inches of snow on the ground.

---February update---
February continued cold and colder, at times sub zero. There was a lot of deep snow, piles of lovely white snow that made driving difficult and dangerous. Ice built up on top of the dam, especially on the channel along the side, where ice created a sort of funnel the water would go through. This reminds me; I don't actually know how an old power dam of this type would work. Everything I find on the internet has to do with newer type dams. I think perhaps that there was some sort of power wheel in the side channel. (Photo: Ice on the dam)

A few times the ice melted, and we had very high water. Mergansers were seen almost daily; early in the month the "Hooded" and later, the uncommon "Common". Beautiful, fast birds. The swans continue to dabble wherever they find a patch of open water. They look so ridiculous, tipped up like giant white mallards!
In the snow leading from alongside the top of the dam to the bottom I frequently saw a wide trail of some thick bodied animal sliding along. Beaver? Peripatetic carp? Too big for muskrat. The thing about the carp is a joke. I do see them below the dam, in the cold water, moving very little. Deer seem to have returned.
We had a return visit of the sharpshinned hawk. This time he was not so pretty, (but still pretty!) his colors not so bright. I don't know if it was a different hawk or if he had just moulted when I saw him before. He sat in the same place, and ate another small bird. A junco this time.

We took a trip further afield this month. A sunny day with clear roads, and we went to see Lake Michigan; I have never seen it in the winter. We took off late enough so that we would be able to see the sunset over the lake.

We stopped at the town park at Covert - no reason, it was just the first one we came to. The road was piled high with snow and there was no where to park, so we just left the car in the road. There were steps and a boardwalk, icy and snow covered but better than wading over the dune in knee-high snow. We got to the top of the dune and I took a few pictures. A long spread of beach, then some more dunes, then the open water. I thought. I didn't understand what I was looking at.

We got down to the beach (only filling my boots up with snow once) and walked toward the second set of "dunes." I'm glad I was with my "native guide"; otherwise I might have tried to walk out there! He pointed down at his feet--"That's the edge of the water." The he pointed out at those --things-- and said, "That's Lake Michigan."

What I had taken to be dunes were huge, enormous, frozen waves! They towered over us, terrifying. Like enormous swells on the ocean, like ocean breakers frozen hard. I still can't quite get my mind around it. (Photo: Frozen waves)

The final amazement of the month was the "blood moon" on the night before Lantern Festival. It was clear and we were able to watch the whole thing; from the start of the eclipse to its gradual reddening and darkening; and then lighter and then the shadow fell away. All reflected in the cold water of Hoffman Pond.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T23:30:00.000Z

Pink dawnlight across Hoffman pond, and the big oaks and maples above the Portage River stuck with snow.

2008 began with a heavy snowfall, about ten inches. After watching the ball drop on TV, we looked out the window and saw the most glorious sight, everything lit up brightly, brighter than any full moon I've ever seen. A strange light. Snow, trees, water, sky were all glowing. I've never seen anything like it.

Birds seen today at the feeders included a Carolina wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus), 2 downy woodpeckers (Picoides pubescens), 1 red brested nuthatch (Sitta canadensis) and 1 white breasted nuthatch (Sitta carolinenisis), male and female cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis), 4 or 5 slate-colored juncos (Junco hymelas), 2 black-capped chickadee (Parus atricapillus), 4 or 5 tufted titmice (Parus bicolor), numerous house finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) and maybe a purple finch (Carpodacus purpureus).

On Hoffman Pond something new today, two coots (Fulica americana). I didn't see them last year until the end of January. Also the usual suspects: mallards, Canada geese, and the three swans.

---------update for January---------

January began with snow and temperature in the high 20s, but then suddenly warmed. There was a springtime feel starting around the 6th, and very heavy fog, tule fog, making traffic invisible and driving dangerous. The temperature reached into the 60s, and there were thunderstorms and lightning! With the warming and rain came flooding. On January 11 the front page of the Kalamazoo Gazette featured a photograph of Three Rivers' flooded Scidmore Park (at the intersection of the St. Joseph, Portage, and Rock rivers) as well as reports of roads closed due to flooding and water coming into homes. Findley Road and Nottawa Road south of M86 were closed (water from the Prairie River and Lake Templain.) The park in Mendon was completely under water. The St. Joseph River reached it's highest level that weekend, but the Portage River did not start dropping for another week. More snow followed, as much as ten inches, and then the temperature began to plummet. Black ice on the roads; we had a near-miss spinout on the road to Constantine. Another couple on a nearby road were not so lucky and were killed.

