International Crane Foundation - 2018

This morning started off with me waking at about 5 a.m. to the sound of robins and grackles at first light. I arose from the ground and shuffled to find my flip-flops having stayed outside the night before for some backyard camping with my oldest. By 6:30, everyone was awake and not long after on this gray and cool morning, we were all dressed and ready for an adventure.

We hold a family membership at the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, WI. We loaded the girls up and made the trip over to Baraboo; the area around Baraboo is scenic with tall hills and mature stands of trees; as I understand it, it's worth its own separate trip for birding.

While being a charitable organization which advocates for crane species the ICF often supports initiatives around the world to preserve wetland habitats; the organization is probably best know for its work rebuilding the Whooping Crane population in North America. The campus in Baraboo has on display pairs of cranes from each crane species around the world.

Blue Crane - Southern Africa


Red Crowned Crane - East Asia


Wattled Crane - Subsaharan Africa


Whooping Crane - North America

A number of the exhibits at the ICF are truly impressive. The habitats created for the Whooping Cranes and Wattled Cranes stand out as being the largest with plenty of seating / viewing area. They also have large ponds for the birds. The vegetation around the ICF is also quite impressive supporting a host of native plants including a variety of oak trees, prairie grasses, and flowers like native Blue Lupine. The ICF is currently fundraising for and constructing all new enclosures for the other crane species on display. More information on the reconstruction can be found here

Help with Sparrow Identification

Sparrows and other small brown birds can be a real pain to identify. Was that brown bird in the bush or hiding in the Blue Stem, a female indigo bunting, female house finch, or some kind of sparrow? And if it's a sparrow; what type? Song? Swamp? Chipping?

The good news is with a good pair of binoculars or a camera with a good zoom, our sparrow friends have some fairly distinct markings if you know what you are looking for.

Below are some examples.

White Crowned Sparrow has distinct black and white stripes on its head. It migrates into southern Wisconsin in the spring and can be often be easily found between late April and mid May. They are regular visitors to my yard and often scratch at the ground near our row of shrubs. I've also seen them in the willows and dogwoods in the marsh.


White Throated Sparrow. These sparrows are probably the ones most easily confused with White Crowned Sparrows. They migrate into Wisconsin around the same time; I've even seen them foraging in our yard together. They have a yellow patch with their white and black stripes. They also sing a different tune, I'd almost compare their song more with that of a Black Capped Chickadee; it's also my ringtone.


Chipping Sparrow. These tiny sparrows are about the smallest sparrows you'll find in Wisconsin. They also return in the spring, and they often hang around my yard through the summer. They have a distinct chestnut colored cap and and black stripe near their eyes.


American Tree Sparrow. These guys also have a distinctive chestnut cap. The strip near their eye tends to be a brown or chestnut color as well, and they have a fairly distinct white wing bar. These guys come down from Canada during the winter. They are pretty talented foragers; they can fly into a stand of Big Blue Stem, land on a stalk, bending it, and pick away at the seeds. I've typically only had them come visit my yard when there's snow on the ground.


Swamp Sparrow. I've yet to have one of these guys come visit my yard but I do often see them in the marsh when birding. They also return in the spring and will spend the summer in wetlands. They have a similar look to the American Tree Sparrows but their head is darker brown rather than chestnut. They often have a small white patch under the beak and can be found singing on low perches like a top reeds or in red osier dogwood on spring mornings starting in mid to late April.


Clay Colored Sparrow. Another which I've never spotted in my yard. Their light brown / khaki face with brown stripes and a white-ish under belly is fairly distinctive. I often see these guys in and around a tall grass prairie near home. They seem to prefer staying lower to the ground and often disappear into the grasses or lower branches of shrubs.


Fox Sparrow. The freak snow storms in April brought this chestnut colored beauty to our backyard for the first time this April. With a reddy chestnut color, gray-ish cap, and overall being fairly large for a sparrow; the Fox Sparrow is pretty distinct.


Song Sparrow. A true herald of spring. These guys migrate back to Wisconsin earlier in spring than many other birds. They can often be spotted near water like retention ponds, creeks, marshes, etc. They can be found perching at the end shrubs or trees singing their hearts out at sunrise. They are one of my favorite sounds when in the marsh, and they come to visit my yard from time to time. They have fairly distinctive streaky or striped underbellies and faces.

That's many but not all of the sparrows which pass through Wisconsin. One of my rules of thumb when tracking birds in our yard is to pay extra close attention to small brown birds because you never know when you've encountered a new species; you just need to look closely enough at a bird which might otherwise be perceived as boring.

Horicon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge

This past weekend, I made the trip up to Horicon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge, a trip my dad and I had talked about taking for the Crane Count in 2017, but a trip which we were never able to take.

