Ripples 4/6/23

Posted on by April 6, 2023

by Nancy Nabak, Communications Coordinator

That rich, deep smell wafting through the kitchen and filtering throughout the house in the morning…what a great way to wake up. For many of us, a cup of coffee (or two) is the way to start our day. But in order to get that morning fix, unfortunately huge areas of forest have been cleared in most coffee-growing areas in Central and South America. Sadly, this is the same location where many of our Wisconsin songbirds spend their winters. When I hear things like this, I can’t help but think, “But, what can I do about it?”

The answer may be easier than you think. Shade grown, organically grown, and certified Bird-Friendly (gold standard, best choice to help birds) coffees are grown to help with habitat conservation and address the decline of our songbird species. Many of these options are now available in our local grocery stores and online.

Woodland Dunes is partnering with the newly launched and Wisconsin-based SOS Save Our Songbirds campaign in getting the word out that we not give up our morning routine, but to take a slight detour and create a new one by purchasing friendlier coffees. And we can start to do something about songbird decline right from the comforts of our kitchen.

I love the little cheerful and lilting sounds of our songbirds when they come back in the spring, so on the other side of the coin, what happens if we don’t take that morning detour? Waking up to the smell of coffee, but without a wood thrush serenade is unthinkable. Unbearable, really. So, let’s pledge that we’ll do our part. Maybe even sacrifice a little on something else so we can possibly spend a little more for a friendlier cup.

We all have different tastes and preferences when it comes to our perfect cup of coffee. But moving forward, it seems that the perfect cup of coffee is one that supports the people and economy in the growing region while protecting our songbirds at the same time.

Please go to the SOS Save Our Songbirds website for more information and friendly coffee locations near you: https://www.sossaveoursongbirds.org/buy-coffee-thats-better-for-birds

 

Ripples 3/30/23

Posted on by March 30, 2023
photo of juvenile and adult sandhill cranesSome things I do just seem to suck the life out of me.  Preparing tax returns, for example.  I am thankful that I have income, and in college I roomed with an accounting major who just loved that stuff, but I am far too disorganized.  And uninterested in becoming better organized, unfortunately.  My nature is to be a quiet observer, feeling my best when I’m alone outside wandering and wondering.  The slower the better as far as I’m concerned.  I have no desire to set records, except personal ones based on the number of interesting things I can experience. So, fortunately, there are other activities that are meaningful and well suited to my boring personality.
 
For many years I’ve participated in the Midwest Sandhill Crane Count through the International Crane Foundation.  Five-thirty a.m. in mid- April can be a dicey time to be outdoors, and over the years I’ve counted on days which were a beautiful 50 degree morning, full of birdsong, and horrible 10 degree days with snow and wind. The poor cranes were present at all of them, but lately the morning has become a special ritual involving a co-worker and myself.  We take the same block each year, hiking the length of one of the wetland trails at Woodland Dunes. Its the first long bird hike of the year for us, typically, and it is a joy to experience all that mid spring has to offer – the birds, the buds, the tracks- refreshing us at the onset of another field season. Some years we count 50 species on that one trail, and some years we count 50 cranes if the water levels are right.  Ok, above I said that I cherished being alone outside, but being outside experiencing the wild with a kindred soul is just as wonderful.  And the opportunity to contribute to knowledge of a bird species, even if it is not highly technical scientific inquiry, makes it all the better.
 
For the last couple of years, I’ve been participating in bald eagle nest monitoring, volunteering for Madison Audubon which coordinates the project across the State. I don’t remember if I was contacted, or if I contacted a colleague already helping coordinate the project, but it has been a wonderful experience as well. Unlike crane counting, it involves sitting still, monitoring a particular nest. I am fortunate to live across the river from a pair of eagles, who nest in a large white pine in a gently used park. I am able to cross my lawn to my happy place on the riverbank, where I am forced by protocol to sit still for an hour and record what I see.
 
One of course tries to pick warm, windless days, and fortunately we’ve had a few between snowstorms.  So there I am, sitting at my scope, watching the eagle mom while she watches me with what I imagine to be a rather skeptical expression on her face.  She is a quarter mile away, and while I need a scope she seems to have no trouble watching me. Monitoring starts in mid February in my part of the State, and as it progresses things become more and more interesting. This year the eagle was on the nest at the onset, presumably sitting on eggs as she did not move. The male shows up occasionally when I’m watching, but there will be more activity after eggs hatch, probably any day now. But just ike crane counting, being forced to be outdoors reveals so many other things- a surprising number number of birds singing even early in the year, robins and flickers which decided to stay the winter, mergansers and goldeneyes on the river as it opens up, cranes soaring and calling loudly, and the return of the usual suspects like song sparrows and others. A pileated almost always flies over, and a red-bellied barks constantly from the poor ash trees as they slowly die from unseen insects.
 
