'Tis the season for snowy owls

If snowy owls come and spend the winter with us, they usually arrive around the first of the new year. This year UW Arlington Research Farms manager Mike Bertram called and reported the first snowy owl on the morning of December 11th. It did not take long for us to confirm his sighting. Snowy owls usually sit at the same location all day and begin hunting near dark.

Arlene Koziol, a dedicated wildlife photographer based in Madison and who you see featured all over the Madison Audubon website, had recently asked if we had been seeing any snowy owls. We alerted her of the recent observation and the next evening she posted some of her photos of the new bird to her Flickr page. 

Snowy owl take-off. Photo by Arlene Koziol

Snowy basking in sun. Photo by Arlene Koziol

The snowy who has been hanging around UW Farms. Photo by Richard Armstrong.

Snowies feel at home in the flat expanse of corn fields, which mimic the openness of the tundra. Photo by Richard Armstrong.

The winters of 2013 and 2014 were major invasion years for snowy owls. We remember one account where someone saw 75 snowys while standing in the same spot along the east coast in Canada. It didn’t take long for a group of biologist with an interest and knowledge about tracking technology to form Project SNOWstorm. 

Project SNOWstorm scientist Dave Brinker and team have refined their light-weight tracking backpack worn by the owl. The pack contains a solar panel, battery, GPS unit, and cell phone for calling in. Brinker is a SNOWstorm co-founder who grew up in Racine and studied at UW-Green Bay. Dave works as a biologist for Maryland DNR.

In 2014, we inquired about catching and “backpacking” an owl in the Goose Pond area and learned that it would cost $3,000 for the transmitter. Thanks to generous MAS members we raised the transmitter funds and Gene Jacobs, master bird bander and raptor biologist from Stevens Point was ready to catch a local owl if possible. Gene is the only person in Wisconsin with authority to capture and place transmitters on snowy owls.

Gene caught a young male snowy owl at the Central Wisconsin Airport, removing it from dangerous runway areas.  He placed a transmitter on “Goose Pond” on February 13, 2015 as part of a relocation project to see if the owl would stay around or head to another airport.  Mark was thrilled to release the owl at the UW Farms. Read more about that project here.

Mark Martin releases “Goose Pond” the snowy owl near its namesake, Goose Pond Sanctuary. Photo by Arlene Koziol

Peggy Macnamara, Artist in residence at the Field Museum, with Mark holding the painting she created of the experience. Photo by Arlene Koziol

Arlington stares right at the camera. Photo by David Rihn

Our second owl, also a young male named “Arlington” was caught on January 4, 2018 along with another owl that was banded and named Quarry. Goose Pond volunteer Gerry Bennicoff will never forget releasing Arlington at in the dark on a cold winter night. Arlington provided hourly locations include his travels around southern Wisconsin and unfortunately was hit by a vehicle in late April in northeast Minnesota. Read more about Arlington’s story here.

In January 2019, our partners at Buena Vista March caught and released another snowy owl named “Coddington” who was outfitted with Arlington’s refurbished transmitter, paid for by Madison Audubon donors. Coddington made a narrow escape when he was rescued from a manure pit in a barn in central Wisconsin by the farm family who lived there. Coddington was rehabbed with the Raptor Education Group, Inc. (REGI), and his transmitter once again held back and refurbished for future use.

Coddington, the snowy owl. Photo by Brad Zinda

Now, we are almost ready for a THIRD go-round with this transmitter, hoping to outfit the snowy owl hanging around Goose Pond Sanctuary and the UW Farms right now. Based on the wing molt shown in Arlene’s photos, Dave Brinker was able to determine the owl is a 30 month old female. Our goal is to trap her and release her with a transmitter. However, adults are difficult to trap.

Photo by Arlene Koziol, annotations for aging the bird.

Photo by Arlene Koziol, annotations for aging.

Project SNOWstorm will have transmitted about 100 owls by the end of this winter and provides interesting and frequent updates on their project. We especially liked the story of Buckeye.

We will be providing updates if we trap an owl. The owl has been seen about 2 miles southeast of Goose Pond in the local area of Highway K, Badger Lane and Ramsey Road. Late afternoon is an excellent time to look for snowys since they usually become active at dusk and move to hunting perches. 