I planned the trip around accessing the refuge from WI - 49 near Waupun. The marsh spans 33,000 acres, the northern two-thirds of the marsh are managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service while the WI DNR manages the bottom third, better accessed for Horicon, WI. My family joined me, and we headed up to stay the night on Friday, April 27th, which would have been dad's 70th birthday.

We stayed the night before because by 6:00 am on Saturday, I was hiking around in the marsh. The main access point is in the northeastern corner of the marsh. There's a road which supports an auto-tour, it's 3 miles long, and there are additional hiking trails: Redhead Trail, Red Fox Trail, and Egret Trail which allow birders, runners, and dog walkers greater access to the marsh. Based on the size of the marsh, even if you hike every trail and road at this access point, you've probably seen less than one twentieth of the marsh.

I pulled into the parking lot just before sunrise.

It was sunny and cold. just below freezing.

I grabbed my backpack, it held the essentials for the trip: dad's Alpine binoculars which I'd given him years earlier, water, my Stoke's field guide, my wife's Nikon camera which she generously allows me to borrow for birding, a map of the marsh, and a small container of my dad's ashes.

The mission was simple. Follow the trails. Look for birds. Find out where the cranes were hiding. And ideally come across the right spot to spread dad's ashes. If not this access point, then move onto another.

I decided to walk the auto-tour backwards.

Just off the Egret trail is a floating walkway which takes visitors out into one of the ponds.

As I walked along this trail, I walked through clusters of swallows, who were still warming themselves in the rising sun. It was about freezing and flying insects were not about. The tree swallows perched on oaks and aspens at the edge of the pond near their selected nesting cavities, having been carved at some point by woodpeckers. Further along the trail is a tower for greater viewing, it was covered in barn swallows who noisily chittered to one another but seemed surprising undisturbed by my presence.

Three sides of the platform face deeper waters which shimmer in the sunrise without cattails to block out the light. The western side is full of cattails and on this morning, full of Blue Winged Teal.

I followed the Egret Trail into a woods where kinglets, chickadees, and woodpeckers scratched and pecked and willows, aspens, and oaks looking for their breakfast. I exited back on the auto tour road and headed back up toward the parking lot. I'd been hiking around and taking pictures for about 2 hours, and I decided to sit in my car to warm up. It being black, it warms nicely in the sun. This also when I realized that my adventures in this access point might take longer than expected. My wanderings so far had stumbled on the usual suspects like: Red Winged Blackbirds and Song Sparrows and also more exciting things like American White Pelicans, Great Egrets, and Northern Shovelers and I had only covered about one third of this area. I also hadn't seen any cranes.

To be sure, I had heard them. They were everywhere and nowhere. I'd hear a guard call or a unison call, raise the binoculars and stare off into a sea of grasses and reeds and see nothing.

I hiked part of the auto-tour to point where I could see Trumpeter Swans and Redhead Ducks in a pond off the road. There was trail head I had passed by which looked like it would have better access, so I circled back to the start of the Redhead Trail.

The Redhead Trail was a bevy of activity: Northern Flickers, Yellow Headed Blackbirds, White Breasted Nuthatches, and better access to the ponds where the swans were swimming. It was on this trail where I got my best view of the Sandhill Cranes. Two flying above who eventually landed in some far off stand of grass where they disappeared from view. The trail meanders back well away from the auto-tour; there are also periodic benches.

The trail eventually runs along side, Libby Creek. I took a seat at a bench just a foot or two away from the water. By this point in the morning, it was warmer and lighter. Other people had started to drive the auto-tour; I saw runners, and cyclists, but back here on Redhead Trail near Libby Creek; it was quiet. A group of bachelor Wood Ducks was making their rounds in the creek, swimming around some fallen branches.

I eventually soldiered on from Red Head trail to Red Fox trail and back to the parking lot. I decided to drive the auto toor as well, which is where I was able to add Buffleheads to my list for the morning. But by the end, I had only see a couple more flying cranes.

I left this area later than I expected and drove out to the other access points, following WI - 49 to County Highway Z to Point Road. The other access points provided far less access. For the most part they were slightly elevated land with a spotting scope looking down on the massive marsh in the distance. They served more to make me feel very small in this world than they did provide access to the creation below.

In the afternoon, I met up with my girls for lunch in Waupun, and we made our way down to the Horicon Marsh Explorium run by the WI DNR. This areas was bustling with activity. People were out with their kids and their dogs. The museum is new and kid friendly and does a good job explaining the history of the marsh. We did some hiking with the girls on the trails and saw Canada Geese, Painted Turtles, Forster's Terns, and other wildlife but only airborne cranes.

At the end of our time in the DNR managed site, I'd come to a couple of conclusions. Firstly, a Crane Count here may have been a miserable idea. The area is gigantic, it's about 150 times bigger than the marsh where dad and I had completed the Crane Count in 2016. Near the Sugar River, we can use our binoculars to see across the whole site and can reliably expect to see 6-12 cranes. While I understand others have seen 100+ cranes in Horicon, my experience was one of ghost birds hiding in the reeds, and I am certain my dad would have found this be a frustrating experience. Secondly, I'd decided where best to spread his ashes.

