Advocacy

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A different sort of restoration

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A different sort of restoration

Recently I read a fun and fascinating account of a successful introduction of another lovely species with a great name to new, happy, and much needed homes. Please use the following link for this story concerning the starhead topminnow. And that photo on p. 1; isn't that a cute little fish? John Lyons and his "Topminnows For Tomorrow" team (this blog is full of great names and titles) worked incredibly hard over years on this introduction and then wrote a lively article on that process and its results.

Photo by Joshua Mayer

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My Favorite Springtime Magazine

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As spring rolls around I look forward to one of my favorite sporting magazines filled with colorful photos of some of the cutest subjects in the whole world and reminding us of one of the coming seasons most wonderful activities. I’m talking, of course, about the March issue of Gun Dog—the puppy edition. That issue is always filled with pages of puppy photos from around the country and lots of advice on choosing, raising, and training a puppy with an emphasis on the sporting breeds. Ain't nothing cuter than a puppy, especially when one is recovering from the winter doldrums.

Photo by Renee V FCC

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Thank God for Mississippi

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Thank God for Mississippi

Growing up in Arkansas, we had several informal state mottos. "Quid Pro Quo" for example—pretty self explanatory. Another, "Thank God for Mississippi" requires context. Whenever national rankings came out with measures of human well being in the realms of health, education, welfare, etc., Arkansas was always ranked 49th, saved from the bottom by Mississippi always being ranked 50th. I thought of that phrase upon hearing the report of last week's meeting of the DNR Board.

Photo by Arlene Koziol

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The wolf is not at this door?

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The wolf is not at this door?

Monday was a fun day at Goose Pond, one of the first days of seed collecting. The target species was wild lupine. Volunteers collected at Goose Pond and the Erstad Prairie, Madison Audubon’s land adjacent to the Schoenberg Waterfowl Production Area, north and east of Goose Pond.

Photo by Joshua Mayer

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Summer, habitat, and Prairie Chickens

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"Sumer is icumen in/ Lhude sing cucco" — for those of us with some British ancestry, that's the start of a song our ancestors would greet the summer in the 13th Century. It's charming, important to musicologists, and vaguely familiar to folks who remember Chaucer from their survey of English lit course. We in Madison Audubon would probably agree that the start of summer and any celebration thereof should include birds. Surprisingly, mercifully, and thankfully, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Board probably agrees.

Photo by Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren