While the weather outside may, as the song goes, be frightful, winter is one of the most exciting times to go birding across Michigan and the Great Lakes region.

Many new visitors from the north arrive in the colder months, including snow buntings, horned larks and dark-eyed juncos. Snowy owls, great gray owls, northern hawk owls and boreal owls also make their way into the Upper Peninsula and northern Lower Peninsula. Winter is the perfect season for waterfowl birding, too, as hundreds of thousands of ducks, geese and swans descend on the Great Lakes.

Participating in bird counts is a fun and fruitful way to spend winter days.

“Tracking the birds you see helps scientists better understand how birds move throughout the winter and how healthy their populations are,” said Erin Ford, conservation manager for MI Birds, a public outreach and engagement partnership between Audubon Great Lakes and the DNR. “This information can help guide meaningful, on-the-ground conservation action to protect birds and the places they need.”  

Upcoming winter bird count opportunities include:

Winter feeder counts (November 2022-April 2023)

If you have a birdfeeder or bird habitat visible from a window in your home or office, you’re ready to participate in a winter feeder count! Learn how to take part in Kalamazoo Nature Center’s Michigan Feeder Count or Cornell’s international Project FeederWatch. You can join these counts any time between now and April.

Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count (Dec. 14, 2022-Jan. 5, 2023)

Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count is entering its 123rd year, making it the longest-running community science project in the country. Add your observations to help scientists and conservationists discover trends that make the work more impactful. Visit Audubon’s interactive map to find a count near you.

Wild turkey observations (January 2023)

This January, the DNR needs help collecting wild turkey observations to help benefit turkey management across the state. The comeback of the wild turkey is one of Michigan’s greatest wildlife conservation stories.

Learn more about how you can get involved in bird conservation on the MI Birds webpage.

Questions? Contact Erin Ford at 310-383-7353.

Following another successful off-road vehicle riding season and the first official shoreline horseback riding season this past November, the DNR is expanding outdoor recreation at Silver Lake State Park with fat-tire biking.

The fat-tire bike season will run Dec. 15-March 15 from 8 a.m. to dusk each day and take place at the Silver Lake ORV Area. Riders can enjoy 450 acres of open sand dunes, elevation changes of 80-100 feet, access to Lake Michigan and sunsets over the lake from the top of the dunes.

“With fat-tire bike riding growing in popularity each year, we realized this was an opportunity to usher in a new way to experience the dunes,” said Jody Johnston, Silver Lake State Park manager. “We held a couple of pilot rides to help determine if this was something that could be accommodated. We are confident this will be a popular activity and plan to offer fat-tire biking in future years.”

No reservations or preregistration are needed to enjoy the season; however, a Recreation Passport is required for vehicle entry into the parking lot, located at 8890 West Shore Drive in Mears. A Recreation Passport self-pay station is available at the lot entrance.

“In the past, the park was not set up to accommodate horseback riding and fat-tire biking activities,” said Kasey Cline, district supervisor with the DNR Parks and Recreation Division. “With the creation of a fat-tire bike season in the dunes and a horseback riding season along the Lake Michigan shoreline, the DNR is proud to introduce and expand four-season opportunities in one of Michigan’s most unique state parks.”

Visit Michigan.gov/SilverLake to learn more about Silver Lake's fat-tire biking season, including riding rules and tips, the Recreation Passport requirement and parking information.

For more information, contact the park at 231-873-3083.

From the forest to your phone, a new game – developed by a team of fire prevention partners and featuring our favorite fire safety icon Smokey Bear – is available to play. 

Players take on the role of an aspiring woodland “Smokey Scout” in a mobile matching game. Each level features increasingly tricky puzzles with a goal to help Smokey remove wildfire ignition causes like matches or sparks. Smokey trivia and fire prevention facts make appearances along the way. 

Nature lovers will recognize famous backdrops in the game featuring national parks and forests.

The Smokey’s Scouts app is available for iPhone and Android devices; learn more and download the Smokey’s Scouts game. 

Ready for a closer look at the work of conservation officers, biologists, foresters, park employees, naturalists and many others who help conserve, protect and manage our state’s natural and cultural resources? Set a reminder for Friday, Dec. 30, and a new season of “Wardens” – the Outdoor Channel’s TV show chronicling the lives of conservation officers in America since 2011.

This year’s episodes take viewers to locations across the state, including a walleye survey on Lake Gogebic, the Upper Peninsula’s largest natural inland lake; Hot Boat weekend at Hardy Dam on the Muskegon River and waterfowl hunting in the Saginaw Bay area.

“There is so much to do and explore in Michigan’s great outdoors, and DNR conservation officers and park rangers are glad to be on hand to ensure people are having a great time safely and responsibly and are respecting the state’s natural resources,” said David Haupt, who works out of the DNR’s Gladwin field office and helps coordinate with the show.

“‘Wardens’ pulls the curtain back a little, showing everyone the work the department does, and the pride we take in caring for fish, wildlife, woods and water – and in helping people better connect to these amazing resources,” he said.

The Michigan DNR first partnered with the Outdoor Channel on production of the television series in 2016. New episodes air on the Outdoor Channel Friday at 9:30 p.m., and then are repeated Saturday at 5:30 a.m., Sunday at 3:30 p.m. and Monday at 10:30 a.m. “Wardens” also continues to be available on WLUC FOX UP Sunday morning at 9:30.

Michigan-based Wolf Creek Productions is filming episodes at locations around the state. Conservation officers and staff from other DNR divisions and program areas will be featured throughout the season.

Questions? Contact David Haupt at 517-420-0819.