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Friends Annual Meeting 2021

4/12/2021

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​The Annual Meeting 2021, April 7, virtual and live online, attracted close to 100 participants. Drawing points were our keynote speaker Emily Arthur, of Eastern Band Cherokee descent and Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and chair of the printmaking area, and Preserve director Gary Brown. At the meeting, Friends Vice president Seth McGee introduced the new slate of candidates for the Board of directors and conducted an online poll election. New to the Board are Dane Gallagher, Signe Holtz, and Anne Pearce. Also, Matt Chotlos, Steve Sellwood and Will Vuyk began their second terms. Doris Dubielzig, Gisela Kutzbach and Lillian Tong departed from the Board after completing their terms. In a special tribute, MJ Morgan remembered President Steve Sentoff who had passed away unexspectedly a few days before the meeting. The entire event was organized by Olympia Mathiarapanam, Annual meeting chair and MC, and Doris Dubielzig. Our media expert Tom Bryan ran the online meeting flawlessly and with support by Will Vuyk. Watch the recording of the meeting on Youtube. Report here by Gisela Kutzbach.
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Olympia Mathiarapanam, Annual Meeting chair and MC
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Preserve Director Gary Brown reported on essential maintenance work in the Preserve during COVID-19, presented a summary of the new Strategic Plan for the Preserve, and previewed the 2021 work season in the Preserve. Volunteers will again be able to help with restoration, garlic mustard pull and plantings, following COVID protocols and registering for events. The Friends Prairie Interns will again work in the Preserve. Gary also previewed the schedule for developing the new Preserve Masterplan, to be completed in Spring 2022.
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Emily Arthur, of Eastern Cherokee descent, growing up in the ancestral mountainous lands of North Carolina and Georgia, has a particular interest in observations relating to displacements of species from their traditional places of living, be it birds, animals, or plant species, and the displacements of native people, as well. Her specific message is:

"Art and science share the responsibility of observation and witness. It is through observation that science gives us proof of our material make up. It is through observation that art gives us material proof of our spiritual make up. Encountering a great work of art or a great leap in science changes our perception; it asks us to see and then to see once again, more deeply.”

Arthur illustrated this insight with her case study of the push by developers in California to remove the California gnatcatcher from the list of endangered species, disregarding results of genetic studies in zoological research. Being able to view the laboratory collection of these birds, Arthur transformed her observations into prints (one of these prints is now mounted on the atrium ceiling of the Madison Hilton at Monona Terrace.) Prints, Arthur demonstrated with her slideshow, can lead to a lasting emotional response in the viewer. Printmaking, she maintained, is an extension of observations. 
Next, Arthur showed how manipulation of data themselves can deny the truth, and is often used to establish a certain supremacy, usually motivated by the prospect of making a profit. The manipulated  observations then can “justify” the elimination of natural habitats of birds as well as other animals and plants, and by extension, the suppression and displacements of human populations. In her art work, she illustrated this insight with California gnatcatchers cast in bronze and bound with ropes, birds without voice, and in parallel, by incorporating in her prints documents of native people expelled from their homelands. For both, birds and people, the ideas of home and place are wrapped up in who we are.
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Steve Sentoff

4/11/2021

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PictureSteve Sentoff
​Steve Sentoff, age 70, President of the Friends from 2019-2021, passed away on Monday, April 5, 2021, a few days after he suffered a massive heart attack at Frautschi Point, doing what he loved—restoration work as Preserve Steward. Steve and his soulmate Monica had moved to Madison only a few years earlier, retiring to the place where they had met as graduate students in the Math department. Steve and Monica found ways to share activities and interests throughout their lives. They both joined Bell Laboratories in Chicago. Steve moved from programming to system engineering and Monica moved into software architecture. In their free time, since 1990, they took up dedicated volunteerism and after their retirement in 2005, they turned into professional volunteers, usually dividing their time among two worthwhile organizations. 
 
