Who came for Dinner?

 

    For the past couple years the number of mallard ducks spending time in this part of the river has been growing. This may be because of a population increase. I'm thinking that it might have something to do with the passing of a dear friend of mine several years ago. She lived along Water Street in Sauk City near the railroad bridge. For years she and her husband would feed the large gathering of ducks and geese in the small wetland area along the river bank. If the ducks ventured too far out they'd be caught by the strong current rushing under the bridge. There's a large sand bar on the other side where they can spend the day resting and, on a good day, catch some sun rays.

One year in the spring a pair of mallards appeared in my yard. I thought it would be cute to have ducklings waddling around so I started to feed them. I remember that it was in the early eighties because Ronald Reagan was president. Being the first family of ducks in my yard I named them Ron and Nancy. Needless to say my love affair with the idea was short-lived. They turned out to be far too messy. Thankfully I found this out before they started to nest. Now I admire them as they swim and feed in the river. In the spring and fall they are joined by many different migrating ducks, which soon move on. During the fall migration the common mergansers and golden-eyes join them, with the mergansers staying through the winter.

   One neighbor feeds the mallards on the bank by their house. Apparently one day they ran short of food so about twenty of them marched right up my bank. Not finding much to eat, most of them moved on. A small group decided to stay and rest. This was cut short by a squirrel running through, scaring them off.

   People living through-out the entire Northern hemisphere are familiar with this duck. There's no doubt what you’re looking at when the male (drake) appears. Its coloration is a sure give away, starting with its emerald green head to the gray and chestnut body separated by a white neckband. The black and white tail is enhanced by feathers that curl upwards. As with most birds the female is less colorful, but in flight she sports iridescent white and violet-blue wing bands. She has a black stripe running across her eye. Mallards are members of the group called dabbling ducks. This term refers to the feeding habit of dipping or upending with the tail in the air while gathering seeds, roots and aquatic plants from under water. A fact I found interesting is that the loud quacking is produced by the females. I'd better add that it's probably for defending the young. The males have a soft rasping quack. During nesting, 9-12 eggs are incubated, while the male returns to the flock. Through hybridization, they have been the source of many breeds of domestic ducks.

  

   My take away from all this is to be prepared for what you'll find if you feed ducks in your yard.

  

Recent Marauder

  The warm weather has awaken this silver backed marauder (a opossum) from it's winter nap.
I've seen it's track from my feeders to the neighbors for a couple days.
Yesterday it came in time to get it's picture taken.
Some people wouldn't be happy about seeing it but as for me it's all part of nature.

A Christmas Memory

                         

                                         Merry Christmas!!!  

  As with most people my age, growing up we spent a lot of time in nature but didn't actual see it.

  

  Winter or summer my siblings and I wandered the hills and fields that surrounded our home east of Roxbury. We'd find things to occupy our time – often a creek/pond to get wet in, which caused a problem when we got home. Wild berries and apples that were picked would soon be turned into dessert for the evening meal. Wild flowers were gathered and brought home. The goat prairie on the hill behind the house was a great place to check out the boulders and ledges. It was a sunny spot to head to keep warm on cool spring and fall days. I'm sure that there were bald eagles around but they're not in my memory until much later in my life. 

    Now after living along the Lower Wisconsin River for thirty plus years I actually see and hear nature. This new-found ability was pushed forward by the mentoring of several people, like Jean Clausen. Who would have thought that I would drive out of my way to find interesting hills and fields that went unnoticed before. The lone bur oak tree in the picture (named "Hope") would have only been something to climb in. Now it became a highlight of an afternoon spent with a couple that shared my love of the outdoors. 

