Fox, Coyote, Morels, and More!

Finally I caught a coyote on the Truth Cam.  
Years ago before I had a digital camera, I would sneak off into the field, usually crawling in the tall grass, to take photos of the fox families that lived there. 

The first three pictures are copies of the photos I took long ago.  I came across this little guy just walking in the woods, he came up quite close to me.

Then the coyotes moved in and we didn't see much of the fox.
With the Truth Cam these last 10 months, I've gotten lots of shots with fox in the picture, but no coyote.  Just once there was one blurred shot of what looked like a fox flying through the air and the backside of a coyote. These pics are a little bit better, at least I can tell it is a coyote.
From the Truth Cam

It really is amazing what lives here in our woods.  Here are a few more animals I've caught in the last few months.

Raccoons

                              Fox

                            Opossums

                                 Skunk

                             Woodchuck

                                         Deer

People often think when we are out wildflowering that we are looking for morel mushrooms, rarely do we see morels.  Mike mowed the lawn for the first time this year on Saturday and he kept coming in bringing me morels that were growing right there in the lawn. 
We have never eaten morels.  Growing up I ate plenty of stump mushrooms.  I looked up the best way to cook morels, and Mike put a steak on the grill.  Here are some shots of the morels.

They were good but the slugs I cleaned off them sort of turned my stomach.


So many adventures (I'm NOT complaining), so many posts to create, so little time!  I find I get more done if I stay away from this computer! 
Real life, not virtual life - right?    :)

Riverside Park in Robinson Township

2011 04 24 The weather has been a little warmer (55) and we have had rain, so the wildflowers are coming out a bit more than last week.  We found some minor flooding at Riverside Park, we crossed some of the flooding on logs.  Some of the trails were impassable.

We had a nice walk almost to the point, but then saw two dogs on the loose.  So we turned back to avoid them.  Just after this, we ran into a man and a teenager with guns, they were trying to shoot frogs in the puddles.  This is the problem with the nicer weather, out comes the riffraff!

Some things we saw.

                                         Minor Flooding along the trail

                                                         Tilly Swimming

                                  Common Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)

                                                           Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis)

                                                       Along the trail at Riverside Park

         I call this Purple Cress, some might call it Spring Cress (Cardamine bulbosa)

                          Lots of sweet little Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica)
 

                                    Stork's-bill (Alfilaria) (Erodium cicutarium)

Fred Russ Forest and Dowagiac Woods in April 2014

April 17, 2014 

An adventure to Fred Russ Forest in Cass County was the start for our day.  Here is some info on this park, "Nestled along the Volinia Creek, Fred Russ Forest and Newton's Woods County Park, is a nature lovers paradise with its old growth forests, acres of wildflowers and abundant plant life. Located on Marcellus Highway, one-half mile east of Decatur Road near Volinia, Russ Forest offers two picnic shelters with electricity, potable water, equestrian and hiking trails, fishing (designated trout stream), horseshoe pits, and much more. In cooperation with Michigan State Univeristy, Russ Forest is also considered a national landmark with 737 acres of virgin black walnut and white oak. It is also home to one of the largest standing Tulip Popular trees east of the Mississippi River. Beautiful landscapes and peaceful natural settings are the rule rather than the exception at this very popular county park."

We saw a few more wildflowers blooming this week.

          Trout Lily

              Dutchman's Breeches 



                 Marsh Marigold

                 Harbinger-of-Spring

               Thyme-leaf Speedwell

            Spring Beauty



This was an interesting plant that we found, Golden Saxifrage!

 I should have put the quarter in this shot - the flower on the Golden Saxifrage is only 1/4 inch in size, petals absent, anthers orange to red-orange.

         Face Tree

                  Tulip Tree

We walked about 2 1/2 hours in the park.  It was a perfect day to be in the forest.  Then we drove eight miles west to Dowagiac Woods!  We were here 6 days ago and we could see the difference in the plant growth.  The plants hadn't gone crazy, they might have with a bit of rain. 
We saw Marsh Marigold, Spring Beauty, Hepatica, Trout Lily, False Rue Anemone and

Bloodroot, all blooming.   We saw more Large-flowered Trillium, and Dwarf Ginseng but both were just in bud.
We did see many beautiful Sharp-Lobed Hepatica blooming, they are my favorite.

A maple tree had fallen down, some branches had flowers on them yet.

And we saw this Eastern Box Turtle.

 So that was our day, a very nice day.