There are many different projects and counts which benefit from the participation of volunteers. Some require a lot of effort, some require little more than patience. We all know we are too busy, but it seems almost impossible to find ways to slow down. I am especially grateful for the opportunity watch birds in a meaningful way, knowing that it helps me just as much as them.
 
Photo- sandhill crane by Justin Lebar – Own work, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=951919

 

Ripples 3/23/23

Posted on by March 23, 2023
photo of spring ice melt on pondWe’re now in the third full week of March. This has always been a significant time for me, one who grew up along the banks of the Manitowoc River. My grandparents purchased an old farmstead and 40 acres near Rapids, and I had the luxury of occupying my childhood with walking, swimming, fishing, fort-building, and all the other things kids do, or used to do, on a daily basis. 
 
My grandfather loved to journal, mostly about weather, and hunting and fishing.  He fished area rivers and lakes, trout streams up north, and hunted small game far and wide.  He camped frequently in his early years, but that was always accompanied by hunting and fishing. In fall, he trapped muskrats to earn money for Christmas presents for the family. His journals are filled with narratives of such trips. But one of the most important aspects of his seasonal notations was ice-out on the river.  
 
To our family, ice-out was truly a sign of spring. It was preceded by the ice, which we had skated on just a few weeks before, rotting as it thawed.  It was accompanied by general snow melt and subsequent rising of the water, which pushed ice up in the middle, but it still clung to the banks. There, along shore the brown water rose above the mantel, which prevented curious young people from venturing out past the point where it was safe. Chunks would break off and thump their way downstream beneath the ice, and later, finally, the whole mass, or most of it, would slough off and move downstream. As it did, it made a hissing or scraping sound, with occasional thumps as pieces bumped on rocks or shore.  Sometimes, it became jammed, especially at Rapids not far downstream. Then, the water would rise even more, sometimes carrying floes up onto our lawn and up to the house. Then, suddenly, it was gone, the river flowing wildly in its wake. Even though it was open now, it was far too high and fast for fishing- we’d have to wait weeks for that.
 
The average for ice-out, after compiling decades of those dates, was the third week in March. I remember walking along the river after ice out, hearing red-winged blackbirds and seeing mallards, goldeneyes (whistlers), mergansers (fish ducks), and buffleheads. There weren’t as many geese as now, nor bald eagles which we now see daily cruising the open river.  
 
At the same time the land along the river, seemingly wakened by the change in the river, also burst into new life. Buds or soft maples and lilacs swelling, woodcock dancing in the evening, song sparrows singing in the morning, followed by frogs in a few weeks, about the time the smelt and suckers ran in the river.
 
This year, the river was fickle.  I still live in the same place, but the river is now un-dammed and back to its original level, faster flowing and never good for skating even in the coldest weather. This year it froze and thawed at intervals, and never seemed safe to walk on.  Ice began to leave at the beginning of March, and the first half of the month it was only partially frozen. Then the ice was completely gone during the second full week, around St. Patrick’s day. This year was definitely earlier than my grandpa’s average, but it is hard to say when ice-out actually occurred. But, it’s a different world now, with our winter temps barely dipping below zero at all.  It still lasts as long, though.
 
Winter is a wonderful time of year, but this early, muddy season is still special to me. When I walk along the West Twin at Woodland Dunes, the feeling is the same- with the addition of lots of geese and some sandhill cranes. The swamp is flooded, but skunk cabbage blooms are peeking above the water and snow. Each day reveals something new for the year. It’s still a great time to explore.   
 

photo- melting ice on David’s pond at Woodland Dunes by Nancy Nabak  

 

Ripples 3/16/23

Posted on by March 16, 2023

By Kennedy Zittel, Naturalist

Now that it is almost spring, I have begun to dream about all of the plants I want to add to my flowerbeds. I have only been in my house for a year or so now, so the first spring/summer I spent working on mostly indoor projects, leaving my garden areas with a lot to be desired. I did add some native shrubs, elderberry, ninebark, creeping juniper (one of my favorites), common juniper, and high-bush cranberry. This year, I want to focus on adding more pollinator friendly flowers, both to help them out but also because they look so beautiful! But which ones to pick? 

While I still have a lot of deciding to do, one plant I know for sure I will add, because it is one of my favorites to see out here at the Dunes… and pollinators like it too!

Rattlesnake Master (Eryngium yuccifolium) is a very unique looking plant that can be found growing across most of the eastern part of the United States. This plant has a really interesting look, with large sword-like leaves that can grow up to 3 feet long! The blue-green leaves are covered in a waxy coating, have parallel-veining (most dicots have net-veined leaves), and they have spiny margins that make their leaves look like they are yucca leaves (hence the latin name). 

