Leslie Park Video

Here is a video about Leslie Park. Enjoy!

Native grasses

The deer have been really active for the past couple of weeks. These three were some of the nine different deer I saw on this day.

This is a picture of Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans) a native prairie grass in Michigan. This picture is behind #17 green. You can see the weather station in the background.

This is another native grass called Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) It is also known as  "Turkeyfoot" due to the resemblance of the seedhead to a three-toed turkeys foot.

Here is a better picture of the seed-head.

More Indiangrass. (Near #14 tee)

A mixed stand of Big Bluestem and Indiangrass.

A picture from farther away of the stand of native grasses near #14 tee. 

These plant were seeded here after burning this section of rough in the spring. It is part of our efforts to re-establish native Michigan plants in our non-golfing areas. Some other native grasses that we have seeded are Switchgrass (Pancium virgatum) and Canada Rye (Elymus canadensis).

More Hawk Pictures

One of our golfers (Amos Wells)  snapped this shot up on 14 tee with his cell phone.

Raptor-mania

This guy was hanging out at the clubhouse at Leslie Park this past weekend.

Wildlife Sightings

Today, a couple of guys on the crew were excited to tell me about these two deer near the pumphouse at Leslie Park. They were only about 20 feet from the road and would just watch you ride by in a cart.

This heron was looking for an easy meal due to the high level of Traver Creek.

Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Progress

We just got the letter from Audubon International telling us that Leslie Park has received certification in 4 of the 6 categories required for full program certification. The categories we have achieved are Water Conservation, Chemical Use Reduction and Safety, Water Quality Management and Environmental Planning. We have to complete Wildlife and Habitat Management and Outreach and Education in order to become a certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary.

Red-Tailed Hawk

Thanks to Scott Hummel and Scot Rhodes for pointing out this hawk hanging out near the clubhouse this morning.