It began with Earthwatch extended fieldtrips to other countries. Closer to home, they joined the West Chicago Prairie Stewardship Group of the DuPage County Forest Preserve. Steve devoted 25 years to the prairie’s restoration, becoming the leading volunteer site steward. 
 
In parallel to their active restoration work both in Chicago and later at the Lakeshore Nature Preserve, Steve and Monica volunteered one day a week at the Chicago Field Museum, including data entry on Chinese rubbings, Tibetan thangkas and South American pottery, and later at the Wisconsin State Historical Society, where they transcribed 21,000 handwritten ledger entries and  helped move the collection to the new State Archive Preservation Facility.
 
Steve joined the Friends of the Lakeshore Nature Preserve soon after their arrival in Madison and was elected to the Board in 2017. Steve was secretary and took on the presidency in his third year. During his two years as president, he ran exemplary meetings and treated everyone with kindness and respect. He had a way of making people feel welcome and comfortable and was a persistent problem solver. 
 
Steve’s first love was restoration work. He worked countless hours with Preserve staff, be it clearing buckthorn or prescribed fires, and also independently. He helped organize the Friends wildflower plantings, coordinated volunteers, introduced the use of the iNaturalist application and helped initiate the Friends becoming a Clean Lakes Alliance Forecasting Steward at University Bay Boat Launch and pier. And, importantly, he found ways to strengthen communication between the Friends and the UW Preserve staff. We will all miss Steve.

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Open Mic - It's in our Nature

3/17/2021

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The 2021 Open Mic It's in our Nature was held on February 27, virtually. Over thirty enthusiasts attended this event, and many of them elected to present their poems and writings. Below are a selection of the writings we have organized into an audio trail map throughout the Preserve (map at bottom of page). Though not all writers who attended the event are represented in the audio trail, we thank everyone who presented for their contributions. 

Robin Chapman, nature poet and member of the Friends, hosted this virtual meeting.

The event was organized by Friends' Board members Will Vuyk and Olympia Matharapanam, with technical support from Tom Bryan.


Full audio playlist of the poems, read aloud by the poets:

The Poems and Poets

Will vuyk
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Will Vuyk
Spirit Seeking
By Will Vuyk
 
In this haunting time of winter, the wind howls for all to hear it
but where are the spirits?
of summer and fall, when from leaves and vivid water all manner of souls did crawl and call, and buzz on
​small
beating wings
 
The wind has left with those leaves, left with the heat that stirred the water, left with the wings of our fleeting spirits
yet here it still breathes
through the trees bare and barely moved, between rustling stalks
past the web of a lone dream catcher, a thin line it has to walk.
 
Winter-hardened, this spider is one of few
for neither midges nor mayflies dance under the midwinter moon
Even the mammals are elusive, as they tip-toe stories through the snow
While flocking birds, in tune with time, fly far off upon its flow
 
Under ice the frogs lay frozen, their friends the toads lie deep in silt,
Chasing across this absence, wind tears down all we’ve built
 
Yet on spins the spider, 
desperate,
hopeful,
dreaming,
Memories of summer spirits flashing snowflakes lashing
the wind unrelenting in its dashing
of seven straining legs, stuck year-round in season’s fate
despite it all, holding a cup-half full makes eight.
 
The spirit-hunting spider weaves its web ever wider
knowing that time too is turning
birds will be returning
mammals out from sleeping, frogs a leaping, crickets cheeping, mosquitos sneaking
small, itchy stings

There is serenity in the snow, and beauty in the bleak Between the bare trees and rustling stalks, the windswept earth reveals all that we seek

​Haunted by absence, it is presence that we hold oh so dear, making the spirits of summer all the more special when they reappear

​
Robin chapman
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Robin Chapman
Rhubarb
by Robin Chapman
 
