Short-Eared Owl

A true grassland species, the short-eared owl commonly resides in prairies west of the Mississippi River. 

The owl does sporadically breed in Wisconsin and may overwinter in the state. The bird is a ground-nester, and research suggests that the owls orient their nests to maximize solar insolation in the cool summer mornings and limit the intense solar insolation of late afternoon.  They can accomplish this by selecting sites with lower vegetation in the southeast and thicker vegetation in the northwest.  Thus, patchy and variable grassland seems important to nesting success. 

Its Latin name, Asio flammeus means “flaming.” It's an appropriate name describing the reddish plumage of the bird but also describes the sweeping fires necessary to maintain the bird's grassland habitat.

Short-eared owls are found throughout the world, on every continent except Australia and Antarctica. In Wisconsin, these owls often follow irruptions of meadow vole populations. According to this year's breeding bird atlas data, short-eared owls were restricted to blocks where the Greater Prairie-Chicken occurs. Some evidence suggests that these birds are on the decline, which is unsurprising given the drastic loss of grassland habitat across the continent.

Here at Faville Grove, however, the grassland is becoming expansive. Dozens of volunteers just helped plant about 40 acres of prairie on a neighbor's property, and we recently closed on another 96 acres adjacent to the sanctuary! Just a few days ago, we had reports of a short-eared owl hunting in the floodplain prairies. You can discern the owl in flight by its moth-like pattern. The owl is medium sized and can be seen hunting throughout the day, skimming the prairie. I've been looking for short-eared owls but have instead seen northern harriers which are perhaps residing for the winter. Harriers and short-eared owls share almost the exact same habitat and are known to fight over voles. Come visit Faville Grove and see these beautiful grassland species of birds as they utilize the diverse available habitats. 

Written by Drew Harry, Faville Grove Land Steward

Photo by John Matthews

 

American Goldfinch

American goldfinches are one of the latest nesting birds and young fledge in late summer when there is an abundance of seeds. This summer and fall at Goose Pond Sanctuary, goldfinches have been feasting in our prairie restorations on ox-eye sunflower, sawtooth sunflower, prairie dock and pasture thistle. 

The seeds of the first three species are members of the sunflower family and have a seed in quality like the commercial sunflowers. Sometimes it is a race to collect prairie dock seed for future restorations before the goldfinches devour all of it!

Most of the prairie seeds have been eaten or dropped at this point, and now the goldfinches have set their sights on our bird feeders that contain sunflower fines. We're grateful to customers from Mounds Pet Food Warehouse stores that have provided bird seed for our feeders through the “Buy a bag of birdseed for Goose Pond Sanctuary” program - next time you visit Mounds, be sure to inquire!

Goldfinches are numerous at Goose Pond due to our prairie restorations, shrub and tree cover units that provide nesting and roosting cover, and bird feeders. Goldfinches are usually the second most numerous birds at our feeders with the mourning dove being most numerous. If you have a yard with good shrub and tree cover, consider adding a bird feeder with sunflower seeds to attract winter finches to your space. Of course, planting native sunflowers will also bring more birds to your yard as well!

On previous Christmas Bird Counts we observed hundreds of goldfinches on DNR sunflower food plots on state wildlife areas. Next spring we plan to plant eight acres north of Goose Pond to a “large” wildlife food plot, including three to four acres of black oil sunflowers! 

We are gearing up for Christmas Bird Counts and look forward to counting flocks of American goldfinches and to seeing them at our feeders this winter. We will also be looking closely for pine siskins that feed with goldfinches - keep your eye out for these tiny birds as well, which can be identified by their striped breast!

Written by Mark Martin & Sue Foote-Martin, Goose Pond resident sanctuary managers

Photo by Kelly Colgan Azar, Flickr Creative Commons

Wild Turkey

The wild turkey, full of myth like many staple game birds throughout the world, has a long and storied history.

It's half true that Ben Franklin wanted the wild turkey as the national bird. When Franklin found out that the eagle was to be the national bird, he wrote a letter that extolled the virtues of the wild turkey instead, but never started a campaign for the turkey as the national bird.

Turkeys can fly at 55 miles per hour, run at 30 miles per hour, and can reportedly swim. Indeed, at Faville Grove I've seen turkeys bursting through the oak woods, often flying so fast that they appear to careen off the canopy trees in a wisp of feathers. I've seen turkeys run zig-zagging patterns in front of a vehicle only to duck away into a fencerow at some random point in time. I've never seen a turkey swim.

