Friday Feathered Feature
Showcasing a different bird species each week
Mark first learned of the Motus Wildlife Tracking System, “The world’s largest collaborative automated radio telemetry array,” in the fall of 2018 while visiting Cedar Grove Ornithological Station along Lake Michigan. Since 1950, researchers have banded around 44,000 raptors at the station with metal bands. Recovery data from the bands comes from other banding sites that trap banded birds or if someone finds and reports a banded bird. Overall the recovery rate is very low from banded birds.
Ideally, wildlife could be tracked in migration and the Motus tracking system allows for tracking stations to record when radio tagged wildlife, mostly birds that fly within about 7.5 miles (or in the area up to 175 square mile circle surrounding the tower) of the tracking tower.
Tracking wildlife is much easier when they can simply fly past to be recorded! The new Motus tower will achieve that, once birds are tagged. Photo by Monica Hall
Birds Canada took the lead on erecting the original Motus tower system and working with scientists to have wildlife fitted with radio telemetry. When a tagged individual triggers a “tag report,” the data is stored in an on-site computer. The encrypted data is downloaded every three months to Birds Canada and they report results to the tracking station and scientists.
An example of knowledge gained was from a fall migration study of warblers looking at stopover locations along the east coast. They learned the major fall stopover migration locations and that some warblers would fly south along the coast, refuel, then fly north before turning around and heading south.
From the Motus Wildlife Tracking System: “Motus is the world’s largest collaborative automated radio telemetry array. Motus is the central hub for detection data from more than 935 receiving stations as well as metadata from stations (e.g. location, deployment dates, height, antenna bearing) and tags (e.g. species, location and date deployed). Data from across the network is then provided to researchers and a condensed version shared with the public.”
Here are links to their website that includes an informational video, by the numbers, tracking data for some species, map showing the receivers locations, and numbers of wildlife tagged.
A team works on erecting the Madison Audubon Motus tower at Goose Pond Sanctuary. Photo by Mark Martin
The Madison Audubon Motus tracking tower is located at Hopkins Road Prairie, the highest point within Goose Pond Sanctuary. The tower was activated on July 22, 2020.
This was an involved project with many parts. Bill Mueller, retired Director from the Western Great Lakes Bird and Bat Observatory, provided guidance to get us started. The Observatory is coordinating placement of Motus towers in southern and eastern Wisconsin and is the Wisconsin contact with Birds Canada. Our tower is the 10th motus tower in Wisconsin! Hopefully many more towers will come on line in the next few years.
The first part of the project was fundraising. Curt and Arlys Caslavka and James E. Dutton Foundation provided major funding along with additional funding from Madison Audubon.
Once funding was secured we were fortunate to have volunteer Don Schmidt, metal artist for Wingspan, secure the metal, weld and coordinate erection of the tower from securing the base in three feet of cement to erecting the 21-foot pipe. Volunteer Chip Plummer, electrician, assisted with hooking up the solar panel, battery, grounding rod and computer. Graham Steinhauer assisted with all phases of the project along with Tanner Pettit, summer intern who was also pleased to be involved.
As more towers are erected, more research projects will be using the Motus tracking system. We look forward to providing you with tracking data. Thanks to the donors, Graham, volunteers, Western Great Lakes Bird and Bat Observatory, and Birds Canada for helping with the project.
Written by Mark Martin and Sue Foote-Martin, Goose Pond Sanctuary resident managers
All photos by Mark Martin
The Mud Lake North American Butterfly Count, coordinated for over 30 years by Karl and Dorothy Legler is in the record books.
This was the seventh year that Madison Audubon volunteers counted at Goose Pond Sanctuary and Erstad Prairie as part of the Mud Lake Count.
Hopefully, this will be the first and last count conducted in a pandemic. We would never have guessed in a million years that a world wide virus would occur and we would be social distancing and wearing masks during the count. NOTE: We are not showing any photos of butterfly masked-bandits with their masks on.
This year we set a record with 23 participants (16 high in the past), in the number of 20 species (19) and a high of 56 northern crescents (53). Participants ranged in age from 8 to 70 years old. We were glad to have the Hasburgh family on the count and were pleased to learn that sons Fletcher and Ranger studied up on their butterflies the day before. Fourteen of the participants were in their 20s and 30s.
Two new species were added to the list, the silver-spotted skipper and the banded hairstreak. The silver-spotted skipper has been seen before at Goose Pond but not on the official count.