Below zero temperatures showed up for several days and nights for about a week. At one point we were asked if we had seen the "pogonip"; I had just been looking at the sparkling little needles of ice in the air. But it was nothing like the "spiky ice" that settled on everything last February.

More snow followed, three or four inches. Then it warmed back up into the 20s.

Moonlight through the cloud cover and reflecting off the snow gave nighttime a strange, eerie glow. The fog early in the month swirled around the river, rising from the cold water into the warmer air. Then when it got really cold, great amounts of ice piled up on the Boys' Dam. The water ran under the ice, a strange sight.

On Hoffman pond gadwalls showed up, Anas strepera. Mallard-sized ducks, dabbling, but they seem most interested in harassing the coots and running at and driving away nearby mallards (but avoiding the Canada geese.) They were following the coots around, four or five of the ducks per coot. When the coot dives they 'pounce' on whatever is being stirred up. When the coot surfaced the gadwalls try to take whatever the coot has in its beak. When the coot tried to swim away, the ducks followed closely. However, the coots seemed interested in staying near the gadwalls, or at least made little effort to get away.

On the 18th, we had a redefinition of "bird feeder". A beautiful, tiny sharpshinned hawk (Accipiter striatus) came to the bird feeder and ate one of the regulars. He sat on the bare lilac bush for quite a long time, pulling out the feathers of his victim and scattering them. It took about fifteen minutes to eat the small bird, during which I got a very good look at him. Adult plumage, but very small, probably less than ten inches. Tufts of white feathers stuck out his back as if he was moulting. Grey above with brilliant, well defined red marks on his chest when seen through the field glasses; at a distance they just gave a pinkish cast to the white breast. He finished eating, had a nice poop and a nap. He was awakened by the return of a group of tits, coming back to the feeder. They ignored the hawk, who watched them from his perch, head swiveling around. He sat there until the neighbor came out and scared him away. The next day I heard his call in the woods.

On the 22nd most of Hoffman Pond was covered with snow and ice. In the open water three goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) were rapidly feeding- diving and diving. Also seen were two mallards and the pair of swans, dabbling. First goldeneye of the year.

Through the violence of the weather the little skunk-cabbage spathes have stayed tightly closed. No blooming yet! Two years ago they were open in January.

December 1st, Icy dawn

2007-12-01T14:29:00.000Z

Cold, snow and ice predicted for later in the day. The river is steel grey over the Boys Dam, the only color a line along the horizon from the rising sun. Bits of ice cling to bare shrubs along the river. The woods along the Portage River look empty.

But the little skunk-cabbage sprouts (see October 4) are still sticking up above the dry leaves. They haven't grown any, but haven't died, either.

November 26: First snow

2007-11-27T00:14:00.001Z

Big puffy Christmas card snowflakes drift down over the Boys Dam. Just out of sight are three big white swans.

What a difference from November first!

November 1st, Yellow and Green

2007-11-01T16:43:00.001Z

Warm and beautiful; blue sky reflects in Hoffman Pond. So much is still green, but the maples are beautiful yellow, the viburnum in the swamp is pink, and many trees are losing their leaves. A trio of swans floats just upriver.

I love to look through the Portage River's clear water to see the jewel-like fall leaves lying on the bottom.

Light through the leaves

2007-10-20T18:25:00.000Z

A stained-glass effect of light through the maples hanging over the Portage River this morning. A powerful storm blew through this week, tornado sirens wailing as the wind whipped the trees around. Fountains of greenish flame pouring out of great slashes in black clouds. But today is sunny and beautiful.

Skunk cabbages sprouting?

2007-10-04T17:34:00.000Z

This doesn't seem quite right. Usually I first see my skunk cabbages (Symplocarpus foetidus) coming up through the snow in January (see January 20th.) Why are they sprouting now? Or is this something I've missed in other years? Here is one with it's big pineapple-ly seed pod:

And another:

The spicebush by the river is turning yellow. It has tiny green buds at the tips of the branches.

A lichen and a mushroom on the bank.

High Banks and Small Flowers

2007-10-03T14:44:00.000Z

Not much fall color yet; silver maple and poison ivy hanging over the water are red and peach. The water-willow "islands" in Hoffman Pond and upriver from the dam are all red, slowly fading to brown. Some viburnum growing in the shade is also bright red. Downriver on the high banks all is mostly green. Leaves are falling from the maples. Little asters in purple and white are still in bloom.