    I had been invited to celebrate Christmas Day with them. We had filled our bellies with a wonderful home-cooked meal and decided to take a walk out in their prairie. They have several acres that once were part of a much larger farm. Since purchasing the property a lot of energy has been put into restoring most of it into native prairie. A walk through it provides something new in any season. The oak is standing out in the open at the end of the prairie and surrounded by large fields. The sun was setting on our day together but before I headed home we took time to talk about our walk. We sat in front of the wood burning stove and had a piece of raspberry pie made from the summer’s harvest. Part of the conversion was about the oak tree. I had to admit that I couldn't usually tell one kind of oak from another. The pin oak is the exception because the neighbors have one in their yard. The pin oak holds on to its leaves until spring (more raking!). It's thought this makes the twigs less palatable, a defense against deer. Someone mentioned that long ago many Native American tribes would gather under large oak trees for council meetings. Being out in the open, any approach would soon be detected. Under the massive branches of the “Council Oaks” many talks would be of war or peace. religious ceremonies and dancing would end the council meetings.

    There's a legend that maidens of the tribes would brew a tea from its leaves during war and drink it for the safe return of the warriors. Another one involves the full moon and brewing young tender leaves (love tea) to insure that their mates would remain true to them.

A Christmas Visitor

I was reaching for a piece of candy from the bowl on the dining-room table
when I noticed a strange movement under a feeder.
I immediately knew what it was, a Carolina Wren.
I had one here for a few days about five years ago.
This one stayed long enough for a photo.
Perhaps it will return for another photo shoot before it moves a little more south.
We're just at the northern border of it's wintering grounds.

Common but Notable

  These American Tree Sparrows spent most of yesterday afternoon seeking out a meal.

Busy Day

   The weather has warmed but the feeders are busy as usual.
 

The View

    While I was sitting in the hot tub this afternoon a single juvenile bald eagle flew low over my river bank. It landed in a bank tree in full view. I slipped out of the tub into the house for my camera.
With luck it hadn't noticed me. From the other side of the house I could see two more juveniles and an adult through the pines. I didn't want them to fly off so I took the photos from a distance. They were perched in trees along the prairie bank.

My hot tub is outside in a gazebo. Over looking the river and the bird feeders.

Floe vs Flow

   The recent cold weather reminded me of one my columns from a couple years ago Jan. 2014. 

      

                                                          

   A couple of weeks ago I 

stood on my lower deck on 

the river to get some  

photos of the hoarfrost.

 While standing there taking in the beauty a loud boom almost made me jump out of my skin. The sheet of ice that extended from the shore out into the river had cracked its full length. The deck at this time of year is about three feet above the ice so I was in no danger. The recent below zero weather has made us all aware of the term “polar vortex.” It's that air stream that should stay put north of here. Along with it came some changes of scenery in the river valley. A major one was the ice sheet that expanded on both sides of the river. The cold spell didn't last long enough for the ice to close ranks across the river, although the additional ice did send the waterfowl and bald eagles to the more open areas of the river. I had been seeing a few bald eagles on a daily basis, but I haven't seen any eagles here since the start of the cold spell.
 

These are recent photos 

12/2016.    

  

     When the vortex shifted back north, the ice started to break up. I returned home from work one day to find large sheets of ice floating by. The high winds out of the north changed the direction of their journey down river. It sent them from their westward trip to the southern shore line. They soon encountered the rock bars in front of my home. Their broken points looked like slabs of alabaster jutting into the air. My mind wandered off to days gone by when logs were cut and floated down river. How often did they break loose creating the same scene? Some of the waterfowl are still here but they do have to move out of the way for the occasional stray chuck of ice. In this area we're still waiting for the return of the northern bald eagles.

  

    

This photo is from 2014.                                                                    

 

      








 

      An old news item had ties to this act of nature. I often wondered why the boat crews of the big ice breakers don't move their ships before the ice slowly forms behind it. As it turns out it's ice flows that trap them. During the night ice chunks much larger than what I witnessed gather and freeze into a large mass, filling in the path the ships had made coming in. As it does here, in time the weather and flow changes, freeing the ship.

