 Watching White-throated Sparrows from the Picnic Point path Nineteen people arrived for a spring birding tour that began at 7:30am in chilly (40F), overcast conditions next to the Class of 1918 Marsh. Roma Lenehan, a founder of the Friends and author of the Preserve’s breeding bird survey and Becky Abel, Madison Audubon’s Director of Philanthropy, led the two-hour tour that observed birds in the Class of 1918 Marsh, in University Bay from the Picnic Point trail, in the Picnic Point Marsh on the leeward side of the peninsula, in deciduous and pine woods, in the former orchard, and on Biocore Prairie Next to the spotting scopes trained on the buffleheads, Northern shoveler and blue-winged teal in the open water of the Class of 1918 Marsh, Becky Abel explained to the group the importance of the Preserve as a stopover sites for migratory birds. On their journey north, birds stop to rest and refuel at three kinds of sites. Typically small, “fire escape” stopover sites, with limited resources, are infrequently used but vital in emergency situations. “Full-service hotel” stopover sites, like the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest in northern Wisconsin, provide abundant food, water and shelter for migrants. Lying between those two extremes, the Lakeshore Nature Preserve serves as a ”convenience store” stopover site. Surrounded by urban development, our Important Birding Area is a place where birds can rest for a few days and easily replenish some fat or muscle, or both, before continuing. The Preserve offers a variety of habitats, fresh water and a variety of food sources, including fruit and insects. This cool morning meant that the tree swallows flew low over the water to capture insects in the Marsh, and white-throated sparrows hopped on the ground and flitted in shrubs along the Picnic Point path to capture insects at our eye level. Many of us marveled at the extensive clones of trout lilies about to burst into bloom on the Picnic Point peninsula.  Trout lilies preparing to bloom Both leaders are expert birders-by-ear. Roma Lenehan and Becky Abel recorded observing 38 bird species. Some of the highlights were sighting
The attendees were respectful and engaged, sharing their own observations while learning from Abel and Lenehan’s expertise. Report and photos by Doris Dubielzig 2. April 25, 2023 Picnic Point Field Trip Bird List by Roma Lenehan for Picnic Point and the Class of 1918 Marsh, April 25, 2023, 7:30 - 9:30 a.m. Madison Audubon Society and Friends of the Lakeshore Nature Preserve Field Trip Led by Becky Abel and Roma Lenehan Weather: 40s, cloudy, wind NW 5-12 (h) = detected by ear
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 Glenda leading the group to a patch of Virginia bluebells On Sunday, April 23, 2023, eleven hardy souls met in the cold spring afternoon to learn about and see wildflowers with Glenda Denniston, a charter member of the Friends of the Lakeshore Nature Preserve. Glenda also has been instrumental in restoring many beautiful spring wildflowers to the preserve. We walked through Bill’s Woods and stopped to see many wildflowers, some in bloom, some past bloom, and some just thinking about it. Glenda talked about her work and the work of the Friends and the UW staff and volunteers to purchase, transplant, start from seed, and grow the many species that we were able to see on this cold afternoon. Species (not all flowering) included Virginia bluebell, Virginia waterleaf, toothwort, twinleaf, rue anemone, false rue anemone, meadow rue, trout lily, downy yellow violet, common violet, wild geranium, Dutchman’s breeches, columbine, bloodroot, mayapple, bellwort, trillium, wild ginger, spring beauty, and hepatica.  Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis). Photo by Glenda Denniston Glenda also described the many ways that species “get around,” how they disperse their seeds or corms. In fact, the seeds of almost all spring ephemerals that we saw - trout lily, violets, Dutchman’s breeches, columbine, bloodroot, trilliums, wild ginger, hepatica, spring beauty, and bellwort - are distributed by ants. An oddball is Jack in the Pulpit. Glenda said, “It is fertilized by a small insect called a fungus gnat. These plants are either male or female, unlike most plants that have both male and female organs. Apparently, the scent of this plant tricks these gnats in entering “the pulpit” and they are unable to climb back up. If a fungus gnat enters a male Jack in the Pulpit, it thrashes around for a while and gets coated with pollen. In the male plant there is a little hole at the base and the insect can escape. If it then enters a female flower, that flower gets fertilized with the pollen, but there is no hole for it to escape. Too bad, little gnat! The fertilized flower produces the bright red berries we see in late summer. These are dispersed by squirrels, chipmunks, mice, and other small mammals (and a few humans). Evolution is amazing!” Although the day was cold and overcast, the beauty of wildflowers gave participants a hint that spring is really here.  Dutchman's breeches (Dicentra cucullaria)  Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica) at lower left and twinleaf (Jeffersonia diphylla) at upper right. Report by Signe Holtz; photos by Signe Holtz and Glenda Denniston
