This season at the sanctuaries: autumn 2025
Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance’s lands are permanently protected and conserved habitat for birds, plants, and other wildlife. They are stewarded, restored, and managed by our sanctuary teams. Learn more here.
monarchs are on the move at Goose Pond
Monarch butterfly nectaring on meadow blazing star (photo by Maddie Dumas).
It has been an unusual monarch migration this fall. We began tagging monarchs the earliest ever, on August 14. The monarchs were nectaring primarily on meadow blazing star plants, with a high count of 49 monarchs. We ended up tagging around 150 in a five-day period from that location. Around August 20 monarch sightings greatly decreased, but picked up again around September 1. On September 5, 40 monarchs were roosting in the Norway spruce trees at the Kampen Road residence. Attendees who joined our monarch tagging events found moderate numbers through September 13.
Another unusual observation this year: in the first half of September, we and others found monarch caterpillars that would not become butterflies until sometime between September 20 and October 1. We will be keeping track of monarch numbers to see how their fall migration progresses!
Plan your visit
Abundant waterfowl at Goose Pond during a previous autumn (photo by Monica Hall).
Come out and hike the trails and enjoy the fall colors in the prairies! By mid-September, the prairies were covered in yellow from goldenrods and sawtooth sunflowers. Asters are blooming, and it has been a super year for Indian grass as well.
Though water levels are low, the pond is still covered with arrowhead plants and river bulrush. Waterfowl numbers should increase in early October, so join us for Scope Day at Goose Pond at 1PM on Sunday, October 26. We also expect that hundreds of Tundra Swans will stop in November to feed on the arrowhead tubers (to learn more about birdlife at the sanctuary, read our recent Friday Feathered Features).
Get involved
Fall is the biggest season for collecting prairie seed—we’re aiming to collect 30+ species this season, and many are ripening a couple weeks early. Our team is looking for seed-collecting volunteers to join us from 9:30AM to 12PM on most Saturdays through November 1. The location varies from week to week, so if you're interested in getting involved, please contact land steward Graham Steinhauer at gsteinhauer@swibirds.org to be added to the list.
Learn more:
Goose Pond StoryMap: take a virtual tour
If you have questions, or would like to receive more detailed updates from the team, email goosep@swibirds.org
Fall migration is underway at Faville Grove
Greater fringed gentian blooming at Faville Grove (photo by Roger Packard).
The quiet of early autumn can often be deceptive. As the days shorten and the temperatures dip, the sanctuary becomes part of a highway for migrating birds. Over the summer, Faville Grove’s mosaic of ecosystems set up superlative migratory bird habitat: emergent wetland plants hold insects, seeds and berries while our uplands provide abundant seeds and cover. These resources are critical for birds staging here before continuing their flights south.
Once fall arrives, warblers and vireos flit through the treetops, thrushes and kinglets hunt along the shrub edges, and waves of sparrows and finches work the seedheads in the prairies. Some mornings the sanctuary may experience impressive “fallouts” when exhausted migrants drop in to refuel. Keep your binoculars handy—you never know whether a late warbler, a soaring raptor riding the thermals, or a small flock of migrating waterfowl will be the highlight of your walk (read about more sanctuary birds in our Friday Feathered Features).
An autumnal view of the wetland complex at Faville Grove (SoWBA photo).
Plan your visit
A stroll on our recently mowed trails provides easy access to wetlands, oak savanna edges, and vistas where you can watch feeding flocks and raptor movements. Mornings are often best for migration—dress for the season in layers and check the transition zones between prairies and woodlands for the best warbler-viewing opportunities. If you haven’t used BirdCast, it’s worth exploring before your next visit. This online tool provides real-time migration forecasts and live maps showing when and where birds are on the move. It’s a great way to time your walk for peak activity and to understand better the larger migratory flows you may witness at Faville Grove.
Meanwhile, the prairies themselves are putting on a show. Goldenrods, asters and gentians thread the prairies with hues of autumn—yellows, golds, browns, purples, and reds. Long prairie vistas make it easy to observe both the sky and the landscape’s swaying grasses.
Get involved
If you’d like help identifying fall migrants, join us for volunteer seed collecting events. These outings are a great chance to pick up plant and bird ID tips from experienced volunteers and staff while directly supporting our restorations. No prior experience is required—we’ll show you how to collect seed and provide all the necessary tools. Sessions take place weekly (Wednesday mornings 9:30 AM–12:00 PM; Saturday mornings 9:30 AM–12:00 PM; and Saturday afternoons 1:30 PM–4:00 PM), but we can accommodate most schedules. For questions or to join the volunteer email list, contact our land steward at faville@swibirds.org.