Red fists punch through a crust of snow,
red knuckles veined with green, raised 
against a sky threatening more cold and hail--
leaf after leaf will unfurl its rugged shoulders,
shrug off its crystals of ice, climb
into gray light on those fat red stems
we learned to chop and boil
in sweet syrup when nothing else 
was green but its toxic leaves—those
crisp astringent pieces of rhubarb stalk 
that bring us the first sharp taste of spring. 
​
The Chimney Swifts of Madison 
by Robin Chapman 

August and September evenings they gather, 
after fledglings have grown and gone, after 
eating their daily weight in insects, before  
they fly to South America for winter months— 
begin to circle the old school's chimney stack. 
High up, twittering, they call in each other  
from across our city, last mosquitoes and early moths 
snatched up as they turn and turn over the stack, 
the parking lot, our small selves perched on rocks 
or standing there, tripods set up to catch the sunset, 
the circle of smoke that they become as light 
departs and they spiral down, the stragglers 
joining in to drop, one by one by many one, 
out of sight, into the dark lined with bodies 
clinging to rough cement and we find our hearts, 
caught in pandemic fear, lifted, enfolded, 
brought home to rest in the kindred dark. 

Originally appeared on James Crews’ Facebook Page and reprinted in Quill and Parchment, March 2021, Vol. 237
Sandy stark
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Sandy Stark
DAY
by Sandy Stark


Birds counted in marsh,
fields, trees and we left to seed
burnt prairie in snow.

Birds counted in marsh,
fields, trees and we left to seed
burnt prairie in snow.

To be published in Hummingbird: Magazine of the Short Poem, coming in Nov. (XXX1, 2) issue
doris dubielzig
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Doris Dubielzig
Apologies
by Doris Dubielzig, February 2021
 
Pardon me.  I’ve been
Preoccupied lately with demands both external and internal;
Indifferent and inattentive to seasonal progress;
Disinterested in reality and distracted by technology;
Deaf and blind to the biota
That flies above, crawls around and burrows beneath me.
That is to say, 
“I’ve been busy.”
 
Forgive me.  I have neglected to
Appreciate the sunrise and the rise of spring sporangia;
To catch the Northern lights and the lightning bugs;
To distinguish the warbler’s song from the wren’s.
I have skimmed without learning,
Skipped without thinking,
Squinted while blinking
Away tears of indulgence.
 
Excuse me. I’m ignorant of
The history of the bitter, broken promises,
The mystery of these mounds,
The legacy of the ancient travelers
Who set up camp 12,000 years
Before the present, who
Captured prey in the woods and in the bay,
Lit fire to the prairie and the marsh.
 
Permit me.  I will commit to
Respect pioneers both plant and animal,
Study the clouds and the thrushes
Encourage the reeds and the rushes,
Recall the roles of water and wind,
Return to this central point, and
Here I’ll help to repair, restore and
Attend to this special, precious Preserve.
​
hannah pinkerton
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Hannah Pinkerton
Arctic Air
​by Hannah Pinkerton
 
Pushing north Sun gets up earlier
throwing shadows across bluish snow
running up red pine to cobalt sky
 
Cardinal shines Vatican red
against purity of snow
Woodpecker all fluffed out
bereft of trim dandy look
Chickadees on a zip line
tree, feeder back to tree 
 
Sheltered in place behind bay window
I taste cold color, drink clean clear sky
take in my daily minimum requirement
of gratitude.
nancy austin
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Nancy Austin
​Originally appeared in Remnants of Warmth (Kelsay Books, 2019) and to be reprinted in Something Novel Came in Spring (Water’s Edge Press, 2021).
leta landucci
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Leta Landucci
The Lake Reaches
by Leta Landucci
 
The lake reaches
Upward it stretches 
Molecules of water slowing their euphoric jittering
Linking hands 
to share electrons
to assemble - 
architectural marvels of crystalline palisades
Helical staircases unspooling, rungs sending refracted light, 
skittering
ever climbing, unfolding 
Upward
 
The trees bend their stiffened backs
Stooping toward the lake, as if to catch the whispers of a tale
Of all the swatches of color and pinpricks of starlight and contemplative faces to which the lake has served as looking glass 
 
