In this episode of the Wildtalk Podcast, we talk to Joe Robison about all things habitat in the Southeast Lower Peninsula of Michigan, fly away with eastern screech-owls as we talk all things feathers, and we discuss the odorous, striped skunk in our all things fur segment.
Episode Hosts: Rachel Lincoln and Eric Hilliard
Producer/editor: Eric Hilliard
Questions or comments about the show? Contact the DNR Wildlife Division at 517-284-9453 (WILD) or email dnr-wildlife@michigan.gov.
In this episode of the Wildtalk Podcast, we talk to Joe Robison about all things habitat in the Southeast Lower Peninsula of Michigan, fly away with eastern screech-owls as we talk all things feathers, and we discuss the odorous, striped skunk in our all things fur segment.
Episode Hosts: Rachel Lincoln and Eric Hilliard
Producer/editor: Eric Hilliard
Questions or comments about the show? Contact the DNR Wildlife Division at 517-284-9453 (WILD) or email dnr-wildlife@michigan.gov.
Eric:
The Michigan DNR Hunt Fish app is your digital connection to all things hunting and fishing in Michigan. Buy, store and display your hunting and fishing licenses, check your points and chances for elk and bear, apply for the draw and view drawing results, access all the hunting and fishing regulations, view your hunter safety certificate and report your harvest all from within the Michigan DNR Hunt Fish app. Just click the app banner at the top of the page for download instructions at michigan.gov/hunting.
You know what that sound means? It's time for the Michigan DNR's Wild Talk podcast. Welcome to The Wild Talk 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.
Rachel:
Welcome to The Wild Talk podcast. This is your host Rachel Lincoln, and joining me today is Eric Hilliard.
Eric:
Whoa. What? Lincoln?
Rachel:
Yeah, Lincoln. I recently got married and so my new last name is Lincoln, Rachel Lincoln. It feels very funny to say.
Eric:
Oh my goodness. Well, I mean knowing what a great guy your husband is and everything else, I suppose it's okay that you change your name, but I am a little bit sad that I can't call you Lightning Lightener anymore.
Rachel:
Yeah, it's a little bittersweet. I understand. I too tried so hard to get people to call me by cool nicknames for a long time with my last name, but you were the only one who stuck to Lightning Lightener when I threw that out as an option.
Eric:
You didn't even throw it out as an option. I think I called you Lightning Lightener and you were like, oh my gosh. Do you have any idea how many years I tried to get people to call me that? I think I came to that on my own. I mean, it's literally right there in the name, staring you in the face, how your friends never latched onto that is beyond me.
Rachel:
That's what I'm saying. Listen, my seventh grade basketball team really missed an opportunity by not calling me this name and I have always thought about it. And then cue Eric, finally validated with a great nickname, so I will really miss it.
Eric:
I saw your wedding pictures. They were beautiful in the mountains. It looked like it was a picturesque event for all.
Rachel:
Yeah, we eloped in the Cascade Mountains in northern Washington and it was every bit of amazing. And also the wildlife out there came out in full display. We saw an absolute abundance of marmots, which are now my most favorite non-Michigan species, but we also saw mountain goats and I had an actual run-in with black bears on the Pacific Ocean shoreline out there. So the wedding, great.
Eric:
Well congratulations once again. What do we have lined up for the show?
Rachel:
It is the beginning of my favorite month, which is October. I love that there's a cool chill in the air and the color of the leaves are changing and wildlife are scurrying around and finding mates and preparing for the winter months. And of course it's also the spooky season with lots of [inaudible 00:03:20] touches and Halloween decorations. And because I'm partial to this time of year and some of the iconic creatures that are associated with this month with being spooky and all, we thought we would highlight some of the fascinating nocturnal critters that you might see and hear and why they really aren't that spooky at all, but fascinating and awesome. So this episode we'll be featuring the eastern screech owl and the striped skunk. And then of course later in the episode we'll discuss the wildlife happenings in the southeast region. And somewhere in this episode, you will get a chance to win the awesome Wild Talk podcast camp mug.
Eric:
We've got a great show lined up for you and we'll be right back after a word from our forests.
Speaker 3:
Trees provide for the wellbeing of our state. That's why we work so hard to keep our forest healthy and abundant so wildlife has a home and so do people, so that there's clean air and water for everyone. And so Michigan's economy can be as strong as the trees that support it because every branch of forestry ensures that future generations will always have a tree for life and forests for a lifetime. To learn how sustainable forestry benefits your life, visit michigan.gov/forests for a lifetime.
