Bird & Nature Blog

, ,

'Tis the Season to be Burning

, ,
'Tis the Season to be Burning

Spring is prescribed burn season here at Faville Grove, and across southern Wisconsin. There's a lot that goes into a prescribed burn: We take into account the relative humidity, soil moisture, wind speed and direction, temperature, and sky cover. We also need to notify neighbors, the county sheriff, and round up a crew of volunteers on days of a burn. Setting fire to the landscape can be a thrilling experience, but the best burns are those that are boring--excitement means something unplanned has occurred and unplanned events with fire are not a good thing!

You can see in these photos that we only burn when conditions are ideal for what we're trying to accomplish; in both photos with the road, you'll see that the wind is sending the smoke billowing away from the driving lanes, which is necessary for us to conduct a burn along these areas.

Photo by Drew Harry

, ,

Reflections of a Goose Pond Sanctuary Land Steward

, ,

I’ve had so many wonderful experiences as the Goose Pond Sanctuary Land Steward. Some memories stand out and seem to define my time here, while others lose all their sharpness and instead coalesce into something like background music, except that this background music is made up of whistling swans and rustling prairie grasses. I’ve attempted to share a bit of both of these types of memory here. I hope that these reflections will add something to your own savored memories of nature and conservation.

Photo by Maddie Dumas

18 Things That You Can Do to Help the Birds This Year

18 Things That You Can Do to Help the Birds This Year

“Oh, my goodness! It’s the Year of the Bird!!! I have to do something for the birds!” This (gif within the post) was probably your reaction to finding out about the Year of the Bird campaign which celebrates the 100-year anniversary of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. I know it was definitely mine.

Luckily, Madison Audubon was thoughtful enough to put together a list of some things that bird lovers can do to help make a difference in 2018, at least in the bird world. How do you bird your world? Let us know with #birdyourworld on social media!

,

Winter Update at Faville Grove

,

It's been a busy time here at Faville Grove, as always. We finished collecting seed in November, with over 300 species collected! On November 25th we burned 110+ acres on Martin and Tillotson prairies; a very successful burn. With the help with lots of volunteers, we mixed the seed into dry-mesic, wet, wet-mesic, and woodland/savanna mixes. The day before planting we conducted a good burn on the woods north of Hwy 89. And on December 2nd we planted 22.75 acres, a huge undertaking with about 50 volunteers, on a gorgeous and sunny day.

Photo by Drew Harry

Deck the Halls with Bird Counters

The 118th Christmas Bird Count period is officially over, and the Madison CBC data has been submitted! Huzzah and thank goodness! It was an awesome year in many ways: over 100 participants, a record 97 species observed (previous record was 95 in 1997 and 1998), 60,151 individual birds counted, 9 species high-counts, and some cool and unusual birds for this time of year (like an ovenbird and Iceland gull!).

Photo by Carolyn Byers