 Bundled up birders walking down Picnic Point After rescheduling from the prior week due to cold rain, a hardy group of 16 people showed up in slightly-less-cold light snow and wind on Earth Day to go Beyond Backyard Birding. The trip, led by Ashley Olah, was co-hosted by the Friends and Madison Audubon. As we assembled at the entrance to Picnic Point, we heard sandhill cranes from far away, likely at the mouth of Willow Creek. We learned that sandhill crane calls can be heard from up to 2.5 miles away! Wow! A little way down the trail, there were feathered friends singing, “Oh sweet Canada, Canada, Canada!”. The white-throated sparrows singing that song are passing through on their way to breeding territory further north. Perhaps some of them may even make it to Canada! While white-throated sparrows are usually found foraging for seeds on the ground, this flock was mostly high in the trees, eating buds.  Scanning the bay for loons and following the osprey flight. One member of our group said they hoped to see a loon, since they are not originally from Wisconsin and have never seen one. When we first scanned University Bay, there were no loons to be found. But we did have an osprey fly across the bay toward us and then perch in a tree nearby. One tip we learned for identifying osprey in flight is that their silhouette looks just like the shallow “M” shape used for birds in many kids’ drawings. We would continue to see the osprey through most of the rest of our walk, including a fly-by at the tip of Picnic Point. Continuing down Picnic Point, we were greeted by many species that use the Preserve year-round, including black-capped chickadees, northern cardinals, white-breasted nuthatches, and downy woodpeckers. We also saw a few more migrating songbirds, including a palm warbler, which bobs its tail while it is perched. Looking out to the water from both the north and south sides of Picnic Point, we did our best to identify waterfowl without a spotting scope. American coots, ring-necked ducks, and lesser scaup were plentiful. We also saw at least a couple of ruddy ducks and canvasbacks. And, luckily, we did see at least two common loons before the end of the trip!  We found one loon off the end of Picnic Point! Report by Anne Pearce; photos by Will Vuyk
 Leader Susan Will-Wolf displays a stick covered in lichens at the entrance to Picnic Point. On a beautiful sunny Sunday, leader Suzan Will-Wolf introduced us to the corals of the Lakeshore Nature Preserve. Well ... they're not really corals. Corals are a composite organism made from symbiotic algae and Cnidarians (think jellyfish). These little specks are actually a symbiotic friendship between fungi and algae, so, similar in form but not evolutionary history. Does it matter? All 17 of us in attendance were really lichen the field trip regardless.  Off in search of lichens! Lichens come in three main forms - crustose, foliose, and fruticose. Crustose lichens are flat and leafless, foliose lichens are flat but have leaf-like structures, and fruticose lichens have protruding stalks, tufts, or strings. Lichens of all forms tend to be scrappy survivors that eke out a living where other organisms - like plants - can't. There are thousands of different lichen species around the world and over 100 in Wisconsin. Only 10 different lichen species are reported in the Preserve on iNaturalist today (4/9/23) but I bet one motivated friend could double that count in a single outing - try it! We saw a whole spattering of lichens just on one boulder. If you want to learn more about lichens, you must read Suzy's guide linked here. Please also see pictures of the lichens we saw walking up the access road from the Picnic Point entrance taken by attendee Sean Sanders. Thank you for the photos, Sean, and thanks Suzy for all your lichen enthusiasm and expertise! Crustose lichen photos by Sean Sanders: Foliose lichen photos by Sean Sanders: Report by Will Vuyk; photos by Will Vuyk, Glenda Denniston, and Sean Sanders.
 A late-march snowstorm the previous day deterred neither bird nor birder! We had a great turnout of 24 attendees to this trip led by birders Dane Gallagher and Chuck Henrickson. This included families, couples, and age range from 9 to 70+. Several had learned about the trip from the web, others joined in when they saw us gathering up at the Picnic Point entrance. It was several folks’ first visit to Picnic Point! We saw a great variety of species of early spring migrants, as advertised, including: redhead, ring-necked duck, common goldeneye, mallard, wood duck, bufflehead, coot, bald eagle, RWB, and a few resident winter birds, like American tree sparrow, black-capped chickadee, hairy woodpecker, red-bellied woodpecker, and brown creeper. The weather was favorable, mild and calm, certainly better than the blizzard yesterday. Chuck and Dane, thank you for leading! And thanks to Doris for schlepping all the supplies down to Fire Ring 2, setting up and lighting the fire! Report by Josh Sulman   UW Historic & Cultural Resources Manager Emeritus Daniel Einstein led a fascinating and informative field trip on the effigy mounds of Observatory Hill and Willow Creek. Full report incoming!
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Friends of the Lakeshore Nature Preserve
P.O. Box 5534 Madison, WI 53705 UW-Madison Lakeshore Nature Preserve website Documents |
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