Saturday May 4th was a beautiful sunny day in the Preserve. Of the many people out enjoying the wonderful weather, ten of us were gathered at the Picnic Point entrance to go birding with Ashley Olah, UW graduate student and Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance expert. Numerous yellow warblers and goldfinches provided flashy targets as we got used to our binoculars. Then we saw a red-headed woodpecker proudly perched high up on a dead tree. More warblers (including Tennessee and blue-winged) followed, along with some flycatchers and vireos. We were impressed by the beauty of tree swallows in their flights over the rippling water in the clear sunlight. Blue-winged teal, wood ducks, grackles and a sandhill crane greeted us in the marsh. By the time a bald eagle soared high above us, it was nearly time to go. Everyone walked back to the stone wall and went on with their Saturdays. All of that before 10:00am!
Report & Photo by Will Vuyk.
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What’s better than spending the day before Earth Day outside? On April 21st, our field trip leader, Susan Will-Wolf, took participants on a journey to find lichens. Before we began our tour, Susan explained that lichens have three major growth forms: foliose, fruticose, and crustose. We then started our tour at the Rock Wall, where we noticed various lichens, including small leafy and crusty types. As we explored the preserve, we found fallen tree branches covered in lichens.
Tip: Bring a hand lens or portable magnifier to see the intricate details of lichens up close! Report & Photo by Diana Tapia Ramon. About fifteen intreped bird lovers including one very enthused kid braved a blustery wind and snow flurries to look for "Early Bird Migrants" with leaders Chuck Henrikson and Paul Noelder on the Sunday Match 24 Bird and Nature Adventure at UW Lakeshore Nature Preserve. Popular bird guide Chuck Henrikson magically summoned two bugling Sandhill Cranes for a send off at the Picnic Point kiosk, a Bald Eagle floating effortlessly like a giant kite at treetop height straight overhead at the beach. An enthused kid helped use the scope to view a giant 'raft' of about two hundred cackling Coots, and several dozen beautiful black and white Buffleheads bobbing their somewhat comical mating dances. A half dozen georgeous coloring-picture perfect Wood Ducks flew in to check out nesting areas at Picnic Point Marsh while the group enjoyed hot chocolate by the old Beach House. Everyone shared stories about their love of the Preserve and one participant even had a Picnic Point arm tatoo honoring how special it is to him. They were happy to learn about plans for the new Frautschi welcome education center and everyone expressed hope that the old historic Beach House can be preserved and restored as a nature outpost shelter gathering spot.
Report by Steve Sellwood and Paul Noeldner. Photos by Paul Noeldner. Chuck Henrikson and I greeted each other in the parking lot at 1:10. Sandhill Cranes flew from the marsh to the lake (Their flight & calls recall Jonny Quest's pterodactyl, kind of). We posted a FUN lawn sign and my orange bike pennant near the kiosk, and Chuck staffed the kiosk while I used the FUN little red wagon to take the fire-making and hot chocolate making bins to Fire Circle 2. We welcomed a group of 30 at 1:32, described FLNP, LNP and FUN, and introduced Chuck. The sign-up sheet was sent around while Chuck coaxed everyone into a Jens Jensen full circle. I also distributed FUN binoculars to interested folks. The group totaled 34 as we departed and headed east through the pedestrian baffle/entry. The path had areas with standing water but no deep puddles. Chuck led the group with many stops for water birds (two bald eagles on the thin ice of Willow Bay; Canada geese, various gulls, mallards in the liquid water). One participant noted a redtail hawk circling over the Waisman Center (impressive optics). Chuck demonstrated the Merlin Bird ID app from Cornell University, including calling up the calls of whitebreasted nuthatch and the cardinal. One of the Merlin calls for the cardinal is distinct from any I've ever heard a cardinal make around here. I noticed that a tree was in bloom (already!) with catkins but no showy petals, so possibly a maple of some sort (maybe red maple?) Chuck gradually led the group to the Swimming Beach; I peeled off at Fire Circle 2 and helped Yara Al-Rayyan's younger brother start the fire (about 2:45). Chuck led some of the group to the fire, the partial group staying til about 3:30.
