Ottawa Outdoors - The Beacon | Port Clinton News, Marblehead News, Oak Harbor News, Lake Erie Islands News

Finding the early signs of spring on the forest floor

Gardeners are accustomed to the traditional signs of the arrival of spring with beautiful blooming bulbs, the breaking buds of flowering trees, and the vibrant yellow flowers of forsythia shrubs. However, there are other indicators that arise when the last snows have melted and the sounds of song birds returns to Catawba Island and the surrounding region. Native flowering plants take center stage from late March through the month of April and retreat in the heat of the summer. This phenomenal transition primarily refers to a group of woodland plants called spring ephemerals, and is part of what makes the temperate forests of northern Ohio so breathtaking.

The Green Dog

There are many interesting things about being the animal companion of a Greenie, a self-styled environmentalist.

The best part is the time I get to spend walking in nature, sniffing the smells, watering the trees, swimming in the lake, even occasionally escaping to chase squirrels and to forage. One memorable spring day I found the leg bone of a deer and led the humans on quite a chase before they could get it away from me.

The healing of Lake Erie

Port Clinton shoreline, September, 2011. Photo by Brenda Culler, ODNR.

On Friday, April 12, the National Wildlife Federation hosted a Forum on Lake Erie, held at the Lake Erie Shores and Islands Welcome Center in Port Clinton. Presenters were Frank Szollosi of National Wildlife Federation (NWF) Regional office in Ann Arbor; Dr. Thomas Bridgeman, University of Toledo scientist with the Lake Erie Center; and Sandy Bihn, Lake Erie Water Keeper.

The importance of Lake Erie

Lake Erie is facing a new set of challenges, which can be addressed if groups at all levels continue to work together. Your actions can help.

This was the take-home message from a Lake Erie Forum hosted by the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) on Friday April 12 at the Lake Erie Shores and Islands Welcome Center in Port Clinton.

ONWR offers free nature programs

On Sunday, May 5, Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge is offering a free nature program, Birds and Branches, from 1:30-3 p.m., to explore the refuge for our feathered friends.

On Sunday, May 12, experience Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge Complex on a Blue Goose Bus Tour. The trip leaves from the visitor center at 8 a.m. and returns at 11 a.m. after touring habitat hot-spots in the area (reservations required and destinations vary).

Purple Martin time in Ohio

In the birding world, few species generate more excitement than does the Purple Martin, a swallow that is arriving now in Ohio, with reports of scouts logged almost daily online.

Purple martins, the largest of the swallows in North America, are totally dependent on man-made housing east of the Rockies and faithfully return to the same locations each year, so it’s understandable that human landlords anxiously await the return of their birds from wintering grounds in South America.

Arrivals are posted on an online database, at www.purplemartin.org, maintained by the Purple Martin Conservation Association (PMCA), a nonprofit conservation organization.