Acorns are a preferred meal for turkeys, and the oak savannas and oak woodlands at Faville Grove provide good habitat, cover, and roosting for turkeys. If you wait in Faville Woods at night, you will likely see a few turkeys flying high into the canopy to roost for the night.

There is no evidence that turkey was consumed at the first Thanksgiving meal. The wild turkey originated from Mexico, and by the time of European settlement an estimated 11 million birds covered North America. By 1930, hunting and habitat loss had decimated the population to one third of a percent of their historical height. The 1940's saw reintroduction efforts of first, farm birds, then wild birds. The reintroduction of the wild turkey across North America has been one of America's greatest conservation successes. Regenerating forest and brush, coupled with conservation efforts, provided the habitat and population base for the population to re-expand. Today, it is estimated that 7.8 million wild turkeys breed in North America each year.

Twenty one percent of U.S. hunters pursue turkey, making it the second most popular game after deer.

On Thanksgiving, Americans will consume around 46 million turkeys, most of them farmed. The wild turkeys at Faville Grove found sanctuary this year and will continue to roost in the forest high above the ground, and high above the dinner tables on November 26th.  

Written by Drew Harry, Faville Grove Land Steward

Photo by Vicki DeLoach, Flickr Creative Commons

Tundra Swan

The tundra swan migration is well underway at Goose Pond Sanctuary!  

These Holartic swans are on a 1,800 mile fall migration route that began in the high arctic with major stops in North Dakota and along the Mississippi River before they will reach their destination at Chesapeake Bay. White tundra nesting birds are some of the last to migrate into our area and in October, we had a snowy owl and two snow buntings that were early for both species.

Tundra swans usually arrive at Goose Pond in late October but this year three swans were present on October 15th.  Swan numbers did not reach 100 until November 13 when there appeared to be a significant migration out of the northern great plains. The following week tundra swan numbers averaged around 140 birds at Goose Pond.

This year, the swans are feasting on an abundance of arrowhead tubers.  Ideal swan feeding habitat is a shallow prairie wetland covered with arrowheads.  Arrowheads covered Goose Pond this summer but quickly decayed in September.  Mallards also like to feed on arrowhead tubers - which are sometimes aptly called "duck potato".  In most years, diving ducks, like redheads, sometimes are adjacent to the feeding swans waiting for them to dislodge a tuber that they try to capture.  However, this year water levels are low resulting in poor diving duck habitat.  In mid-November the only diving ducks seen were a flock of eight ruddy ducks. 

Some visitors comment on why some swans are gray or dirty looking.  These grayish birds are young swans and contrast greatly with the white adults.  The young swans comprise 11% of this year’s flock compared to 6% in 2014.  The “Class of 2015” is learning the migration route and in a few years they will be able to lead the flock to Goose Pond.  It would be interesting to be able to experience the first fall migration as a young swan on a 1,800 mile long journey with their family.  We assume some of these long-lived birds have visited Goose Pond for many years.

Usually the swans remain as long as there is open water.  The 3,800 Canada geese and 700 mallards pack together with the swans and help keep a small area of open water.  However, if snow and low temperatures materialize like the forecast predicts, swans may leave in a few days.  We invite you to visit Goose Pond sooner rather than later to see these magnificent birds.    

Written by Mark Martin & Sue-Foote Martin, Goose Pond Sanctuary Managers

Photo by Mark Nenadov, Flickr Creative Commons

Snow Bunting

Snow buntings have been making their way through southern Wisconsin, returning from their high Arctic nesting grounds. With a splendid white underside and copper back and face, snow buntings' markings merge with the coming winter snowstorms. Their copper ear coverts give the appearance of blushing—a modest bird.

Male snow buntings make their way to the Arctic by early April, when temperatures still hover in the negative double digits. While most of the Midwest wriggled uncomfortably in the polar vortexes last year, snow buntings felt the familiar spring breeze of the northern limits of the earth.

During the nesting season, snow buntings have no northern limit and are circumglobal in their distribution; stretching from Canada to Russia to Norway. Some research suggests that snow buntings are bound by southern limits relating to light regimes—when there is not enough light, the buntings are not able to reproduce.

You can look for snow buntings at Faville Grove in open fields, along gravel roads, and on power lines. Perhaps the rock outcroppings of the ledge savanna offer similar habitat to the rocky tundra where they spend their “summers.”

Written by Drew Harry, Faville Grove Land Steward

Photo by Eric Begin, Flickr Creative Commons