However, this plant is not a member of the yucca family, or the thistle family like some people may think given it’s flower shape. It is actually a member of the carrot family! If you crush a leaf the smell will give that away. 

Rattlesnake master has really neat looking flowerheads, they look like spiky golfballs! One flower stalk usually has around 10 flowerheads, with each flowerhead having around 106 individual flowers… meaning that just one plant can have over 1,060 individual flowers! Flowering mid-late summer, their greenish-white flowers are a favorite to a lot of different pollinator species. Monarchs, skippers, soldier beetles, etc. all enjoy visiting this plant. Though pollinators love it, deer and rabbits don’t! 

One place that this plant can be seen here at the Dunes is along Willow Trail in the Steffen Prairie over by Todd’s Pond. I love walking along Willow Trail and looking for the white golfball shaped flowers standing out amongst the other flowers growing out there later in the summer, because there are usually a ton of pollinators near the plant! 

Now, what’s up with that name? Well, early settlers named it that after believing that Native Americans used the plant for an antidote for rattlesnake venom. Which is not true. This plant was used medicinally, but not for that. The leaves of this plant were also used for weaving purposes, like making sandals and baskets. 

This plant prefers sandy soils and sunny conditions, something to bear in mind if you would like to plant it in your garden too. If not, come on out mid-late summer and try to spot some of them growing naturally in our prairie areas!

Ripples 3/9/23

Posted on by March 13, 2023
We are used to seeing crows locally – they are intelligent and adaptable birds which have prospered in the landscape we’ve forged. They’re at home in farmland and city, living alongside people but at the same time keeping their distance.  They aren’t the only birds in the family Corvidae, which also includes in our neck of the woods, ravens and jays.  Jays, too, have developed the ability to cohabit the landscape of people as long as there’s a patch of woods nearby. But around here, ravens are a special treat. We might not notice them at first sight- if you don’t look closely you might not distinguish them from crows. But ravens are larger and are found usually singly or in pairs.
 
photo of ravens & crows depicting differenceMostly, ravens are found in northern Wisconsin, nesting on rocky cliffs or in tall pine trees. Their rough, croaking call is much different from the caws of American crows, and hearing them reminds me of my favorite times in places like the Boundary Waters or the UP of Michigan.  They are significantly larger than crows, although if the two are not seen together it’s not always obvious.  The ends of both their bodies give them away, however.  Their beaks are massive, much larger and heavier than a crow’s and their tails are diamond-shaped at the trailing end, unlike the square tails of crows. 
 
Despite the general similarity in appearance- large, all-black birds- the two species do not get along well with each other.  Both are very intelligent, and are measurably among the smartest of animals. Researchers are constantly coming up with new ways to test this with very interesting results.  Recently I read that ravens were able to recognize certain patterns in lines of written characters, something few animals aside from people can do.  There are many accounts of the interesting behaviors of both crows and ravens, such as bringing gifts in return for being fed.  But, they can use those abilities for mischief as well, sometimes to harass other animals and even each other.
 
Their intelligence also gives rise to our suspicions about ravens.  In places where they have become used to people, they are often thieves, stealing food and other items which catch their fancy.  Their blackness prevents us from discerning any expression, and it’s hard to know what they are thinking or to predict what they will do. They are highly regarded by Native people as both spirits and tricksters, deservedly so.  As ravens are found almost all across the world, from here across Europe, Asia, even Siberia and over to Alaska, there are many stories from many cultures about them. People who have observed nature recognize their intelligence, and they often have high status. For example, in some stories ravens created the world. In others, they advised leaders like the Norse god Odin, who had two ravens, Huginn and Muninn (thought and memory). Being such interesting birds, there must be countless stories.
 
Recently some of our staff were driving and spotted a raven in a location they’ve been seen before, near a silo in a field near a wetland.  One raven flew from the silo to a small woodlot, but was immediately spotted by two crows which flew to and began to harass their larger cousin. Another raven flew out from the silo, circled around and flew back, to be joined there by the first one.  As we have no cliffs around here, we wonder if the silo is close enough to serve as a nesting place.  It is no longer used for agricultural storage, and has been used for nesting by pigeons and starlings. But perhaps it is enough like a high, steep cliff to entice the raven pair to make it their home.  Much to the disappointment of the pigeons and others (perhaps to their peril).   We’ll continue to watch the site, hoping to see the pair during courtship (which can be quite an aerial display), nest building, and rearing of young. We’ve found ravens at Woodland Dunes almost every year, but have never documented a nesting. They have been known to nest in silos in other locations, and it seems logical that they would do so. 
 

We see them nearly every year at Woodland Dunes, and consider ourselves lucky to do so.  And I’m certain at the same time they are observing us, watching and wondering what we are up to.  

 
Image- Raven vs. Crow, Audubon Photography awards