The girls and I backtracked to Redhead Trail on the opposite end of the marsh. The hike back to Libby Creek was made significantly more difficult with a 2 and 6 year old in tow. We sat on the bench and watched the water flow by. It sort of reminded me of King's Mill Creek which trickles through the yard of my childhood home. So we spread the ashes near the bench in the quiet of the creek just yards from the pond where the Trumpeter Swans swim.

Crane Count 2018 - Preview

Next weekend, on Saturday morning, a host of birders across the Midwest will participate in the Annual Midwest Crane Count.

It will be dark. It will be cold. It will be early in the morning.

The count will start the same way as every year. At about 5:45, I'll roll out of bed, grab a pair of flannel lined jeans, my winter coat, hat and gloves. Grab the camera and binoculars, although they will be useless until the sun comes up.

I will drive to the marsh and listen. Initially, it will be too dark to see but the cranes near the Sugar River will call to each other, so long as I listen, I will be able to spot them. By the end of the count, 8:00 AM, the sun will be up and the air will just be starting to warm, and with any luck I'll get some pics of my crane neighbors.

Sandhill crane ambling through the marsh - 2016

Next weekend will mark my third Crane Count. In 2015, I counted by myself. I spent most weekends that spring familiarizing myself with marsh. Getting to know the inhabitants and the migrants. And it's now my spot.

In 2016, I invited my father to join me. We followed my routine from 2015. Bundled up and headed out into the dark. I could hear the cranes calling the dark, and with his poor hearing, he questioned if we'd see them. As the sun started coming up, we first saw Wilson's Snipe take to the air in flight displays. By the time we reached the south end of the state natural area, we could see a pair of cranes in the reeds. As 8:00 AM approached, we headed back to the north end of the marsh, we had another pair fly just overhead and came across the one pictured above moving through the marsh alone.

Last year, we had planned to do it again, but do it bigger. We had hoped to go out to Horicon Marsh or Necedah National Wildlife Refugee to see if we couldn't come across Whooping Cranes in our count. Instead, I sat by his side in Illinois. He'd had a stroke caused by a brain tumor and wasn't doing well. I told him that I'd continue to count each year, and one day I'd still make it out to one Wisconsin's federally protected wetlands, and that I'd take my oldest with me when she got older.

This year, I will return to the local marsh to count cranes. Like my most recent birding adventures, I'll bring his binoculars with me. And later in the month on what would have been his 70th birthday, I will head to Horicon National Marsh and spread some of his ashes there. These will be our last birding trips together, and at the same time, whenever I go out carrying his binoculars, I don't feel alone.

March Weekend of Birding in Wisconsin

This past weekend provided sunshine and a temperature over 40 F. So I knew going into the weekend, that it'd be a good time to get back out into some nearby parks to see what migratory birds were making their way back into the neighborhood.

Certain visitors had already made their way into our yard. On my 2018 species list, I'd already documented: Common Grackles, American Robins, and Red Winged Blackbirds. My goal for the weekend was to find some of the feathered travelers who I didn't necessarily anticipate seeing in my backyard.

The Madison area is full of great places to bird. If you are looking to spy waterfowl, there are a host of lakes and parks with open water. Other birds species can be found in abundance as well: there are nearby state parks, conservancy lands, and the varying habitats at the UW Arboretum. I chose none of above.

To avoid the cold and the dark on Saturday, I opted to go birding in the afternoon rather than in the early morning. An odd time to be sure, and I wasn't certain how much fruit my venture would yield. To my surprise, the Goose Lake area and Quarry Ridge Recreation Area (managed by Dane County and the City of Fitchburg) made for an excellent afternoon of birding.

The first thing to catch my eye was this lone Bald Eagle.

Beyond this, the trip involved a number of the usual suspects: Herring Gull, Ring Billed Gull, Canada Goose, and of course the familiar Mallard.

Amongst the ducks and geese, I spotted one swimming alone. This Northern Shoveler.

I decided on Sunday to bare the cold. It was just below freezing and still some what dark when I headed out into the Sugar River Wetlands State Natural Area (managed by the WI DNR and Upper Sugar River Watershed Asso.) in Verona. This marsh yields regular sitings of Sandhill Crane, Red Winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, Song Sparrows, and later in summer: Yellow Warbler, Common Yellow Throat, and even Ruby Throated Hummingbirds.

This chilly March Sunday morning did not disappoint. A number of the usuals were present: Song Sparrows and Red Winged Blackbirds in abundance. A single Eastern Meadowlark I could hear but not spot. 5 Sandhill Cranes wondering the property, two walking down the mucky trail just like me.

As I turned to head back to my car, a large black bird swopped through the stand of oaks at the south of the SNA.

