![]() The Big Oak near Frautschi Point lost another large branch just a few days ago, as reported by Glenda Denniston. The many visitors to this area will be saddened by the sight of large broken limbs on the ground. Friday morning of August 28 everything was still fine, reports Roma Lenehan, who visited the area with a group. There were violent storms during that night, as you may recall. Philip Ashman who was there on Saturday morning, found the limbs broken. Glenda has cared for the area surrounding the oak for many years, developing stunning wildflower displays along the path by the oak. The Friends planted the area at the start of the Big Oak trail. Kathi Dwelle remarked in her email of today "If one has to find a silver lining somewhere, perhaps the tree was self-pruning to allow just a bit more sun in for the wildflowers next spring. Fortunate that it happened at the end of the growing season rather than next May or many more wildflowers would have been seriously trampled." Glenda and Steve Williams have worked hard for several days to open up the trail, so pedestrians wouldn't have to cut through the main planting area to get around the obstacles. Preserve staff advises that it will be prudent to avoid the area for a few days while they are making sure that the tree is safe.
0 Comments
![]() Will Waller reports that he met "this morning with Mike Parsen and Professor Charles Quagliana for a field tour of the surface water runoff problem that borders Eagle Heights Community Garden and Bill’s Woods. Water flows from the hill crest that divides the gardens and BioCore Prairie. It travels through the garden’s weed and leaf staging area, then through the woods to the old Owen Drive segment that runs in Bill’s Woods. The water accelerates quickly on the old cement roadway and flows into the recently constructed swale system along the Lakeshore Path. Professor Quagliana thinks this is an appropriate project for one of his Capstone Study teams. These are teams of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) students supervised by Engineering faculty and professional mentors. Being in their senior year of study, they are ready to research real world problems and propose solutions. Capstone students have done consulting work for clients like the Arboretum and Epic Systems." The Friends look forward to support this project as it unfolds. ![]() Arlene Koziol has this exciting report about a Western Grebe observed along the shoreline of the Preseve. "On July 24th, birder Paul van Ginkel, was out by the Limnology Building without his binoculars. He saw a large grebe diving and foraging close to shore. “It had a large yellow bill and red eye with black on top of the head going into the neck. The back was grayish black with whitish specks on it. The face and front/side of the neck where very white.” It was confirmed as a Western Grebe. “The Western Grebe is the largest Grebe in North America. It is 22-30 inches long and 31-40 inches across the wings.” Birds On Line, Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Roma Lenahan commented “Very unusual, at least on Lake Mendota. They are spotted every year or two in the fall on Lake Mendota – I have never heard a report in July here!” My husband Jeff Koziol and I were able to watch the Western Grebe on Lake Mendota on three other occasions. On one occasion we had the opportunity to watch the Western Grebe actively dive and forage in high winds. We saw it in the same location swimming close to shore near the Limnology building. We saw it catch two perch. One fish was so large, it had to squeeze it hard in it’s bill for about five minutes before it could swallow it dead in one gulp. It was amazing the Grebe hold on to a thrashing fish in the strong winds and waves." Below is a link to my pictures on Flicker. https://www.flickr.com/photos/29411257@N00/sets/72157656609531161 https://www.flickr.com/photos/29411257@N00/sets/72157655957644099 A few of Arlene's splendid photos are reproduced here. Please see her Flicker site for the entire story. And, please let us know about YOUR sightings.
Bumble bees are currently feasting on the nectar found in prolific bloomers such as Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulas), commonly known as bee balm. Wild bergamot is one of the best forage plants for bumble bees. As older flowers are depleted, they are replaced by newly opened ones, providing an ongoing source of nectar throughout the day. The bumble bee on the left photo, Bombus impatiens, stays below the flower anthers and stigma, to access the nectar. In the right photo, the bumble bee hovers in front of the anthers and brushes them with its mid and hind legs in order to collect pollen. The practical bees then package the pollen in baskets on their hind legs, but first they mix it with nectar to make a sticky mixture. Visit the Biocore Prairie and watch the busy bees buzzing on the flowering bergamot. Photos A. Koziol. For more fascinating information on bees and butterflies, see Heather Holm, Pollinators of Native Plants. For more photos, see the the summary of the July Pollinator field trip with Susan Carpenter as guide.
