The eyes of a Short-eared Owl epitomize the word “piercing”: two yellow irises circled with thick black eyeliner and set in a pale face framed with a crisp white border.
This fall, Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance fitted 30 migrating monarch butterflies with BlūMorpho solar transmitters at Goose Pond Sanctuary, to help researchers track their routes to wintering grounds in Mexico.
This year was one of the best years for watching Chimney Swifts come in to roost that I can remember. From late August until mid-September, swifts were using the big chimney at Cherokee Heights Middle School in huge numbers—as high as 2,100 on August 28!
Southern Wisconsin’s rolling prairie, oak savanna, and sandstone bluffs seem to be a world away, but as I spent time in the mountains, I came to appreciate the things they had in common.