While nonmigratory, this Pileated Woodpecker really made my day.

Regardless of where you live, get out a map. Find some local parks. They don't have to be state parks or designated conservancy lands. Local and county parks, or scrub land along a bike trail. These call can make for unique birding experiences. Get out there and enjoy the early spring weather, after all, winter is only 9 months away.

Rare or Endangered Bird Sightings: What You Can Do

NPR ran an article this past week on the rediscovery of the native Florida Flamingo population which I found fascinating. In short, the bird was believed to be extirpated from the state in the 1800's. In the early 2000's a small population of flamingos was discovered to still be living in Florida year round in Florida Bay.

This got me thinking about what birds might we think no longer live in Wisconsin. It also got me thinking about the value of logging our observations in citizen science databases like eBird.org or by participating events like the Midwest Crane Count.

I did a little digging and came across a Wisconsin DNR listing of rare bird species in Wisconsin. The list is pretty interesting and provides status codes for the species based on how endangered or numerous they are.

For example, a species I've often seen in parks near me, the Eastern Meadowlark, is listed as SGCN as part of the Wisconsin Wildlife Action Plan. SGCN is "Species of Greatest Conservation Need". I've often logged my Meadowlark sightings in eBird, which is generally a good thing to do. However what I learned by visiting the DNR site is that for some of these species, there is a another database being used to track them.

The Wisconsin Natural Heritage Inventory is part of the DNR and is responsible tracking the location of rare or endangered species in Wisconsin. A full list of life being tracked and other useful information can be found here.

For birders, the list of rare birds is a good place to start. There were a number of species which I've seen in my birding adventures. Keep these species in mind the next you are out birding and be sure to log them in WI DNR's Natural Heritage Inventory.

Wisconsin Wetlands

Two things drew my attention to wetlands this week. First Wisconsin's state legislature have advanced a bill to allow some amount of filling of wetlands in urban and rural areas without a permit. Some details of the bill can be found here. The short version is that isolated wetlands 1 acre or smaller in urban areas or 3 acres or smaller in rural areas can filled without permits.

The ironic part is (the second thing drew my attention) that various parts of the state have been under flood warnings recently because of melting snow and fairly heavy rains. In fact, the city of Fitchburg was recently distributing sand bags.

Of course after Hurricane Harvey, folks have paid some more attention to the value of wetlands in and around urban areas because the wetlands slow or absorb flood water. It's estimated that after over $600 million of damage was prevented during Sandy. because of local wetlands. However Houston's development boom filled wetlands and covered them with impermeable surfaces like roads and houses. Not only do you lose the wetlands ability to absorb the water, the impermeable surfaces give water nowhere to go and speed up the overall flow.

Wetlands provide a variety of benefits beyond flood protection. Clean fresh water continues to be a major concern whether it's about literal supply or the cleanliness of the water. Wetlands naturally clean fresh water. They filter chemicals and fertilizers and other substances which can be harmful to people. They are also excellent habitat for a diversity of wildlife. For those concerned by the number of Canada Geese, remember that every time a retention pond goes in and a wetland goes out, we've chosen the Mallards and Canada Geese over other bird species like Snipes, Rails, Herons, and Cranes.

In short keeping wetlands intact provides aesthetic and ecological benefit as well as economic and practical benefit.

Great Backyard Bird Count - Little Red Birds

The Great Backyard Bird Count starts this week on Friday. During this time of the year in Wisconsin, the feeder birds should be relatively easy to attract with oil rich seeds like sunflower and nyjer. Sexual dimorphism is bound to be on display in a variety of species as red males and brown females make their way to your feeders. The reddest of all is the state bird of Illinois; the Northern Cardinal is the easiest to pick out of the crowd.

Northern Cardinal - The males will be pretty much red all over.

Cardinals are easy to pick out with their bright red bodies, black mask, and red beaks. Even the more earth-toned females have a brightly colored beak which will help set these birds apart from the other visitors to your yard. The Cardinals will also be bigger than the other winter red birds visiting your yard. House Finches, Purple Finches, and Common Redpolls are sort of like variations on a theme, finches with a splash of red.

House Finches - have a fair amount of brown plumage including at the very top of the their head.


Purple Finches - Very similar to House Finches, their "red" plumage is often more fuchsia. The cap on the head is also not brown.

As pictured above, the House Finch and Purple can be relatively easily confused. The House Finch has spread throughout the Eastern half of the US and is easy to spot in gardens and suburban settings. I see them daily eating safflower and sunflower seeds. Purple Finches, I've only see during migration periods. They are somewhat larger than the House Finches, and the females seem to have more distinctive markings especially on the face. It's my understanding that Purple Finches are more common further north in Wisconsin.

Common Redpoll - Look for the bright red cap which appears on both the males and females to make this id.

