Announcer:
You know what that sound means, it's time for the Michigan DNR's Wildtalk podcast. Welcome to the Wildtalk podcast, where representatives from the DNR's Wildlife Division chew the fat and shoot the scat about all things habitat, feathers and fur. With insights, interviews, and your questions answered on the air, you'll get a better picture of what's happening in the world of wildlife here in the great state of Michigan.

Hannah:
Welcome to Wildtalk. I'm your host Hannah Schauer, and hosting with me today is Rachel Leightner. Hi, Rachel. 

Rachel:
Hi, Hannah. Today, we're chatting with Erin Rowan from the Audubon Great Lakes about birding opportunities and helpful birding resources for people who are new to the flock. At some point, we'll be revealing the winners of our Wildtalk Podcast Camp Mugs. 

Hannah:
Yeah, and we'll also be talking about work going on for wildlife around the state. But first, we're going to shine our wildlife spotlight on the porcupine. 

Rachel:
November is the time for romance if you're a porcupine. If you're out in the woods, perhaps in your tree stand and you hear some high pitched screams this fall, it could be two male porcupines fighting over a female. The winning male will then put on quite the display of song and dance for the female. 

Hannah:
Yes, I hear it's quite the spectacle as far as hearing those eerie cat-like screams in the woods. 

Rachel:
I would not have expected porcupines to make those kinds of noises. 

Hannah:
Nope. Porcupines are fascinating. We have all kinds of interesting things to share with you all about porcupines today. Unlike most other rodents, porcupines only have one offspring after a really long gestation period, which is about seven months long. So, they're pregnant for a long time. Fortunately, the young porcupines quills are soft at birth, so they won't hurt the mother when the baby is being born, but they will harden shortly after birth. Young porcupines are able to see and hear at birth, and can walk not long after. Porcupines can eat solid food after about two weeks, but they may stay with their mother up to six months. After the beaver, they're the next largest rodent in the state. 

Rachel:
And if you've ever seen a porcupine moving, you would know that they're very slow moving. And since they can't outrun a predator, they have to have a different defense strategy, quills. These hallow spines are basically modified hairs, and the quills have microscopic barbs, which, if you've ever gotten stuck with a quill or had a pet who has, this makes sense because you know that these are extremely difficult to remove. The quills are only on the porcupine's backside, it has none on its underbelly. That's a soft fleshy area. One individual has approximately 30,000 quills, which shocks me. That seems like 20,000 more than I would have expected. That's a lot. Each one of those quills are about three inches long. Porcupines cannot shoot their quills at a would be predator, so that is a myth, but rather, they just easily detach from the porcupines once they've made contact with a predator. 

Hannah:
Yeah, I suspect a variety of different predators may try attacking a porcupine, but chances are, if they've had a painful experience being stuck by quills, they'll likely not try it again. Now, the fisher is one predator, however, that has success in preying upon porcupines with an effective strategy of getting the porcupine flipped over and exposing its unprotected underbelly. So, fishers are quite successful in that regard, probably not too many other predators are. 

Rachel:
Porcupines are mostly solitary and nocturnal, so they're not often seen. They are most common in the Northern two-thirds of the state, where there are ample forest habitats available, but you can also see them further South in the state. So, if you were to see one in Southern Michigan, you shouldn't be too surprised. One way to tell if you have a porcupine in the area is to look for an accumulation of porcupine scat at the base of a tree. Porcupine scats are shaped like pellets and have a very distinct odor. 

Hannah:
Now, porcupines live in most forest habitat types, and their diet consists of a variety of plant matter. So in the summer months, they'll eat leaves from trees like aspen and elm, as well as flowers, fruits, roots, seeds, your general vegetarian type diet, and in the winter, the porcupine must rely on the inner bark of trees like pine and hemlock, as well as some of the conifer needles and buds, since those leafy greens and fruits and seeds, things like that, are readily available during the winter months. Don't wander off, next, we'll be talking about what we've been doing for wildlife around the state.

Announcer:
A [inaudible 00:05:11] lesson for $11 is a fair fair to go hunt hare, or even a squirrel or two, if you care. If you hunted a deer last month, the lesson is already there, so no more money from your pocket or your billfold square. To get your share of squirrel or hare to eat yourself or share with flair and fanfare with a nice set of flatware at a table you prepare, just bundle up more on with something to wear and don't miss when you shoot or you're labeled to swear and possibly despair if you see no more signs of hide nor hair. So, happy hunting to all and y'all take care.

