Summer Night At Birch Lodge

This summer some of our guests invited us to join them on the lakeside.  It was a beautiful evening for a fire.

  We had grilled out and spent the evening watching the sun go down and the moon come up.

One of our guests commented on how the very lake seemed to catch the quiet,

 and settle down for the night.

My only thought was that we ought to do this s'more......

Fall Colors Birch Lodge 2012

The nights have been dipping down into those low 40's and with some sun and day temps getting up into the 50's we have been able to see some color developing on the trees.

  I thought because of the dry summer we might not have much color this year.... but that is not so.









 (I know I already did the blog on mushrooms, but looking at the leaves on the woods trail to the beach I came across this too too perfect photo opportunity!)

 The trees may be a real treat this year if these early indications continue to develop.   I hope the rain will abate and give us a few weeks of real fall glory. 

 Every morning there is more color, and I think that by the end of September it should be beautiful.

  So those of you who are wondering when to come up and do the fall tour---Start making plans!

 The air is crisp so pack a jacket and some gloves, bring the camera, and come on up!

Fall Mushrooms at Birch Lodge or the Fungus Among Us

We have had quite a bit of rain in the last couple of weeks.  This seems to have given rise to an abundance of mushrooms and fungi this fall.

  I have broken out the mushroom field guide, but after reading about the many nuances of mushroom identification, I won't pretend to be able to identify them. 

I thought it would be interesting to figure out if any of these are edible.  Assuming that I did identify them properly, I found that mushrooms seem to fall into edible, non-edible, poisonous, poisonous to some people, and dubious categories. 

I also learned that the morel mushroom commonly consumed as a spring treat is poisonous to some people and it is urged to sample it carefully until you are sure your system will tolerate it.


 It is further recommended that it is to be eaten only in moderation and not consumed over long periods of time.     I think I will keep on picking my mushrooms at the market...I am sure Bill with breathe a sigh of relief here.











So, I will just enjoy their colors and variety.  There are mushrooms on trees, on stumps and through the woods and lawn.




 I seems no matter where you look there they are.  Some are quite pretty and flower like, others are not so pretty and look like....well you judge.....

Seeburg Juke Boxes at Birch Lodge

Well, guests escaping the hot weather at Birch Lodge will now have some COOL music to go with the cool breezes.  The 1962 Seeburg console (LPC-1) juke box we played in the Birch Bar before it broke down last year has been repaired.  Even better, the 1953 Seeburg Selecto-O-Matic 100G that we vfound stashed in the corner of one of the old lodge rooms has been repaired and restored. 


Seeburg Select-O-Matic 100G

We wrestled both boxes onto a trailer and hauled them down to Jenison, MI where John Reed of New Play juke box (www.newplayjukebox.com) worked his magic and returned both machines to action.  The Select-O-Matic when originally produced had clear plastic columns on either side of the speaker that had animation.  Bar owners almost immediately began complaining because patrons would break them while "nudging" the machine if their quarter got stuck.  The chrome columns on our machine were designed to survive such treatment. 

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What brings the Birch Bar past alive in this sense is that the column on our machine below the coin slot had a big old dent in it.  New Play would have replaced it but we had John bump it out and leave ripples - more "authentic."  Besides, Bill won't feel as badly if the juke box needs some nudging  so that he can retrieve one of his quarters(!)

We had some fun rummaging through and loading the Select-O-Matic with old 45rpm records we found stored in the lodge, and the Console box was already loaded.  I'd like to write some more, but the Birch Bar is calling me to sit down and listen to "String of Pearls," "I've Got a Gal in Kalamazoo," "Mac the Knife," and "A Pretty Girl is Like a Memory" . . . Six for a Quarter!!!!

American Burying Beetle in Michigan

American Burying Beetle

Last night I went into our laundry to get some clothes out of the dryer.  When I stepped in I noticed a smell....I thought there must me a dead mouse somewhere, maybe in the barn next door.  Sniffing my way over to the shared wall, I noticed a bright orange and black colored beetle in my laundry box. 

I thought "But it isn't as big"....thinking back to those other beetles I met a couple of years ago.  I called to Bill, and he scooped the guy up with a dustpan, and tossed it outside---by the way, it gave off a very unpleasant odor....like a dead mouse.  I think the odor in the laundry was from this guy!
(Not Bill--the beetle).

So here is the story of my sighting of the American Burying Beetle, (photo above by Ohio Dept of Natural Resources) which is very rare in Michigan.
We were living over at Blush Lake, in the Big Island Lake Wilderness Area southeast of Munising, MI at the time.