Rachel:
Welcome back to the all things' habitat segment. We are joined today by Joe Robinson, the manager for the southeast region to chat about the awesome work going on in the southeast. Thank you so much for joining us today, Joe.
Joe:
Thanks for having me on.
Rachel:
Now, we know your region is busy this time of year as all of our staff are, but what would you say is the biggest accomplishment that your region has tackled so far this quarter?
Joe:
Well, first of all, I'd like to say that I have the privilege of supervising the southeast region, which really covers everything from Saginaw Bay to Jackson over to Monroe, up to Lake Saint Clair, 17 counties. And we have a tremendous amount of work that we do managing over 200,000 acres of state land. And throughout the past summer coming in the fall, my folks have really worked hard on getting the crops in at the managed wetland areas, putting in food plots at all the upland areas, managing timber, managing grassland, doing prescribed fire, help regenerate some of the grassland regrowth, and just working with partners on different habitat projects.
Banning ducks and geese has been a big primary goal this summer. They did a fantastic job doing that throughout the entire region. We banded a couple of thousand geese, which is a huge accomplishment and we're still in the process of banding ducks, wood ducks and mallards and a handful of teals. So with all those things, all the work going on, creating new wetland, managing grassland, the forest, all that stuff that we do, my staff have been hard at work preparing for the fall, for the hunters to have a great opportunity to go out and have a huge opportunity to see abundance of wildlife in the great habitat that they created and have been maintaining.
Rachel:
Absolutely. Wetlands and waterfowl are a big deal down there where you're at, aren't they?
Joe:
Yes, they are. We have five of the major managed wetland areas here in the southeast region. I call them the gems of the Midwest. They're world-class waterfall hunting opportunities that people have from anywhere across the country and especially here in Michigan. To come and experience from the great opportunities of hunting, whether it's a flooded cornfield, a moist [inaudible 00:06:35] unit, a hemi marsh, any of that, where you're sitting next to a refuge, let's say like in Harsens Island where I have great staff there, John Darling, the Owens brothers and Caitlin Barns. They do a fantastic job managing that place for waterfall and wetland independent species. But in that refuge, they farm agricultural crops and flood it in the fall. And at their peak migration, they'll have anywhere from 25 to 40,000 ducks. So just going to that area and experiencing that big wad of ducks getting up, whether it's first thing in the morning or watching them go back in the refuge at night, it's something to see. It's an awesome opportunity.
And what I tell folks when they are interested in hunting one of the managed wetland areas that they try an afternoon hunt. They're brand new to hunting managed wetland areas. Try an afternoon hunt, show up for the draw at 11, 11:30 depending on which area you're going to and talk to the area manager, get to see it during the daylight and they can direct you to which zone to go to, how the operation managed... Area operations occurred and all that good stuff. But the best advice I can give to a newbie that wants to try one of those areas is come for an afternoon hunt, check out the website, the days that they hunt, the time for the drawings and all that stuff. And there's a lot of valuable information on the websites or call the state game office itself and talk to someone directly.
Rachel:
Folks can find all that information on the Wetland Wonders page, which is at michigan.gov/wetlandwonders. So your staff has spent a lot of time preparing for the fall hunting seasons and some awesome wildlife viewing opportunities. What's up next? What comes into this late fall season?
Joe:
We'll still continue on working on habitat projects throughout the fall. There may be some prescribed burning going on, running those draws seven days a week, twice a day at the managed wetland areas is a huge task for my staff. They do a fantastic job. Danny Tyson over at Waterloo, he has the [inaudible 00:08:20] hunts going on Michigan Operation Freedom Outdoors. Those are hunts for hunters with disabilities and that's a full-time job running those hunts and helping them get to their blinds and dragging out deer and helping them with all that stuff. We also have a little bit of disease surveillance efforts going on down in Hillsdale County for chronic waste and disease. Continuing those duck draws throughout the fall until everything freezes, working on issuing trapping permits, answering phone calls and questions and still continuing all the meetings that they have to go to. So there's a lot of work still to be had and it continues every year. Fortunately, I have a great staff that bust their butts and do a lot of great things.