Rachel:
Well, tis the season, deer season that is, with archery deer well underway and firearm deer season beginning in a couple of weeks, you'll not be surprised to hear that our staff are busy working at deer check stations. We look forward to talking with all our successful hunters who stop by at one of our deer check stations. As a reminder, you can find the listing of each of these check station locations and their hours of operations at michigan.gov/deercheck. Generally, during this segment, we highlight the work that our field staff are doing while out and about in Michigan. But today, we wanted to showcase some of our staff that are the unsung heroes of the wildlife division, and really the whole department.

Hannah:
Absolutely. In addition to our deer check stations, the Wildlife Disease Laboratory is a buzz of activity this time of year as well. Our Wildlife Disease Lab staff are busy processing submitted deer heads for CWD and bovine TB testing. They also have a wide range of other species they handle regularly during the hunting and trapping seasons. But deer are certainly what take up the bulk of the lab's time. The disease lab receives a necropsy species year round for various disease testing and analysis like songbirds, raccoons, eagles, loons, skunks coyotes, and more. I imagine with all those different critters, particularly skunks that the lab might be a little smelly once in a while. This year has certainly presented some different challenges, and our staff at the lab are processing deer heads as quickly as possible. We certainly appreciate your patience as it may take about a month for testing results to be available. We covered some of the changes to CWD testing and deer check stations in our October episode interview with Chad and Ashley. So, be sure to give that a listen, if you haven't already. 

Rachel:
We also wanted to give a shout out to our support staff who don't always get mentioned in our updates about all the wonderful work we do for wildlife. While their work is usually done behind the scenes, they play an essential role in assisting with our whole suite of tasks, like paying bills and purchasing equipment and infrastructure management, information and technology needs, issuing permits and grants, regulation review, trainings, and safety, and the list just really keeps going on. All of these administrative and supportive tasks help keep wildlife and habitat management projects going. Many of our support staff also enjoy getting out to work at the check stations this month.

Hannah:
And remember, if you are heading to a deer check station this month, remain in your vehicle unless directed otherwise, be sure to wear a mask and keep six feet of distance between you and other people at the check station. If you are submitting your head for testing, have the location where you harvested your deer handy, including the county, town, range and section. We want all of our staff and our hunters to be safe when visiting our check stations this year. We wish all of our hunters and fall harvesters the very best of luck this fall, and we hope you all have a safe and successful season.

Rachel:
Stick around. Next up, we'll be talking about birds with Aaron Rowan from the Audubon Great Lakes.

Announcer:
Pure Michigan hunt applications are on sale now. If you want your shot of what is considered Michigan's ultimate hunt, pick up a $5 application or two, there's no limit to the number you can buy. If you're one of the three lucky winners, you'll get a hunting prize package worth thousands, as well as licenses for elk, bear, spring and fall turkey, anterless deer, and first pick at a managed waterfowl area for a reserved hunt. Purchase anywhere hunting licenses are sold or online at michigan.gov/pmh.

Rachel:
Welcome back to Wildtalk. This year, we have seen an increase in people getting out and participating in birding and birdwatching, and so we are happy to have Erin Rowan from Audubon Great Lakes here to provide us with some in-depth information on this family friendly activity and how to get started if you're new to the world of birding. First, Erin, welcome. Thank you so much for being here.

Erin:
Thanks for having me. Happy to be back. 

Rachel:
First of all, can you tell us a little bit about how you got interested in birds and what your role is with Audubon Great Lakes? 

Erin:
Audubon Great Lakes is actually a regional office of National Audubon society. I lead an engagement and outreach program called MI Birds or MI Birds, which is a partnership between Audubon Great Lakes and Michigan DNR. MI Birds works to build and bring together wildlife enthusiasts across the state to engage with and conserve Michigan's public lands for the benefit of birds and people. We do this a few different ways; we lead immersive public bird walks, give public talks and virtual webinars on different bird conservation topics and engage Michiganders in different stewardship and community science activities on our public lands. My personal interest in birds actually started early, birds run in my family. Actually, my-

Hannah:
Oh, my cool. 