On other rivers Indian Mounds are found on high banks like these next to the Portage. I wonder who lived here long ago.

This little aster is decidedly purple. Peterson leads me to "bush aster", Aster dumosus, it's something similar. This one has hairy stems.

This one has much longer, white petals. And longer leaves, leaf edges also smooth and flowers growing out of the joint with the leaves. It also is pretty much in the water of the marsh. I have a feeling that there are a lot of asters... possibly Seriocarpus linifolius?

The "Celtic", Portage River steamboat

2007-10-02T20:22:00.000Z

"The Dentler Steam Boat in the foreground built by Frank Dentler to transport grain, wool, and lumber from the three mills east and west to the rail stations. The boat was also used to transport people up the river to dances. During the election of 1860, the Wide Awakes, a political group, used the boat for a trip up the river and on the return held a torch light parade through the town. On its first trip they knocked the smoke stack off going under a bridge. Mill in back had laminated 2x4s for grain bins. Burned on the first day of Prohibition. The mill workers stocked up, got drunk, burnt the mill, part of the steam boat. The boat was named "Celtic"."

From "Park Township Sesquicentennial", Township Officials, Eds. (1988)

(Prohibition began on January 16, 1920)

End of September flowers

2007-09-27T20:16:00.001Z

I can't quite capture how they light up the dark understory, but here is one plant caught in a moment of sunshine (Portage River in the background.) Fairy wands of glowing yellow, against the dark leaves. (Solidago that grows in deep shade; fairy wand goldenrod.)

Flowers of Indiangrass, (Sorghastrum nutans).

Various native asters are also in bloom right now, in many shades of purple and blue.

The Tree Canopy

2007-09-23T14:59:00.000Z

The National Geographic has articles about scientists who haul themselves to the tops of rain forest trees in the Amazon River basin, and find up there a whole separate world of living things. Looking up along the Portage River, inside the city limits of Three Rivers, I see that we also have a canopy full of life, eighty or a hundred feet and more above me. Birds, mammals, insects, lichens and mosses live in the sunlight above the shaded marsh. I wonder if anyone has ever bothered to study this unique ecological zone? True, it may not be as romantic as going to the Amazon. But it seems to me that there is a lot going on up there.

I'd like to know why the dragonflies choose to sit on exposed snags so high above the river. I'd like to get a good look at things growing in the canopy, and watch the inhabitants. But I'm not a mountain climber so I don't think that will be happening. I can watch from below, but the dense, thick cover of leaves hides all but an occasional glimpse. I can hear the sounds, though. Locust, woodpecker, squirrel I know; but there are also strange unidentified calls and cries, whistles and chirps. What is happening up there?

September 1, 1007

2007-09-01T19:26:00.000Z

Warm but not hot, clear blue skies. A single fisherman tries his luck below the Boys' Dam.
Golden bits of jewel basalm flowers scintillate in the green and mostly shaded swamp. Other small white flowers are blooming, but mostly it is fruits and seeds. The marsh is strangely dry, although the river is very high. I could walk out on it, and found seedheads of the skunk-cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus.)
Hoffman Pond's "islands" (actually mats of vegitation) seem to be changing color. Ripening rose-hips of the marsh-rose (Rosa palustris) along the shore.

The vegitation that makes up the "islands", which seems mostly to be water-willow. I don't know what the vining plant is that winds around it, thick with seeds. It is probably worth noticing that there is NO purple loostrife to be seen here. Not this year.

Bunches of cherries and grapes, elderberry and tooth-leaf viburnum hang over the water. In some places the grapes tangle with hanging branches of shrubs and trees, weaving a curtain of green.

Dangling from a fallen tree over the river, a large orb weaving spider has built an enormous web. It is almost four feet across.

August fruit and flowers

2007-08-29T15:01:00.000Z

This month has had the lowest water of the year and then, after torrential rains, the highest water. Some downed trees have opened up the canopy, letting plants bloom. Especially beautiful are the golden flecks of jewel balsam (Impatiens capensis). Mostly the golden-orange flowers, some are almost red.

There are also some golden lichens, under one of the oaks.

Purple fruits of Tooth-leaf viburnum (Viburnum dentatum) hang in bunches over the river. At first I thought they were elderberries, but the bunches of elderberry fruit are larger.