Rachel:
You do have an incredible staff. How about any individual impressive contributions, anything you want to mention?
Joe:
Yeah, this year we had the annual Bay City Waterfall Festival and it was record numbers of people attending. These are some of the oldest waterfall festivals around that continue every year and gives an opportunity for staff to engage with hunters and non-hunters and just people that have questions about state gamers and wildlife in general. Barry Sullivan, Alan Bennett Denti, they did a tremendous job getting people there. I showed up on Saturday at the Bay City State recreation area there, Bay City State Park, and it was overflow. They were making people park in the grass. There was so many people there. So it was an awesome effort by Barry and Alan to get those folks there advertised. And then we also have the Annual [inaudible 00:37:20] Waterfowl Festival that occurs in September and that is celebrating their 75th anniversary this year. It's one of the oldest waterfall traditions in Michigan, 75 years they've been putting on that show, and it's a tremendous effort by Zach Cooley and Adam Shook.
They helped the Waterfall Festival put that on. It's a festival that has dog jumping contest. It has a duck and goose calling contest, a rich tradition of waterfall carving, art makers, artists, all kinds of good stuff down there, vendors that sell waterfall stuff, but all that money that they raised in that two day event, 100% of that goes right back into [inaudible 00:37:20] state game ranch. So it's a great opportunity for people to get out, take their family to a festival that supports conservation and the rich history of waterfall hunting in southeast Michigan, but also help put money towards [inaudible 00:37:20] and habitat projects.
Eric:
Joe, you had mentioned the managed waterfowl areas being really attractive for people not only in Michigan but also across the country and potentially internationally. What are some of the far flung places you've seen people come in from, just to experience some of the hunting there at our managed areas?
Joe:
Managed [inaudible 00:10:42] areas draw people from all across the country. We record where the hunters are from when they come in and register their party or register as an individual. We see people come from Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, all parts all across the country. And what it is, we do such a great job here in Michigan with managing these areas and it's still intensive that it draws a huge amount of waterfall and wetland dependent wildlife species, but it draws a lot of waterfall in the fall because of our flooded agricultural crops and our [inaudible 00:11:11] units and our natural marshes.
But people come up here because we're one of the only states in the nation that offer this type of hunting where it's got intensive, it has zones, you're spread out, you get to go to your zone for the afternoon hunt or the morning hunt. You don't see that in a lot of other states. You don't see the intensive habitat management that we do here. You don't see that down south, you don't see that in the Midwest. We're one of the only states in the nation that offer this type of hunting.
Eric:
It's kind of nice as a state to be able to have that as a feather in your cap that other states don't have.
Joe:
Other states have some type of managed hunting, but it's mostly moist soil or natural marsh. They don't really do a lot of flooded crops like we do. You think about it, Western Lake area, Saginaw Bay, Lake Saint Clair, all of the coastal wetlands, we've lost up to 90% of most of our wetlands along the coast and you're trying to mimic your loss of wetlands and shoving into like 4,000 acres at [inaudible 00:37:20] or 4,000 acres at Fish Point. You're trying to take all the things that you lost and put it into the areas that are left to make a diversity of habitat that all wetland independent wildlife species need. It's pretty cool to see the rare birds at [inaudible 00:37:20] or Fish Point or Nayanquing Point. We had an eastern white wagtail at [inaudible 00:37:20] a few years ago and there's people from all over North America come here to Michigan to see that bird.
There's several different bird species I could mention just at [inaudible 00:37:20] that when you get this rare bird, it might be the first occurrence or third occurrence ever in North America and you drive by [inaudible 00:37:20] and it looks like opening day of duck season where there are people park along the road and the parking lots are full because everybody... All those birders want to check off that special bird on their list and you'll see plates from anywhere from California all the way to New York and everywhere in between just to see that special bird. So that is a very cool and unique area.
Rachel:
It sure is. The bird diversity in those areas is really remarkable. And those lifers, those really special birds that people really only see once in their life do come through every once in a while and it is a spectacular site. Well, thank you Joe so much for joining us today. It's been a real pleasure to hear about the great work your region in southeast Michigan is doing. So thanks for joining us.
Joe:
Thank you.
Rachel:
Stick around folks. We'll be right back after this message.