The last little red bird is the Common Redpoll. They fit into my bucket of little brown birds for which I'll fetch the binoculars. The key to making the positive id is the small red cap which is shared by the both males and females. Black markings near the beak similar to a sparrow are also present and unlike the House and Purple Finches who have a white-ish beak, Redpoll beaks tend to be yellow or orange-ish.

Amazing Asters: Feeding Pollinators into the Fall

Last fall, the asters I had planted the year before bloomed incredibly well. The handful of plants I'd started with were open for most of October. So I thought I'd take a moment to share why asters are a vital part of any native plant landscaping.

Like other native plants, they are pretty easy to grow. They are also relatively easy to find. I've seen both New England and Sky Blue Asters at nurseries. I've chosen New England Asters for my yard.

The bright purple flowers add some perk to the Wisconsin fall. In addition they have been very successful at attracting pollinators (and rabbits too). This past October, I photographed bees and butterflies coming to snack on the asters. I've shared these pictures below. These flowers are a critical part of the food web for native pollinators. Many flowering plants in the upper Midwest peek during the warmest, sunniest months from June through August. A good strategy for maximizing both your support for pollinators as well as to maximize your bloom time is plant a variety of species which flower throughout the year from as early in spring as we can muster to as late in fall. Asters are a great addition in support of these goals.

Bees in the asters.


And more bees


A monarch in October? Can you find it?


Still working on butterfly ids, not sure what this one is.

Winter - A Great Time To Get Out of Your Yard to Bird

I recognize that the entire purpose of this blog was / is aimed at encouraging readers to landscape with native plants to build a healthy ecosystem at home and enjoy the wildlife which inhabits your yard. However winter wildlife watching can become run of the mill. Another Eastern Cottontail Rabbit, woodpeckers back at the suet, finches on the nyjer feeders....sometimes you need to get out.

During the winter a host of birds will look for places with open water to pass their time. Open water provides places to find food, places to swim in relative safety, and of course a place to drink. The upper Midwest has a number of places where there will be some amount of open water. In fact, for some of you this water might just be right near your backyard.

Water features of note are good sized rivers (especially ones which generate hydro-power) like the Wisconsin River. Sites near hydro electric dams tend to remain open. Areas which end up artificially heated by human activity or urbanization like the Mississippi near Dubuque, IA or Lake Michigan near Manitowoc or Milwaukee may also be places with open waters. Larger bodies of water like Lake Michigan or the Mississippi are unlikely 100% freeze over anyway and may be slower to freeze up in the fall / early winter when compared to smaller bodies of water.

So what are you likely to see?

Bald Eagles for starters.

Bald Eagle Days in Sauk Prairie - 2012?

A host of Midwestern cities have eagle watching festivals or tours including: Sauk Prairie WI, Dubuque IA, Galena IL, Prairie du Chien WI and Starved Rock State Park IL.

You will also see waterfowl too of course

Tundra Swan nears Brownsville MN 2016

All of the Mallards and Canada Geese which had been loitering around the golf course, your yard, the local retention pond are joined by mergansers, golden eyes, swans, and less common varieties of duck and geese in open water wherever it's found. Not only are a number of these species attractive; they can be easy to spot as they are moving about in flocks. On their own merit these are worthy birds to watch. Personally, I've been most interested in the migrating swans. These can be seen near the Upper Mississippi River Wildlife Refuge in places like Alma WI and Brownsville MN. Most recently, I encountered Trumpeter Swans on Lake Evergreen near Hudson, IL (and as you can see others have seen them too.)

If it's starting to feel like winter is dragging on, jump over to ebird and explore the data, either by species or region and plan an outing to see something which holds your interests and makes the cold bearable.

Making the Most of Winter and Starting the 2018 Count Well

It's very easy as a gardener, birder, and well as a human to write winter off. It's dark. It's cold. The flowers aren't blooming; the trees are bare, and many of our feathered friends have migrated.

All that said, each year, I begin my count anew. If you are a recent visitor to the blog, here's the short version. When we bought our home, there were very few plants in the yard. So I planted a bunch of native plants hoping to increase the ecological utility of the lawn, and as a measure I count how many different species of butterflies, birds, mammals, and reptiles / amphibians I see in the yard each year. On New Year's Day the count starts over.

Common Redpoll

The count always brightens winter up some. I think it's healthy to be reminded just how much life is still active in the cold. We've counted 17 different species of bird in our yard since January 1st. Three of which are winter migrants: Dark Eyed Junco, Pine Siskin, and Common Redpolls. They are a reminder that there are places colder and dark than the Wisconsin winter. (So count your blessings)

Pine Siskins

As I noted earlier this week, you can also identify the mammals skulking about your lawn too. So far our mammal count is up to four: Eastern Cottontail Rabbit, Eastern Gray Squirrel, Striped Skunk, and Virginia Opossum.