Erin:
My great grandfather was an ornithologist out in Alberta, Canada, and his love for birds and the outdoors was passed down through the generations. My dad took me camping and backpacking all the time, and we always had wildlife and plant ID guides with us, so we could learn about what we were seeing and it was just such a great experience. But I didn't actually get obsessed with birds until I had the opportunity to study abroad in Costa Rica, where I got to actually capture and handle birds, and I've been obsessed ever since.

Hannah:
Oh, how much fun? 

Rachel:
Yeah. How could you not be? You're holding such a delicate little bird. What specifically were you doing with the birds? Were you banding them?

Erin:
We were doing a project, trying to identify which plants hummingbirds were visiting and how closely co-evolved they were. So taking bill measurements, collecting pollinator samples from the birds. And then we were just lucky enough to capture anything else that happened to go in the mist nets, so had my hands on a couple of amazing mannequins and tropical tanagers and beautiful, bright colored birds. It was an amazing experience.

Hannah:
Oh, my goodness. Hummingbirds are so tiny and delicate.

Erin:
Yeah. Yeah. Our own hummingbird here in Michigan only weighs about four grams, five grams, so about the weight of a single sheet of paper. Fun fact. 

Hannah:
Yes.

Rachel:
[crosstalk 00:12:17] 

Hannah:
It's crazy. And then the bands, I imagine for a hummingbird, are practically microscopic. Do you use tweezers to put them on?

Erin:
Yeah. There are special tools for hummingbird banding, and not very many people do it, so it's a special field.

Rachel:
That's awesome. It's easy to see what hooked you and why you stuck it out working with birds and conservation. Right now, we're in a seasonal change. It feels like we're progressing into winter very quickly, but there are bird species migrating through Michigan right now. So, what are some bird species we might see throughout the state right now? 

Erin:
Yeah. At this point in fall migration, even though most of our warblers, thrushes and sparrows have already moved through in good numbers, we still stand a chance of seeing a few species like yellow-rumped warblers, fox sparrows, and dark-eyed juncos, some of our favorite snowbirds. But we also have an opportunity to see some really neat birds that aren't typically here in Michigan like sea ducks, like scooters long-tailed ducks that will start to show up in the great lakes and our interior lakes this month. And then, it's also a great time to find some rare gulls that originally breed up in the Arctic or far Northwest of America out in Alaska, like Iceland gulls, Sabine's gull and Franklin gull. Snow buntings, I also saw, and a lot of Michigan bunting groups have arrived as early as the last week of October, and they'll continue to arrive and move through the state this month, as well as our Northern owls, which are always so magical to see. 

Erin:
So snowy owls, great gray owls, Northern hawk owls and boreal owls make their way into the UP and the Northern lower peninsula each winter. It makes birding opportunities ... You can plan a winter birding trip up there and get to see some spectacular birds. So, just because the weather's changing, it doesn't mean you're limited to ... All new birds come into play each month, so it's pretty exciting. Another one that might be of interest for folks is that raptor migration is starting to wind down. So, we'll start to see rough-legged hawks and golden eagles move through the state in November.

Hannah:
Wow. How cool? I've heard those golden eagles are a fun sight when they pass through.

Erin:
Oh yes, they are magnificent, such a huge wingspan.

Rachel:
I have a question about something you just mentioned. You said we've got birds that are migrating through from all over, even from out towards the Alaska. What brings them through Michigan? It seems like a detour if they were just going straight South, so what brings them out this way?

Erin:
Yeah. That's a really great question. We have a lot of birds from East, as well as the West of the Rockies, that come out and migrate down the Atlantic Coast and the Mississippi Flyway. I actually don't know the answer as to why some from Alaska come all the way down here. I think it's probably the Northern most breeders, but I'd have to look that one up and actually give you a definitive response on that one. I'm not entirely confident. But I could say that we do get a lot of birds moving through Michigan in particular because we lie at the intersection of two migratory flyways, the Atlantic and the Mississippi. And so, the Great Lakes play a big role in that too, birds are trying to avoid those big bodies of water. So, it makes Michigan a birding hotspot. 

Hannah:
Yeah. So, it sounds like we've got a lot of awesome and also interesting species migrating through, where are some good locations that people could head out to despite some of these migratory species?

