This season at the sanctuaries: spring 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.
Encouraging early blooms at Goose Pond
Prescribed burn at Goose Pond Sanctuary in early March 2025 (photo by Mark McGinley).
Goose Pond is located on the ancestral lands of the Ho-Chunk Nation. The Ho-Chunk intentionally burned prairies, usually in fall after plants entered the dormant season, to attract grazing animals the following year, increase the vigor of food and medicinal plants, make navigation easier, and other reasons. Since the birth of prairie restoration as a modern science in the 1930s and 1940s, most land managers have burned their grasslands in mid-spring (April and early May in Wisconsin). Consistently burning the same prairie during this timeframe causes early flowering plants like pasqueflower and shooting star to be replaced with big bluestem and other aggressive warm season grasses. Grasses are great (prairies are grasslands, after all), but early forbs are critical for healthy populations of cuckoo bees, green metallic bees, bumble bees, and other pollinators.
We’re putting a stronger emphasis on dormant season burns for these early plants and pollinators. We burned more acres than usual in the fall of 2024, and we’re off to a great start already in 2025. So far this spring, we’ve had three prescribed fire days and burned about 60 acres. We’ll conduct many more prescribed fires over the next couple of weeks. A few green shoots are already poking through the soil. Shooting star, prairie smoke, prairie willow, and others are sure to attract a variety of hungry insects over the next couple of months in these burned areas.
Plan your visit
Queen bumble bee on wood betony, a historically common plant that blooms in April and May (photo by Graham Steinhauer/SoWBA).
The waterfowl are back! Ice just melted on Goose Pond last week, but thousands of waterfowl are already stopping to feed and rest. As of March 17, there were at least 700 Tundra Swans, 800 Canada Geese, 300 White-fronted Geese, and many species of ducks in the mix like American Widgeons and Northern Shovelers (to learn more about birdlife at Goose Pond, read our recent Friday Feathered Features). Trails will be squishy for a while, but Prairie Lane is a great place to stop and view the beginning of spring migration.
Get involved
We're always looking for folks with prescribed fire experience, and we'll need help from seed collectors as early as June. If you're interested in volunteering at Goose Pond, please contact land steward Graham Steinhauer at gsteinhauer@swibirds.org.
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
Spring awakens at Faville Grove
Hepatica blooms at Faville Grove Sanctuary in spring 2024 (photo by Kaitlin Svabek/SoWBA).
As the days grow longer and the sun climbs higher in the sky, there’s an undeniable sense of change in the air. Spring has already begun stirring awake at Faville Grove Sanctuary. Plump robins are heralding the chilly dawn, pairs of wood ducks are whistling up from ponds on restless flights, and our wetlands are again alive with Red-winged Blackbirds and Sandhill Cranes (read about more sanctuary birds in our Friday Feathered Features).
Before long, our woodlands will be adorned with spring ephemerals. These floral pioneers take advantage of the sunlight filtering through bare trees. They bloom early and fade as the trees leaf out. One of the first to bloom is the round-lobed hepatica, with delicate lavender petals rising from a cluster of three-lobed, evergreen leaves. As April unfolds, the floral parade continues with rue anemone, cut-leaved toothwort, Dutchman’s breeches, bloodroot, and Virginia spring-beauty.
Plan your visit
Seasonal workers assist with a prescribed burn at the sanctuary (photo by Jeff Steele/SoWBA).
The American Woodcock, a true harbinger of spring, puts on a spectacular flight display at dusk throughout the sanctuary. Males spiral hundreds of feet into the air before descending in a zigzag pattern, their wings whickering softly. After landing, their distinctive “peent” calls pierce the evening air. Wilson’s Snipe will soon join in with their own aerial acrobatics. Our annual Woodcock and Snipe Walk is already full, but there’s still space to join us later in April to explore habitat diversity in the sanctuary’s west section.
Our resident Bald Eagles are back on their nest. Eagles’ massive nests, often up to 10 feet wide and 20 feet deep, are built from large sticks and are expanded and reused each year. The nest can be observed from North Shore Road at the south end of the sanctuary. For best viewing from a safe and respectful distance, be sure to bring binoculars or a scope.
Get involved
Prescribed burns of our prairies, savannas, and oak woodlands are underway. We’ll be continuing to perform prescribed fire across the sanctuary through spring as weather allows, and will begin efforts to remove invasive garlic mustard as May approaches. If you’re interested in participating in volunteer activities, please email our new land steward, Jeff Steele, at faville@swibirds.org for more information.
Learn more:
Faville Grove StoryMap: take a virtual tour
Questions? Contact faville@swibirds.org
the eagles have landed at FaIR MEADOWS
Bald Eagle at the Fair Meadows nest in early March (photo by Gary Shackelford).
After a bit of our worrying (mixed with anticipation), a Bald Eagle pair has returned to nest atop one of the majestic white pines overlooking a sedge meadow and spring complex at Fair Meadows. The pair can be observed bringing food to the nest, chasing off would-be intruders, and doing home “touch ups” with sticks and grass. Occasionally, it is possible to see one of them incubating on the nest, although they often hunker down low. If you visit, plan to observe these magnificent birds, at a distance of course, as they carry on their daily routine.
In addition to nesting eagles, several pairs of Sandhill Cranes have returned to Fair Meadows choosing wet, sedgy areas to build their ground nests. The sound of their prehistoric bugle calls bellows through the landscape and can be heard from up to 2.5 miles away! One pair has displayed some amazing aerial maneuvers as they try to chase away a third crane that seems determined to stay in their territory. If you are lucky, you may even witness their elaborate courtship dance which involves jumping, bowing, wing flapping, and the tossing of twigs (read more about recent birds at the sanctuary in our latest Friday Feathered Features).
Crane aerial maneuvers (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. Find all upcoming events at the sanctuary here.
Fair Meadows is a great place to enjoy the sights and sounds of migrating waterfowl, songbirds and raptors. Enjoy the spring blooming wildflowers in our oak woodlands and observe the prairies and associated insects that abound as spring shakes off the last of the winter’s chill. Hit the trails independently at one of our birding days on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month (registration is required by noon the day prior).
Get involved
We are always looking for volunteers to assist us with projects ranging from brush management to pulling invasive plants, prescribed burning, seed collecting, and much more. 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
Cover image: A chorus frog calls out from a vernal pool at Fair Meadows Sanctuary (photo by Gary Shackelford).
