Bird & Nature Blog
A clutch of the latest stories from Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance
Wisconsin bird lovers can learn how to attract and feed our feathered friends and keep them safe around their home at the PBS Wisconsin Garden and Landscape Expo Feb. 9-11 at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison.
Avian experts from across the state will offer tips on everything from gardening for hummingbirds and songbirds, to attracting Eastern Bluebirds and Purple Martins with nest boxes and martin houses, respectively, to easy home solutions to prevent birds from colliding with windows.
There is lots of good news to share. The first occurred a couple of weeks ago when stalwart volunteers gathered at Goose Pond Sanctuary to plant a new prairie. The land was the last gap, 16 acres, in the northern half of the Goose Pond lands. Mark, Graham, and Emma, the wonderful Goose Pond team, had scheduled it after light snowfall, which makes it much easier to see how effectively one is scattering the seeds.
Photo by Brenna Marsicek / BBA
The sharptail once called all of Wisconsin home, along with much of the upper Midwest and the West east of the Rockies. Its range and numbers have significantly diminished. In Wisconsin, its strongholds are the barrens of Northwest Wisconsin and it faces a real danger of extirpation over the next five decades.
Photo by Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren
Since I don't tie flies and since TU chapters always have some highly skilled tyers donate some great collections, that's what I try to win: a truly lovely collection of flies by a member of the Leopold Chapter. I paused, though, when I realized most of the flies imitated the gorgeous mayflies that used to inhabit southern Wisconsin streams. You probably noticed that sad word, "used." They don't anymore and I realized I'd never use those flies.
Photo by Aaron Carlson FCC