Graham photographed the hairstreak and identified it from the Butterflies of the North Woods by Larry Weber as a hickory hairstreak. Other hairstreaks look similar and the photo was sent to “butterfly referee” Karl Legler who made the call of a banded hairstreak. We would like to see the name changed to the oak hairstreak because the banded hairstreak caterpillar feeds exclusively on oaks. This individual was found in the bur oak savanna above the west pond. Next year we will have to remember to check the oak savanna and break our record of one individual. The adults feed on sumac, common and swamp milkweeds, sweet clovers and dogwoods.
We try to conduct the count the first week in July and find that butterfly numbers can vary greatly year to year. This year we found 2 red admirals (55 last year), 91 common wood-nymphs (8), 191 clouded sulphurs (4) and 72 black swallowtails (4). The full list of species and their counts found this year and since 2014 are in the table shown at the bottom of this post.
Photos from left to right, top to bottom: Clouded sulphur by Richard Armstrong | Summer azure by Richard Armstrong | Banded hairstreak by Graham Steinhauer | Wood nymph by Peter Gorman | Northern crescent by Patrick Hasburgh | Red admiral by Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren | Hickory hairstreak by Peter Gorman | Black swallowtail by Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren | Monarchs by Arlene Koziol
We were pleased when Topf Wells and the Hasburghs reported 53 monarch butterflies from 16 acres at Erstad Prairie. Two hundred and seven monarchs were found compared to 107 in 2019. Last year we had a record monarch migration and tagged 2,100 at Goose Pond. Monarch numbers were low in June but picked up in the first half of July. Hopefully monarch numbers will be high again in fall migration.
THANK YOU to everyone who came out on a hot day to survey for butterflies. We are looking forward to the count next July and hope that masks and social distancing will not be required.
Written by Mark Martin and Sue Foote-Martin, Goose Pond Sanctuary resident managers
Cover photo: banded hairstreak on daisy fleabane, photo by Emma Raasch
The Henslow's sparrow is a small songbird with a dull brown body and a streaked breast. This bird is restricted to open habitats, typically grasslands, of the midwest and northeast. Over winter, Henslow's sparrows spend their time in longleaf pine and bog habitats of the southern US. The pairing of globally rare breeding and wintering habitat makes the bird rare across its range. Endangered in seven states and threatened in Wisconsin, the Henslow's sparrow would seem a banner bird for grassland conservation.
The inconspicuous Henslow’s sparrow, photo by Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren
Yet, the Henslow's sparrow lacks the iconic status of the dickcissel or meadowlark. The sparrow's understated plumage and faint call—a simple tsillik—undercut its zealous heaves. David Sibley describes the call as a “feeble hiccup.” Additionally, the bird is notoriously difficult to spot. Hiding in a dense accumulation of litter a Henslow's sparrow will whistle its call, unseen. If approached, the bird often flees on foot, its brown feathers matching the dullness of a few year's foliage.
The nest resides on or near the ground, where the female incubates eggs for approximately 11 days. Chicks will occupy the nest for about 9 days, being fed a diet of grasshoppers and caterpillars.
A Faville Grove prairie may be the perfect place for a Henslow’s sparrow to nest. Madison Audubon photo
As far as managing for Henslow's habitat, the birds present an interesting dilemma. On one hand, Henslow's sparrows need two to three years of litter accumulation in order to breed in an area. Conversely, the birds tolerate a low amount of brush and need dense stands of grass for suitable habitat.
Burning will maintain the open habitat and stimulate grasses, but the sparrows dislike nesting in recently burned areas.
A patchwork of burning, like we have here at Faville Grove, can encourage Henslow's Sparrows to nest in an area. Areas with multiple years of standing dead vegetation provide cover and nesting areas for these discrete birds. Recently burned prairie provides good foraging habitat, and the dense cover of new growth can hide fledgling chicks.
A joyfully singing Henslow’s sparrow, photo by Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren
This past week, the interns and I stumbled upon a Henslow's sparrow in the sanctuary. We first heard the calls of dozens of other birds, eventually focusing in on the Henslow's repetitive calls. Standing in a field of smooth brome, the calls seemed bromidic, or trite. As we sat there for five minutes, the bird finally emerged onto a cup plant and hoisted its unenthusiastic call our way. The bird may not be a banner for conservation, but it belts out its calls oblivious to human concerns, happily perched on a cup plant.
Written by Drew Harry, Faville Grove Sanctuary land steward