Erin:
Yeah, that's a great question. Michigan is actually home to over 100 important bird areas, and these are areas of international and state level significance for bird conservation and Michigan's migratory birds. A lot of these important bird areas double as state park, state rec areas, wildlife areas, and game areas, and can be found along the Michigan's eight birding trails. A lot of these birding trails are in the UP and the Northern Lower, but our IBS can be found across the state. So, I encourage folks to learn more about their local birding trails and important bird areas, and they can visit two websites; audubon.org/important-bird-areas, and michigan.org/birding to find more information.

Hannah:
That's great. We'll be sure to include some links for folks in our show notes as well. 

Rachel:
So, we can go to those websites to figure out places to bird. But if I wanted to get into birding, which is actually a question I have for you, I am brand new to birding, I can ID an American Robin, but that's about it. What resources would you recommend, or if you had to choose just one essential tool for someone to get one look trying to learn how to bird, what would that be?

Erin:
Yeah. That first essential tool, I think going back to my childhood days of camping and backpacking, would be a bird ID guide. There are two different options out there; you can get a physical bird ID book or there are some free bird ID apps you can get on your mobile device, which are just great at getting familiar with some of your local birds, even when you're a bird watching from home, but then again, are really useful when you actually get out in the field and explore some forest and wetlands. So, two free apps that I recommend are the Audubon Bird Guide app, and then the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Merlin app. And then for bird ID guidebooks, there are few that Audubon recommends, the Sibley Guide to Birds, the Stokes Kaufman Field Guides to The Birds of North America, and then the National Geographic Field Guide to Birds of North America. 

Erin:
Those are for East coast and West coast birds. They also have Eastern bird guides that are a little smaller and easier to carry when you're out actually hiking the trails. There's also a smaller Birds of Michigan Field Guide as well that you can purchase.

Hannah:
That's great to keep in mind. There's a lot of resources out there to help you identify birds. I know my field guide has a lot of worn pages and notes in the margins of things to look for, and so they're a handy tool to have. So, besides having a field guide or ID app, what other tools or resources can you recommend for our folks who are interested in getting into birding? 

Erin:
Yeah. I also recommend buying some binoculars, and I know some binocular brands can be really expensive, but there are options out there that are affordable to meet every budget. They can really help us see physical characteristics of a bird even at a distance, so they're really useful when trying to identify species, when you're outside, and not necessarily just watching from your window at your bird feeder that's nearby. Audubon has a great binocular guide too on their website with recommendations across budget categories, unexperienced levels. I also encourage folks of course, to engage with the MI Birds program. You can learn a lot more about Michigan's birds or you can share your observations with us too, or submit bird ID questions. If you're not sure what you saw or heard, feel free to send us recordings, as well as photos, and then you could also attend our virtual events. So, you could reach out to us and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, or you can sign up to receive email updates from us at [inaudible 00:19:49] or audubon.org/mibirds. 

Hannah:
Yeah. One of my favorite things about Audubon and the different chapters is the close network that you guys have, and how quickly folks can get ahold of each other when they don't know something, or when they found a cool bird and they can reach out so that other birders can share in that experience. It's an awesome group to be plugged into whether you're an avid birder or you have no idea what you're doing yet. It's a great place to start out.

Erin:
Yeah. The birding community's been really great, I feel, in Michigan. From what I've experienced with the attendees of our field trips and looking at the Michigan birding group pages, folks are always eager and excited to share their observations. And if you visit some of Michigan's hawk watch stations as well, all those volunteers there are so excited to teach you how to ID hawks at a distance, which is really hard, very challenging. They look like little specks in the sky and they're able to ID species. Even I, don't know how to do that yet, so it's incredible. 

Hannah:
It's great to have such a network of folks that can help, especially for beginners, help getting beginners into birding and teaching you some of those skills and helping you practice them. I want to go back real quick, you mentioned people re recording and reporting their sightings, are there specific ways or places that people can report or record their sightings? And if there are, are any of these methods like useful to scientists? Do any researchers maybe use the data to learn more about birds, for example?

Erin:
Yeah. Yeah. There are ways for folks to record their sightings. I highly recommend eBird because not only is it a great way for folks to keep track of the birds they've seen and they could even keep specific county lists, but all that information is available to scientists. So eBird is a global community science network of bird watchers, and you can sign up online at ebird.org and download their eBird mobile app. And like I mentioned, scientists use this data when they're trying to better understand changes and bird movements and abundance over time. So, a lot of that information is somewhat understood, but we're still learning. Migration patterns and movements are challenging to track, and we know that birds need our help, not just on their summer breeding grounds when they're most vocal and in their beautiful, bright breeding plumage, but also at every stage of their life cycle. Migration and winter are particularly stressful, as I'm sure you can imagine, birds are traveling thousands of miles during a time when food is starting to become scarce and weather can change on a dime and be really poor. 

