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![]() Two proud parents watching their nestlings in BB9, along the Savanna edge. On May 17, box monitors Mitchell Thomas and Patricia Becker and Will Waller found 5 little nestlings in the box. Earlier that day, John and Gisela Kutzbach observed the female and male bluebirds keeping watch from a sumac bush, about 20 feet away from the box, and took this snapshot of the pair.
The process goes like this:
1) approach bird box and knock gently to announce your inspection 2) open house carefully: sparrows tend to be buried within their nests via a tunnel and will flash out in your face if you are not careful. 3) confirm nest type to identify bird, if you haven't seen one perching on the box 4) check for eggs 5) record required data on the BRAW form 6) move on to the next box All of the boxes are easily approached and all are beside regular walking trails. They are sited within a specific "perching perimeter" so that the occupants can guard their box. And guard they do! If you aren't a birder yet, this trail might make you a convert – that's what's happening to me. The trail takes about 40 minutes to monitor and the entire 40 minutes is filled with genuine excitement. You see the birds up close, they monitor you as you monitor them! The prairie area is no longer quiet, it's a noisy, busy place: hundreds of birds, thousands of bees (we need Hannah Gaines-Day to do a bee-walk), the leopard frogs are out by the hundreds. You cannot walk between the boxes without stopping to watch field events unfold. If you are interested in monitoring let us know ([email protected]). If you haven't been to the Prairie this season, now is the time. The old apple orchard is approaching full blossom. The bird houses are occupied. You will see bluebirds. The walk is easy. Comment below on what YOU see. ![]() The early spring ephemerals we have been waiting for so long are here to make you smile. This bloodroot on the Upper Bill's Woods trail opened its blossoms toward the sun today, just ahead of the delicate Dutchman's Breeches, the gently arching Virginia Bluebells, and simply shaped Trillium. Hepatica was blooming by the Tent Colony path. The spring flower show should be at its best at the time of the next field trip: Spring Wildflowers of the Preserve, May 4 (Sunday) 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm led by Glenda Denniston. Mark your calendar. And what flowers did you see? MARCH 23, 2014. The season opened with a successful Bird and Nature Walk guided by Paul Noeldner and sponsored by the Friends and the Madison Audubon. A dozen people and two children met at the shed by the Eagle Heights community Gardens on this chilly but sunny day. Co-leaders were Yun-Wen Chan and Will Waller. After docent table hot chocolate and introductions and singing the Bluebird song 'Here Comes the Laughing Springtime' the group set out to discover cavity nesting habitat and also spotted a number of dangling Oriole nests, bowl shaped Robin nests, and other types of nests. Two Red-tailed hawks circled Eagle Heights Gardens overhead and posed for scope viewing. Other posing highlights were a Red-bellied Woodpecker and a Northern Flicker. The resident Sandhill pair was spotted by some as they stepped through the prairie but magically disappeared in the garden area. Three were seen flying at the end of the refreshingly sunny early Spring snow melt walk. Gisela K spotted them on the playing fields by the 1918 marsh on the way home. Contacts made at the walk resulted in volunteers to organize a Bluebird Box Build event and to update and monitor the Bluebird trail. Plan to come along on the next Bird and Nature Walk on the 4th Sunday in April. It's great fun.
WELCOME to the Friends new website.
We hope you will enjoy browsing and appreciate some of the new features. As you will notice, our new site is a work in progress. It will become fully functional by the end of June. Contribute to this blog through your comments. Tell us what you would like to see on this site, what we can improve, We need your encouragement and feedback to make it informative and fun to use - a site that users want to visit often. Cheryl Olson wrote on March 4: I just want to say that I saw a red fox with a white tipped tail this morning at 6:15am. He crossed the lake path near the bench by the Tripp dorm, up the hill to the dead tree (standing, but bent in half), then towards the surface parking lot. I’ve been walking the lake path since 1970 but have never seen this. Also, a loon kept watch behind the Alumni offices this morning for quite awhile. It’s good to get up early!
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AuthorGisela Kutzbach and contributors Archives
May 2022
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