The tree’s frozen fibers pluck water from the air
Limbs encased in bubble-embedded chrysalides of ice
Branches, elongating 
Molecule followed by molecule
Downwards
 
Reaching upward 
the lake shutters
filamentous threads, growing pains
Fractals etched across its skin, its frozen membrane
Reaching
Keep reaching 
Ever grasping
For purchase
An anchor
It’s body a bridge
A speleothem dripstone 
A confluence of stalactites and stalagmites 
The cavernous maw of an ice creature petrified mid howl
punctuated by canine daggers
Hourglass pillars to buttress a frozen fortress
Icicle fingers
Seeking out
Reaching out
Ever grasping 
For purchase 
An anchor
Its body a bridge
For connection ​
Clara landucci
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Clara Landucci
Listen
By Clara Landucci
 
Kneel
Place your ear upon the earth
                                listen-
                do you hear it?
A thousand clamoring whispers sound
 
Listen closer
 
The trees speak
It is a tongue we have not yet earned the right to know
But it is music all the same
Beneath the shell of the earth there lies
A spider’s web of fungi
A gossamer map of connections
Criss crossing
      swirling 
diving- swooping in around over and     
through the rich soil from tree- to tree to tree
A web of fine spun song
A silently clamoring chorus of voices
                The trees-
speak
They say-
See us.
Listen to us.
Do you hear us?
We are not yet lost
 
 
​​
marjorie rhine
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Marjorie Rhine
​“Finding My Path”
—Marjorie E. Rhine
 
My daughter Mathilda strides ahead of me, her dark-brown hair falling in messy waves over the back of her owl-adorned t-shirt, an appealing rock already snuggling in a pocket of her boy’s khaki shorts. This beautiful June day is her eleventh birthday, and as part of our celebration we are walking together out onto Picnic Point, a peninsula about a mile long that curls out from the south shore of Lake Mendota like a little elephant’s trunk reaching toward the northeast. Tiny toads leap about our feet at the edge of the path, and Mathilda bends low, cupping her hands to catch one. We crouch together, cooing over this miniature marvel.
 
These chocolate-dappled American toads are only as big as my thumbnail now, newly metamorphosed from their tadpole selves. In late Spring, I watched two toad parents hug half-submerged as if wrestling, a coupling called amplexus, from the Latin word that means to embrace.  The smaller male clasps tightly to the female’s back, ready to fertilize her two long strands of eggs as they spill out into the water in wispy, translucent strings dotted with dark-brown beads, drifting down to curl around some reedy plants in the water.
 
Standing to stretch, I focus for a moment on the high-pitched trills of red-bellied woodpeckers as they poke around for insects in the bark of the trees above us, lifting my face and closing my eyes in pleasure as the June sun warms my skin. When I look again at Mathilda, the light plays over her long hair, making the coppery highlights glow, and I think of her as a beneficent goddess bent low over the toads, blessing their pilgrimage. I feel a warmth expand across my chest that is both an opening and an ache. Having lived in Madison since she was two, she is a child of oaks and acorns, prairies and frozen lakes, someone who ice skates and heads to a nearby snowy playground in the winter to hit a tether ball or shoot baskets, her face bright from the cold when she returns. 
 
But even after going to graduate school in Madison and moving back here years ago when Mathilda was a toddler, I am still a child of fir trees and rhododendrons, sea shores and mountains, imprinted with the landscape of my childhood in Tacoma, Washington. I long to feel more grounded in Madison. And Lake Mendota seduces and soothes me, offering me a way to find my path along its shores. The lake winks through the trees to reveal vistas of wooded bluffs full of woodpeckers, warblers. Bright sprays of water splash up behind a group of black, chubby American coots that scurry across the surface of the lake before they can take flight. The trails that linger along the lip of the lake invite me on a pilgrimage of walking, reading, writing. Can I immerse myself in all of these lovely layers of landscape, meandering along these sun-sparkled waterways to find a home here, too?
 