Another purple fruit in the woods is the Solomon's seal (Polygonatum pubescens?)

And I like this shot of a stained-glass effect of poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans) leaves in the sun, showing the immature fruit.
It took a couple months (after the carp tournament), but the giant carp are back in their dozens or hundreds.

Freshwater mussels, catbird and buttonbush

2007-08-01T15:38:00.000Z

August 1st, 90 degrees and very dry. I saw a catbird, it came very close to me, unusual since they are very shy. Lots of goldfinches feeding on the sunflowers, I wish I had a camera fast enough to get a photo of that! The kingfisher has stayed nearby all summer.

The Portage is very low, and I went wading down the river. This is Cephalanthus occidentalis, buttonbush, with it's orange-y (not brown) pods, hanging over the river.

Usually I see the freshwater mussels laying on shore, popped open and eaten by some animal. The presence of them usually means that the water is clean, but I still don't think I would eat one. Today I found some shells in the river. People here just generically call them "freshwater clams", but it turns out there are many different kinds. Many that I have seen here are very large, maybe eight inches or more long. This one is about four or five inches. I don't know what it is/was. They were all eaten in the past by humans, back when rivers and lakes were unpolluted; since they are so hard to tell apart, the existence of all those common names probably means they had some economic importance at some time, otherwise why would people in the old days name them?

Clams and mussels are much under attack from pollution and by invasive zebra mussels as well as loss of habitat and hosts.

Here is an alphabetic list of "freshwater clams" found in the St. Joseph drainage, therefore most likely in the Portage River too. The links to photos open in a a new window; web standards say that opening new windows frightens people, so beware.

Actinonaias ligamentina ("Mucket", previously Actinonaias carinata)

Alasmidonta viridis ("Slippershell", also called Alasmidonta calceolus)

Alasmidonta marginata ("Elktoe")

Amblema plicata ("Three-ridge")

Anodontoides ferussacianus ("Cylindrical papershell")

Cyclonaias tuberculata ("Purple wartyback")

Elliptio dilatata ("Spike")

Epioblasma triquetra ("Snuffbox", Michigan State listed as endangered)

Fusconaia flava ("Wabash pigtoe")

Lampsilis siliquoidea ("Fat mucket")

Lampsilis ventricosa ("Pocketbook")

Lasmigona compressa ("Creek heelsplitter")

Lasmigona costata ("Fluted shell")

Leptodea fragilis ("Fragile papershell")

Ligumia recta ("Black sandshell")

Pleurobema coccineum ("Round pigtoe")

Potamilis alatus ("Pink heelsplitter", previously Proptera alata)

Pyganodon grandis ("Giant Floater" - what's that mean?)

Strophitus undulatus ("Creeper")

Truncilla donaciformis ("Fawnsfoot")

Truncilla truncata ("Deertoe")

Venustaconcha ellipsiformis ("Ellipse")

Villosa iris ("Rainbow")

Cooled down, grey skies and dragonflies

2007-07-26T20:27:00.000Z

It has cooled way down, and its overcast. Here's something scary: I just took this picture of a silver maple hanging over the edge of the Portage, and its leaves are already turning color.

There's a huge snag (dead oak), maybe 80 feet tall on the bank above the river, and when there's no wind, the dragonflies sit at the tips of the dead branches. Each tiny branch end has its own dragon. What are they doing up there? No water, no females, and birds can come by and eat them. Why do they do it?
(photo by Joel Hartzell)

Here's some arrowhead (Sagittaria) on the riverbank, but I missed the flowers. They aren't as thick as they were last year.

July 8: HOT

2007-07-08T19:39:00.001Z

It's so hot that there are no boys at the Boy's Dam; the kids are all inside watching TV. Instead, a family of Canada geese came out to wade, dabble, and frolic. I've never seen them below the dam before. I expect they have a picnic basket on shore.. watch out for the feral cats, guys.
Hard to photograph. The woods are so dark and the water so brilliant. It's in the nineties, but the humidity could be worse.

July, still dry

2007-07-05T14:27:00.000Z

In bloom is one of my favorite Michigan wildflowers, the beautiful Asclepias incarnata, pink milkweed, also called marsh milkweed since it lives along the edge of the water.
No rain. No humidity. Drought along the Portage River. All the California relatives and friends have been here, commenting on the California-like weather.
Along the edge of the river I spotted a stand of Saururus cernuus, which is called "water dragon" and "lizard tail" among other common names. There is nothing even remotely lizardy about it, but "cernuus" means "nodding"; and in the wind, the fluffy white plumes bobbed and wagged like the tails of little animals.

Also this, another water plant. It is everywhere along the edges and in the bog-islands in the river, but I don't know what it is. Flowers are small, notice the fly for size.

2007-06-30T15:28:00.000Z

Marsh rose (Rosa palustris) growing by the edge of the water above the dam. We also saw a mink (Mustela vison ) this morning, running along the Portage River's edge with a large insect in it's mouth. The weather is still very dry and still quite cool. Same birds, titmouses, cardinals, robins. I can hear woodpeckers. A male grackle came to the feeder with three oversize "babies"; they were as large as the adult but sat on a branch and squaked to be fed. He would hop down to the feeder, grab a bite of food, stuff it in one of the "babies" mouths, then do it again. This went on for about ten minutes!

Mid June - a big bug

2007-06-14T19:25:00.001Z

A clickbeetle, Alaus oculatus. He is huge, maybe two inches long. Looking him up online, I found a description saying that Alaus oculatus are seldom found north of the Ohio River. The Portage River is WAY north of there! Global Warming? (Photograph by Joel Hartzell.)

Leaves are dense and shade is very dark along the river. Mayapples have fruit on them. The nonnative mulberry fruits are ripe. Ticks and biting flies are out and about. It's hot, but no rain so all is dry. Not so good for the corn. We've been to a wedding and a family reunion this month, good activities for June!

Haven't seen many carp. The carp hunters thinned them out quite a lot, hunting them with bow and arrow or with gigs, standing up in their boats. The blue heron doesn't come as often now that there are always kids swimming at the Boy's Dam.

Big Jack

2007-05-30T19:25:00.001Z

I'm falling behind but there have been a few more flowers. The Mayflower is now bearing fruit, but there are still some big jack-in-the-pulpit in the swamp by the dam. This one was a plant about eighteen inches tall!

A big storm this month took down many trees in the area. Tipped over irrigators, blocked roads, other damage. The horrid Norwegian maples have completely shaded out many areas.

Mayday and new leaves

2007-05-01T18:42:00.000Z

Wow, what a difference in just a couple of days. It's 75 degrees; the trees have leaf-budded out in an echo of their fall colors--pink for the oaks, yellow for the maples--and from bare to green almost overnight. What you see here is, unfortunately, mostly Norwegian maple, a non-native that starts just enough earlier than the native sugar maples that it shades out the seedlings of other trees, wildflowers, etc. But the remaining sugar maples are leafing out too.
Last night I took a roundabout way home and was rewarded with wonderful frogsong along a dirt road, by a field that had been plowed but the ruts stood full of water. I pulled off the road and could hear chorus frogs clacking and wood frogs grumbling along with the ubiquitous peepers. A big snapper slowly crossed the road. As I was leaving, four stout and barefoot Amish women came walking towards me, in the sunshine.

The sunset was beautiful.

Fishing with a net

2007-04-20T20:59:00.000Z

A man fishing with a net below the dam. A strange scene, like something from the National Geographic.

Marsh Marigold and Wood Duck

2007-04-17T17:03:00.000Z

Snow for a week, then sun! We are so ready for some sun. The wind is very cold, but the flowers -- the natives anyway -- are coming back. Some of the violets look a little burned, but otherwise OK. And down in the swamp, the Marsh Marigolds have popped open! Before last week's snow I hadn't even seen any buds, just leaves. There are still some skunk-cabbage flowers but mostly they are now growing their big leaves, unfurling from the middle like an umbrella.

The tree with the tiny yellow flowers -- what is it? Is also in bloom. The deer seem to have eaten the dogwood tree right down to the ground, alas.
I still see the big flock of Coots out on the pond. And this morning I saw a male Wood Duck swimming near the dam!

April Snow

2007-04-06T16:55:00.000Z

In the swamp, the skunk-cabbages are covered with snow, as are the seed leaves of the jewel impatiens and marsh-marigold.

On Tuesday it was 77 degrees and Wednesday it was 26 degrees -- and it has been snowing the last three days! We are going to be hiding Easter eggs in snow drifts on Sunday. And it's pretty much the end of the nonnative "spring flowers." I wonder what the violets are doing, under the snow.
The downy woodpecker has been at the feeder every day; there are coots on the pond and I hear the cardinal calling.

