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Two Barred Owls and two owlets  sighted this morning

5/28/2014

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Arlene Koziol and Roma Lenehan got up at 4am today to investigate the amazing sounds Arlene had heard the morning before in the Frautschi Point area. 

Arlene reported yesterday "This morning at about 6:15 am I went to Frautschi Point to do macro photography of the wildflowers. As soon as I got out of my car I heard a loud, repetitive wheezy-hissy sound coming from the woods. It was cloudy with a little sprinkle. As I got to the intersection of the sign for Big Oak and Raymer’s Cove, I could tell the sounds were coming form the forest floor on the Raymer’s Cove side. There were 2 distinct areas where the sounds were coming from. I looked all over but could not see any movement. The crows were making a racket and flying in the canopy. Finally I saw an adult Barred Owl flying in the canopy being mobbed by crows. I went back to my place to get my bird lens. Getting back around 7 am all the action had stopped."

With that report in mind, Arlene and Roma went out together today and spotted indeed the two adult owlets and two owlets in the early morning light. Thanks for sharing the excitement and this fabulous photo.
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Monarch butterfly sighting - first of the year - 25 May 2014

5/25/2014

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Glenda Denniston reported the first sighting this season of a Monarch butterfly in the Preserve. The Monarch was busy laying eggs on one of the emerging milkweed leaves along the Biocore Prairie edge. Apparently, the first Monarch seen in Wisconsin this season was reported only 3 days earlier, in Walworth County. 
Click Glenda's photos and the slideshow arrow.
Wisconsin is part of the Upper Midwest spring breeding area for Monarchs. They generally arrive from Mexico in May and June, looking for milkweed to lay hundreds of eggs. The caterpillars developing from the eggs then enjoy the milkweed leaves for their food, building up poison from the milkweed in their system. This poison helps protect them and the cocoon they soon form against ants, spiders, and wasps. The poison later helps the adult Monarch emerging from the cocoon to fend off predators, such as birds. 

Cold and wet weather, of course, diminish reproductive success of the Monarch.The early three generations of Monarchs live only six weeks after they emerge from the cocoon. Later generations live up to eight months and can make the trek back the Monarch's hibernation place in Mexico – if they find enough milkweed to feed on the way. 

Unfortunately, as we all know, in the monarch migration corridor to the south a large portion of the milkweed habitat has been eliminated – lost to the expanding corn belt and use of agricultural herbicide, as well as development. According to an estimate by the Director of the Monarch Watch at the University of Kansas, 5-15 million milkweed, via planting of seeds and plugs, will be required to offset the habitat losses for milkweed in the monarch migration corridor. Don't forget to pack milkweed seeds when you  travel south.  Gisela
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Monitoring the Blue Bird Trail - 24 May, 2014

5/24/2014

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Click photos to enlarge. Photos by Gisela Kutzbach
Last Saturday it was Will Waller's turn to experience for the first time the excitement of monitoring bird nests. This Saturday, a week later, Patricia Becker, introduced John and Gisela Kutzbach to the wonders of the Bluebird Trail. We had already walked the trail several times and knew who was sitting on which box, more or less. 
But today we saw and recorded what was inside these boxes. 

With Patricia's gentle training, we newbies also got to open some of the boxes and examine the contents. We saw nests made from grass, from sticks, covered with feathers,even nests made from junk; we saw tiny eggs in delicate colors; we saw vulnerable Bluebird chicks that were thriving under their parents care.

The lives of birds in this world are filled with beauty and with perils. Birding is addictive. We 'll be out there again tomorrow morning to watch the Bluebirds and Tree Swallows standing proud watch on their roof tops.


See all the details and more photos on the the Bluebird page. And come to the rescheduled Bird Banding Field Trip on May 31, 9-noon.
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Lady Slippers in full bloom on May 24, 2014

5/24/2014

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On 24 May, 2014, Glenda Denniston located  "two blooming Lady Slippers in Upper Bill's wooded area". Thank you for sharing these fantastic photos. 

