---------Environmental Interpretive Center--------

Quality habitat in urban areas of Southeast Michigan is continuing to be replaced by residential development, industrial facilities, and is being degraded by human use and invasive species. At the same time, these remaining natural areas are becoming increasingly more important in sustaining biodiversity in the region. UMD is one of these areas, situated in a geographically important area for birds along the Rouge River floodplain, very near the Detroit River – an intersection for so many migratory birds. The number of species recorded at UMD and the surrounding city of Dearborn is now 255, over 60% of Michigan’s bird life, proof of the site’s importance for birds and birders.

Birds have different requirements that they need to meet during different times of the year depending on nesting, migration, and winter survival. Each species of bird must use the type of habitat in the Natural Area (lake, meadow, old field, swamp, and garden) where it can obtain resources with the best efficiency. Of course, there is considerable movement of each bird between habitats as it “shops” around for the best one, but each habitat described has a particular combination of food sources and vegetation cover that is better suited to certain species at particular times of the year.

However, these resources are only as good as the landscape around them. UMD, at the landscape level, contains numerous specific habitats within a fairly extensive natural area of surrounding habitat. This is why UMD is so attractive to birds. A diving bird, such as a Pied-billed Grebe will, of course, use the lake to obtain its resources, but the lake is only as healthy as its surrounding habitat. Quality surrounding habitat provides a “buffer zone” from outside areas unsuitable for most wildlife. The same basic concept applies to all of the five habitats I am describing because each of them has surroundings that may not be used by a bird, but they increase the quality of the site and its usefulness for the bird.

“UMD, at the landscape level, contains numerous specific habitats within a fairly extensive natural area of surrounding habitat. This is why UMD is so attractive to birds.”

“A lake surrounded by trees and fields is as contrasting and attractive to birds as an island in the middle of the ocean, containing a diverse food source that opens up to the observer a greater diversity of avian life.”

What is it about a lake that seems to tantalize and beckon anyone near it for a look through the trees to its open water? After walking through meadows, woods, and gardens, a lake habitat radiates qualities clashing with the surrounding uplands – shade vs. sun, leaves vs. water, and fragrant flowers vs. decaying plant matter. A lake surrounded by trees and fields is as contrasting and attractive to birds as an island in the middle of the ocean, containing a diverse food source that opens up to the observer a greater diversity of avian life.

The lake creates a continuous source of food for birds in the form of vertebrates as well as flying and sedentary insects. It hosts an annual hatching of many of the Area’s insects, which pupate under the water’s surface and stay around the lake to lay eggs as adults. Insects come from the emergent vegetation or from below the water’s surface and are food for avian life. Whether it’s a diving beetle being eaten by a green heron or a shore-dwelling stilt spider providing food for a northern waterthrush, the lake is an incredible resource to many of the insects, aquatic plants and seeds, and thus, birds in the area.

“The lake creates a continuous source of food for birds in the form of vertebrates as well as flying and sedentary insects.”

Fairlane Lake is lined by alder trees introduced from Europe which produce a quality seed crop, borne on catkins (small cones), much like those of birches. The leaves remain green well into the fall season and are gone in November, when siskins and redpolls feed on the seeds in years when these birds are present. A walking trail circles the lake where the east side is a relatively young forest of about 50 years old. It has a well-developed understory, providing shelter from predators and a diverse available food source. The west side is a climax forest with mature trees, a shade-producing canopy, and little understory.

There is a transition from the older to the younger forest on the west side, which is extremely productive for birds. Early morning is an important time for birds to accumulate fat and regain what they have used up while migrating. For a Great-crested Flycatcher, the area where a climax forest borders a more open area with a denser understory is the first place for airborne insects to warm up and begin flying in the morning, thus being more active and visible to birds. Some of the older trees nearby have already been excavated and are potential nest sites for the flycatcher and other cavity nesting birds.

During spring migration, mid-May is the peak time to see most warblers, vireos, tanagers, and other passerines. The east side of the lake can be the best place in the Area for migrating birds to feed and hide from predators because it is the largest area of understory and “secondary growth” habitat with the benefits of a nearby lake.

