Some Creatures Great and Small

We’ve seen the flora of Ann Arbor, so how about the fauna? Besides the usual suspects of fat campus squirrels, deer, and evil geese, since I’ve been exploring the surrounding area, I’ve encountered a few more denizens of our fair city. I (still) only have the kit lens for my camera, so my zoom is sorely lacking, and we’re going to blame that for my less than stellar wildlife photography. My lack of a telephoto lens also means that I have to get pretty close to anything I photograph, so don’t expect any pictures of bears any time soon.

We’ll start off with our campus stalwarts, deer and squirrels, paired with geese and swans. I was on my way to check on the creek/river levels after a rainy few days when I started seeing hoofprints along the path. The deer was nowhere to be found, but it sure left tracks, especially along a particularly muddy stretch. The squirrel could have been found in any of seven thousand different locations, but this was in a nature area where the stars aligned to give me a squirrel close and still enough, a zoomed in lens, the correct focal point, and a reasonable ISO/shutter speed for a living subject. The most common squirrels in the northeast are the Eastern grey squirrel and the red squirrel. Both are present in Michigan along with fox squirrels. My specimen was too big and not red enough to be a red squirrel, and after consultation of the internet, I think it’s a fox squirrel, based on its yellow-ish, not white, belly.

Similarly to the squirrels, the geese are everywhere there’s water between spring and fall. As bad as the hissing, flapping, and charging is in fall, it’s worse in spring because they have goslings. This particular family unit was blocking a path, because of course. I waited for them to get along to a spot where I could give them a nice, wide berth, pausing for a couple photos on the way. The swans are rarer, but I’ve seen them on the Huron River before. These are, unfortunately, invasive mute swans. They’re problematic because they chase away native birds. I found a site that describes them as “one of the world’s most aggressive waterfowl species.” In Michigan you can apply for a permit from the DNR to remove mute swans, nests, and/or eggs from your property.

Clockwise from top left: Evidence of deer, non-campus squirrel, evil geese with baby evil geese, and invasive mute swans with baby invasive mute swans.

My next bird was identified with the help of Cornell’s All About Birds site, run by the Lab of Ornithology. I couldn’t tell if it was a crane or heron, but from their site, I think it might be a great blue heron. It’s got the bluish/greyish coloring, orange bill, black crown, and head plumes. I stumbled across this guy going between nature areas. Bonus bird in flight and goose family in the background.

Great blue heron (probably)

Lastly I ran into whatever these little guys are by North Campus undergraduate housing. I want to say groundhog babies but I’m not positive they aren’t some other rodent-ish animal.

Baby groundhogs (maybe?)

I have a couple more photos that didn’t make this post – a rabbit and a couple raccoons. Most of the animals I don’t usually see because I’m mostly around campus/downtown, but I think the raccoon sightings might be because there have been less people/cars out. One was behind my apartment by the dumpsters and the other was just strolling around campus.

Other, unphotographed creatures I’ve seen include chipmunks (too fast), a couple [nonvenomous] snakes (also fast, hard to spot in the grass, and usually met right before almost stepping on them), and a variety of birds. Because I don’t have a telephoto lens, the smaller birds will mostly have to remain uncaptured, though I do have a picture of a red-winged blackbird in which the bird is actually visible. Sightings include robins, cardinals, blue jays, a pileated woodpecker, and any number of unidentified flying objects.