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The bird flu: Clean your birdfeeder right now
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Federal officials early this year detected highly contagious influenza in wild birds in over 30 U.S. states, the biggest avian flu outbreak since 2015.
Echo
Ontario jumping worm invasion threatens to leap borders
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For the first time, Asian jumping worms were found in Ontario in March. The discovery of the invasive worms follows sightings in all Great Lakes states except for Michigan, Pennsylvania and New York. Removal of invasive species once they are established is extremely difficult, making prevention essential.
Echo
Backyard habitats: TikTok edition
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In our newest TikTok, Echo reporter Rayna Skiver interviews Natalie Cypher, naturalist and educator for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Outdoor Adventure Center.
Echo
Backyard habitats
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Backyard habitats benefit both wildlife and the people making them. For wildlife, they provide food and a safe place to nest. People benefit because of the positive feelings associated with added greenery and the presence of wildlife.
Commentary
May: Good fish, fun fish, bad fish, sunfish
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May is a good time to look for sunfish nests. The sunfish family includes some of Michigan’s most popular sport fish: largemouth and smallmouth bass, bluegills, pumpkinseeds, crappies, rock bass and others. They are also among the world’s worst invasive fish species.
Wildlife
Commentary: Bullfrogs are my favorite band
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Bullfrogs are hard to spot, even though they’re loud and large. Using environmental DNA can be helpful in locating and understanding elusive creatures like bullfrogs.
Commentary
April: Hidden Migrations
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Animal migrations are among nature’s most stirring spectacles. So why do so few of us know about spectacular migrations that happen every spring, right in our own back yards? Because these are migrations of fish, out of sight beneath the surfaces of our rivers and streams.
Wildlife
DNR keeps people guessing on social media
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After a four-year hiatus, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources has revived its popular Facebook series “IdentiFriday.” IdentiFriday asks participants to guess the species of a plant or animal based on a small portion of a picture each Friday. The correct answer is then posted with the full photo later in the day.
Wildlife
The pandemic that closed the U.S./Canadian border to people may have opened it to the invasive sea lamprey
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Great Lakes invasive species cling to shipments and navigate canals to migrate, but one aquatic invader – sea lamprey – benefitted from border closures instead. During 2020, 93 Great Lakes tributaries and 11 standing bodies of water were scheduled for chemical treatments for lamprey, but only 26 tributaries and six standing bodies of water were completed.
Fish
Streamside incubator could help restore grayling to Michigan
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A new project hopes to find the best design for an incubator to produce the fish that hasn’t been in Michigan waters since 1936. It is part of a multi-step effort by the Michigan Arctic Grayling Initiative, a collaboration of more than 40 partners to make the fish self-sustaining in the Great Lakes.