Bird & Nature Blog
A clutch of the latest stories from Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance
For each of the last two years, Carolyn has worked with the DNR, Dane County Land and Water Resources Department, the Southern Wisconsin Chapter of Trout Unlimited, and Lincoln Elementary to provide a field trip for Josie's fourth grade class on the Sugar River. The site is the County's Basco Sugar River Wildlife Unit #1, on STH 69, just south of Paoli and across the road from Basco.
Madison Audubon photo
As I worked from my home "office" this week, trying to make sense of things, keeping my 11-year-old son busy, and pondering the future, I had a few visitors. Not the kind that ring the doorbell... these were of the feathered variety. First was the pair of house finches, adding material to their nest on my front downspout. Then I listened in as the black-capped chickadees counter-sang their version of “hot cross buns.” An overhead scan for the bugling cranes led me to spot a red-tailed hawk perched in my black walnut tree (the chickadees were not so entertained).
While all the birds called and flitted about, I felt a sense of gratitude for the joy that birds bring. What a welcome feeling that is. And now, Spring has sprung and so has spring migration!
Photo by Eric Begin
The dry oak leaves rustled in the same wind that frosted their fingers. They listened to each other’s feet crunch, crunch, crunch in the crystallized snow. A quiet but powerful sound caught their attention; a low, echoing call, above our eyes and ears and fingers, resounded through Cherokee Marsh. Kids and adults alike closed their mouths and glued their feet to the snow to try and hear it again...
A patient group, they peered around at each other, wide-eyed with anticipation. Hushed gasps and little clouds of frosty breath emitted as all ears heard, “who cooks for you?”
Photo by Arlene Koziol
One of the venerable traditions in Wisconsin's conservation activity is the spring hearing conducted in each of Wisconsin's 72 counties by the DNR and the Conservation Congress. Its agenda includes in-person discussions and votes on changes to DNR's fishing, hunting, and trapping regulations and environmental policy and the election of county delegates to the Conservation Congress.
But COVID-19 has brought a huge change to the hearing. In the announcement you see here, the DNR has suspended the in-person portion of the hearings. They will be conducted entirely online. The announcement instructs how each of us can participate.
Photo courtesy of Forest Historical Society, FCC
Happy 2020! It’s a brand new year, a brand new decade. Full of promise, hope, anticipation, perhaps a little anxiety, or a whole lot of ambivalence. Maybe you’ve made some new year/new decade resolutions. Maybe you’re still looking for inspiration. Well, you’re in luck: read on!
The suggestions below are based around the goals of getting yourself more into the outdoors (literally and figuratively!) and being a more mindful steward of the natural world around you. Pick one, pick multiple, or let your imagination go crazy and do something more!
Photo by Jeff McDonald