Violets! and something strange

2007-04-01T17:16:00.000Z

Violets have suddenly emerged, overnight there are flowers in the woods. Blue violets, red violets, but mostly white violets.
Yesterday I saw a flock of Bufflehead on Fisher Lake; I haven't seen them on the pond this year, just Goldeneyes. A very active little downy woodpecker was hanging around all morning.

The sun was just coming up when I went out this morning with the dogs, I saw something strange over the dam but was able to grab a quick picture!

Silver Maple, Red Admiral, frogs and sunshine

2007-03-26T16:25:00.000Z

Spring has arrived for the animals. I've seen several nuthatches and lots of juncos and a whole big flock of grackles has moved in across the street. Lots of robins. A pair of mallards were walking around, shopping for real estate, but the joggers running by out front were not to their liking. Coots, still a flock of coots on the pond, not as many as before. And Canada geese. No grebes.

The dogs herded the woodchuck out from under the front porch but, being herding dogs and not killers, they then didn't know what to do with him. So they herded him under a bush and kept him there until I pulled them away by their tails. He made a chattering noise I never heard before. He seems to have moved away, can't imagine why!

Frogs are in evidence, twittering from every bit of lowland. I don't hear any of the singers though, just the spring peepers. At the lake, before it was developed, we heard the singers first; their unearthly chorus was my first introduction to the strange and wonderful wildlife of Michigan. They don't seem to do well around people, and many Michiganders don't seem to know what I'm talking about. "You mean the peepers?" they say. No, the singing toad, Bufo americanus, with the long trill, sung in choruses of different, harmonious trills, rising and falling. Sometimes they sing in perfect intervals, thirds and fifths; sometimes they drone while one breaks away, higher, like a soloist. There is a recording here: www.naturesound.com/frogs/pages/amtoad.html . Multiply that times twenty or a hundred and you have something to take your breath away. (The same website also has a recording of the spring peeper's shrill whistle, also better in big groups but not the same as the singing.)

Flitting around the dried leaves is a single Red Admiral butterfly, too quick for my camera.

The warm weather has caused a surge of growth. Red leaf-buds are all over the silver maples, especially where they hang over the water. I see marsh-marigold leaves (no buds or flowers yet) in my swamp. The skunk-cabbages have doubled in size and the ones in the sunniest spots are growing leaves.
It's the annual race between the new sprouts and the flowering plants and the killing darkness of the nonnative Norweigian maples. When they leaf out -- before any native trees -- that's the end of the flowers and the end of the growing season for natives. I wish I could get rid of them, but they are too big.

Thunderstorms are predicted, and it's in the high 60s. I had the back door open last night and some big mosquitos came in.

Spring, or something like it

2007-03-19T14:37:00.000Z

Yesterday was beautiful, sun and cold. Today, rain and about 40 degrees. Snow remains in trailing bits on the north side of trees, like a compass-point.
This morning a downy woodpecker and a nuthatch came to the suet feeders. At the tops of various trees I saw a cardinal, a dove, and a grackle, all with their own versions of music. Titmouses and juncos. Above the dam, a small bird I didn't recognize was swept along, apparently not understanding about the current. He dove but came up and struggled back around the bend, out of sight. Very small, mottled brown and white with a very large splash of white on the throat running up to the cheeks.

Then there was a lovely male goldeneye diving close to the top of the dam. The green of his head was quite visible.

The confab of coots continues; there are at least twelve of them. They stay well back from the dam. Their diving is very different from the seal-smooth diving of the goldeneyes. The coots seem to leap and pounce, making short, shallow dives. If only I had a telephoto lens!

The woodchuck appeared yesterday, ruffling around under the feeder on the lilac bushes. A muskrat was sitting on the remaining ice at the edge of the Pond. Some little tiny iris have appeared in full bloom in the garden. I wonder what they are? Not native, everything native still sleeps, except the skunkcabbages.

The river is very, very high. It is as high as I've ever seen it.

Here's the snow picture that didn't upload; just a few days ago!

70 degrees, then snow

2007-03-15T14:46:00.000Z

One coot on the pond; nuthatches at the feeder; and a woodpecker hammering out his love-song in the woods. My photo won't upload!