He compiled his bird list in a notebook, using his system of abbreviations (often, two letters + two letters). Yara's brothers drowned the fire around 3:45 and I stayed a bit to put un-used logs back under the log shed. Report by Tom Zinnen, photos by Tom Zinnen and Chuck Henrikson. Master Naturalist Paul Noeldner, founder and pied piper of the Friends of Urban Nature (FUN) fieldtrips, organizes our 4th Sunday outings. Falling on Christmas Eve this year, a good-humored group happy to get out of the kitchen and into nature gathered in a light mist amid mild temperatures at the entrance to Picnic Point. Paul welcomed the 30 attendees and invited them to share their names and their favorite places in the Preserve. While some visitors were returning to the Preserve after many years elsewhere, a few locals were entering it for the first time. After introductions by President Will Vuyk and Past President Doris Dubielzig, we walked up the service road past Bill’s Woods, where Will described plans for the new Visitor’s Center. Our next stop was at the Biocore Prairie. There, Friends student board member Yara Al-Rayyan reviewed the history and significance of this tallgrass prairie. Yara is enrolled in the undergraduate Biocore Honors Program. In 1997, Biocore students and staff first planted the prairie on an abandoned and contaminated field. The 11-acre parcel now provides a site for classes and for undergraduate research projects. We walked down the road through Caretaker’s Woods to the old, unused bath house at the end of Picnic Point Marsh. On this quiet side of the Point, some families investigated the sandy beach, while Will Vuyk captivated the group with a description of the two species of frogs that live in the Marsh. The Eastern gray treefrog (Hyla versicolor) and Cope’s gray treefrog (Hyla chrysoscelis), which look identical, can be distinguished by their calls and by observation of their red blood cells. Cope’s gray treefrog (H. chrysoscelis) has 24 chromosomes (2n), while the Eastern gray treefrog (H. versicolor) has 48 (4n)! Paul pulled up their calls on his cellphone and we were thrilled to hear the differences between the two frog calls. Paul then spoke of his hopes for the stone Bath House, which was designed by noted local architect William Kaeser. Kaeser was an admirer of Frank Lloyd Wright though he never studied directly with great man. The attractive building, constructed in 1968, was never used for its intended purpose and is now a locked storage unit. Paul has long contended that it would be a great location for nature and outreach activities.
Walking back toward the Picnic Point entrance, on the right just beyond Fire Circle #2, are five additional mounds. The mound building era is consistent with the age of the ancient canoe recovered from Lake Mendota in November 2021. Doris suggests that the canoe maker(s) would also have been of the mound builder people. After the vegetation covering them dies in the winter, the mounds can be seen more easily from the trail. Guided by a map drawn by Daniel Einstein, retired Historic & Cultural Resources Manager, the children were challenged to find the mounds. By this time, people were eager to gather around the fire at Fire Circle #2, drink Paul Noeldner-provided hot chocolate and toast marshmallows for s’mores, and gaze on University Bay. Playing his euphonium, Paul led the festive group in some Christmas carols. It was a joyous and friendly way to end the year. Our monthly 4th Sunday Bird and Nature Adventures are co-sponsored by the Friends of the Lakeshore Nature Preserve (http://friendslakeshorepreserve.org), Badgerland Birding Alliance and the Madison Friends of Urban Nature (FUN). Contact Paul Noeldner at (608) 698-0104, paul_noeldner@hotmail.com. Report written by Doris Dubielzig. Photos taken by Paul Noeldner and Will Vuyk.
On Sunday afternoon November 26 about 20 bird lovers of various ages and skill levels including some UW students enjoyed a "Fun Fall Birding" Bird and Nature Adventure and the season's first beautiful fresh white snowfall at the UW Lakeshore Nature Preserve with popular bird guide Chuck Henrikson to see awesome Tundra Swans with 8 foot wingspans, Buffleheads, Loons and other colorful migrating waterfowl, and Wisconsin winter favorites like bright red Cardinals, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Tree Sparrows and White-breasted Nuthatch, and gathered for hot cocoa around a Picnic Point campfire after the walk. A highlight was a huge Bald Eagle that soared by creating its own white swirling snow flurry of dozens of scattering Herring Gulls in its wake.
