Phillip the Box Turtle by Kevin Povenz
May 23rd is World Turtle Day, an annual day of recognition that was started in 2000 by American Tortoise Rescue to raise awareness about turtles & help preserve endangered turtles worldwide. Michigan has ten species of native turtles including the Eastern Box Turtle – check them all out and Know Your Michigan Turtles!
Kevin took this photo of Phillip the Box Turtle for the Blanford Nature Center back in 2017. See more in his Animals gallery on Flickr.
Another year, another pair of fox kits for the Michigan in Pictures family! Last year I christened a pair Oliver & Charlotte based on Michigan’s most popular baby names. Both Oliver & Charlotte have been dethroned, so please put your hands together for Noah & Amelia (#2 & #4 in the US respectively).
TP took this photo on Sunday. See more on his Flickr!
More foxes on Michigan in Pictures.
River Otter by Ashleigh Mowers
Great Lakes Now has an excellent feature on the return of river otters to the Detroit River that says (in part):
On the cool morning of April 25, doctoral student Eric Ste Marie from the University of Windsor’s department of integrative biology went out for a walk with his partner along the Detroit River prior to an anticipated long day in his lab. Much to his surprise, he saw an animal pop its head out of the water. It was too big to be a mink and, as it dove, he noticed that it did not have a flat beaver tail. Ste Marie ran out to the end of a pier beneath the Ambassador Bridge to get a closer look to check, and there it was: a river otter.
River otters were quite common in southeast Michigan, including the Detroit River, up through the arrival of European explorers and fur traders,” said Gearld P. Wykes, a historian from the Monroe County Museum System. “During the fur trade era, they were much sought after for their fur, along with beaver. Based on historical records, river otters were likely extirpated from the Detroit River in the early 1900s.”
In 1986, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources reintroduced river otters into high water quality rivers and streams in eastern Ohio. The river otters thrived. As their population grew, they began to move westward – what scientists call expanding their range. By the early 2000s, they had found a home in western Ohio, particularly near Cedar Point and Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, just east of Toledo.
…Biologists studying the Detroit River and resource managers have been excited about the possible range expansion of river otters into the Detroit River. There have been a few anecdotal reports from citizens, but no photographic or videographic proof until Ste Marie was greeted with that ecological surprise on the morning of April 25.
…River otters are considered an indicator species, and their return to the Detroit River after an absence of more than 100 years is a hopeful sign of improving watershed conditions.
Ashleigh took this back in 2016 in Detroit at the Detroit Zoo. Hopefully she gets a shot of them in the wild! See more in her Detroit gallery on Flickr & for sure check out her Go See Do Photography website for more great pics!
More about River otters on Michigan in Pictures.
I can’t think of a better pic for 2-22-22 than this shot from Tate that I featured 14 years ago. Check out this & others of his most popular photos on Flickr and have a great day!
Off to the Races by Hannah Frames Moments
The annual UP 200, Midnight Run, and Jack Pine 30 Sled Dog races took place in Marquette & the surrounding area last weekend. They share that musher Ryan Anderson of Cushing, WI finished first in the 228-mile UP200 Dog Sled Race followed by Wade Marrs & Nick Vigilante. Michael Bestgen & Joanna Oberg had the top 2 finishes in the 82-mile Midnight Run, and Erin Schouweiler was the top finisher in the Jack Pine 30.
Get all the results at UP200.org.
The photo was taken by Hannah Wescott. You can see a bunch more on her Facebook page & for sure head over to her website to view & purchase her work!
Southern Flying Squirrel Showing Biofluorescene by Lee Rentz
Lee’s incredibly cool shot of a southern flying squirrel exhibiting biofluorescence when illuminated by a UV light source led me to this fascinating 2019 New York Times article on the discovery of ultraviolet fluorescence in squirrels:
One spring night in Wisconsin, John Martin, a biologist, was in his backyard with an ultraviolet flashlight. Suddenly, a hot-pink squirrel flew by.
It was a southern flying squirrel, a small, furry creature most active at dawn and dusk. Under most circumstances, it has a warm brown color. But in the beam of Dr. Martin’s flashlight, it sported a gaudy Day-Glo hue closer to something you might see in a nightclub or a Jazzercise class circa 1988.
“He told his colleagues at Northland College, but of course, everyone was pretty skeptical,” said Allison Kohler, a graduate student at Texas A&M University.
Dr. Martin asked Ms. Kohler, then a student at Northland, to look into it. After examining more than 100 specimens of flying squirrels across two museum collections and spotting five more squirrels under UV light in the wild, the researchers and their colleagues reported surprising results last week in the Journal of Mammalogy: The pink is real.