The owl track near this pile of rock pigeon feathers gives a good indication of what happened here. Photo by Graham Steinhauer.

One afternoon Richard Armstrong reported that the owl was feeding on a larger prey item for over an hour. We mentioned that it could be a rock pigeon. Richard replied that he “had not seen any rock pigeons around”. Graham and Richard checked the next day and found a pile of rock pigeon feathers.

One easy was to locate a snowy owl is to look for parked vehicles. Owl watchers should not impact traffic, trespass off the road, or get out of their vehicles if the owl is close by.  If you see some bad behavior let us know by calling Mark at 608-333-9645.

Volunteers are welcome to search for snowys two days before Gene would trap and on trapping day. Please send us snowy owl observations including locations and photos (goosep@madisonaudubon.org). Enjoy the snowys this winter.

Written by Mark Martin and Sue Foote-Martin, Goose Pond Sanctuary resident managers

Bay-breasted Warbler

Tomorrow, the winter solstice in Wisconsin welcomes the shortest day of the year, clocking in at 8 hours 59 minutes. Half the world over, in the Panama Canal sits Barro Colorado Island, almost 6 square miles of some of the most-studied tropical forest in the world (the Smithsonian houses a research institute on the island). Tomorrow, the day length on Barro Colorado will last over 11 hours and 30 minutes.  On this island you may find Bay-breasted warblers, foraging through the rainforest in mixed flocks.

Bay-breasted warbler, photo by Dave Inman

The Bay-breasted warbler is a common migrant through Wisconsin each year. On certain days in May these birds seem to swarm through the state. This past May I was on the Crawfish River kayaking and witnessed over two dozen Bay-breasted warblers in just a half hour. Breathtaking in their foraging and plumage, these warblers hop and hover in a flurry of activity, all the while adorning the trees with their decorative chestnut breasts and flanks and cream underparts and rear cheek.

Canadian boreal forests are prime breeding habitat for Bay-breasted warblers. These birds will utilize spruce trees, placing a nest in the bottom third of the tree, and taking advantage of spruce budworm outbreaks for a great source of nutrition for both parents and young. Wisconsin’s Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Wisconsin remarks, “This is one that got away!” since no breeding was documented in the first Atlas. In Wisconsin’s recently completed second Atlas, no Bay-breasted warblers were documented, even as probable breeders. While northern Wisconsin has suitable boreal habitat in certain areas, these are not massive tracts like the Canadian boreal forest, and accessing many of these swampy areas can be extremely difficult. Confounding the effort of finding breeding Bay-breasted warblers in Wisconsin is the fact of climate change—as the climate warms these birds may abandon more southern boreal forests.

Bay-breasted warbler, photo by Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren

Back at Barro Colorado Island, researchers found that Bay-breasted warblers were not specialist foragers on their wintering grounds. While the birds specialize on spruce budworm on breeding grounds, they can be found in Panama anywhere from roadsides to lawns to garbage cans. I like to think about their sun-drenched wintering grounds as daylight wanes at Faville Grove.

Written by Drew Harry, Faville Grove Sanctuary land steward

Cover photo by Stan Lupo

Goose Pond: then and now

Forty-one years ago when Mark and Sue moved to Goose Pond, there were only paper records of bird observations by “regular birders” and observations recorded in our personal journals. Today we are very fortunate to work at the computer where we check out Wisconsin eBird reports that are updated immediately, that include a “hotspot” for Goose Pond Sanctuary observations. We explored 2019 Wisconsin eBird observations for Goose Pond and examined our journal entries from November - December 11 for 1979.

Goose Pond, 2017, photo by Arlene Koziol

Then: Journal Entries from November - December 11, 1979

In 1979 Madison Audubon only owned 100 acres at Goose Pond that included the west pond and very little upland cover. Hunters hunted for pheasants along the railroad tracks and frequently shot adjacent to boundary mostly for waterfowl. Before freeze up on November 30th, the high count that month was only 50 Canada geese and 42 tundra swans. Geese and swans required larger refuge areas than mallards that could fly in high and land in the middle of the pond. Sue and Mark counted 4,925 mallards on November 9th returning to Goose Pond the last hour of daylight!

Other interesting entries include:

• an observation of nine gray partridge (Hungarian partridge or huns) along Goose Pond Road. The last huns were seen in 2000.