We typically see somewhere over 40 species of bird and 7 or so mammals in the yard through the course of the year. This means that after the first month of the year, we've probably seen close to a third of the birds we expect to see and half of the mammals, assuming this is a typical year. I'm hoping that this is a sign that this year's count will be better than typical.

Don't Want to Read, then Watch: Bringing Nature Home Videos on WPT

I started this site and all the work on our yard because of the book, Bringing Nature Home by Doug Tallamy. Knowing that not everyone has the time or interest in reading his works, I found some videos which are certainly worth your time. If you have two hours, watch both. If you have only one hour, watch either. They are great condensed versions of Bringing Nature Home and The Living Landscape.

Videos

WI Public TV - University Place - Video 1

WI Public TV - University Place - Video 2

Native Evergreen Shrubs and this Year's Project

After getting myself all setup on Cornell Lab's YardMap, I realized that while we'd made incredible progress in landscaping the yard and providing biodiversity, we hadn't gone as far as I'd thought. "Lawn" still makes up a large percentage of our property. This means it's time for another project. Or more precisely to circle back to a project from yesteryear and complete it as originally envisioned.

The initial mission, better layering. In particular find some shrubs.

But what kind of shrubs?

We already have lots of Serviceberry, and we have Highbush Cranberry, Pagoda Dogwood, Nannyberry, Staghorn Sumac, and Black Chokeberry.

Something new. Something different. Something with texture. Something to add interest in the winter.

I began searching. I spent a lot of time on the WI DNR's Natural Communities site.

A list of possibilities began to form: Ninebark, New Jersey Tea, Winterberry, Blueberry, Juniper, Red Osier Dogwood, Witchhazel, American Filbert...

I began searching for native evergreen shrubs. This was hard. Perhaps impractical. Perhaps evergreens don't like being shrubs.

I had found two: Juniperus Communis and Juniperis Horizontalis.

In further searching I encountered "Eastern White Cedar". I looked at the latin name, Thuja Occidentalis. How could this be? I knew Red Cedar to be Juniperus Virginiana. Of course, Red Cedar is actually a juniper tree, I read more. American Arborvitae.

"Arborvitae? Those silly hedgerow-looking evergreen trees that people plant to make privacy fences?" I thought.

I began looking at cultivars for all three: Common Juniper, Horizontal Juniper, and American Arborvitae.

I've ruled out Horizontal Juniper as I'm not looking for ground cover, but the options available for the other two are really interesting.In the end, it will probably come down to availability and selecting which ever will look best next to the Red Osier Dogwoods, I intend to plant.

More info:

Eastern White Cedar in WI

Common Juniper in WI

Horizontal Juniper in WI

2016 - Off to a Great Start - First Common Redpoll

Each New Year's Eve while others excitedly waiting for a ball to drop in some distant metropolitan city, I prep a spreadsheet. The next morning begins a new year of not only bird counting but documenting each species which travels through our yard. Getting the winter well documented is crucial, as some of our visitors are drop-ins from Canada who have migrated to "warmth" of Wisconsin.

Today, we had the first Common Redpolls to have ever visited our yard. I added them to this year's spreadsheet and then had a realization, I'd never totaled the number of species across years. I had no idea how many different species had visited the yard over the course of the last few years.

One of the Common Redpolls who came to visit today.

It turns out that the Common Redpoll makes number 58. This also means that my original goal (yet to be met) of having 50 species in the yard in a single year ought to be more than attainable. If last year's total of 47 is any indication (and we've already got 18 so far for 2016), 2016 could be the year. Maybe I need to think about upping the goal from 50 to 60 or 65.

You Can Help Keep Wisconsin's Lakes Healthy - It All Starts In Your Yard

Nutrients and chemicals are ending up in our waters and it's causing major problems for the environment, recreation, and tourism. And you can do something about it; so read on to learn more.

In order to maintain a well manicured lawn on a typical lot which often has little of its original top soil remaining, homeowners typically end up feeling pressure to apply a variety of products to their yard including: nitrogen, phosphorous, herbicides, and insecticides. The nitrogen and phosphorous are things which can occur naturally and are things which encourage plant growth (fertilizer). The insecticides and herbicides are chemicals which are used to control pests (pesticides).

Fertilizers may come from a number of sources. Garden shops carry additives which can be added to water, plant food spikes, compounds to be applied by hand or machine, or even mixed in with your soil or sod. They also occur naturally and are found in organic matter like pet waste. Often times these supplements must be applied regularly because the soil itself isn't healthy enough and does not contain the necessary nutrients for the well manicured lawn to thrive.

Fertilizers however have a downstream affect. They rarely stay in your yard. Runoff from rain carries this material into our streams, ponds, and lakes. It then becomes fuel for algae and bacteria. This leads to algae blooms which can making swimming water unsafe, make water unfit for consumption, and depletes the oxygen in the water leading to dead zones and fish die offs. Just run a Google search on "Lake Erie Algae Blooms" and you'll find a supersized example of what fertilizers in run off can do.