Eric:
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Rachel:
The eastern screech owl is one of the 11 owl species found in Michigan, but despite its small stature and it is no larger than a pint glass, its spooky nocturnal call can catch your attention at night. It's like sad puppy crying somewhere. And every time I hear it in the woods, that's how I know what the bird is because sad puppy crying, eastern screech owl.
Eric:
What it's trying to do is lure prey like mice. They think, oh, there's a sad puppy somewhere that I need to go comfort. And then the mouse comes out looking for the sad puppy and then it's swooped in upon by the owl.
Rachel:
Yeah, if that's not a children's book yet, it very well should be. Now these owls aren't spooky despite their spooky call. In fact, they're pretty awesome. These owls are found in areas with old forests that have trees with nesting cavities, so big old trees that are large enough and kind of mangled enough to have these openings in them for them to crawl into and take shelter in during the day. But they also have been known to nest in urban areas where nest boxes are available. Their smaller bodies are plumed in feathers of gray or brown with dark black fine vertical bars that run down their bodies with small short ear tufts and a black beak and the characteristic large yellow owl eyes. It's like if you picture an owl, the iconic image you picture as an owl is what eastern screech owls look like. They're expert of camouflage and as they blend in perfectly with the dark tree bark and they fill holes in the cavities of tree trunks making them nearly invisible during the day.
Eric:
I love owls. They're probably my favorite kind of bird. I very rarely see them in the wild, but when I do, it's like, I love that bird.
Rachel:
Why? What makes them your favorite animal?
Eric:
I don't know. I think it goes back to the Tootsie Pop commercial from when I was a kid, probably. Gee, Mr. Owl, how many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop? And then it's a 1, 2, 3 and then that's it. And that's probably why I love owls. It's marketing.
Rachel:
And Tootsie Pops.
Eric:
And Tootsie Pops.
Rachel:
Weird how it's just built into who you are as a person now. So owls primarily hunt at night eating small mammals that includes birds, mice, voles, insects, frogs and other small critters that they can catch. These little birds are considered generalists because they eat most small animals that they come across even sometimes bats or other owls. Now, when prey is abundant, it will cache extra food in its tree holes for a few days so that it can have a little snack whenever it needs to. They tend to perch six to 10 feet off the ground and wait for prey to pass below underneath. And when they do take flight, it's generally not for great distances, only 75 feet or less, which I found to be really interesting that they don't travel great distances before landing on another perch and then ultimately pulling a U-turn and going all the way back to the original posts they were on.
Now like other owl species, screech owls regurgitate the bones, fur and feather of their prey in an oval pellet usually once or twice a day. The ground beneath where the owl is roosting can be littered with pellets and you can learn a lot about the owl's diet by digging through these pellets. So they look similar to a ball of drier lint but mix in some really teeny tiny bones. And the bones themselves are really fascinating to look at and I have dissected them, you can dissect them. I suggest you wear gloves while doing so because it is regurgitated animal parts, but they're fascinating and oftentimes if you pick one apart slowly enough, you can find entire mice skulls that are still intact in very small talons and shoulder bones and things. It's really fascinating what you can find in those.
Now, if you're hoping to catch a glimpse of an owl during the day, there are some additional clues that you can look for. So a lot of times smaller birds like blue jays and chickadees will help you find screech owls during the day. You can listen for the commotion that those small birds are making. They may be mobbing the screech owl or another raptor. They will do this with crows or other hawks by swooping down around it and making really noisy calls to alert other birds that this predator is in the area, but also to try to scare the owl or the other raptors out of the area. It's really interesting and this can often be enough of a nuisance to make the owl move on while alerting other birds. So if you're going through a stroll in the woods and you notice that there's particularly loud songbirds chirping in one tree, it could be because there's something larger there and they're trying to scare it out of the area.
Eric:
That's how I found a really nice barred owl that I took some pictures of a few years ago when I was out at Nature Center and it was early before anybody else was out there and I could hear these blue jays just going nuts. And I thought, I bet you there's an owl over there. And sure enough I walked over there and the blue jays took off and it took the owl a minute to notice me. So I was able to get a few shots off before it was a human, run or fly, and then it took off. But anytime I'm out in the woods, if I hear a bunch of blue jays going crazy, I am trying to track them down because there's got to be an owl or something over there.