…What the flying squirrels get out of it is still a mystery. Confirming that the squirrels are even capable of seeing in ultraviolet wavelengths will require additional study, Ms. Kohler said.
The researchers have some hypotheses concerning what’s behind the squirrels’ Day-Glo displays. Ultraviolet rays are abundant during the dawn and dusk periods when the squirrels are moving around. So it is reasonable to expect that the fluorescence is visible to other organisms even when there are no biologists with UV flashlights in the vicinity.
The vivid pink color might have evolved to confuse the owls who prey on the squirrels. Those birds of prey fluoresce in precisely the same hue themselves; a flying squirrel may look, superficially at least, like a flying owl.
Or, if it’s confirmed that the squirrels see UV, the color might have something to do with mating or signaling to other flying squirrels.
“It could also just be not ecologically significant to the species,” Ms. Kohler said, noting that future work will delve into the question. “It could just be a cool color that they happen to produce.”
Head over to Lee’s Flickr for more shots of this squirrel & a friend!!
PS: Can I interest you in glow in the dark mushrooms?
Although this study didn’t focus on our Michigan-bred mosquito, I thought you’d enjoy this article from Sci-News about how specific colors impact the feeding behavior of mosquitos:
A new University of Washington-led study shows that after detecting a telltale gas that we exhale, yellow fever mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti) fly toward specific colors, including red, orange, black and cyan, but they ignore other colors, such as green, purple, blue and white.
“Mosquitoes appear to use odors to help them distinguish what is nearby, like a host to bite,” said Professor Jeffrey Riffell, a researcher in the Department of Biology at the University of Washington.
“When they smell specific compounds, like carbon dioxide from our breath, that scent stimulates the eyes to scan for specific colors and other visual patterns, which are associated with a potential host, and head to them.”
…The researchers tracked individual mosquitoes in miniature test chambers, into which they sprayed specific odors and presented different types of visual patterns — such as a colored dot or a tasty human hand.
Without any odor stimulus, mosquitoes largely ignored a dot at the bottom of the chamber, regardless of color.
After a spritz of carbon dioxide into the chamber, mosquitos continued to ignore the dot if it was green, blue or purple in color. But if the dot was red, orange, black or cyan, mosquitoes would fly toward it.
…If the researchers used filters to remove long-wavelength signals, or had the researcher wear a green-colored glove, then carbon dioxide-primed mosquitoes no longer flew toward the stimulus.
You can read more at Sci-News & (if you’re so inclined) dig MUCH deeper into the study from Nature Communications.
Stephanie took this pic 13 years ago & shares that three of this little ladies friends bit her while she was taking the photo! Thanks to Stephanie for her service & see more in her Bugs gallery on Flickr.
Waiting with Woody by Howell Nature Center
The Howell Nature Center is home to Woody, Michigan’s official groundhog. Woody has an accuracy rate is 76%, she will be making her 22nd prediction in 2022. A winter storm warning is in effect for Livingston County today, so they have rescheduled their annual festivities from today to this Saturday (Feb 5) from 7:30-9 AM. Get all the details on Facebook or their website & stay safe out there today!!
PS: If you look to Punxsutawney Phil for your Spring prognostication, I’m sad to report that the shadow was seen meaning six more weeks of winter.
Tobin Harbor Sunrise by Carl TerHaar
How would you like to wake up to this view?? Well, if you are a college student, the Isle Royale Wolf-Moose Research Project is seeking volunteers to assist with data collection for the 2022 summer field season. Students studying natural resources, conservation, ecology, or related fields will gain valuable field work experience working with distinguished researchers in Isle Royale National Park in the longest continuous study of any predator-prey system in the world.
The opportunity is for 4-5 weeks between early-May and mid-June, and requires students to have documented experience backpacking & camping for extended periods of time in remote settings, proficiency with orienteering, and the ability to get along with others in backcountry settings for 10-day periods of time are all critical. Get the full rundown of qualifications, activities & more on their website at IsleRoyaleWolf.org.
Carl is definitely Michigan in Pictures’s Isle Royale Bureau Chief! His photos feature prominently in our posts about Isle Royale & his photo of a Bull Moose Faceoff is one of the most popular photos of all time on Michigan in Pictures. He took this way back in the summer of 2009, and you can see hundreds more in his Isle Royale National Park gallery on Flickr. For sure head over to his Mackinaw Scenics website to view & purchase his work!
With Michigan is plunging back into the deep freeze this weekend I think we can all identify with this little guy.
Julie took this back in 2017. See much more in her massive Winter gallery on Flickr.
Stay warm folks!!
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