When we see Lady Slippers, we admire the gorgeous corkscrew petals, the "pig tails", with their strong veins and maroon-reddish color hanging over the delicate deep yellow slipper. I didn't know Lady Slippers grow in the Preserve. They remind me of our family trips to Door County at the end of the school year in the 1970's, when we saw the short Lady Slippers thriving in the ditches along side of the road, mile after mile, on the way to the Ridges.  

What do Lady Slippers remind you of? And what memories do you have of other flowers you see blooming in the Preserve? Please share your story with the Friends.
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Success in BB9: Five little bluebirds

5/24/2014

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Two proud parents watching their nestlings in BB9, along the Savanna edge. On May 17, box monitors Mitchell Thomas and Patricia Becker and Will Waller found 5 little nestlings in the box. Earlier that day, John and Gisela Kutzbach observed the female and male bluebirds keeping watch from a sumac bush, about 20 feet away from the box, and took this snapshot of the pair.

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New Bluebird Trail makes birding converts

5/19/2014

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Male Bluebird watching BB6. Photo Mitchell Thomas
On Saturday, Patricia Becker, Mitchell Thomas, and I (Will Waller) met at the Eagle Heights Garden shed to make an observational walk along the new Bluebird Trail that surrounds the BioCore Prairie. See our Bluebird page for a map marking the 12  Bluebird boxes and project details.
Observing means filling out a data form from the Bluebird Restoration Association of Wisconsin (BRAW). 

It is an easy task, and a tremendously interesting one. I know it is old news to veteran birders, but to us newbies, the differences between the nests of wrens, bluebirds, swallows and chickadees is fascinating.  We carried a BRAW handbook to help us identify birds and nests. Also, there is quite a lot of information on the BRAW web-site.

The process goes like this:
1) approach bird box and knock gently to announce your inspection
2) open house carefully: sparrows tend to be buried within their nests via a tunnel and will flash out in your face if you are not careful.
3) confirm nest type to identify bird, if you haven't seen one perching on the box
4) check for eggs
5) record required data on the BRAW form
6) move on to the next box

All of the boxes are easily approached and all are beside regular walking trails. They are sited within a specific "perching perimeter" so that the occupants can guard their box. And guard they do! 

If you aren't a birder yet, this trail might make you a convert – that's what's happening to me.  The trail takes about 40 minutes to monitor and the entire 40 minutes is filled with genuine excitement. You see the birds up close, they monitor you as you monitor them! The prairie area is no longer quiet, it's a noisy, busy place: hundreds of birds, thousands of bees (we need Hannah Gaines-Day to do a bee-walk), the leopard frogs are out by the hundreds. You cannot walk between the boxes without stopping to watch field events unfold. If you are interested in monitoring let us know (preserveFriends@gmail.com). 

If you haven't been to the Prairie this season, now is the time. The old apple orchard is approaching full blossom. The bird houses are occupied. You will see bluebirds. The walk is easy.  Comment below on what YOU see.
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Friends of the Lakeshore Nature Preserve
 P.O. Box 5534
 Madison, WI 53705 

UW-Madison Lakeshore Nature Preserve website

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Related websites:
UW Nelson Institute
UW Arboretum
Clean Lakes Alliance
Groundswell Conservancy
Pleasant Valley Conservancy
Pheasant Branch Conservancy
​
  • Home
  • What We Do
    • Volunteering
    • Field Trips >
      • Self-guided Field Trips
    • Community Outreach >
      • Science Expeditions 2021
    • Friends Projects
    • Newsletter
    • Research
    • Citizen Science
  • People & Events
  • The Preserve
    • Stories
    • Maps >
      • 1918 Marsh
      • Eagle Heights Woods
    • Birds >
      • Bluebirds
      • Purple Martins
    • Animals
    • Plants
    • Lichens
  • Support us
  • About
    • Mission and Goals
    • Annual Report
    • Committees & Contact
  • Blog