Hello! I had arrived in Michigan! And in honor of my visit Me took all of us toys to a place that we could learn new things!
We went to the P.J. Hoffmaster State Park in Muskegon, Michigan. It has amazing sand dunes that are very complex! We visited the Nature Center to learn as much as we could.
The view out of the back windows, facing the dunes, was quite interesting! With me are [Cilly, Vanilla, and Riin and Eri. This is a bird feeding station. There was an informative sign that helped us to identify the visitors. I learned the difference between a gray and red squirrel and saw a number of frogs.
This is a greatly enlarged model of a typical quartz sand grain found on the beach.
I am reading about dune research.
This is a microscope showing sand grains. It was hard for someone my size to get a good view though.
This is a map of locations of dune complexes in the Great Lakes Region. I found were we are!
There were several dioramas depicting dune wildlife in teh different zones. Did you know that there are four distinct zones in a dune system?
AHH! I am very happy to learn that this is not actual size! It is an Ant Lion, a common insect on the beaches. They are much smaller than me in reality.
In another room we learned more about the wildlife. These are displayed birds that were preserved for learning and research.
I inspected this Cooper's Hawk specimen up close.
This is an Eastern Garter Snake. He has been living here for many years, Mel remembers him from when she worked here in her college days.
I also saw some local Bluegill fish in a tank. They did not have much to say.
The gift shop had many books to teach us more! I wanted to get one of each but Mel bought me a few postcards instead, because they were cheaper.
We then went for a short walk int the dunes themselves. There we say more squirrels and a chipmunk and several birds.
We did not go far today, Mel says perhaps later we will take one of the longer, less traveled trails. I think I would like that.
We did read more about the dune in front of us, named Mt Baldy.
Then Mel collected us to leave, but Googly Eyes decided to stay. He was determined to travel on his own, and he chose this spot to wait for his next host, despite Mel urging him to come with her. I wish him luck.
I am settling in well, Mel had promised me a browse through some of her geology textbooks while I wait for our next adventure. I miss you and my siblings but I will continue to write!