• On November 28 when the pond was almost frozen, Mark picked up a dead tundra swan that was frozen in the ice and shot a hen mallard that was walking around in tight circles. Lab results did not confirm any disease problems with both birds.

• We also learned that month that an old squaw (a long-tailed duck) was seen by Bill Smith and Frank Freese the last week of October.

Now: Field Observations and Reports from eBird, 2019

In October of 2019 we received 6.5 inches of snow that forced many birds to migrate south. Goose Pond froze over November 12 following record lows of 1 degree on November 8 and 12. However, highs were in the 40s by the 16th and the pond reopened. The pond finally froze over for a second time on Dececember 10.

Thirty-five bird watchers submitted 38 Wisconsin eBird checklists for 25 days from November 1 to December 11. In total, the birders reported 54 species and JD Arnston and the three of us recorded high counts for tundra swans (2,600), mallards (12,500) and sandhill cranes (733). Most visitors birded from Prairie Lane or Goose Pond Road and concentrated on waterbirds. Some birders commented that there were “thousands of birds” or “too many to count”.

A pond bursting with life! Photo by Monica Hall, December 2019

The 54 species reported are (species also seen in 1979 are in bold): snow goose, Ross’s goose, greater white-fronted goose, cackling goose, Canada goose (high of 3,800), mute swan (1 and uncommon in Wisconsin), trumpeter swan (high of 8), tundra swan (record count on Dec. 2), blue-winged teal (late observation of 3 on Nov. 3), northern shoveler, gadwall, American wigeon, mallard (record count on Dec. 1), American black duck (high of 22 but probably many more in mixed in with the mallards on Dec. 1), northern pintail, green-winged teal, canvasback (60 on Nov. 3), redhead (45 on Nov. 3), ring-necked duck (150 on Nov. 3), lesser scaup (35 on Nov. 3), bufflehead, common goldeneye (20 on Nov. 9), hooded merganser, common merganser, ruddy duck (40 on Nov. 3), ring-necked pheasant, pied-billed grebe, horned grebe (very good find on Nov. 1), rock pigeon, mourning dove, American coot (122 on Nov. 1), sandhill crane (record count of 733 in migration on Dec. 2), ring-billed gull (142 on Nov. 26), great blue heron, great egret (late record of 1 on Nov. 9), northern harrier, bald eagle (reported 1 or 2 adults on 10 days), red-tailed hawk, American kestrel, northern shrike (Dec. 5), blue jay, American crow (91 on Nov. 9), horned lark, European starling, American robin (3 on Nov. 13), American pipit (22 on Nov. 1), house finch, American goldfinch, Lapland longspur, snow bunting, American tree sparrow, dark-eyed junco, red-winged blackbird (21 on Nov. 5), and northern cardinal.

Swan counts at Goose Pond, November and December 2019, graph by Graham Steinhauer

In early December 2019, we wrote about having “tons” of waterfowl on the pond. Here are our tabulations: 2,600 tundra swans @ 15 pounds each = 19.6 tons, 3,800 Canada geese @ 8.6 pounds each = 16.3 tons, 12,500 mallards @ 2.2 pounds each = 13.8 tons, and 733 sandhill cranes were seen in migration heading southeast - 733 @ 9.5 pounds each = 3.5 tons. Grand total = 53 tons of wetland birds!

The snowy owl reported in Columbia County, December 2019. Photo by Arlene Koziol

In addition, if you check out recent Wisconsin eBird sightings you will notice that Graham reported with a photo of a snowy owl near UW - Arlington Research Farms. Thanks to the their staff for calling us about the owl.

We and many others also report observations to Wisconsin Birding Network - wisbirdn@freelists.org. The American Birding Association catalogs birding related news on the easy to use website. You can submit sightings, take bird quizzes, and see what’s happening in Wisconsin and other states by visiting this website. You can also subscribe to their email list by following the link above, and clicking on “How do I subscribe to a list?”

Written by Mark Martin and Susan Foote-Martin, Goose Pond Sanctuary resident managers, and Graham Steinhauer, land steward

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Golden-crowned kinglet, photo by Jim Stewart

The Golden-crowned kinglet, an active little bird weighing in at six ounces, seems an unlikely resident of the boreal forests of the north. The bird will even overwinter as far north as Alaska and Nova Scotia, and small numbers spend the winter in Wisconsin.