Report and photos by Paul Noelder The Geologic History of the Preserve and Madison Lakes field trip took place on 11/5/2023. The trip was led by Phil Fauble of the Wisconsin DNR. There were 19 attendees. The trip included observation and discussion of geological features at Raymer's Cove and Eagle Heights Woods. Report and photos by Steve Sellwood
On Saturday, November 4, 2023, the Friends of Lakeshore Nature Preserve hosted a tour of the Ho-Chunk Effigy Mounds that are still visible and discussion of those that were destroyed on campus. We met at the Washburn Observatory and the weather was perfect, crisp, and clean with a blue sky and bright sun. Our tour had approximately 45 participants and was guided by Amy Rosebrough, a State Archeologist with the Wisconsin Historical Society. Dr. Rosebrough is the leading expert on Wisconsin Effigy Mounds and their cultural significance to the Ho-Chunk and other tribes of the state of Wisconsin. Having studied effigy mounds of Wisconsin for her PhD here at UW Madison in the Department of Anthropology, she has amassed a lifetime of knowledge that she gladly shares. She is author of two books on Effigy Mounds of Wisconsin. Her first is a 2003 book, “Water panthers, bears, and thunderbirds: Exploring Wisconsin’s Effigy Mounds”, which is for young readers with suggested activities to encourage students to engage with the effigy mounds of Wisconsin in every county. Her second, is co-authored with retired effigy mound expert, Robert Birmingham in 2017, “Indian Mounds of Wisconsin”. For those of you who missed the tour, I found this great video of her explaining much of what we learned from her. This video is almost a decade old, but the information is just as valid (https://www.c-span.org/video/?322375-1/native-american-effigy-mounds.) She also gave a Wednesday Nite at the Lab in 2018 (https://youtu.be/JDn_frvo_i0?si=QFl-F6_yrTkEgqdy). Dr. Rosebrough told many stories of discovery and archeological logistics, including the wonders of LiDAR, and the recent findings of the 1,000 and 3,000 year old canoes that were pulled from Lake Mendota. She shared with us the significance of the four lakes region to the Ho-Chunk, the glacial drumlins that were perfect for effigy mound positions overlooking the water, and some of the history of Ho-Chunk village life right here on UW Madison campus. She passed around a hand-held replica of one of the canoes, along with many other photos, maps, and timetables, as she talked to us with an amplifier. The highlight of the tour was a visit to the newly installed bird-shaped effigy sculpture “Effigy: Bird Form” made in 1997 by Professor Emeritus Truman Lowe, memorializing the loss Indigenous burial mounds on campus but still celebrates Indigenous traditions. You can read more about the history of this particular sculpture and how it came to be installed on campus this year: https://facilities.fpm.wisc.edu/truman-lowe-sculpture-event-on-sept-15/. After stopping by a partially intact eagle-shaped mound near the greenhouses of Soil Sciences, we continued down the hill towards the west of campus to large partially intact crane effigy mound that sits between the new student Bakke Recreation & Wellbeing Center and Lake Mendota and the trail. There she explained to us the difficulty in how to preserve, yet respect, the effigy mounds. What kinds of signage is appropriate? How to take out the current historical marker? What kinds of landscape management does it require? Prairie or turfgrass? How do we let people passing by know what exists there while also respecting its purpose of a burial mound to blend into the natural world and only show itself in the spring after a prairie burn? Our guests were full of questions, concerns, and generally deeply grateful for the chance to learn so much about the effigy mounds right here on campus from such an expert. After what seemed only like 30 minutes, our two-hour tour came to an end at the new Ho-Chunk clan circle (https://news.wisc.edu/ho-chunk-clan-circle-dedicated/), which has a statue for each of the Ho-Chunk clans and sits between the new recreation center and Lake Mendota. There she thanked us for our attention, but more importantly thanked the Ho-Chunk for sharing their knowledge with us. She reminded us all about how important it is for us to go forward working together with the Ho-Chunk nation here on UW Madison campus as it is literally their sacred burial grounds that we have our offices, classrooms, labs, and fitness centers.
Report and photos by Ingrid Jordon-Thaden. With the last remaining hues of fall drifting away, field trip leader Paul Quinlan, Madison Parks Conservation Resources Supervisor, led a group on a tree walk around the Lakeshore Nature Preserve. Before setting foot on the trail, Paul painted a vivid picture of the layers of ecological history in the land we stood on. He then led us from one tree to another, showing us how to tell different types of trees apart. Examining the bark and the shape of the leaves are two ways for identifying trees. Did you know that white oak has rounded leaves and red oak has pointed tips on their leaves (like a hook!). Our attention shifted to the encroachment of invasive species. Paul pointed out the menace of Buckthorn and the ominous signs of Emerald Ash. As the trip concluded, participants were encouraged to continue exploring with a reminder that one doesn't have to be an expert to start identifying trees. Report and photos by Diana Tapia Ramon
A NATURAL SPIRAL OF WORDSAbout a dozen people including a number of UW students participated in the October 22 "Poetry in the Preserve" 4th Sunday of the month Bird and Nature Adventure at the UW Lakeshore Nature Preserve. Stunning Fall colors with a blue sky and bright sunshine created a perfect day for a meditative nature walk along University Bay. Friends of the UW Lakeshore Nature Preserve FLNP Chairperson Will Vuyk led the group to several scenic spots where volunteers read aloud some of the beautiful and thoughtful poems collected from the Friends' "Its In Our Nature" Poetry Nights and used the new Poetry Trail signposts where people can stop anytime and scan a QR code to view and listen to the poems. Along the way a pair of Bard Owls sang their sonorous poetry from the woods and rafts of Coots thrashed the water into sparkles as people jotted poetic words they liked on post it notes. After the walk everyone gathered around a campfire to weave their words together and collectively created a special spiral shaped poem in honor of a magical day at the Preserve Report and photos by Paul Noeldner.
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