The six faithful readers of this blog (and thanks to all of you) know I can't resist streams and fish. I should probably be reminded that I write for Madison Audubon, not the Izaak Walton League. But I recently visited a special place where you can watch some of the most spectacular fish and birds in Wisconsin.
You can walk a beach to the dam on the Wisconsin River at Prairie du Sac. You'll notice the star bird right away—American White Pelicans. They swim, rest, soar, and fish in small and large groups. They fly majestically. You have a good chance of seeing Great Blue Herons near some of the dam's outfalls or on the shore. Bald Eagles fish there regularly and enough fish perish to bring in Turkey Vultures.
American White Pelicans photo by Arlene Koziol
The fish are the reason the birds congregate. This time of year the shallows are filled with several species of minnows and other just-born fish. You'll probably have a hard time identifying these but the sheer numbers and visibility are amazing. At some point you may well see and hear larger fish herding and feeding on the minnows and shiners. These predators are smallmouth bass and the commotion they make has led some anglers to dub the phenomenon "The Crash." The minnows leap to escape the bass and the bass leap to catch them. And if any angler is nearby, he, she, or they try to get within casting range ASAP.
As startling as the Crash is, the real stars of the show are a bit offshore. You'll have to watch over an expanse of water and you can never tell when the giants will appear but, hey, you all are birders… You're used to waiting and watching for a glimpse of the wondrous. What you'll eventually see are paddlefish and lake sturgeon breaching, leaping out of the water, sometimes with their whole body clearly visible.
Lake sturgeon, photo by Fishes of Georgia Photo Gallery FCC
Paddlefish, photo by Josh More FCC
These are ancient, fresh water giants reaching 5-6 feet and well over 50 pounds. The paddlefish's paddle-shaped snout helps it locate its prey, swarms of tiny invertebrates. The lake sturgeon feeds nearer the bottom, again usually focusing on numerous but tiny animals such as aquatic insect larvae. Paddlefish first appear in fossil records of about 125 million years and sturgeon about 200 million. Way longer than us and worthy of our respect and attention.
If you look in quieter water on a warm day, you have a good chance of seeing a youngster of a giant basking on or just under the surface. That would be the longnose gar, which has only been around for about 100 million years. Not as hefty as the other two, he still can reach 4 feet in length. He has a long snout like the paddlefish but it's very narrow and full of extremely sharp teeth. He's an accomplished predator of other fish.
Finally, you might see pods of another big fish (20-30 pounds are big in my book) milling about just under the surface. NO, THESE ARE NOT CARP. They're bigmouth buffalo, a native and wonderful species of sucker. Longevity is emerging as a theme of this blog and bigmouth buffalo are champions in the individual survival category. Scientists have documented bigmouths at least 112 years old. Maybe even more remarkable is that these fish do not deteriorate as they age. I guess another theme is the importance of little critters to a healthy food chain. Those bigmouths you're watching are feeding on yet other varieties of tiny invertebrates and/or tiny plants.
The populations of all these wonderful animals are currently secure in the Lower Wisconsin River. They might thrive even more if the dam disappeared or had some form of fish passage but they'd also be much more dispersed.
Wisconsin River photo by Joshua Mayer
After all the work and worry on Stewardship, the main point of this blog is to suggest an interesting place to go and the chance to see some of Wisconsin's coolest wildlife. But I suppose an Advocacy Message is in order. The Wisconsin River below the dam has now the full legal protection of the state in the form of the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway. That means no more dams on the Wisconsin all the way to the Mississippi and the state is committed to buying and protecting as much of the river's corridor as possible. That's good news for all our ancient fish friends and us. It only happened because conservationists acted 3 decades ago to protect this resource. We need to keep our eyes open for our great conservation opportunities.
Take care,
Topf Wells, Madison Audubon board of directors and advocacy committee chair