To accomplish this, the kinglet employs a number of adaptations that are advantageous in cold climates. First, the bird's feathers comprise about 8% of its body weight, which helps with insulation. For context, that's about the same percentage of insulation that an arctic explorer might wear. Second, the bird expends almost 100% of its energy budget towards foraging during the winter months. Staying active and maintaining caloric needs helps the golden-crowned kinglet to maintain its internal body temperature of 110 degrees. Third, flocks of birds will group together at night, finding refuge in wind-breaking conifers, and huddling together for warmth. These kinglets are also known to hop into squirrel nests in trees as an added measure of insulation.

One might ask why these adaptations confer any advantage to the kinglet. For a kinglet, or any bird, a rainstorm followed by freezing weather amounts to dangerous conditions. The issue of thermal insulation is a problem for birds generally, since most birds must face the elements, which is why we see about three quarters of bird species leave Wisconsin each winter. Those that stay are often able to modify their environment or seek shelter in some way—woodpeckers in a cavity or ruffed grouse burrowed into a heap of snow. Kinglet’s flight feathers shed water, and are arranged in such a way that might allow the kinglet to protect its downy feathers during a storm.

Golden-crowned kinglet, photo by Kelly Colgan Azar

Also, what exactly are kinglets eating? Bernd Heinrich set out into the Maine winter to find out answers to these questions. First, he obtained permits to collect shot kinglets and analyze their gizzard contents. What he found surprised him—caterpillars!

How were kinglets eating caterpillars in the dead of winter, and what species? Heinrich went around with graduate students and a sturdy pole, and whacked maples, hemlocks, and spruces, and they analyzed the contents that dropped out of the trees. They found numerous caterpillars, and after several unsuccessful attempts, reared a one-spotted variant moth, Hypagyrstis unipunctata, which was previously unknown to northern climates. Thus, it appears caterpillars fuel at least a large portion of the kinglet’s insatiable diet.

Photo by Arlene Koziol

A rare winter resident in Wisconsin, about 250 golden-crowned kinglets are seen during the Christmas Bird Counts in Wisconsin each year. According to research from UW-Madison, contiguous patches of upland forested habitat, or forested habitat near urban areas, may assist the thermal capacity of birds like kinglets to withstand cold temperatures, as the birds can experience die offs at -40 degrees Celsius.

However, golden-crowned kinglets have experienced range expansions over past few decades, and breeders can be found in spruce plantations in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Maryland. In Wisconsin, the second Breeding Bird Atlas has confirmed golden-crowned kinglets in the southern Kettle Moraine in Waukesha County conifer plantations, very disjunct from their typical breeding range in northern Wisconsin. It is possible that there are breeders in Jefferson County tamarack swamps, which once covered about 20% of the county, and which are incredibly difficult to access when the ground is not frozen.

Golden-crowned kinglets have a steady population continent-wide and in Wisconsin, and throughout the eastern US they have experienced population increases and range expansions into the aforementioned areas.

Two years ago at Faville Grove we saw about a half dozen golden-crowned kinglets during the Birdathon, on May 14. Typically golden-crowned kinglets will have migrated through by then, as they're early spring, late fall migrants—with the last of the birds settling into Wisconsin in the past few weeks.

Written by Drew Harry, Faville Grove Sanctuary land steward

Wings over Water - IMAX Production Comes to Goose Pond Sanctuary

We were contacted by Archipelago Films, of New York, to discuss the idea of their company filming wetlands and migrating birds at Goose Pond as part of an IMAX production they were filming. We welcomed the opportunity to learn more about the production that would contain footage of the property and have the chance to work with this enthusiastic and professional group of filmmakers. Here is a trailer for Wings over Water, to be released in 2021 and narrated by actor Michael Keaton.

The film crew would be with us for three days and on Sunday night, October 27, three crew members from Archipelago Films arrived at the house. Director and co-founder of Archipelago Films Andrew Young, Assistant Camera technician Brandon Sargeant, and Office PA Rebecca Markowitz, arrived at Goose Pond and were later joined by Juan Romaro from Sylvan Heights Bird Park in North Carolina. We helped them unpack and get organized for the next days filming and at 10:20 pm, they left for at the Arlington Inn where they enjoyed good food at the end of the Packer game.

On Monday, the crew was joined by Neil Rettig and Dr. Laura Johnson with Neil Rettig Productions (see bottom of post for more info on Neil and Laura), and Steve Gruskin, Line Producer with Archipelago Films. They began the day by assessing the wetlands and made plans for filming. A boat and two canoes were moved to the wetland edge where they would be used to transport the crew out over the water. Once set up they filmed cranes and mallards.

Preparing for launch takes a little longer with all this equipment! Photo by Arlene Koziol

Tuesday morning, the crew arrived early to find three inches of snow and about 500 Canada geese south of the barn. Andy set up his camera by the seed building and Neil filmed by the milkhouse. They were rewarded with excellent slow motion footage when the entire flock of geese flew past. John MacGillivary from Dorsey Pictures and Arlene Koziol, Madison Audubon volunteer and conservation photographer, arrived and were there to shoot behind the scenes photos and footage of the filmers. Arlene produced a wonderful photo collection and a video:

Photos and film from the filming of “Wings over Water” — Goose Pond Sanctuary segment, fall 2019. By Arlene Koziol

To increase the playback quality of this video, click the gear button and choose 1080pHD; click the box symbol to the right for full-screen viewing.

The wetland scrapes provided a beautiful setting for the mallard ducks needed for the film. Goose Pond is a prairie pothole wetland and this type of habitat is featured in Wings over Water. Mark learned from Andrew Young that Wings over Water is a major entertainment and educational effort with a focus on the species and prairie pothole ecosystem, and not on land preservation, threats, or hunting. Rather, the film tells the story of three wetland species: yellow warbler, sandhill crane, and mallard duck. The filmmakers follow the family groups as they return from southern wintering grounds to nest and raise the next generation of the species.

After finishing filming south of the barn, everyone then moved to the Lapinski-Kitzke Prairie for the filming of two sandhill cranes who seemed to enjoy the snow-covered landscape. Sue scouted by car for a flock of cranes that she had been seeing over the past couple of weeks, foraging in a soybean field about five miles east of Goose Pond. The day ended with Mark and Andrew heading back to Sue’s crane flock which had greatly dwindled in numbers and was too far from the road for the cameras to capture.

A sandhill crane frolicks in the snowy cornfield near Goose Pond during the “Wings over Water” shoot. Photo by Arlene Koziol

Wednesday was spent filming more cranes and mallards landing and taking off. By midday the weather forecast for Thursday was for snow, cold, and strong winds. Andrew announced a change of plans and the crew would stay and extra day to film on Thursday. This was an excellent chance to film cranes, mallards, geese, and tundra swan in harsh, early winter weather that causes some species to migrate south.

Thursday’s weather was just as predicted. It was cold, snowy, and blustery. Everyone was prepared with warm clothes, foot and hand warmers, hot coffee, hot chocolate and snacks. The crew focused on their job and shouldered through. By early afternoon, they wrapped by filming more cranes and mallards. Andrew did an interview for Dorsey Pictures while Mark and Neil headed to Goose Pond Road to film Canada geese and tundra swans.

Welcome to Wisconsin! Filmmakers put on a good face filming during a fall snow. Photo by Mark Martin

After filming the geese and swans Mark and Neil returned to the “crane field” that Sue located on Tuesday and were rewarded with finding 550 sandhill cranes, along with Canada geese, and mallards. They secured some footage of the flocks but not close ups and Andrew said let’s call it a day. Mark and Neil were the first to leave and were rewarded when finding cranes and geese very close to the road. Mark drove and Neil filmed from inside the van with the expensive Red camera securely fastened floor. Neil photographed cranes landing, dancing, and taking off with occasional geese in the footage.  

We ate lunch at 3:00 p.m. and Andrew mentioned that they did not know where to film after leaving Goose Pond, and that perhaps they could drive to North Dakota where another film crew was filming waterfowl or find a large number of cranes. Sue mentioned that Crex Meadows in Burnett County is the place to go for sandhills and we put in a call to Steve Hoffman, former Arlington resident and DNR Wildlife Supervisor for the Burnett County Wildlife Areas. Steve informed us that there were currently 14,000 cranes staging at Crex and so that became their next destination. We heard from Andrew the next day that they connected with the birds and were getting good pictures.