Mathilda looks up: “Mama, let’s go find some sea-glass!”
 
 I’ve got the best guide in the world.   
​
paul noeldner
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Paul Noeldner
By Paul Noeldner
​
Nature Magnets 
I paint you a picture of poplar poles
Milky tan trunks, dark green between
Fluttering tops and bark spotted eyes 
Lining the woodland along the roadsides
Meadow patched quilt 
Rough fencepost hem 
Home for the wild critter and child
Beyond, hidden crows call 
Bright streambed rocks 
Berry sweet thickets
Natures magnets
This poem is inspired by the magic of survival of life frozen over winter...
​

Fireflies in Winter
Fireflies in winter n the seasons twinkling lights
Glow sparkling embers of life's summer blaze
Nestled hearts beat through long icebound nights
Again in spring from bent brown grass and budding birch arise
This poem is in honor of the humble milkweed and all the living things that our native plants support...  

A Milkweeds Tale
Springs Soft Milk Sucking Stem 
Feeds Summers Monarch of the Glen
Falls Wrapped in Grizzled Cloak 
Winters Wind Blows Snow White Smoke 
Weaving Fresh New Babys Bowers
This poem is in honor of the hundreds of Tundra Swans that visit our beautiful bays each Spring and Fall...

Can Your Hear Tundras Honking
Can you hear the Tundras honking
As they end their wild ride
Call out to their wing mates
And touch down soft to glide
On mirrors of quiet waters 
To weave a graceful dance
Until with full moon rising
Burst skyward from their trance
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New members on Friends Board

10/11/2020

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​Things have looked a bit different this year. We’ve grown accustomed to donning a new accessory on our faces, replaced intimate Friends field trips with solitary audio walks through the Preserve, and even experienced our first virtual Friends Annual meeting. We’ve changed how our organization operates out of necessity, but we hope that there is preservation of some aspects as well. 
 
We hope that you still teem with admiration for the outdoors as you brave chillier weather to watch carotenoid-rich leaves color the Preserve trails in a soft orange hue. We hope that with our audio trail and phenology resources, you’ve still been able to both immerse yourself in nature and learn about the history and biological cycles of the land surrounding you. Finally, we hope that you as Friends members can help continue the tradition of enthusiastically welcoming our newly elected Friends board members and warmly thanking our retiring board members. 
 
Under normal circumstances, you as the Friends membership would’ve had an opportunity to meet and speak with our new and retiring board members in person at our Annual meeting. You would’ve been able to bond with them over a shared memorable experience at a Friend’s birding outing or volunteer work shift. So, we are hoping that you will be able to help us welcome and thank our board members in a slightly different way this year…
 
We welcome you all to both like and comment with on this blog post as a way of virtually joining us in welcoming our newly elected board members: ​Nancy Breden, Tom Bryan, Matt Chotlos, Kelly Kearns, Paul Quinlan, Steve Sentoff, and Will Vuyk. We hope you are as excited as we are to have these new members join our leadership team and work collaboratively with us to uphold the mission of the Friends!
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Matt Chotlos
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Will Vuyk
PictureSarah Congdon
​Additionally, we are hoping you will also use the comment section to join us in expressing appreciation for our retiring board member, Sarah Congdon, who has been so involved with designing our newsletters and Annual meeting posters and postcards. We are so grateful for the time and talents Sarah has provided the Friends over the course of her three-year term with us. We will certainly miss Sarah, but we wish her all the best with her future endeavors. 
 