Erin:
Audubon actually recently launched the Migratory Bird Initiative, which aims to compile existing migratory bird data in order to help identify and fill knowledge gaps. So, it's a great time to help advance this initiative by visiting public lands and submitting your bird observations on eBird.

Hannah:
I'm curious if there are any other community science type opportunities coming up related to either birdwatching or reporting sightings or bird counts, those kinds of things that people might be interested in or could help them get started in the bird watching game. 

Erin:
Yeah. There are a few bird counts that are starting in November. One is being led by Kalamazoo Nature Center, and it's their Michigan Winter Feeder Watch program, and that runs from mid November through mid April. And similarly, if you're not a Michigan resident, you can also join Colonel's International Project Feeder Watch anywhere in the US and Canada, again from November to April, and all ages and experience levels are welcomed to join those community science winter feeder counts, and you can create your own monitoring schedule from the comfort of your own home. That's a really great project to get started on, especially if you're just learning how to bird. They share bird ID resources with you as well for those projects, so it's a great family fun project to keep you busy winter long.

Hannah:
Yes. That sounds like something my son would love. We love to watch birds out the window, and he would probably have fun with that, even at his young age.

Erin:
Yeah. We also have the Audubon Christmas Bird Count, which is coming up, and like you mentioned, Rachel, we have a really great network of chapters. So, if you want to get engaged with your local chapter, the Christmas Bird Count is a great opportunity to do so. Most of them are led by local Audubon chapters, and they run through December 14th through January 5th, and this is also a winter bird count.

Hannah:
This sounds like something that might be fun for teachers who have kids in the classroom, or even virtually, to do a bird count from either their classroom window or have the students keep track out of each of their individual windows and keep track of the birds and compare notes, and it might be something fun that even some of our educators might get into.

Erin:
Definitely. Yeah. Educators could submit classroom lists to eBird too, and I think that would be a lot of fun. They could keep track of what they see over time and how that might change from season to season. I also wanted to mention that if you wanted to learn more about upcoming conservation and community science opportunities, you could visit MI Birds. We share information about these community science programs and others year round. Again, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, and you can learn more about what is happening near you. 

Rachel:
One last up question for you, Erin. I'm sure you get this one a lot, but do you have a favorite bird? 

Erin:
I do get this one a lot, and it's actually difficult to answer. 

Rachel:
I'm sure it is. 

Erin:
I think it somewhat changes with the season. During the summer, I do a lot of work with black terns and I get to handle the chicks, which are adorable, so they are one of my favorites. And right now with winter starting to set in and some of these birds shifting, I am really excited to see the yellow-rumped warblers or butter butts, as we like to call them. They have a little yellow spot on their rumps and they are just everywhere right now. The trees are dripping with them. So, it's been really great to see them and watch their feeding behavior.

Hannah:
Do I have a favorite bird? Well, as I mentioned before, I am not an avid birder and could definitely improve in the birding arena, but I do get an extreme kick out of the blue jays that live outside my window, which is a very basic bird that I'm sure everyone knows, but they're just extremely entertaining to watch. And it's 7:30 every morning, I can hear them even when I'm on the opposite side of my house, screaming, whatever reason makes the blue jays scream. But they're really entertaining birds, and we had a nest of them right out from our porch this year, so we got to watch the fledglings do fledgling things and watch their whole progression. That would be my easy answer for favorite birds. 

Rachel:
All right. Erin, again, thank you so much for joining us today and giving us all that helpful information. It was wonderful to have you on again, and folks, you will want to stick around because next up, we'll be answering your questions from the mailbag. 

Announcer:
Bringing on your camo and heading out to a blind? The Michigan department of natural resources wants to remind deer hunters that their assistance is critical to bovine tuberculosis surveillance in managing disease in Michigan's deer and cattle. Successful hunters in Sheboygan, Crawford, Iosco, Ogemaw, Otsego, Ceresco, and Roscommon counties are encouraged to visit a 24-hour self-service Dropbox or check station to submit their deer head for testing. Visit michigan.gov/deercheck for locations and hours. DNR hopes you have a safe hunting season. 