Rachel:
What a narc. Blue jays are narcs on the owls. Well, interestingly, I did learn something new while researching for this episode, screech owls do not build nests. They lay their eggs at the bottom of the tree cavity regardless of what is there, be it other sticks or scraps or even feathers that have fallen off or whatever just happens to be in the bottom of that tree cavity is what the eggs are laid on. So the female will lay two to six eggs and have one brood a year. And after hatching and fledgling the juvenile owls are picture perfect stuffed animal owl. They are so fluffy and light gray with very fine black barring down their seams and they'll continue to rely on the parents for eight to 10 weeks for food while they're slowly learning how to hunt and fly. And in that time they will kind of be hopping around trees, experimenting with their wings on lower branches. So it's a really spectacular wildlife experience to get to watch. So hopefully people will see that and know what's going on if they do see some small baby owlets hopping around on trees.
And just to keep this episode on brand, here's some spookiness for you. Nesting screech owls, so young screech owls will fight fiercely amongst themselves for food and sometimes even kill the smallest sibling. This behavior known as siblicide is not uncommon among other birds such as hawks and other owls and herons and is often a result of poor breeding conditions so that there's just not really enough food for all of the offspring to each get what they need. And so they will pick off the smallest siblings so that they can acquire more food. Now, sometimes in the spring people will actually see this happening and people will find young birds on the ground under trees, and that could be because it's a fledgling and it's learning how to fly or it fell out of the nest with a strong breeze. But sometimes it's also that the dominant sibling kicked it out of its nest and it's a true test of survival of the fittest. So it's kind of spooky. It's kind of intense being in the animal kingdom.
Eric:
It's kind of like the way that I ate my twin in the womb.
Rachel:
Similar but different. I think that's pretty spooky too. Wait, is that real?
Eric:
No. It's a spooky holiday season, so I thought I'd throw it in there.
Rachel:
Well, if you want to learn more about the eastern screech owl or listen to their eerie trail, visit the All About Birds website. It's a product of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, and there you will find just the most interesting tidbits about all things birds.
Continuing on with our chat about wildlife this time of year. There are some really good tips to think about how to keep wildlife in mind while decorating our homes and spaces for the fall season and the Halloween holiday coming up now. If you're like me, I love decorations. I love decorating for fall and Halloween the most. So I've pulled out all of my small tiny skeletons, I'll stash them around my house. We've got fresh pumpkins and gourds lining the doorway and an impressive amount of sticky window clings hung on every window thanks to my seven-year-old. But while you're buying and decorating outside this year, take a moment to consider if your decorations are going to impact or attract wildlife.
So pumpkins, gourds and potted plants and flowers can attract deer, squirrels, birds, and lots of other critters. And every October it seems we start to get reports of deer that have stuck their heads into plastic pumpkins, presumably to get the candy from the bottom that was once in the bottom of that pumpkin and they end up with those pumpkins stuck on their heads. As you can imagine, the pumpkin will make it really difficult for the deer to eat and drink until it either falls off or has to be removed. So just make sure to clean up any candy wrappers or food spills that happen around your outdoors or on your decorations, and don't put out any decorations that are going to attract wildlife into places you don't want wildlife to be. Another decoration to think twice about before you place them is fake cobwebs and string lights.
Do they look awesome? Yes, but cobwebs and string lights placed over bushes or in between trees can accidentally entangle bats or birds that are flying by. So enjoy your decorations this year. Just maybe pause a moment to think about where you're placing things to avoid having any bad experiences for wildlife. And then finally, since you might be out walking or driving at dusk or done in the early evenings, just be mindful to keep an eye out for wildlife this time of year. They're really active during dusk and dawn timeframes as the mating season for a few different species is happening in late October and early November, which leads to a lot of increased movement for deer especially, and they often will run right across roadways without even noticing it. So have a great fall. It's an excellent time of year to be outside. Just make sure to keep your wits about you. Up next, we'll continue our episode with another nocturnal critter. So stay tuned for all things fur.
Eric:
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Rachel:
Mephitis mephitis the striped skunk is an nocturnal animal that is common throughout our state. It's typically identified by its mostly black fur that has a prominent white patch covering the top of the head down the neck, and then all of the back and rump will also be covered in this patch that typically splits into two broad stripes. Though there can be a lot of variation in how these white stripes present themselves. Occasionally the back of a skunk will be completely black or instead of stripes, it can be white splotches. It's just genetics doing its thing and sometimes they look a little bit different than the standard two stripes, but at the end of those white patches is a wide tail with long hairs.