A major partner to the venture, Ducks Unlimited’s CEO Adam Putnam, had this to say about Wings over Water: “North America’s Prairie Pothole Region is a top conservation priority area for our organization. We immediately saw the need to partner on this film to help educate the public on the region’s critical importance to waterfowl, other bird species and wildlife in general. When people of all ages and from all walks of life watch this film, they will have a better understanding of why we all must work together to conserve the Prairie Pothole Region to benefit waterfowl, other wildlife, people and communities across the continent.”

DU is also working in conjunction with the Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation of Illinois and other donors to produce Wings Over Water. 

Check out the Archipelago Films trailer for Backyard Wilderness completed in 2018.

The Rest of the Story 

When John MacGillivary introduced himself to us he said he was from Montana and was working for Dorsey Pictures and Chris Dorsey who is the Executive Producer for Wings over Wetlands. Mark ask him if Chris grew up in Wisconsin and John replied yes, and that Chris and his wife are the head of Dorsey Pictures headquartered in Denver, the largest producer of outdoor history films in North America.  

What a small world. Chris grew up in DeForest! We recently spoke with him and asked how he became interested in the natural resource field. He mentioned that he had two teachers that sparked his interest including Biology Teacher, Darrell Potter, past MAS Board member who brought his students including Chris to Goose Pond Sanctuary. Chris then mentioned that he had also met a “young couple” (Mark & Sue) who were the resident managers at Goose Pond Sanctuary and that he came to know us. He frequently visited Goose Pond with his English setter looking to see pheasants.

Chris is the youngest of nine siblings and grew up hunting and fishing with the family. He spent many days hunting ducks in the local marshes including Schoeneberg Marsh and hunting Canada geese in picked cornfields near Goose Pond. He later wrote Pheasant Days and 150 Waterfowling Tips, Tactics, and Tales.

Chris worked for Ducks Unlimited (DU) as head of their Media and Marketing Section. After leaving DU he and his wife Amy formed a media company, now called Dorsey Pictures.

In 2018, Chris attended a waterfowl conference coordinated by the Max McGraw Foundation. Chris and Charlie Potter, CEO of the Max McGraw Foundation, spoke about the need to celebrate and create awareness of the prairie pothole ecosystem and hatched the idea of Wings over Water. Chris enjoyed telling us that Susan Todd, Co-founder of Archipelago Films, reported that Laura and Neil had found a beautiful prairie pothole to film at in southern Wisconsin. Chris asked where the wetland was and she said it was Goose Pond Sanctuary near Arlington, where Chris first experienced a prairie pothole. A small world indeed!

On-site with the Archipelago Films crew at Goose Pond, fall 2019. Photo by Arlene Koziol

Wings over Water will be shown in super IMAX theaters in 2021, conventional IMAX theaters found at venues like museums, and finally will be released to Netflix and local theaters.

Thanks to Graham Steinhauer, Jean Trager, Rachel Barker, and Calla Norris from Goose Pond Sanctuary for helping out.

Written by Mark and Sue Foote Martin, Resident Managers  with photos and filming by Arlene Koziol, MAS Volunteer Conservation Photographer 

Cover photo by Arlene Koziol

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NEIL RETTIG, Wildlife Cinematographer

Neil Rettig is a world renowned 6-time Emmy Award winning cinematographer with over 40 years experience filming rare and endangered species world wide. Over the past four decades, Rettig has contributed to the production of hundreds of films, including IMAX Productions, National Geographic Specials, and Science Documentaries. His knowledge of raptors, especially the rare forest Eagles, has resulted in scientific publications and a greater understanding of critically endangered species such as the Philippine and Harpy Eagles. Neil’s fieldwork has been instrumental in the conservation of rare and threatened animals, the establishment of protected ecosystems around the world, and breeding projects for endangered species. Neil has been acclaimed for his creative eye, artistic composition, lightning fast ability to capture the moment, and intimacy with the subject.

DR. LAURA JOHNSON, Expedition Coordinator

Laura Johnson is a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine with over 30 years of experience. She’s fiercely passionate about raptors and has spent most of that time focused on birds of prey– as an avian vet and licensed wildlife rehabilitator. Today Laura splits her time between the veterinary office, assisting Neil on film shoots and expeditions, and caring for the birds and animals at her farm in Wisconsin.