Learn more:
Faville Grove StoryMap: take a virtual tour
Questions? Contact faville@swibirds.org
Birds are feasting at FaIR MEADOWS
An American Goldfinch eating giant purple hyssop seeds (photo by Gary Shackelford).
The table is set, and the feast is prepared. According to Birdcast, an estimated 500,000 birds flew over Rock County on September 1, soon overshadowed by an estimated 8,000,000 birds that flew over a few nights later on September 3! (Read more about recent visitors in our latest Friday Feathered Features.)
In the marsh, wild rice is ripe and ready for Soras and Blue-winged Teal. The shallows offer frogs and small fish for Great Blue Herons and Great Egrets. Elderberries found along the banks of the streams and ponds are favored by robins and bluebirds. The alternate-leaved dogwood berries were gone a few weeks ago after visits from Eastern Kingbird families, Eastern Bluebirds, Great Crested Flycatchers, Cedar Waxwings, and Eastern Phoebes. Soon, the red-osier, gray, and silky dogwood fruits will ripen, and the next wave of berry eaters will have plenty for their migration stopover.
In the woods, some of the oaks are having a good mast year, meaning they produce a lot of acorns—we try to pick them up to spread in the areas where the loss of large trees has created openings, but we must compete with the squirrels, deer, Wild Turkeys, and Blue Jays for these treasures. In the prairies, fast-moving finches and sparrows pick the seeds of Indian grass, side-oats grama, rosinweed, coneflowers, and other composites—later in the fall, the asters and goldenrods will be added sources of food. Insects are snatched up by Common Yellowthroats, Palm Warblers, and Tennessee Warblers.
A Lincoln’s Sparrow eating Indian grass seeds (photo by Gary Shackelford).
Plan your visit
As a reminder, Fair Meadows Sanctuary is open to the public for many field trips and open birding days, but not for spontaneous visits.
The trails at Fair Meadows are green and dry, all the habitats offer a spectacular display of golden flowers, and the mornings are active with birds arriving from their overnight flights. Visit during one of our upcoming birding days (October 14 & October 28), select a habitat with a cluster of favored flowers or bushes, and wait for the birds to come.
In celebration of Birdability Week, we are hosting a “slow birding” session at 9AM on Monday, October 20. We’ll take a slow-paced, short-distance walk a to a group of benches, where we will sit and bird for a while.
Get involved
We are always looking for volunteers to assist us with projects. Contact Penny and Gary at fairmeadows@swibirds.org to be added to an email list or to sign up for regularly scheduled workdays (or half-days) at your convenience.
Learn more:
Fair Meadows StoryMap: take a virtual tour
Questions? Contact the team at fairmeadows@swibirds.org
major rEstorations in progress at Hillside Prairie
Signs near the trailhead of Jean’s Garden Prairie in July 2025 (photo by Kaitlin Svabek/SoWBA).
This fall, Hillside Prairie Sanctuary will undergo several weeks of intense restoration work to prepare large sections for sowing native plant seeds this winter. Some of these projects include running heavy-duty machinery for mowing and brush removal, applying herbicides to curtail invasive plant species (especially around the driveway and parking lots), and conducting prescribed burns.
(L to R) Tucker Sanborn, Logan Bahr, Becca Black, and Andy Smith stand next to a dumpster of trash collected at the sanctuary in summer 2025 (photo by Emma Raasch/SoWBA).
Plan your visit
Due to the nature of the work planned for much of the season, a significant portion of the sanctuary will be less accessible to hikers and birders.
Fewer projects are planned for Jean’s Garden Prairie, the northernmost restored section, which also has a newly mowed trail. Parking is permitted along the shoulder of E Church Road across from the East Koshkonong Church.
Any upcoming opportunities to join guided tours or events happening at the sanctuary will be posted here.
Get involved
If you are interested in helping with hands-on conservation work at Hillside Prairie in the future, contact Graham Steinhauer (gsteinhauer@swibirds.org) and Mark Martin (goosep@swibirds.org) to ask to be added to the volunteer list we are building.
Learn more:
General questions? Contact us at info@swibirds.org
Cover image: An aspen grove near Turtle Pothole shows changing colors at Fair Meadows during a previous October (photo by Gary Shackelford).