We thank you, our membership, for your flexibility and engagement. We hope you all are staying healthy and happy during these unusual times and we look forward to the future when we can see you all again in at our in-person Friends events! Reported by Board member Olympia Mathiaparanam

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Nancy Breden
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Steve Sentoff
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Kelly Kearns
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Tom Bryan
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Annual meeting – September 8, online

9/14/2020

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PictureSeth McGee conducting the online election of board members.
 The Annual Meeting 2020, virtual and live online, long delayed and much anticipated, attracted close to 100 participants. Drawing points were Gary Brown, director of the Lakeshore Nature Preserve, and our keynote speaker John Lyons, Curator of the fish museum at the UW-Madison zoology department. At the meeting, Friends president Steve Sentoff and vice president Seth McGee also introduced the new slate of candidates for the Board of directors and conducted an online poll election. New to the Board are Nancy Breden, Kelley Kearns, and Will Wuyk. Also, Tom Bryan, Matt Chotlos, Paul Quinlan and Steve Sentoff began their second terms. Sarah Congdon departed from the Board after a three-year term as newsletter layout specialist. The entire event was organized by Doris Dubielzig, and Tom Bryan ran the online meeting.

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Gary Brown reported on essential maintenance work in the Preserve during COVID-19 and presented a summary of the new Strategic Plan for the Preserve. Garlic Mustard was pulled by a cadre of dedicated volunteers, and some of the plantings sponsored by the Friends were completed. But all community events and the summer intern program had to be canceled. The new strategic plan presented the new Preserve mission statement as: The Lakeshore Nature Preserve shelters natural environments and cultural resources through active learning, research, and outreach in a place of respite and well-being. New strategic priorities include 


     • develop and implement a communication plan,
     • grow resources to support the mission,
     • build strategic partnerships,
     • update the 2006 Preserve Facilities Master Plan.
For more details see the Preserve website.

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John Lyons, who has researched the lake and adjacent shores for the last 40 years as part of his work with the Wisconsin DNR, presented “Little fish – big impact: 100 years of change in the small-fish fauna of Lake Mendota.” A century ago, Lake Mendota, famous for its game and trophy fish, had a healthy small-fish population of 23 species. These small-fish, feeding on aquatic vegetation, small crustaceans, zooplankton and more, are the main food source for game fish, and thus are crucial to a healthy lake. Small fish live in shallow shore waters, mid-water and on the lake bottom.

Over the years, the number of species has decreased to about half, due to shoreline development eliminating spawning and feeding grounds for species relying on plants, and most prominently, the invasion of destructive Eurasian water milfoil during the 1960s. Treatment of milfoil with herbicide added to the death of small fish populations as well as sensitive native plants. Because of decrease in biodiversity and complexity, the food web has become less stable and the lake now has boom and bust years for small fish which directly impact big fish populations. 
The good news is that as the invasive milfoil has declined over the years to almost one third of the initial extent, there is a good chance that restocking the lake with various missing little fish species will be successful. Lyons emphasized that this restocking could become a community project also involving Friends volunteers. The key is providing the habitat for the little fish that they need. The long shoreline of almost 4 miles of the Lakeshore Nature Preserve, as well as University Bay, are important refuges for small fish. 
Screen photos and report by Gisela Kutzbach.
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Citizen science continues at the Biocore Bluebird trail – May 21

5/22/2020

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Eastern Bluebird in Oak tree near nest box. Photo Gisela Kutzbach
Citizen science monitors of the Friends continue their work in the Preserve during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Bluebird trail around the Biocore Prairie has 8 nest boxes designed according to specifications by the Bluebird Restoration Association of Wisconsin. While these boxes are also coveted by Tree swallows, and if set up close to the woods, will attract House wrens, the focus of the project is the Eastern Bluebirds. During the week of May 18 monitors Maggi Christianson and Gisela Kutzbach were delighted to observe 4 or 5 tiny Bluebird babies in one of the boxes, forming a ball of fuzz and skin still so pink.
Maggi and Laura Berger had their first monitor training session three days earlier with Jeff Koziol, primary monitor of the project. At that time there were 5 beautiful blue eggs in the carefully shaped nest, made from fine grass. These eggs had been incubated over a period of two weeks since May 4 and were close to hatching. What a thrill for us to see the healthy hatchlings three days later. The parents are busy now getting food, mainly insects, and guarding their offspring. On the photo above the male Bluebird sits guard in the beautiful Bur oak nearby. It will be another 20 days of so before the hatchlings are ready to fledge. You can follow the week-by-week monitoring summaries HERE.
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Earth Day at Picnic Point – 2020

4/20/2020

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With the sun just below the horizon, the sky is ready to burst with light. Photo Doris Dubielzig.
Doris Dubielzig, always ready for an adventure with a strong cause, made special plans for this Earth Day week, in lieu of the 50th year Earth Day conference that had been planned for the Monona Terrace. Doris reports:

"My husband, Dick Dubielzig, and I met the young naturalist and Friends of the Lakeshore Nature Preserve Board Member, Olympia Mathiaparanam, at the entrance to Picnic Point at 5:45 am this morning. Olympia had scraped frost from her windshield, and the thermometer still read in the mid-30s. I was glad for my long underwear and down jacket. We walked down the quiet path toward the end of the Point to observe the sunrise in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Fifty years ago, on the first Earth Day, observers gathered an hour earlier, at 4:45 am and greeted the sunrise at Picnic Point with readings from Aldo Leopold, Rachel Carson, Henry David Thoreau and religious texts. Our group of 3 paled in comparison, but complied with the restrictions on organized gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic.
​On our way, Olympia pointed out with pleasure a solitary grebe floating close to the lakeshore, and an osprey perched on a high branch overlooking University Bay. She conscientiously entered her bird sightings into eBird through her cellphone. In addition to the changed appearance of the path and woods due to the dawn’s dim light, we noted the fresh stumps from the many ash trees that had been removed since I last walked the trail. When we reached the grand fire circle at the end, a vast cloudless sky appeared above us. At 6:05, on schedule, the sun’s rim appeared above the horizon on the far side of Lake Mendota. As the sun rose, the light strengthened and its rays warmed the appearance of all they touched. Fifty years earlier, Earth Day founder, Gaylord Nelson proclaimed, “Our goal…is an environment of decency, quality and mutual respect for all other human beings and all living creatures.”* What better place to appreciate Earth’s biodiversity than the Lakeshore Nature Preserve at this time."
 
* http://www.nelsonearthday.net/earth-day/4-22-1970.php
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Sunrise over Lake Mendota, viewed from Picnic Point. April 20 –Earth Day. Photo D. Dubielzig
The group sighted the following bird. Also see our BLOG page with recent photos of many of these in the bay and along Picnic Point Path
2 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
2 Canada Goose
1 Downy Woodpecker
13 Ring-billed Gull
2 Northern Flicker
8 Mallard
​3 Common Loon
17 Lesser Scaup
15 Bufflehead
1 Great Blue Heron
2 Blue Jay
3 American Crow
1 Pied-billed Grebe
6 Black-capped Chickadee
1 Osprey
2 Mourning Dove
9 Tree Swallow
75 American Coot
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Bird and Nature walk – February 23 2020

3/11/2020

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Picture
PictureChuck Henrikson
On a lovely Sunday afternoon, Chuck Henrikson and 35 birding enthusiasts gathered to learn about and spot some feathered friends in the Lakeshore Nature Preserve. 
 
Chuck first talked about owls and their diets. Owls eat rodents and other small birds. Some animal matter— like bones and hair— are not digested by the owls, so they regurgitate this in the form of a pellet! Chuck showed attendees intact pellets, as well as the individual bones taken from other owl pellets he had found. Interestingly, Chuck mentioned that the size of the pellets varies across owl species and is correlated to the size of the owl (so Barred Owls tend to make larger pellets than Eastern Screech Owls for example). Chuck also showed attendees some feathers from Wisconsin birds and discussed properties of these feathers (like how some bird species have wing feathers that are frayed on the edge to allow birds to travel silently through the air). 