Now this tail comes in handy as the first line of defense against predators. Now, when the skunk feels threatened, it first attempts to scare away the oncoming predators by raising the tail as high as it can and arching its back while repeatedly stomping its four legs and shuffling backwards in a very peculiar type of performance that makes it look much bigger than it is and moving quickly to hopefully scare whatever menacing creature is moving its way.
Eric:
There are a good case of how you should observe all wildlife, right? Safely from a distance. Maybe there's wisdom in the skunk in that no matter what the wild animal is, you should keep about as far away from it as you would a skunk just for your own safety and the safety of the animal. If it's a black bear, maybe a little bit further, but definitely a safe distance.
Rachel:
I could not agree more. That's an excellent way to approach all animals, the poster child for animal activity. Now, if that first line of offense doesn't work to ward off the on comer, then the next line of defense is indeed that wicked stench. Now the scientific name for the skunk is Mephitis mephitis. That word mephitis comes from a Roman goddess who is associated with foul smelling gases arising from swamps, hot springs and volcanoes, which is fitting because the striped skunk is most well known for the pungent fluid it will spray in defense. The oily musk is projected from anal glands and it is so potent that it can cause nausea and sometimes temporary blindness.
Interestingly, the defensive musk is made of organic molecules that can contain sulfur. Now if you or your pet are sprayed by the skunk, you can counteract the sulfur creating molecules through oxidation, and you can do that with some household things you probably have at home. So with a little bit of hydrogen peroxide and baking soda and liquid soap, you can create the concoction that will counter the chemistry that is occurring there to hopefully remove the stench as quickly as possible. But if you are going to take that approach, I recommend you do some more research to figure out the correct proportions for each one of those liquids.
Eric:
I'm just picturing myself as basically a homemade volcano experiment where I dollop myself in baking soda and then dump peroxide on myself, and then it's just I erupt.
Rachel:
When I was looking into this, it did say that this concoction will cause discoloration of hair and fur. So if it's your pet that gets into some skunky business, peroxide will bleach hair so your pets can look a little wonky for a while, just wonky or you smell like a skunk. Choose your battles. And that is a chemistry lesson you didn't know you would maybe need someday.
Eric:
I hope I never need it.
Rachel:
I also hope... I've never been sprayed, but I have smelled skunk and I hope I never get too close to one. The striped skunk has very few mammalian predators, as you can probably imagine why, but large birds of prey such as the great horned owl, are not affected by the skunks musk and will feed on them primarily at night. When both animals are active, it is the most common predator of the striped skunk. Skunks are docile animals that dwell in a mixture of habitats ranging from open forests and ravines, fields to subdivision in urban neighborhoods. And as we mentioned before, they will happily take residents under your deck or under your house. In those kinds of areas that are like burrows and are sheltered from the elements, they can certainly dwell comfortably close to humans. And so if you've got little crevices behind some fencing or under your porch, you may take the time to make sure that no animals can crawl back and forth so that you don't have an unpleasant experience with the skunk one of these days.
Skunks will generally, they do take up residence in more uninhabited places like abandoned woodchuck burrows or under brush piles or rock piles, and are primarily active from dust to dawn because they're so well camouflaged in the night with the black and white fur. Now during the wintertime, skunks are not true hibernators, so they don't leave the area, but they don't necessarily sleep and go into true hibernation through the winter months either. Instead, they will gather into mostly underground burrows with a few other skunks to conserve body heat and then share body warmth amongst each other. And while they're in their den, they can lower their body temperatures for short amounts of time, helping them to save energy. So they'll take their body temperatures from like a 100 degrees Fahrenheit down to 90 degrees Fahrenheit and sometimes even colder temperatures.
During milder times through the winter months though skunks will rise to forage, they'll mostly rely on their fat reserves and body fat for fuel through those cold months. Now the diet of a skunk is highly variable. So when food is abundant in the spring and summer, these omnivores will feast on a variety of foods, everything from insects and grubs and beetles and grasshoppers to later feasting on fruits and vegetables and crayfish, worms, bird eggs, turtle eggs, and the occasional fish or frog, whatever protein source it can find really.