Here's the good news. Things don't have to be this way. Instead of planting a monoculture of grass in your yard, you can plant native trees, shrubs, flowers, grasses, legumes (they put nitrogen back into the soil). Typically native plants don't need chemical maintenance to stay healthy. Many native plants have deep spreading root systems which not only to help them obtain their necessary nutrition, they also allow for greater water infiltration allowing the soil to collect nitrogen and phosphorous from the run off. (Also you should remember to clean up after your pet.)

Pesticides are chemicals used to prevent the growth of weeds or to suppress insect populations. Here's where our yard really stands out in the neighborhood. There are just a few houses in the neighborhood which do not pay for lawn treatments they are most obvious in May and June when the Violets, Creeping Charlie, and Dandelions are in bloom. Our yard is yellow and purple meadow while others have green lawns. These chemicals are potentially hazardous to your pets, children, and yourself (hence the flag that says stay out of the yard for 24 hours). These chemicals also end up in our water system and may suppress desirable plant and aquatic animal growth.

The use of these chemicals is a choice. In a future where they are not used, our lawns are more colorful and support a variety of wildflowers, bees, and butterflies. Birds and toads too need chemical free spaces for hunting grubs and insects, or for birds collecting dandelion fluff.

Keeping Wisconsin's waterways healthy is a major challenge. The UW Arboretum has a webpage dedicated to the challenges faced by the Lake Wingra watershed. The challenges highlighted are true of many bodies of water in the state. These waters are essential part of the states sporting, hunting, and fishing cultures, as well as being a source of tourism revenue.

If you think your yard doesn't matter or that your run-off is somehow not affected, consider this example. Each of us live in some watershed, and water is always seeking the lowest point. Many of our neighborhoods have retention ponds. The retention ponds in the Upper Sugar River Watershed eventually deposit water into the Sugar River. The Sugar River is dammed in Bellville to form Lake Belle View. Water leaving the lake runs back through the Sugar River to the Pecatonica, to the Rock River, and into the Mississippi. Eventually remaining chemicals and nutrients unnatural the water are dumped into the Gulf Mexico and creates one of the biggest coastal dead zones in the world.

If each of one of us changed how we treat our lawns, even just a little it could be make a major difference in the amount of nutrients and chemicals ending in these waterways.

Plant Your Corridor to Connect Remnant Habitat

There was a time when the gusto of Manifest Destiny, the promise homesteading, and the sheer lack of forethought led a nation to near ecological ruin. Species now extinct or extirpated; whole states had to be reforested, and eventually a conservation movement brought forth national parks and forests, and other such zones which create a patchwork of wilderness.

Remnant habit created by planting: Big and Little Blue Stem, Black Eyed Susan, Purple Coneflower, Butterfly Milkweed, Cardinal Flower, False Indigo, Lupine, Bee Balm, and Obedient Plant.

Today one can look at a map of Wisconsin and see this patchwork of green zones which largely dominates the northern portion of our state, and we are lucky. By comparison, our neighbors in Iowa, Indiana, and Illinois have no green spaces. The wilderness of these places is replaced by pavement or turned over by plow.

We live in a time where it has become clear that while these pockets of wilderness are beneficial, they are too sporadic and isolated to preserve the existing diversity of species over the long run. There's still some debate over the effectiveness of wildlife corridors ranging from wild success stories to dismal failure. While we consider the success and failure of modern efforts, we can take a moment to ponder these words:

The shrinkage in the flora is due to a combination of clean-farming, woodlot grazing, and good roads. Each of these necessary changes of course requires a larger reduction in the acreage available for wild plants, but none of them requires, or benefits by, the erasure of species from whole farms, townships, or counties. There are idle spots on every farm, and every highway is bordered by an idle strip as long as it is; keep cow, plow, and mower out of these idle spots, and the full native flora, plus dozens of interesting stowaways from foreign parts, could be part of the normal environment of every citizen. - Aldo Leopold

Wildlife corridors aren't and can't be specific zones and boundaries drawn on a map. Real corridors are created everywhere by leaving some of nature right where it was before we put in the road, plowed the field, or built our house.

If you look at a map of your municipality you may notice features that I noticed; things which Doug Tallamy points out in the The Living Landscape. Even on a smaller scale we isolate nature preserves and parks. There's a prairie on the east side of my town and a marsh on the southwest side, but in between are homes and roads and businesses and schools.

This is where we come in. One house, one yard providing remnant habitat is a start, one neighborhood is better. I started native planting as a project for myself. To see more birds. To test my green thumb. To do some basic green things like save on water and encourage biodiversity.

Immature Bluebirds back from somewhere, stopping by for a visit.