Snow, Rain, Sun (with coots)

2007-03-12T15:13:00.000Z

A week ago I was driving along an almost impassable (due to heavy, blowing snow) M60 and now the temperature is in the 40s, rain one day and sun the next. Growing up in California I always thought talking about the weather to be the dreariest part of being old, but now in the midwest I can see why it's such a topic of conversation. Odd, unstable, and not very predictable.

A rim of snow remains along one side of the pond, but the ice is all gone. The large number of coots remain, leaving long silvery trails as the move across the water. Yesterday a cardinal was at the feeder and two young male robins were chasing each other around the house. A woodchuck appeared from somewhere and scuttled across the neighbor's yard and down over the bank to the river. And I'm pretty sure I saw the beaver swimming.

Here's a picture upriver. The floating island-like mats of vegetation have re-emerged from under the snow, and pairs of geese are checking them out for nest sites, like human couples looking at real estate.

Ruddy Ducks and an aggregation of coots

2007-03-09T15:31:00.000Z

Lots of new snow a couple nights ago, three or four inches. Now, beautiful sunshine!

Out on Hoffman Pond I've been watching a small flock of Ruddy Ducks (in winter colors.) I've never seen them before. They seem to stay well hidden behind the trees that screen the house from the water. Yesterday there were maybe five of them; sleeping in the cold (it was cold again, about 8 degrees F in the morning.) They had their tails stiffly up and their bills tucked unter their wings; but they still appeared to be swimming, not floating. (Ruddy Duck, Oxyura jamaicensis.)

Another interesting thing last night was an aggregation of coots (Fulica americana) just up from the top of the dam; there were maybe fifteen of them, maybe more; they kept ducking underwater! Very quarrelsome with each other.

Also in the last few days another pair of mergansers passed through, also swimming quite close to the top of the dam. There is a lone male Goldeneye venturing close to the dam, and a large and noisy flicker came to the feeder; also a downy woodpecker. I'm pretty sure I saw a wren in the woods! The regulars -- juncos -- come to the feeder even when the weather is bad, like today. I haven't seen the nuthatch in a while. And this morning a Bluejay was sitting in the redbud tree (it has a feeder in it) making an odd chuckling noise.

Back to the Ruddy Duck -- Peterson says "Cannot walk on land." It's scientific name is Oxyura jamaicensis; the Red-tailed hawk is Buteo jamaicensis. What does Jamaica have to do with things that are red?

March 1: Mergansers and Thunderstorms

2007-03-01T21:40:00.000Z

Thunder and lightning this am; the ice is being washed away. There's now lots of open water, and the geese are standing on the little floes around the edges of those "islands" of floating vegetation.

Four mergansers! Swimming close up to the top of the dam, one seeming to enjoy getting as close as possible. Three males and a female (Mergus merganser).

My favorite merganser sighting was at about this time of year in our cove off Lake Templene, when the ice was melting. Five females, working together like so many border-collies on sheep, slowly drove a school of fish up against the shore; when the fish were well trapped, it was a feeding frenzy! Happening right under my window!

I watch for them each year. They are not willing to appear anywhere that they sense people nearby; I doubt they are still seen on Lake Templene due to the sensless elimination of trees and jammed together development. (I cried when the tree that had reared generations of green herons was cut down -- and then left there; cut down apparently only out of a general dislike of trees, as nothing has been built anywhere near it.)

Anyway. Here on the river in the last week I have seen two downy woodpeckers, juncos, a nuthatch, and titmouses. Titmice? A housefinch was inspecting out porch, and Jim saw a robin by the St. Joseph in Mendon.

February 22nd -- Spiky Ice

2007-02-26T15:08:00.000Z

Ice like tiny thorns all over everything (neither of these plants actually has thorns, it's all ice.)

I've never seen anything like it and neither has anyone here that I showed the picture to. But then, they didn't notice it this time, either.

Bird Count February 16

2007-02-16T15:05:00.000Z

Minus seven degrees this am; first day of the birdcount. We have had a few weeks of changeable weather and broken pipes in the house. Cold and dark and snow and ice; no birds and not much of anything else! The patch of open water above the dam got smaller and smaller until finally only swans remained; I don't know if they were just too close for the other birds, but it seems they were too close to each other. One swan finally drove the other away -- they are called "mute" swans but the dispute was quite noisy, I could hear them over the sound of the falling water. The one paddled around below the dam for a while -- I was surprised that the bird is strong enough to swim against the current -- and left. The other one presided alone over it's patch of water, occasionally stretching out its neck and vocalizing. Finally it left too. Jim was driving down to Constantine and saw "forty or fifty" swans on the open St. Joseph below the dam there.