If it does rise to forage in the wintertime as I mentioned, voles and other small critters that travel under the snow are an excellent source of protein to replenish the fat reserves for skunks. And like almost all other wildlife species, the smell of garbage in human food sources is so tantalizing and alluring. It often will bring skunks in closer to our homes or places where a trash disposal is happening. Now around late March or April, mating season does occur for skunks and four to six sparsely furred young will be born in an underground nest after about 60 to 80 days. At six to seven weeks old, those youngsters will begin to venture out with mom in a perfect straight line behind her as they set out for their foraging expedition. And that is about the cutest thing I have ever seen is a mama skunk leading her four little tiny babies in a line to go find some fresh blueberries.
Eric:
Amazing. They walk with those tails all puffy and high and sort of prancing like they do, almost like they've got the warning flag up the entire time, observing them from a distance. I had a family of skunks that wandered through my yard a few years ago, and I thought... That's when I saw baby skunks in person for the first time. You see them in videos, people post sometimes, but it's just like, oh, they're so cute. And also, oh, please go away from here.
Rachel:
Yes, I agree. Skunks are super cute. We like to see them. We just like to see them at a distance and not necessarily on our property where it might become an issue for us. So if you find that you have skunks living a little bit too close for comfort to your home, there are a couple of things you can do. Exclusion is one of the best ways to prevent skunks from getting in those kinds of nest burrow areas. So again, under your stairs or your porch, places that are kind of covered from the elements, that's what a skunk is looking for. So maybe once a year, just do a quick lap around your house, make sure all of those potential places are fenced off so that critters can't get in there. And that goes for lots of small mammals, woodchucks, rabbits, all of those critters will take shelter in those places.
But then there is some things you can also do if a skunk is [inaudible 00:33:32] under your porch and you didn't get a chance to put the lattice up to prevent it. You might also try placing an ammonia soaked towel in the den opening because apparently even though skunks can produce very foul smelling liquids, ammonia is enough of a pungent smell to actually cause them to relocate to somewhere else. So there are options. All of them are listed on our website at michigan.gov/wildlife. So if you experience a conflict with the skunk, we recommend you go there to learn what you can do about it. All right folks, it would really stink if you missed your chance at a Wild Talk podcast camp mug. So stick around for your chance to win one right after this
Eric:
Michigan.gov/dnrtrails is your destination for trail maps, trail etiquette, and trail closure information, trail information for biking, cross country skiing, horseback riding, hiking, off-road vehicle riding, snowmobiling, snowshoeing, and even water trails for kayaking and canoeing are available. While you're there, remember to check out information about pet-friendly recreation, track chairs and the Iron Bell Trail. All available at michigan.gov/dnrtrails.
Rachel:
Now is your chance to win a Wild Talk podcast camp mug. As a thank you to our listeners, we've been giving away a mug or two every episode. Our September mug winners are Joseph Klep and Elise McCain, check your email as we'll be getting in touch with you soon. They answered the question in the northern and southern flying squirrels, what is the technical term for the gliding membrane that connects the wrist to the ankles that allows them to glide? The answer is the patagium. We are also giving away a third mug to winner Travis Strickland who gave us the correct answer to the trivia question and through in an answer to our bonus question, which was Ducktails the parody diddy that Eric was singing in the last episode. So Travis, we are sending a mug your way as well.
Eric:
Sharp tails ooh.
Rachel:
And it continues. To be answered into the drawing this month, test your wildlife knowledge and answer our wildlife quiz question. This month's question is, what is a female red fox called? Email your name and answer to us at DNR-wildlife@michigan.gov to be entered. For a chance to win a mug, be sure to include the subject line is mug me and submit your answers by October 15th. We'll announce winners and the answers on the next month's podcast. So be sure to listen in to see if you've won and for the next quiz question, good luck everyone.
Eric:
Michigan Conservation Officers are working hard to protect and keep the outdoors safe for current and future generations. If you witness a natural resources violation, you can call or text the report, all poaching hotline, 24 hours a day at 1800-292-7800, or fill out the complaint form available at michigan.gov/rap. If you would like more information on becoming a conservation officer, click on become a CO at michigan.gov/conservationofficers.
Rachel:
Thanks for joining us on this October edition of The Wild Talk Podcast. Remember, if you have questions about wildlife or hunting, you can call 517-284-WILD or email us at DNR-wildlife@michigan.gov. We'll see you back here in November.
Eric:
This has been The Wild Talk 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 517-284-9453 or DNR-wildlife@michigan.gov.