Hannah:
Welcome back. Now, it is time for us to answer your questions from our mail bag.

Announcer:
One, two, three. 

Hannah:
Our first question in the mailbag today comes from Shane, who wonders if Pine Lake in Barry County is open for waterfall hunting. They said it is a public lake, but they've heard that it doesn't always mean you can hunt it. And for this answer, today, we are joined by law enforcement divisions, assistant chief, Steve Burton. Thanks so much for joining us today. 

Steve:
Great. Thanks for having me. 

Rachel:
This has a question that we get asked a lot and it can be a little complex, so we appreciate you joining us. Could you explain what key things hunters need to check in order to determine if they can hunt on a particular lake? 

Steve:
Yeah, sure. These are great questions. First to answer Shane's question, Pine Lake in Barry County is open for hunting, and if he follows some of the guidelines, I'm about to discuss regarding riparian rights and waterfall hunting, then he should be good to go. First thing we got to do when we talk about waterfall hunting on lakes and rivers is we got to establish a term called bottom lands and a term called riparian owners and riparian rights. Bottom land basically means the land area of an inland lake or a stream, a river that lies below the ordinary high water mark, that may or may not be covered by water. That's the bottom land. Riparian owner means a person who has riparian rights, so it's a property owner that has this property that's located adjacent to, or underneath lakes, rivers, streams. Riparian rights basically means that there are those rights which are associated with the ownership of the bank, of a river stream or the shore of an inland lake or stream. 

Steve:
So, the first thing you want to do is if you want to determine whether a body of water is open for hunting, the first thing you're going to do is to have to identify whether or not it's publicly accessible. If it's a publicly accessible lake such as it has a public access site on it that the public can use, not just in association, but the public can use, then you should be good to go in terms of gaining access to that lake. The second thing you want to make sure is that there's no township or homeowner association type rules preventing the discharge of firearms or anything like that. And those, you'll have to contact the individual townships on, as the DNR does not regulate those township zones. The third thing you want to do is make sure that you are without or out of the safety zone of any building or any residents along either the river or the lake that you'll be hunting. 

Steve:
Now, the safety zone is 450 feet, which is about 150 yards, and you have to be outside of that zone to discharge firearm in a hunting scenario, unless of course you have permission from the person whose building or residence is within that. You also want to make sure that there's no clearly marked boundaries stating that the riparian bottom, if you will, or the bottom lands is private property. Now, I have seen that some people that own property on rivers or lakes will post their shoreline and some will even post out into the water. So, if it's clearly marked, best advice is to move on to some other part of the Lake. I guess the last advice I would give to hunters out there is that if you're approached by a landowner stating that they're the riparian owner and that you're hunting on their bottom lands, the best thing to do, the sportsman like thing to do is just say, "Okay, sorry, I didn't realize it", and just move to another part of the lake, which is still open to hunting. 

Steve:
Those are the best advice and tips I could give a hunter. Just keep in mind that hunting and trapping rights are maintained by the riparian owners. Unlike fishing, where we can float on bodies of water and fish, riparian rights for hunting and trapping are differently. It's looked at in the courts and in the law, just like a hunting on dry land would be.

Hannah:
Thank you, assistant chief Burton for answering these questions in such detail. It's excellent information to know. So, thank you for clarifying. Do we mentioned my parents zones and other bodies of water, so this information does apply or does not apply to rivers, and are all rivers the same?

Steve:
Great questions again. Riparian rights is a very complex subject. And a lot of times to determine whether or not a river or a body of water has riparian rights really ends up in the courts, but I'll give you the best guidance that I can, and for those of the hunters listening, is those parts of the great lakes and connecting waterways are not considered owned by anybody other than the state of Michigan. So, if someone owns, let's say lakes place on Lake Superior, place on the Detroit river, anywhere that is a great Lake or connecting waterway, then that is considered state of Michigan property or public property at that point. Of course, you want to watch for the boundaries, right? We do share quite a few boundaries with Canada, as well as other states, Wisconsin, Minnesota, believer or not, and also Illinois and Indiana. So, we want to make sure regarding the riparian owners. And Ohio too, I forgot about Ohio. 

