Bird & Nature Blog

Over the Moon

Shooting stars are early bloomers and beloved by folks walking and watching those prairies and savannas in the spring. They also see queen bumblebees and other early, native pollinators for whom shooting stars are an important food source. They are highly desirable prairie dwellers and their seed is expensive-- $1500 a pound. So when Graham Steinhauer, Goose Pond’s land steward, called for shooting star seed collectors on Thursday of last week, several of us happily joined Graham, Goose Pond’s restoration technician Emma Raasch, and Hailey Wedewer and Andi Hokanson, two of our wonderful Goose Pond interns.

Photo by Peter Gorman

Gold Medal Volunteers: Mary, Kelley, & Ginni

Mary was at my door, letting me know the nest was indeed down. Having no idea what we might find, Mary and I made our way through the jungle of the marsh area that had two fallen nests, parts of the nest tree along with many other downed trees. And there in front of us, the two eaglets were sitting on top of the fallen debris.

Photo by Beth Berger Martin

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The start of a wonderful season

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On the morning of Juneteenth, several volunteers joined Graham and Emma, the absolutely world class staff at Goose Pond Sanctuary, at one of the satellite properties of SoWBA near Goose Pond* to collect lupine seed.

This seed requires quick and timely picking because it ripens and drops in just a few days. Here today, gone tomorrow. It's also one of our most important seeds to collect on and near Goose Pond. It's the only host plant of the federally endangered Karner Blue butterfly. With enough seed we shall create more habitat for the butterfly. 

Photo by Dawn Marsh / USFWS