It's become a way of life and in a way an ethical code. In reading what those who came before me taught, I realized that my quarter of an acre was a small piece in a century of conservation efforts. Now when a Gray Catbird drops in, I wonder whether he is headed to or from the marsh. When the Bluebirds visit in the morning, I wonder whether they've come from the prairie this morning or from the wetlands. In my town, my yard is but a piece of a greater fabric; a piece of corridor.

Fall Migration - Catching Departures

WI DNR was on WPR last week talking fall migration and trying to make the most of the end of September in southern Wisconsin. I linked out this a little awhile ago in another post. This weekend I decided to take up the call and headed out to a nearby prairie.

A small segment of the prairie has a stand of trees, some birch, some maples, and some which I honestly can't readily identify. There are also some shrubs and a pond. The prairie itself is quite large, but I stayed in the area near the pond, probably no bigger than a block.

Northern Flicker in a birch.

The sheer mass of wildlife was amazing. Small birds moved through the wildflowers and grasses and then back into the shrubs, Nannyberry and Dogwood from their appearance. There were American Goldfinches, Black Capped Chickadees, Palm Warblers, Clay Colored Sparrows, Song Sparrows, Sedge Wrens, and Nashville Warblers.

Other larger birds were more raucous, chasing each other around. They darted up into trees, swooped down to the ground; they foraged in great number. Cedar Waxwings, American Robins, Northern Flickers, and Gray Catbirds.

Near the water, typical visitors: Canada Geese and Mallards, but also atypical visitors, 5 or more Eastern Phoebes dropping out of the trees to hawk for insects, and Eastern Bluebirds too.

Pensive Eastern Phoebe sat still long enough for a picture.

Through the end of the month is a good time to catch many of these smaller species, and some larger ones which stay nearer the water may be around for awhile, so you haven't missed the migration yet. Take the time to find a local park or wildlife sanctuary, grab your binoculars, and get out there. They will gone before you know it, and they won't be back until spring.

A Visit to My Wisconsin Marsh

Early on Saturday or Sunday mornings, sometimes before there's truly light; I awake. I grab something small for breakfast, slink about the house quietly to not disturb my sleeping family. I sneak out of the house and trek out to the marsh. Upon exiting my car, I start down the path.

The trail runs through the wetland. Can you find the Cranes?

Through most of the summer the warm tunes of the Song Sparrow welcomed me. They often ventured near the trail just above head height and trilled loudly early morning. "Good morning, little sparrow," I'd say. I find myself talking to the more social birds some mornings. It's often early enough that they are the first beings to greet me, and I feel compelled to acknowledge their presence; it seems only polite.

There are a great number and variety of sparrows. The field marks and calls are handy, but it's difficult to keep track of Swamp, Clay, Field, Chipping, and Song Sparrows.

I wander by wildflowers and stop to pull out my camera. It's zoom is better than my binoculars, and it's proven to be a trusted ally in identifying the locals. On one occasion, I stood still beside some Bergamot and soon had Ruby Throated Hummingbird visitors. On my next of trips out, I made sure to stand near this Bee Balm cousin to ensure future encounters.

Genus Monarda is high in nectar and great for pollinators.

My visits never seem complete if I don't see the my original quarry. I first explored the area during the April Crane Count. Not all of the Sandhills I encountered that day stayed all summer, but two are regulars. I see them in nearly same spot each time I visit. They bugle and forage. They fly overhead and even stroll down the trail. They appear to have not been successful in producing a colt this year. I imagine nesting on the ground in the wetland must be difficult. I've seen mink here and muskrat. I assume there are a number of mammals lurking, waiting to snatch up an egg breakfast.

I thought they had chosen a good neighborhood but they seem to drive their neighbors to distraction.

As morning light grows bright, and I inevitably get hungry, I turn back to my car. Evening Primrose and other wildflowers grow near the gravel parking pad. By now others are here. They are on bikes or on foot on the trail. They've missed the trumpeting Cranes, and they won't stay still long enough to draw the ire of the House or Sedge Wrens. I'll catalog my sitings and plan to be back next weekend and witness how all things change over time.

Evening Primrose

Wisconsin - Some Fall Migration Activities

Just a quick list of some Fall Migration festivals which folks might be interested in.

International Migratory Bird Day - Kenosha, WI - Sept 19th

Audubon Days - Mayville, WI Oct 2nd - 4th

Crane Fest - Crex Meadows, WI - Oct 10th

Owl Fest - Woodland Dunes Nature Center and Preserve, WI - Oct 17th

Fall Migration Day - Ferryville, WI - Nov 7th

Wisconsin DNR - September Good Time for Birding also Turkey and Grouse Hunting Starting

Wisconsin DNR was on Central Time today on WI Public Radio. You can find the podcast here to learn more about birding in Fall migration.

Also they have posted information on hunting Turkey, Ruffed Grouse, and Pheasant so if you are birding it might be best to avoid birding for these birds or consider wearing something orange.