Native Gardening from the NYT

The Four Ecologically Crucial Things You Should Do in Your Garden by Elizabeth Roach, April 9, 2025.

I commented on this recent NYT article and received very helpful feedback about how to manage tall meadow plants that grow too tall and then fall over because they have no supporting meadow plants around them.

Elizabeth from NYC responded with this:  "It’s not as nature would do it, but try the “Chelsea Chop.” Basically, cut those perennials back when they reach about 6 inches. They’ll both stay short and thicken up.

You can get fancy and do a graduated circle. Cut lower on the outside of a clump, gradually cutting higher toward the inside. You can leave the original rangy growth in the middle. You’ll get a longer bloom time, and the short stalks will hold up the longer ones on the inside."

I have several plantings that I need to try this with:  Ironweed, false sunflower, blazing star come quickly to mind.

The comments section closed before I could thank her. 

A cure for my doldrums

Originally I wrote winter in front of the word doldrums in my blog title, but I removed winter so doldrums stands on its own.  Any doldrums.  Does not have to be winter doldrums.  I've said it many times, Belle Isle is my favorite place in Michigan.  Can that be true?  Of all the places?  I think it is.  Possibly this is because it's so close to home and is an easy getaway for me.  And there are always surprises.  Honestly, I'm not sure I would have had the incentive to revitalize my stagnant birding  without Belle Isle so nearby.  This, plus the fact that multiple quick two to three hour visits this past cold and, relatively, dreary winter got me out and away from my doldrums.  I don't think of myself as a winter doldrums person, but this winter I became acquainted with this side of myself and had to find an answer for such an unpleasant state of being.

     

Common Loon (Gavia immer) and six below.

Last Friday, April 4th was a beautiful day and the birds did not disappoint - even prompted me to make my first Wayne County Discord post.  Turning right from the bridge I glanced over the grass to the river and saw close waterfowl that I could not identify from the car.  I have not seen the three species selected for this post in some significant number of years.  And, as the photos mostly reveal, so close.  

A couple of hours later two Common Loons in different plumage were found quite far out beyond the beach bringing the day's count to four.  

Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator)

Female and male with Horned Grebe in foreground.

 

At least twelve counted.

Horned Grebe (Podiceps auritus).  At least twenty were on the river.

The eBird April challenge is the bird and checklist at least 20 times from the same location.  The better to experience how spring migration evolves over April and May.  I considered trying to do this at Belle Isle but it seems highly unlikely that I'll be able to pull it off.

Friday, April 4, 2025 eBird checklist 

Additional findings on Tuesday, 04/08/2025

Blanding's turtle (Emydoidea blandingii)

Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax).  There were three.

Blue-winged Teal (Spatula discors).  There were four.

Common Merganser (Mergus merganser). 

Northern Shoveler (Spatula clypeata).  There were six.

Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia)

Addendum 04/19/2025:  The number of Red-breasted Mergansers and Horned Grebes grew significantly in the days following 04/04/2025.  Though not included in my original post, the number of Bufflehead has also been high thoughout the month.  They are just starting to diminish now.  Two Common Loons were present as recently as 4/15.    

Ring-necked Duck

I mentioned in a prior post that I had not done much winter birding in many years.  I made up for it this year with several visits to Belle Isle - even though I saw essentially the same species each time.  This year's cold weather made for lots of ice on our waterways and we had large congregations of waterfowl on the river.   Some species, like Ring-necked Duck (Althya collaris), I had not seen in several years - as in, when you don't go birding, you don't see birds. 

At first there were five, three males and two females.  I approached carefully and not too closely, but one of the males became jittery and flew off.  This left me with two pairs who were wary but still stuck around.

The long neck and head of the male Ring-neck Duck reveal a bouffant appearance when viewed from behind.  The bird on the left displays this amusingly.  This is suggested in the lateral view with the arrow pointing to that slight head feather indentation of the bird on the right. I imagine that this serves a similar function as the male Hooded Merganser's display when around female birds.   

A very handsome duck if ever there was one.

Waterfowl surprise me with their unwillingness to allow a slow approach.  All January and February, no matter how carefully I approached the river and even while still some distance away, the flotillas would turn their backs and begin their swim away from shore. I like the photo above because even at rest this female is keeping a watchful eye.

Female and male.

Is anyone else confused as to why this duck is named ring-necked?  I went on a search and found a possible answer in photos of birds in flight.  In flight the male's bright white lateral crescent thins out and is visible as a partial white ring just above the bird's open, in-flight wing. This is best viewed with a good lateral image of a bird in flight.  It's the best answer I can find for the moment.  I don't have my own Ring-necked Duck flight photo and I couldn't find one on-line that I could legally download to show this but will keep looking.  

 

January and February at Belle Isle in review

The only place I went birding during the past two months was Belle Isle.  Belle Isle is close to home and I can easily go for just a couple of hours.  I knew there would be waterfowl there and I have not paid attention to waterfowl in a long time.  I was past due.  I also happened to be extremely cold these past two months and very gray.  I tried to get out on the few sunny days we had.  I was successful only a couple of times.    

Common Goldeneye floating with Hooded Mergansers.

Female Hooded Merganser

Common Merganser

Cackling Goose

Rusty Blackbird

Redhead

Hooded Merganser

American Wigeon seen at Ford Field Park

First cycle Ring-billed Gull

I saw American Kestrel - there were two - during each of my visits.

The improbably named (to me) Ring-necked Duck - the first I have seen in many years.

The arrows point the a cluster of Ring-necked Ducks in the Blue Heron Lagoon.  I find it interesting that they hang out together.  True also for Canvasbacks, whose massive flotillas also had fewer Redheads and scaup species intermingled.  Canvasbacks are the undisputed kings and queens of abundance in the Detroit River around Belle Isle.  They deserve their own photo spot, but the relatively small flotilla below is more representative. 

First spring male Northern Cardinals looking grumpy, but then cardinals usually look grumpy.

Song Sparrow

Tundra Swans

Another Redhead

Female Scaup, probably Lesser

Wood Duck

Female Common Merganser

I did find one seasonally uncommon bird for Belle Isle on January 27th - a flyover Turkey Vulture.  This was a surprise.  Even more of a surprise was that I got identifiable photos.  

It's two days before the end of February and I am not going to have the chance to get to Belle Isle again, so this is my two month winter review. It's been a tough winter (at least for me), but perfect for re-acquainting myself with our local waterfowl and a few other birds. I can't say that waterfowl is my favorite group of birds, but I certainly have a lot of respect for them.