The fall season is quieter in terms of singing birds, however, the number of migrants is greater because of the young of the year. Most migrants can be seen from about mid-August through October. Many songbirds switch their diet from insects to berries in the fall. Around the lake, the very abundant Virginia creeper, fastened on the trunks of trees by tendrils with suction-like disks at the end of them, produces a readily available berry for many birds. Its leaves turn yellow or scarlet in the fall when the bluish berries are consumed by most birds, including woodpeckers. Yellow-rumped warblers have the ability to switch their diet completely to berries due to their efficiency at digesting the waxy coating of many small fruits.

The lake itself is approximately 6 feet deep. People have released non-native goldfish in the lake unaware of their detrimental effect on the ecosystem. They provide easy prey for many herons and diving ducks. The lake typically hosts pied-billed grebes, cormorants, geese, and dabbling ducks. It provides an immense food source and creates a forest edge where the sunlight is available to the organisms – creating the best place at UMD for bird diversity.

Also referred to as the Great Meadow, this expansive grassy field is just south of the lake, and is overlooked by the Henry Ford Estate. It is an appealing place for birders, for it allows an opening to see birds that are flying over as well as having many fruiting shrubs along its margins.

The first thing to notice about the meadow is that it is completely lined by forest-edge habitat. The importance of forest edges cannot be overstated, due to their thickets and food availability. It is a combination that is attractive for so many species of birds. First, thickets provide safety, a quick escape from predators, and offer an opportunity for birds to flock and feed together in the open and keep watch together. Secondly, forest edges offer a place where cold-blooded insects and other prey slowly get warmed by the sun. Their slow metabolisms at this time of the day as well as low light levels make them easy targets for birds. The shrubs are shorter and thicker, providing nooks and crannies, as well as a nice layer of leaf litter for foraging birds.

By standing in the meadow in spring, one has a good likelihood of seeing orioles, buntings, and flyover birds like common loons and hawks. The orchestra of songs and calls is a cacophony of sound on an early spring morning. Many birders have walked this meadow in the morning to find very good birds using these forest edges such as Kentucky warbler, Connecticut, cerulean, worm-eating, and Kirtland’s warblers.

The meadow is lined by raspberry bushes and jewelweed which provide short, dense thickets. The raspberry is ideal for mourning warblers; where they areoften heard long before they can be seen in the thickest parts of the vegetation. Jewelweed produces orange flowers in summer, offering a tremendous source of nectar for ruby-throated hummingbirds, insects, and even some songbirds. Through September and into October, they have flowers that are consistently visited by hummingbirds and many insects, dragonflies typically are seen perching on the leaves. The green leaves are very soft, and glaucous underneath, often holding droplets of dew in the morning on translucent stems. Dogwoods line the meadow edges and provide a very dense area with fruiting trees. Pokeweed is a small shrub that provides a large purple berry that is used by thrushes and many other birds. Jensen’s Meadow was designed to have three hawthorne trees; one hides the entrance to a smaller meadow and the other two cover a trailhead when approaching from the south. These hawthorns are magnets to birds with their dense branching at the meadow edge. A quick peek in the branches often yields a few warblers and other songbirds. In the fall, goldenrod and thistle provide food for finches and sparrows.

“It is an appealing place for birders, for it allows an opening to see birds that are flying over as well as having many fruiting shrubs along it's margins.”

This field is located north of Fairlane Lake and is a small clearing in the woods, again producing forest-edge habitat. It is cut back yearly to keep only the “first successional” growth and is lined with gray dogwood which produces a hedgerow-like border. The shrub produces a whitish berry used by birds and is good nesting habitat for many songbirds due to its dense branching.

Other fruiting plants like celastrus; wildflowers such as goldenrod, ironweed, evening primroses; and rose bushes make up the old field. Also surrounding the field are maples and oaks, and a red cedar is in the center of the field – a potential roosting place for owls. Whether it is in the spring when warblers flit in the dogwood, or in the winter as American tree sparrows perch on top of the goldenrod to eat the seeds, the old field is a quality food source with dense cover in the middle of the woods.

