​Last year, the Koziols observed the first bloom at their monitoring site a month earlier, on May 16!  Arlene reports, "Our big blooms last year were June 7, 8, 27 and Sept 7th and 15th, 2018. We were late getting out for our measurements of the Mendota Central Deep Hole this year because of bad weather and boat issues. Our first readings at the Deep Hole was June 12th and the lake had already stratified. Last year I was told that the data from the Mendota buoy is not available. 
Here is a question, yesterday when I looked at the bloom early in the day, the algae seemed to be floating up from a lower level. Below is a little video clip from my phone. Can one tell if it is cyanobacteria?"

See more of Arlene's photos on her Flickr Site.

This deer and her fawn were spotted in the Preserve last week. David Liebl provided the photo. 

Many visitors to the Preserve have enjoyed the Barred owl family near the entrance at Picnic Point, along the service road. This owlet has been growing steadily and now, as a juvenile, is surveying the territory from the safety of its large nest cavity. David Liebl sent us this photo. Thank you!

At this time of year, when you take a walk in the Preserve, you are bound to meet birders, checking out their favorite places. Mike Bailey took this photo of a Ruby-crowned kinglet, "near Frautschi Point, as it was flitting around at its usual high speed in a brush pile and chatting up a storm. Quite a few others were well overhead singing and foraging in the treetops, too, but hardly close enough for a decent photo. This one obliged nicely."
David Liebl can be spotted in Bill's Woods and the Biocore Prairie doing his rounds almost every day. He Is is interested in recording the changes in the bird population in one area over several weeks. He posts his observations on e-Bird's Bill's Woods hotspot. He keeps track of the Bluebirds – three pairs are claiming nest boxes around the Biocore Prairie at this time – and he is sharing with us his photos of Barred Owl, a Wood duck sitting von a branch, and a Yellow-bellied sapsucker. Chuck Henrikson also fills his little note book with pages of birds he observes on his rounds at Picnic Point.
Please share your sighting with us by contacting preserveFriends@gmail.com.preserveFriends@gmail.com

While caves in limestone areas are often graced with stalactites and stalagmites, the almost-caves under the limestone shorelines of Lake Mendota are adorned with look-alike formations at this time. Stalactites dripping in limestone caves are deposits of minerals, mainly calcite dissolved in rainwater seeping through the sedimentary rock. The stalactites and stalagmites observed at Raymer's Cove this early January are mere frozen water, they are icicles. With strong west winds and higher waves as well as rainwater penetrating the cliffs along the shoreline and seeping downward, these icicles form along Lake Mendota's shoreline when the air temperature is below freezing while the lake is still open. The fantastical ice creations of sheer beauty are enjoyed by visitors to the Preserve at Raymer's Cove, as well as along the path to Picnic Point at the narrows by fireplace #3, and also along Howard Temin Lakeshore Path past the boat landing at lot 60. Galen Hasler sent these photos. Thank you Galen. 

  The New Year brought a most beautiful snowfall to the Preserve and the city. With no wind, the fluffy tufts of snow are clinging to trees and berries in fantastical ways. Come and see for yourself—enjoy a walk to Picnic Point. At the beginning of the path, on the side of the cattails toward the bay, you will spot the American Cranberry bush, tall and upright, the only bush that still carries berries. They are absolutely sour, and the birds won't eat them until nothing else is left. But they are nutritional....people would add loads of sugar if they made jelly from these berries.
  Once you have crossed the meadow, you enter a kind of snow cathedral walk, inviting awe, beneath the snow laden ashes and hickories, until the path broadens at Fireplace #2. Here you will enjoy the view across the bay and the bugling calls and hoo-ho-hoos of the tundra swans along the edge of the lake ice forming from the shoreline. And when you arrive at the Point and look backward, you might see the sun close to the horizon, much more south than west, seemingly setting all day long in the midst of winter. Thank you, Galen Hasler, for capturing this precious scenery for us. A great beginning for a new year.