Steve:
Now, adjacent landowners usually on the bottom lands of the river. So, if a person owns let's say 40 acres of land and the river runs through the middle of it, then they would own the riparian rights under that river. Therefore, when you enter that property, you would need permission, especially if it was signed as no trespassing, because that is bottom lands owned by the riparian owner. Now, if it's state owned on both sides or publicly owned on both sides, then obviously you could hunt it, if it's legal to hunt there. And then, the tricky part is when the state owns one side, a private riparian owner owns the other side, then what we normally say is that the flow of the river or the center of the stream of the river, if you will, or the current of the river, maybe the river bed would be a good way to look at it, that usually is the dividing line between those two types of property. 

Steve:
For instance, if the state owns one side of that 40, and goes up to the river and the other side of the 40 is owned by a riparian owner, then you could hunt, let's say the one side of the river that the state owns, but not necessarily the side that is privately owned, unless you had permission. Does that answer your question?

Hannah:
Yes. Lots of great information for our hunters. So, it's going to be really important for folks hunting on the bodies of water to make sure they're mindful of where they're at, looking for any signage posted by private land owners, making sure they're following the safety zones, making sure they have all the appropriate licenses, and then checking on those local ordinances or rules in that particular area. All right. Well, thank you so much for taking a few minutes to share this information with our hunters. I know it can be complex and confusing, so we appreciate your insights with us. 

Steve:
Yeah. Good luck to Shane out there on Pine Lake and all the other waterfowl hunters that are listening. And if you have any questions, you can always contact your local DNR office, and we'll be happy to set you up with a conservation officer to answer your questions. Thanks for having me. 

Rachel:
Brian emailed us saying that for decades, he had participated in The Annual Grouse and Woodcock Flush Rate Survey. However, neither him nor his friend had received any reports from last year, and just was wondering if the survey was happening this year. Due to limited staff and budget restrictions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we were not able to finalize the status reports or send mailings out to cooperators this year. However, hunters who are interested in becoming a cooperator can still download and print the grouse and woodcock Hunter cooperator form. This form provides us with information and your days of field and your bird flush rates, so we encourage all hunters to download the form and send us the data because this information will help us and help the DNR to monitor the grouse and woodcock populations. If you're interested and you want the form, you can find it at michigan.gov/hunting under the Small Game tab. 

Hannah:
I also got a question here, this one is from Jeremy. Jeremy emailed asking about the bobcat kill tags, wondering why the first tag says unit A and the second tag says any unit. They asked if the unit A tag can be changed to a different unit. The bobcat limit is two per resident for harvester. However, one of those kill tags is valid for unit A only on private land, excluding commercial forest lands. This can not be changed to a different unit. As I said, it's only good for unit A. The other kill tag is valid for all lands and for all units combined. Also, as a reminder, November 30th is the last day to obtain bobcat kill tags for this season. You can get your fur harvester license, as well as your kill tags online. Please keep in mind that when getting fur bear kill tags or purchasing other licenses with kill tags, such as deer or turkey, that the physical kill tag will be mailed to you within seven to 10 business days. 

Hannah:
So, if you don't want to wait for those kill tags to arrive in the mail, you might want to visit a licensed agent to make your purchase. For more information on bobcat hunting and trapping in Michigan, check out the Fur Harvester Digest at michigan.gov/trapping. 

Rachel:
As we zip the segment to a close, remember, if you have questions about wildlife or hunting, you can call 517284-WILD or email dnr-wildlife@michigan.gov. Your question could be featured on the mailbag.

Announcer:
Did you know that you can take your hunting and fishing regulations with you wherever you go? Have access to the information you need when you need it right on your smartphone. Just visit michigan.gov/dnrdigest to download the applicable hunting digest before you head out to the woods or Michigan fishing guide before you hit the water. Download the most up-to-date regulations available today at michigan.gov/dnrdigest.

Hannah:
Black bears are on the move. As bears prepare for hibernation, they are building up their fat reserves and that means they're on the search for food. Natural food sources that bear seek out in the fall include hard mast, things like nuts and acorns from oak, hickory and hazelnut trees, as these help the bears build up those fat reserves. When food sources are plentiful, bears are capable of doubling their body weight in the fall to prepare for the time they will spend in the den. 

Rachel:
One food source in particular is bird feeders. Bird feeders make an especially appealing and accessible food source, and bird feed is very high in calories. So, if you have bears frequenting your yard, they may be searching for some free food. It is best to remove any potential food sources such as your bird feeders so that the bears find the area less attractive. 