In the morning, birds are concentrated on the west side of the field as the sun slowly warms and brightens the trees. The birds often feed very low to the ground, darting around for insects. Northern Shrikes have been seen twice here, as well as worm-eating warbler and olive-sided flycatcher.

The old field is wet in the spring, and because it is open as well, American woodcock can be seen displaying beginning in early to mid-March. At dusk, listen to the winnowing of the bird as it rises over 300 feet and spirals down to the ground producing a long series of strange call notes.

“Whether it is in the spring when warblers flit in the dogwood, or in the winter as American tree sparrows perch on top of the goldenrod to eat the seeds, the old field is a quality food source with dense cover in the middle of the woods.”

Located in the floodplain of the Rouge River, just northwest of the old field, is the area referred to as the swamp. It is aptly named, because it is wet year-round and has numerous hardwoods spread throughout it with very little open water. The predominate trees are box elder, crack willow, silver maple, and many dead snags. The ground is typically covered with a few inches of water in most areas and much of it is covered with a blanket of reed canary grass and various fallen trees, many of which are old willows. Summer plants include blue flag, marsh marigold, and some cattails.

For many birds that are suited for wet environments such as common yellowthroats, swamp sparrows, and winter wrens, the swamp provides a wet environment rich in insect life and seeds from aquatic plants. It is an open area with plenty of dead snags where birds can perch to sing and display in order to defend a territory. This is one of the best areas at UMD to observe woodpeckers as they probe the trunks of dead trees for insects, eggs, and cached seeds from other birds. Throughout migration and much of winter, brown creepers are quite common in the swamp when their high, thin call notes can be heard as they hop along the trunks of trees searching in the crevices for insects and their eggs.

In fall, warblers and other songbirds can be seen in large flocks with frenzied activity concentrated in this swampy area. Sparrows and juncos can be flushed from the grass and weeds which provides complete concealment and a good seed crop each year from the plants.

The abundant poison ivy growing on the trunks of trees is a discomforting thought however, the gray berries that are produced in fall are extremely valuable to warblers, thrushes, and other passerines. From the thick, hairy vine that extends towards the top of many trees are three large leaves turning red with a corresponding cluster of berries.

The organic garden, located just north of the parking structure of the University of Michigan-Dearborn, is an unlikely place for good birding with its small, 15 foot by 15 foot, square garden plots. A closer look reveals quite a few weedy parcels of land that vary from year to year. Regardless, there is a diverse seed crop each year. What the garden offers birds is unlike any other area at UMD. This is evident by the sightings of certain species nearly exclusively at the garden. One that comes to mind is clay-colored sparrow which is seen during it's migration. They nest in forest openings, disturbed areas with scattered shrubs (commonly in jack pine forests in

Michigan), and this could be said about the area on the hill of theorganic garden. There are small fences, isolated shrubs, and planted red pines landscaped around the open area, along with a plethora of garden plants and vegetables. This location is likely the best place in Wayne County to see this species. Each May, just from 2002 through 2004 alone, held singing birds at the garden, and even more banding records.

The site is naturally good for birders due to its higher elevation that looks down at some of the Natural Area. In fall, thousands of American Robins can be seen on a daily basis from mid-September through October flying from the southeast, heading west over the Area at dawn. It is an incredible sight and much mystery still remains as to where the birds are coming from and where they are going.

Many species of sparrows can be seen during the migration season at the organic garden, including: savannah, field, american tree, chipping, vesper, white-throated, and white-crowned as well as dark-eyed juncos.

Due to the abundant seeds, rodents are very numerous at the garden which typically brings American kestrels, as well as red-tailed, sharp-shinned, cooper’s hawks, and turkey vultures. American woodcock annually display at the garden beginning in mid-March through early summer, and if they are not present, often they are displaying at the old field.

“What it offers birds is something unique to UMD, evident by many sightings of certain species with records mostly or all at the garden.”