If you’ve wandered through the prairies at Faville Grove in summer, especially along Prairie Lane, chances are you’ve heard a buzzy, rhythmic “see-see, dic-dic, ciss-ciss-ciss,” ringing from the tops of prairie plants.
The song of the summer, across many summers, might be the Dickcissel. Perched on a compass plant or a conspicuous shrub, the Dickcissel belts out (and it’s always belting) its song for all to hear.
High summer on the prairie means the warm season grasses have started a sudden march skyward. The Dickcissels know this too, and find perches of compass plant and prairie dock to commandeer their grassland domain.
Coming the world over, likely from a Venezuelan wintering ground, the Dickcissel marks summer on Wisconsin prairies. These birds, tardy migrants, get to work immediately, barking out their songs on tall perches in the tallgrass prairie.