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Bones extracted from Owl pellets.
Throughout the field trip, seven bird species were spotted: Hairy Woodpeckers (2 males), Downy Woodpeckers (1 male, 1 female), Herring Gulls (2), White-breasted Nuthatches (2), Black-capped Chickadees (3), Northern Cardinal (1), and a beloved Barred Owl (1)! Chuck also informed attendees about resources like eBird where you can upload your birding lists and contribute to citizen science efforts to track bird species’ temporal movements in the Lakeshore Nature Preserve, Wisconsin, and beyond! ​Report and photos by the Friends host Olympia Mathiaparanam
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It’s In Our Nature! Open Mic Night – February 25, 2020

3/3/2020

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Early last year, Olympia Mathiaparanam, Board Member, had the idea that we could harness the power of the humanities in inspiring connection to nature. The “It’s in Our Nature” open mic event held in the BioCommons in the Steenbock Library on Thursday, February 25 was the result of that idea. We asked Robin Chapman, poet, Emeritus faculty of the UW-Madison, and Friends member, to be the Master of Ceremony and featured poet. Robin has written ten books of nature-inspired poetry and has received recognition and honors for her work including the 2010 Appalachia Poetry Prize, and a Wisconsin Arts Board Literary Arts Fellowship. Robin, Olympia, and Lillian Tong, also a Board Member, met together to plan the details around this experimental initiative months in advance. Because of the need to reach a broader audience than our usual field trips, the team created and distributed posters around campus and in local coffee shops and establishments. 

The event opened with a slideshow of 105 images of the Lakeshore Nature Preserve, selected by Lillian Tong and put into a PowerPoint presentation with the help of Linda Deith, Tom Yin, and Sarah Congdon. These images were among those taken by numerous photographers and pulled together by Gisela Kutzbach. The slideshow played for the 15 minutes prior to the Open Mic while performers were signing up for slots and choosing images that would be projected while they read their creative expression. Olympia welcomed the attendees and introduced Robin, who opened and closed the event with her excellent poetry. The poetry and prose of our 6 performers, together with the visual images, brought the beauty and power of nature into the space! In all, 23 people enjoyed the work of the performers, several of whom were new to the Lakeshore Preserve. After the presentations, attendees had an opportunity to visit and view the display table with materials about the Lakeshore Nature Preserve. 
The BioCommons director and staff were very welcoming and helpful, and provided a perfect place for the event, for which we are so grateful. Refreshments were donated by Lillian Tong and the BioCommons offered coffee. The organizers, who had worried about results of this experiment, were happy with the response and hope to repeat the event, perhaps with ideas for improvements. Report by Lillian Tong and Olympia Mathiaparanam. Photos by Tom Yin and Olympia.​
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Greenhouse Learning Community – January 26, 2020

1/28/2020

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On Sunday, 23 Friends and visitors met at the entrance to Picnic Point. Dr. Tom Bryan, program manager of the Greenhouse Learning Community and recent Ph.D. graduate of the UW Nelson Institute, led the walk along the Lakeshore Path to the newest residence hall on UW Madison's campus, Leopold. Near the shore, Ice fishermen huddled over their holes while a few cold hardy waterfowl swam in the open water near Willow Creek.

Upon arrival at the residence hall, Dr. Bryan went over some of the interesting design aspects of the relatively new dorm and what having 
an LEED-certified building actually means. Ultimately, the building was designed with sustainability in mind, but like many "sustainable" products the building is not without its shortcomings and impacts. Dr. Bryan tasks his students with using the building and its community of other environmentally-oriented students as a resource to involve themselves in their broader communities and create the best environmental outcomes that they can. The Friends and field trip participants toured the state-of-the-art rooftop greenhouse and learned about how the students use the space in pursuit of their diverse academic interests and campus connections. The Greenhouse Learning Community provides roots for students as they move through their college education, bringing an environmental consciousness with them. Hopefully, the Leopold Residence Hall will continue to live up to its name for future generations of students as well." Report and photo by the Friends host Matt Chotlos.
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Friends of the Lakeshore Nature Preserve
 P.O. Box 5534
 Madison, WI 53705 

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