Bird & Nature Blog
A clutch of the latest stories from Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance
Fall in Wisconsin is a burst of colors, brightening and fading, with shades and textures unimaginable. Driving down the road, a fall scene plays outside the window; the prairie morphs from orange to yellow to brown and into red. Patches of color blend together, all warm, all losing their chloroplasts, anticipating a lack of sunlight in the coming winter.
It’s been a hectic summer at Faville Grove with lots of neat wildlife sightings and tons of brilliant wildflowers, as always. Canadian wildfire haze and drought have settled in from time to time, but plants keep blooming and birds keep moving; asters, goldenrods, and goldfinches are making their mark as summer fades.
Join us for weekly seed collecting beginning September 8th through the end of October. Our meeting point is the kiosk on Prairie Lane every Wednesday from 9:30-noon, and for two separate work parties every Saturday from 9:30-noon and 1:30-4pm. We need all of the help we can get!
Photo by Drew Harry
Explore the diverse landscapes of -- and plan your next adventure to -- Faville Grove Sanctuary through our new Faville Grove Storymap. This new, interactive resource describes the sanctuary through written descriptions, photos, trails, points of interest, and more. This storymap brings Faville Grove to you, wherever you are, through your smartphone or computer.
If you've never been to Faville Grove, or aren't sure where to start your hike, or just want to learn more about this lovely Madison Audubon property, the Faville Grove Storymap was created for you.
Photo by David Musolf
With the fluttery busy-ness of spring, summer, and fall absent, it can seem remarkably quiet at the sanctuaries. And true enough, plants are dormant and many animals have migrated away, hibernated, or found another way to quietly survive winter in Wisconsin.
And yet, the crews at our sanctuaries are as busy as ever. Winter is a time to focus on clearing invasive and “weedy” brush and trees. This is labor-intensive work, well suited for winter because the frozen ground makes it easier to get equipment in and out without damaging the soil, and there isn’t wild parsnip and garlic mustard to compete for attention!
Photo by David Musolf
Our good folks at Goose Pond and Faville Grove had a different and much healthier attitude toward the snow. On Friday morning, I was lucky enough to be among the dozen or so volunteers who finished sowing a new prairie at the newly acquired Benade tract just down the road from Goose Pond. Just about as the last bucket was thrown in the truck (I think you could make the case that buckets are among the most essential pieces of equipment for prairie management—you can't collect or sow seeds without them), a mix of rain and snow started. With the forecast of snow a near certainty, we couldn't have been happier. Nothing is better for a winter prairie planting then a nice blanket of new snow. It keeps the seeds in place and the freezing and moisture really help with germination.
Photo by Drew Harry
