Michigan Forest Life - June 22, 2025

Good morning friends,

The forest is going through another seasonal change this week.

You might ask, "But what is the change? Leaves opened several weeks ago. Snow disappeared. Spring sprung. Ferns and seedlings sprouted from the forest floor. Ducks, geese, turkeys and all the birds in the forest built nests and laid eggs. Turtles too. Yes. Spring arrived. What has changed since then?"

You are right the Michigan forest changed its image late in May. Put away its empty, leafless

winter look and brought out a fully-filled summer look. That's the easy part to notice. Spring

does not look too unlike summer. The forest never stops changing.

What is the summer difference for a wild animal? Do they see it as a new season? Perhaps they notice a forest is full of toddlers. Dog-size deer with spots on their backs. Half-size geese, ducks and turkeys. Broken turtle shells spread around a small hole that the tiny turtles dug their way out of. Miniature bunnies jumping from their grassy refuge.

For forest animals, spring is a time for birth. Summer is a time for growth and character

development. Summer is when wild newborns learn their sense of self-preservation, when they develop instinct, when they begin to build body structure that will help them through the next winter. It is when they first develop their personality.

Do you think wild animals notice other summer mechanisms at work in the forest? Did they

expect pine pollen that descended on the forest this week, leaving a thick layer of olive-green dust each morning, and know that the summer season is here. It coated everything every day.

Did the wild animals understand yesterday's aggressive winds that shook loose a blanket of tiny male cones from the white pines (Photo

1)? These cones, no more than 1/2 inch long, covered the Treehouse porch and walkways so thickly that they needed to be swept away to

see the porch decking. Summer.

Do they notice temperatures that have become hot? Or are they like the frog sitting contently in a pot of water, seeming not to notice as the water slowly heats up to a lethal boiling point?

Warm temperatures arrive in spurts, each round inching a few degrees hotter. Now we are flirting with the low 90°F on the hot days (Photo 2).

Warmer temperatures bring out different insects. Last night the clearing in front of the Treehouse was full of fireflies. Mother Nature's lightshow. What do deer and bobcats think about the summer's firefly display?

Yesterday, a friend asked if there is air conditioning in the Treehouse.

My answer was old-school, "Of course. I open the Treehouse windows in the evening, at about 8:00 pm, as the forest is cooling down for the night. I close them in the morning, at about 7:00 am to trap the cool air inside as the forest is warming up. Branches from the surrounding white pines shield the Treehouse from the sun's direct heat. Because the Treehouse is well insulated, it holds cool air for most of the day."

On hot days I shift cooking to the outside grill to avoid adding heat inside the Treehouse (Photo 3). I often spent a few refreshing minutes in the pond, which is spring-fed with cool, clear water.

Do wild animals understand seasonal change in the same way that humans do and classify the year with the cycle of the moon? Or do they simply take each day as it comes and look for a cool spot when the heat becomes uncomfortable to them? Do they dip their feet into the pond's cool water?

With today's email, I am happy to introduce a website intended to showcase and explain

Winterfield Pines Nature Sanctuary. Please have a look.

www.WinterfieldPines.com

I would like to thank Michael Coulombe for constructing the website. Michael is a reader of the Michigan Forest Life emails and a frequent Bunkee guest. Thank you, Michael.

When traveling across the continent last week, I came across a sign that made me think differently about the American dream - the dream where parents tell children that in a land freedom and opportunity a person can grow up to become anything they set their mind to be. This sign (Photo 4) stopped me in my tracks and inspired me to think about it every day since then. It put a new twist on the American dream for me. Perhaps it will also inspire you.

I wish you a warm summer day and the cool shade of a tall white pine.

Until next time,

Dan