Hannah:
And here in Michigan, bears typically enter their dens by December, but that timing can vary depending on food availability. Pregnant females will be the first to den and adult males will be the last to enter their den. Bears may remain in their den for up to six months, adult males will be the first to leave their dens in the spring time, and females with newborn cubs will be the last to emerge in the spring. Most bears are leaving their dens in late March and into April.

Rachel:
So, if you enjoy having bird feeders up to watch the birds and take them down to avoid trouble with bears, you can plan to put your bird feeders backup later in December, but be sure to remove them in March when hungry bears will be emerging from hibernation. Although, I think bears are hungry all the time.

Hannah:
Yeah, I think so. Always on the search for food, whenever we talk about them. I think it's a spring through fall endeavor for them.

Rachel:
They're certainly food motivated creatures. Bears may also be attracted to grills that still have food debris on them or unsecured trash, or even outdoor patio equipment that you might have a dinner on and spill any other food debris, even that can be enough to attract a bear into your area. So, make sure to clean your grill after using it and storing it in a secure building, avoid leaving trash out, especially overnight, and put your trash out the morning of your trash pickups service. Storing trash cans in a secure building when it is not the day of trash pickup can avoid any encounters with bears or really any other curious wildlife.

Hannah:
Bears have an excellent sense of smell and will follow their nose in search of food. Bears also have an excellent memory, and will remember locations of food sources from year to year. So, a bear may return to a location that they have successfully gotten a meal from before to see if there's still food available. Even if it was like last year that the bear was visiting your property, they might come back the following year just to check it out, see if there's something there for them to eat. So, they have excellent memories and will often revisit places where they've successfully found food in the past just to see if there's a free meal for them. If you have removed the food sources, the bear will likely come back less often and search for food elsewhere. So, it might take them a while to realize the food is gone, so if they've been frequenting the area and you take down, say your bird feeder, it might be a week or two that you'll still see the bear coming around, looking to see if that bird feeder has been put back out with seed in it. 

Hannah:
So, it's important to leave them down for an extended period of time until that bear has moved on.

Rachel:
Yeah. Especially with bird feeders, birds who are feeding from your feeders tend to drop a lot of seeds on the ground below. So, the bear may be coming back to try to hoover up whatever seeds are left on the ground too. So once those have been cleaned off the area, then your bear will hopefully leave, but if there's debris, they'll stick around and search out seeds from grass for as long as they possibly can.

Hannah:
Yes. That excellent sense of smell, they can follow their nose.

Rachel:
Additional tips and information about preventing conflicts with bears can be found at michigan.gov/wildlife.

Hannah:
Now, is your opportunity to win a Wildtalk podcast mug. As a thank you to our listeners, we'll be giving away a mugger to every episode. 

Rachel:
Our October mug winners are Marisol Aveloz Hernandez and Terrance Majesco. Check your email as we'll be getting in touch with you soon. They answered our October question of naming three species of bats in Michigan that are currently listed as threatened or endangered. The answer to the question was the Indiana bat, which is endangered, the evening bat, which is threatened and the Northern long eared bat, which is also threatened. 

Hannah:
Yes. Congratulations. To be entered in the drawing for this month, test your wildlife knowledge and answer our wildlife quiz question. This month's question is, what Michigan wildlife species will projectile vomit to deter predators? Ponder on that one, everybody. 

Rachel:
That's truly disgusting, but must be effective. 

Hannah:
But it's so much-

Rachel:
[crosstalk 00:44:14] question it. 

Hannah:
It's one of my favorite animals, there's the other clue. That probably doesn't help. 

Rachel:
It doesn't help at all. I think you might say that every episode. 

Hannah:
About every animal. 

Rachel:
Yes. Anyways, you can email your name and answer to us at dnr-wildlifeatmichigan.gov to be entered for a chance to win a mug. Be sure to include the subject line as Mug Me, and submit your answers by November 15th. We'll announce our winners on next month's podcast, so be sure to listen in to see if you've won, and for the next quiz question. 

Hannah:
Good luck everybody. Now, back to your regularly scheduled podcast. 

Rachel:
Well, that's all for this episode. We'll see you right back here in December.

Announcer:
This has been the Wildtalk podcast, your monthly podcast airing the first of each month and offering insights into the world of wildlife across the state of Michigan. You can reach the wildlife division at 5172849453 or dnr-wildlife@michigan.gov.