Two days ago a pair of swans reappeared, probably the same ones? No other water birds. An occasional titmouse (Parus bicolor), a white-breasted nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) and oh, something I've never seen before, a brown creeper (Certhia familiaris) skittering up the trunk of one of the elms. The way they move is very different from the nuthatch even though they seem very similar; quicker, darting movement. The markings on its back were very pretty, a sharp clear pattern of brown and white that made me think of a newly-shed gopher snake.

Nothing out there for the bird count except the swans, who are asleep on the ice with their heads under their wings. Too cold! (9am)

Very cold

2007-02-05T21:07:00.000Z

Minus nine degrees this morning. In just a few days, Hoffman Pond has completely iced over except for a patch of open water just above the dam. The swans have moved onto the ice at the edge of the open areas, but haven't been swimming much. A flock of doves sat around in the trees by the edge of the water for a while, and the kingfisher showed up although I didn't see him fishing. There is a busy grebe, that's about it.

Yesterday there was more open water and more birds. Six very very tiny diving ducks, which I think are female bufflehead, were fishing in the open water along with several coots and a grebe. No mallards. The swans were swimming around the open patch, normally the other birds avoid them but there is really no room.

I've been watching the birds hunting. The female bufflehead spend a while underwater, while the coot seems to leap up out of the water with a dive that's more like a pounce when he sees something edible. All of the birds have to dodge thin sheets of ice that rapidly sail toward the top of the dam.

I saw a coot with a fish too big to eat; the coot was smacking the fish on the surface of the water, trying to eat it, then smacking it again. Eventually he ate the head off, and finally the rest of the fish. Maybe it just tasted bad.

I looked up the word "bufflehead" and it seems to be "buffalo-head". Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola) are closely related to the goldeneye ducks (Bucephala clangula) that I've seen a lot of this winter. I'm still surprised by how tiny the bufflehead are.

February 1, 2007

2007-02-01T22:21:00.000Z

A very grey day. The swans, and a single, very busy coot are the only birds. It's about 20 degrees and due to get colder.
Yesterday there was a flock of "mystery ducks" feeding above the dam (divers.) Brown, white under tail, small white spot or line beneath the eye.
The skunkcabbages haven't changed much in size; mostly they are under the new snow.

Ice and Snow

2007-01-25T17:01:00.000Z

The ice storm ice lasted for almost a week, and there was damage to the trees, especially the ones standing by themselves in people's yards. Trees in the woods survived fairly well. A clump of big somethings on the riverbank, Norway maple I think, toppled over into the river. Looking at the bottom of the torn up patch of bank I see almost no roots!

There haven't been that many birds, the pair of swans and the mallards remain and Monday there was a flock of geese for a few hours. Last week there was a group of male goldeneye passing through, diving and swimming fast.

The last few days I've only seen one male goldeneye, a grebe, and the eternal mallards. Oh! and a kingfisher! He was sitting on a piece of wood sticking up several feet out of the water, just above the dam.

This morning there was a pretty good fall of snow, several inches. The mallards were doing their dabbling below the dam, I haven't seen that before. They usually prefer the calm water of the pond.

After the snow stopped, a small flock of goldeneye, three males and three females, were feeding above the dam. The males remind me of the penguins we saw in Milford Sound, with their rapid dives and flashes of white.

They're back!

2007-01-20T05:48:00.000Z

The skunk cabbage buds are coming up through the icy water.

2007-01-15T22:44:00.000Z

Ice storm! Every branch and twig and blade of grass is encased in ice. I see that ice wraps around the tree-trunks, too. Many big branches down, especially on the big elms that are not doing so well anyway. A little snow fell, and now the woods have taken on an eerie look.

January 1, 2007

2007-01-02T02:57:00.000Z

A grey morning; nothing stirring out on the pond. The temperature has been bobbing around fifty degrees all week, so no snow. Last night, rain.

About 1:00 five male goldeneyes showed up, diving frantically above the dam for about fifteen minutes. They spent most of the time underwater, surfacing for a few seconds then diving again. Gradually they made their way up-river and out of sight.

At the same time the mallards emerged from wherever they had been hiding, and about an hour later the pair of swans showed up. The sun came out briefly, making the white of the swans even more brilliant against the grey water.