Wildlife
Are dead deer cash cows?
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Michigan Highway Hazard Recovery is contracted to clean up deer and other animal roadkill in several counties across the state of Michigan. Oakland County pays about $20,000 a year on deer cleanup.
Wildlife
Haehnle Memorial Sanctuary sees Sandhill Cranes in record numbers
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Sandhill cranes have been spotted in record numbers this year at the Phyllis Haehnle Memorial Audubon Sanctuary near Chelsea, Mich. The Michigan Audubon Society reported 8,177 cranes gathered in the sanctuary Monday, November 19, the most birds ever seen there since the 1900s. Once on the verge of extinction, sandhill crane populations have been on the rise across the United States for the past decade, according to Audubon Society spokesperson Mallory King. “They were almost extinct at the beginning of the 1900s, their feathers were in high demand and they were being overhunted,” King said, “That started to turn around as environmental legislation was passed starting in the 1930s and 40s, and now they’ve been steadily recovering.”
The birds return to their birthplace each year to find a mate. “We’re seeing so many birds here because the sanctuary has the right habitat for them and because enough of the cranes born here last year survived to return,” King said.
Wildlife
Are Great Lakes mudpuppies victims of hurricane Sandy?
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Beachcombers report large and unusual salamanders called mudpuppies washed ashore on many Lake Huron beaches during super storm Sandy.
A Sarnia man had to use a snow shovel to remove them.
Wildlife
Scraping the Internet for sales of Great Lakes invasive species
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Researchers are developing software to track the sale of invasive species on the Internet.
Often sellers and buyers of these plants and animals that can harm the environment are unaware that such sales are illegal.
Wildlife
Researchers strive to restore beetle that raises its own young
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Scientists are using small, dead animals to trap the endangered American burying beetles. They are raising the beetles in Ohio and introducing them into forests. Other researchers are looking for them in Michigan.
Climate
Wildlife migrates as climate warms, forests recover
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Wildlife is on the move in Michigan with species like black bears moving increasingly south.
Wildlife
New St. Clair River reefs to spur sturgeon spawning
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Alright, sturgeon … they made your bed, now spawn in it.
Michigan organizations and agencies are building nine rock reefs in the Middle Channel of the St. Clair River to bolster native fish spawning and restore habitat.
Wildlife
Michigan takes aim at mute swans; 13,500 to be eliminated
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Michigan officials are asking residents to help shoot and kill 13,500 mute swans.
Wildlife
Wildlife cameras put you in the nest
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Ever since Panda Cam hit the watching-baby-zoo-animals-from-the-comfort-of-your-office-chair scene, other animal cams have appeared to give viewers a look into the lives of wildlife. That’s including cameras following some Great Lakes birds. You can see Ms. Harvey, the great horned owl at The Feather Rehabilitation Center in New London, Wisc.; Big Red and Ezra, a pair of red-tailed hawks at the Ornithology Lab at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. and a great blue heron at the Ornithology Lab. “It allows people to build a connection with birds from their computer screens,” said Charles Eldermire, BirdCams project leader at the lab. The Ornithology Lab at Cornell University has been monitoring birds with minute-by-minute photos for over 10 years, but launched their high-definition BirdCams in March.
Wildlife
Long-time birder writes book about rare Michigan species
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A birder and Michigander tells the story of a rare, endangered bird species in his new book, The Kirtland’s Warbler: The Story of a Bird’s Fight Against Extinction and the People Who Saved It.