Autumn is a Beautiful Time to Experience Nature in East Lansing
East Lansing comprises just over 13.5 square miles of homes, schools and businesses. And with the colder temperatures and nipping winds, many are opting to stay inside. But this might be the perfect time to put on a warm jacket and experience nature.
Andrew Myers is a conservation scientist with Michigan Nature Association and a resident of East Lansing. ELi spoke with him to learn what the outdoors holds for our area this fall.

“Autumn is absolutely a great time to experience nature,” Myers said. “There are the obvious things, ghouls and leaves, the excitement of the school year and all that stuff. But there are also subtle things.
One of his favorite occurrences is the bird migration this time of year.
“In the spring, it’s more obvious because the birds have their spring plumage,” Myers said. “In the fall, the same birds come through with their offspring, all the babies they’ve produced. Most things are a little more subdued. All the warblers have their winter plumage, drab brown, still identifiable but just more of a challenge.
“A funny thing that happens is that all of the young from the previous breeding season are migrating through and they practice their songs. I heard this yesterday, a white throated sparrow that breeds in the northwoods. They have a really distinct song that people say sounds like [they’re singing] ‘old, sweet Canada,’” he said. “In the spring, it’s this really dramatic song when they’re on their way north. In the fall, they come back through, the young ones are doing their song and it’s really shaky and the notes are off. They’re practicing it. That’s one of the subtle sweet things I look forward to this time of year.”
The COVID pandemic was a time to slow down and appreciate nature.
Myers is an entomologist by discipline and said he didn’t start to notice these subtle changes until he was forced to slow down during the pandemic.
“It wasn’t until then that I started to appreciate how many things do migrate through East Lansing,” he said. “All kinds of birds are coming through and I didn’t notice until I was forced to be stationary.
He noticed all the raptors, bald eagles and falcons shifting to the south.

Myers recommends ELi readers download the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Merlin Bird ID app on their phones. It uses information from eBird, the world’s largest database of bird sightings, to help users identify birds through sound, photo, a step-by-step questionnaire or locality. Merlin also has a plethora of supplemental information such as species distribution maps and detailed text descriptions of species.
“As summer builds and builds and builds, there’s more crickets,” he said, turning to describe insect life in the fall. “And praying mantises. They’re at their peak in early autumn. If it’s a warm night, there’s a cacophony of katydids, they’re just really at their peak. They start to wane as they get colder. There’s always a lone katydid in November. It’s the last gasp of summer.”
He also said fall is when the monarch butterflies are migrating. “A lot of goldenrod and New England asters are popping and the monarchs are going where there are a lot of floral resources,” he said. “They’re fueling up on their way to Mexico.”
And of course, the squirrels are gathering the plethora of nuts around town.
Myers, a father of two, explained how fatherhood made him look at the world.

“I used to think of autumn as a time of decay and sadness,” he said, laughing. “But the more things you notice, the nicer it is. I like pointing things out to my kids, and they’ll notice things and point them out to you, too. They’ll ask questions you might not think of.”
He works to provide his children with opportunities and points things out and “they’ll be their own people.”
“You can’t really force it. Just show them your own enthusiasm for it” Myers said. “Let them go at their own pace. Toddlers will doddle. It takes [his daughter] Gail and I like 20 minutes to go one block because she wants to stop and look at everything.”
Autumn is a wonderful time to visit East Lansing’s diverse parks and trails.
If East Lansing residents are looking for places to enjoy the autumn sights and sounds, Parks, Recreation and Arts Director Cathy DeShambo enthusiastically suggests the city’s parks and trails.
“White [Memorial] Park has had a lot of updates in the last few years,” DeShambo said. “We have, if you start at the entrance by the [Abbot Road] fire station, you’re going to notice that to your left, there is an area that was naturalized as a pollinator habitat and so that’s coming in beautifully. You can see some really lovely fall foliage and wildflowers there. You can see native asters and just a variety of plants that just make me very excited when I go through there.”
DeShambo suggests following the trail around and continuing out by the pond.

“It’s really lovely because we have more natural aquatic biology around the pond, where we planted more wetland-type plants, and those are coming in really, really well,” she said. “You can take the trail out to the vernal pools, going from a paved path over a bridge, some boardwalk and on to some crusher fine paths that take you through the woods.”
One thing the city did with those projects was to focus on native-pollinator-friendly plants when the areas around the trails were replanted.
“We’ve been watching it now for three years and this year’s growth was just unbelievable,” DeShambo said. “They say that with perennials, they kind of sleep and then they creep and then they leap.”
DeShambo also touted a trail created by a local youth.
“I’m super excited about a path that a local Girl Scout did as part of her gold project,” she said. “It’s called the Mayapple Trail. You can enter it through the White Hills neighborhood and a little cul-de-sac there and you can take that path through the Mayapple trees and the whole area that’s been cleared and it’s just a gorgeous, lush kind of forest walk.
“That kind of walk, I think, this time of year, especially this time of year, is really good for us. There are lots of studies that say that that is good for your health, it’s good for your emotional and mental wellbeing,” DeShambo said. ”But I just think there is something very special about taking that quiet kind of walk through the forest and having that time to decompress and to observe the world around us, as opposed to having to think about all the things that we’re caught up in, whether it’s work or it’s school, it’s all the many pressures of life. Post-pandemic, we all still really, really need that connection with nature and with natural areas.
Getting off the beaten path is possible in East Lansing parks.
In addition, DeShambo wants to encourage people to check out the northern tier trails in other parts of the city.
“Going through Harrison Meadows, which is another different area. There’s actually a new bench in place, just outside of Harrison Meadows on the trails,” she said. “You can stop and take a pause, and kind of take in the beauty of the park, and then if you move north, you can take the trail into Azaadiikaa Park. Azaadiikaa Park has some beautiful areas and also some benches in various places where you can just sit and enjoy.

She also suggests that park visitors not only utilize the paved trails but to venture onto the unpaved areas.
“We have these unpaved trails that you might want to try to explore and check out,” DeShambo said. “I will say, be prepared, there might be some mosquitos still. But I would highly encourage people to just check out everything that is available in all of our lovely parks.”
DeShambo wants to remind people that if you only have a few minutes and are trying to eat lunch, there are numerous neighborhood parks as well.
“Anywhere in East Lansing, you’re usually just a few minutes from a park, you can sit, enjoy your lunch, and take some time outside,” DeShambo said. “If you’re doing that and you see something or you have an idea, please reach out to us. We love it when people say, hey, I was in this park and noticed you could use another picnic table, or it’d be really nice to have a bench at this part of the trail.
“We love that kind of feedback and really incorporate it into our operations.”