Field research with Tim Callahan
By Tim Callahan
Game Biologists claim the “crazy flight” is nature’s way of dispersing young birds to new territory. Some think the flight is a result in what the birds are dining on, such as fermented wild grapes, overripe apples, or hallucinatory mushrooms that send the ruffed grouse on a 50-mile-per-hour suicidal flight path right into your living room window or truck’s grill. Native Americans called them just plain crazy this time of the year. The fast falling of the canopy of leaf cover could also explain this phenomenon.
I tend to think Mother Nature and us have a lot in common this time of year. What else could explain the multitudes of tourists that travel north every autumn just as millions of birds are migrating south? The crazy flight, of course. Everybody and everything seems to be moving fast. We all know what’s coming!
I’m wrestling with leaves myself—the ones that I have to rake up before that first snowfall. But with only a couple days left of color and mild weather, I head to one of “our” DNR’s GEMS sights off Hallifax Road. GEMS stands for Grouse Enhancement Management Sites, managed through forestry to promote habitat for upland game birds like the woodcock and ruffed grouse. Hats off to our Newberry DNR for providing us a great opportunity to experience some of the best upland game bird watching and hunting in the United States. Hunters and birders come from all over to chase these birds. Each GEMS has a parking area and maps of the layout. You can’t get lost in these managed units – there are paths for walking and hiking.
I’ve actually witnessed this crazy flight firsthand in this same spot. This is a special place for me. I’ve walked up on a whole family of ruffs that took flight all at once, and all off in different directions. It rattled my nerves, so I decided to capture this place on canvas.
Go figure — just as I pull into the parking lot there’s someone from Wisconsin in my spot. Now I’m on a crazy flight, driving around and hoping these dudes will make a quick hunt of it. I’m all smiles when I return and the place is all mine. Carrying a bunch of painting stuff, I hoof it into the woods to paint. Now I’ve got only a couple of hours to capture the light. I’ve working to use the bright yellow background for contrast with the dark green and black pines in the foreground, trying to cover as much of the canvas as possible before dark. Again, if I decide to put any more work into this painting, it’ll be done in my studio.
Well, by the time you read this story, all the colorful leaves will be on the ground and the tiny timberdoodle will be flying south. The ruffed grouse will stay for the winter, and a lot of folks will be on their own crazy flight to warmer climates.
Me? I’ll stay put. I really enjoy the peace and solitude that the U.P. winter provides me, and I plan on putting paint down on a few canvases.