![]() If it hadn’t been for his beady eyes, we wouldn’t have spotted this little America Leopard frog, less than two inches long and sitting motionless on a dead branch which barely stuck out of a healthy colony of the common duckweed. This floating aquatic plant, each with one, two or three lentil-shaped bright green leaves – a favorite of ducks – has a single sticky root hanging in the water. When the little frog emerged from the water to bask in the sun and wait for prey, these roots adhered to the rough frog skin to make an almost perfect camouflage. The frog’s speckled appearance made it difficult to detect him, both for his predators and his prey. Northern Leopard frogs reach lengths of up to 5 inches. Once the most abundant frog species in North America, their numbers have significantly declined. They are sensitive to pollution and water acidity. Photo G. Kutzbach, from bridge at southern end of Class of 1918 Marsh ![]() A number of Madison Bird City partner group initiatives coordinated with support from Madison Audubon volunteers, Nelson Institute students, UW Lakeshore Nature Preserve and the Friends of the UW Lakeshore Preserve are underway on the Preserve and UW Campus, With a bit of help from Laura Wyatt and Paul Noeldner, arborist Sean Gere successfully reinstalled student Hannah DePorter's Willow Creek Owl Cam on Thursday July 9. The camera was oriented it to pick up activity further out on the Great Horned Owl owlet's favorite roost limb and Sean took the selfie test picture to make sure it was installed and working correctly. The picture was transmitted wirelessly from the Birdcam to a laptop below. This works only when the Birdcam has recently taken a picture so it is not quite a 'live' cam but a very handy capability. We will leave it in place for a few weeks more since the owlets are still being seen in the area learning to forage on their own. Sean then proceeded to help trim Willows at the Preserve, and the trimmed stems were used for the Lake Monona Water Walk Native American sweat lodge at Frostwoods Beach this past weekend. Paul Noeldner initated contact with the Speech and Hearing Clinic next to Willow Creek about a potential opportunity to set up a live Owl Cam of the Great Horned Owl nest box or another nest site if visible from that location next winter, and also met with staff at the Bork Research lab building about a similar opportunity for a potential Red-tailed Hawk nest cam if they re-nest again on that building next year. Both have asked for further information and follow up. In other urban wildlife bird Accommodation Architecture habitat news, Cliff Swallows have started nesting under the eves of the DeJope 'Green Dorm' next to the Preserve near Willow Creek, and requests have been received to help add two more Nature Nooks with bird houses and bird feeders on UW Campus, one by the Horticulture Building and one by Liz Waters. Attempts are made with all of these projects to engage UW Nelson Institute students and local UW faculty and staff and we are seeing lots of enthusiasm. More news as these initiatives progress! - reported by Paul Noeldner Glenda Denniston spent 4 hours in the Lakeshore Nature Preserve on July 5, in search of all those pretty things with wings, especially butterflies. She "visited the rain garden across from Raymer's Cove; Frautschi Point from parking lot garden along Big Oak Trail, around 2nd Oak near Field Edge, then Field Edge and Gully and into a few trails in lower unit of Biocore Prairie and back to parking lot along Field Edge; then Picnic Point including rain gardens and main trail to tip and back via Picnic Pt Marsh Trail; then "East Savanna (old orchard) including two small planting areas (prairie/savanna) and across to top of Biocore Prairie; back via fields to site of old Picnic Pt Farmhouse and from there to Heritage Oak, Upper Bill's Woods and Bill's Woods soils trail to bottom along University Bay Drive. Brief look at berm and marsh edge of 1918 Marsh. Stopped again at Raymer's Cove on way back home."
It will be feat for most of us to merely repeat Glenda's surveying walk through the Preserve, let alone spot, identify, and photograph this impressive list butterflies. Please check for more details on our butterfly page, and also, come and enjoy the Friends butterfly field trip with Ed Spalding, this Saturday July 11, 10-noon, meeting at Picnic Point entrance Hackberry Emperor 4 Banded Hairstreak 3 Summer Azure. 2 Cabbage White 11 (no doubt would have been higher had I surveyed the gardens) Clouded Sulphur 1 Red Admiral 4 Great-spangled Fritillary 4 Question Mark 1 Monarch 6 (5 adults and one caterpillar) Black Swallowtail. 1 Mourning Cloak 3 Clouded Sulphur 1 Arlene Koziol has been recording photographically the activities of the swallows living in the cliffs along the shoreline of Lake Mendota east of Raymer's Cove. These beautiful sandstone cliffs, with convenient cracks between ancient layers of sandstone, are popular with both Cliff Swallows and Barn Swallows. The Barn Swallows use mud and dried sticks and grass, almost the same materials our ancestors used to fill the empty spaces between the timbers of their early houses, to plaster their nest on the cliff sides. They place the opening of the nest just below a larger crevice in the cliff, cracks between layers of sandstone that form little caves. As the family grows up, often 5-6 nestlings, they take advantage of this extra space in the sheltered crevice.
Both parents feed the young, and sometimes even the offspring of previous brood help to rise the second batch of nestlings. Flitting about the cliff wall and overhanging vegetation they feeds on a wide variety of insects, flies, beetles, wasps,and bugs; even wild bees, damsel flies and the occasional spider. Alll photos by Arlene Koziol ![]() Hannah DePorter, UW Urban Wildlife student (in the course Sustainability from a non-human perspective taught by Trish O’Kane), is conducting the newest animal research project in the Preserve. Over the past few months she has regularly monitored the Great Horned Owls at Willow Creek and their recently hatched owlets. The newly installed birdcam (a wildlife motion triggered camera specialized for small birds and mammals), funded by the Friends of the Preserve, will make it possible to continue her research on the owls’ roosting activities. Paul Noeldner, Lakeshore Nature Preserve Citizen Science and student research facilitator, and member of the Friends, wrote the proposal to obtain the necessary Preserve permit to install the self-contained battery operated camera. Hannah identified the owls favorite roost site on a limb of a large cottonwood tree near the Willow Creek outlet. On Monday, June 1, Sean Gere of Gere Tree Care, volunteered his services as a professional arborist and trainer, to install the new birdcam for observing the behavior of the owlets. He will also help with maintenance. Adam Gundlach of the Preserve was at hand when the Sean Gere climbed the very high tree and strapped the camera to a branch identified by Hannah. All photographs of this exciting process are by John Kutzbach. The birdcam photos and project information will also be used to promote public and institutional support for Great Horned Owls and other native birds and wildlife on UW Campus and other urban settings. A great thank you to all involved, and we are looking forward to Hannah’s report on this study. |
AuthorGisela Kutzbach and contributors Archives
May 2022
|