 I was walking along  a path cut into the slope along the west side of the lake, when I noticed a rodent carcass.  It was in the spring, and it was a biggish rodent, smaller than a squirrel, but bigger than a mouse, with few identifying markings.   Always curious, I looked closer, and poked at its bushy tail with a stick to move it out of the leaves and get a better look.   Then it happened....the carcass began to MOVE.   The whole darn thing wiggled and tossed, and flipped over on the hillside in the process.  Then I saw two BIG orange and black beetles, I haven't seen anything like them since I worked down in Mexico--where there are lots of big bugs.  Shocked the heck out of me to see anything like this in the north woods.  (Oh, and I am very familiar with many varieties of dung beetles, and that is sure what they weren't. )   Anyway, in a flash they had burrowed into the ground and were gone. 

Fast forward a year, and we picked up a book on endangered species in Michigan.  Paging through it I saw those beetles.   I mentioned them to the folks at the Forest Service, but no one ever followed up.  So I more or less forgot about it until last night.  

Roundneck Sexton Beetle

Certain that I could not see something that rare twice, I looked up orange and black beetles online and learned that there is a similar beetle called the Roundneck Sexton Beetle, nicrophorus orbicollis ( photo from wikipedia by Michael Oliver)  which is smaller.  I a convinced this is what I saw in my laundry.  But now I am even more certain that what I did see at Blush Lake was the American Burying Beetle.  THEY WERE BIG. 

So there is my story and I'm sticking to it.  Perhaps you may think I have a Beetle in my bonnet, but at least I don't have one in my laundry box.....

Connecticut Warblers at Trout Lake, MI

Last year we hosted several birders who were in the area to look for Connecticut warblers.  One of them shared his copy of "A Birder's Guide to Michigan" by Chartier and Ziarno.  It is an amazing book detailing locations to view various species throughout the state.  We picked up our own copy last winter.

This spring we had more birders in search of these elusive little birds.  The birders only stayed one evening and had no luck.  The next day we decided to explore for ourselves.  We grabbed the camera, the book, maps, and forgot the binocs..good we live in the area!

Forest route FR3344 (aka 3343 on the Hiawatha Forest Map) is about a mile and a half north of Trout Lake, MI off of M-123.  There is a sign on the west side about the Ellis Memorial Snowmobile Trail. 

The viewing area is about 1.5-3.0 miles west of this point.  Note this is a sand two track used by loggers and ORV's so it can be pretty rough.  Also be aware that cell phone reception in this area is spotty at best.  The road passes along a sand ridge between low boggy bottoms.

It is not the end of the earth, but I am pretty sure you could see it from here... 

We heard lots of birds, and we could have seen more with the binocs.  Every time we were close enough to identify, off they flew!

We did see moose and wolf tracks, and a dragonfly which we hoped was a rare Ringed Boghaunter--but it wasn't. 

We decided to try our luck on the area east of M-123.  The road runs along the ridge bordering a large open marsh, which is one of my favorite areas here.  Looks VERY wild.  But it was getting late and we did not see or hear one bird.

  Then all of a sudden we caught a fleeting glimpse of a small bird, khaki brown green and yellowish underneath.


 And it was gone... I know the odds are against it, but maybe it was our warbler....and I could swear I could hear it laughing....

Lady-slipper Orchids in the Upper Peninsula

Although this has been a dry spring until the rain we have had in the last week (over 3"!)  The Lady-slipper Orchids have been out in force.

 First in bloom have been the Purple Lady-slippers (Cypripedium acaule) in the more acid soils among the Hemlock stands and in the bogs.  ( Not to mention some nice stands in the conifers here at Birch Lodge.)

 They were followed closely by the bloom of the Yellow Lady-slippers (Cypripedium calceolus) which is possibly two varieties, debated, but I vote for two.   One (pubescens)  is common in the U.P.  it is smaller and more likely to be found in thin wet soils of lime stone outcrops and along the ditches in lime stone areas.

 The other is more of a woodland native, more common downstate, (parviflorum) it tends to be a larger plant with darker sepals and is found in mixed hardwoods and along wood edges.

  The Showy Lady-slipper orchid, (Cypripedium reginae) seems to be latest to bloom and prefers a more neutral soil.  This is not called regina for nothing!  What a beauty!

It frequently may be found in moist ditches along the sunny side of the road.

  Please don't even think of trying to  pick or dig these orchids up.  Aside from being illegal,  they area next to impossible to grow, and experts caution that they will die within three years of being moved.  If you must try to grow one, there are growers online.

 Personally,  I just think they are lovely jewels of the wild and can't get enough of stalking and photographing  these late spring beauties!