  
     I looked for some facts about ice flows to share with you but didn't find much. The first thing I found out was that what I saw is spelled ice floe, (ice floating on water) not changed above. Ice flow is the spreading of large bodies of ice like glaciers over land masses. Ice floes can cause ice dams which in turn flood river basin. 

                                The ice dams on our roofs are another story.

       

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Before and During

              Before the snow storm and during it.
     The first two pictures are looking west down river toward Ferry Bluff.

   This is looking east (up river).
The straight white line (center left) is a roof at the old the Mcfarlands site.
  The white patch on the hill is part of the winery.

         
               Waiting to grab a few more seeds.

Nature's Wisdom

Some snap shots of birds grabbing a quick meal before it's buried under the new snow.

There was a flock of Junco's checking my prairie restoration. They were like acrobats bouncing on the delicate stems.




                     

While others checked for
tiny crab apples.


 Most of them looked under the feeders.

Forgotten

I had gone out and taken some photos of the "Full Cold Moon" rise a couple days ago at about
4 am. and forgot them. They were taken through the pines.

Full Cold Moon

   Last nights full moon sure lived up to it's name.
The Farmer's Almanac states that it would be the brightest and highest full moon of the year.
I believe they were right. These photos were taken at 3:45 this morning.
It was setting behind the trees in a more north-western spot than usually viewed from my yard.
It was the color of the setting sun and it was already too low to cast a reflection across the river.

Along the river

  Yesterday was spent shoveling snow. Now I had time for the camera and willing subjects.
The water level in the river is lower this morning so there's a place to rest and an easy food source.
The bald eagle was sitting across and up the river on Clausen's point. It' a bit far even for my camera's zoom.
   In years gone by this would have been a cause for emails and phone calls between Jean and I. The visiting ducks pictured are golden eyes and mallards. There were common mergansers but they took to flight at the sight of me.

 

End of the Day

                        If the weather report for tomorrow is right a sunset like this will 
                                     be hidden behind the clouds of a snow storm.

Wolf Run Trail

      

    Even with the changing weather to a deep freeze I had the urge to get out for a nature hike. The problem was to find a place that wouldn’t be a mix of snow and ice. That place was the Wolf Run Trail located just east of Mazomanie. My companion and I started from the trailhead just off one of the dead end streets near the “Old Feed Mill” restaurant. The parking area isn't large but ample. The trail is clearly marked by very informative signage and a new wooden bridge over the Black Earth Creek. A water feature is always a plus in my book. The day we went, the snow from a couple days before had entirely melted from the gravel path so it made for an easy walk. The path follows the creek back east as it winds its way west into Mazomanie and eventually to the Wisconsin River near Arena. We were there to explore and get some exercise. The creek’s sound beckons you to get closer as it ripples over rock barriers. The ripples were less noticeable as the water level in the creek was high from the snow melt. That time of day, the sun caused a twinkling effect as the water fell to the next level.

   

    Between the path and its banks are the

remains of prairie plants, both native and

invasive; soon they'll become wind and 

winter-worn. Today the sun caught the 

golden beauty of the seedheads of the grasses.

Most of the trail is a distance from the creek

but along the way there are side areas where 

you can wander close. 

  Some have signage telling of the role the creek 

played in the early development of the area, 

but they all have Leopold benches. 

Here in the summer you could sit and read or 

just experience the sights and sounds. 

   Earlier in the fall (as well in the spring) this would be a great stopping spot for migrating birds. 

Off in the darkness of the other bank we could 

hear the chickadees announcing that they had 

found a sunny warm spot or a food source.

   We then reached a place where the creek took a sharp bend; here there was a picnic table with a roof over it and a couple of benches. The signage at this point explained about the cement walls across the way. It's the remains of the dam that once created Lake Marion. Here we saw another cold weather adventurist with two dogs taking a break. We both love dogs so we decided to greet them. We yelled that we wanted to see the dogs, so soon they were loose and headed our way, one with a rotting stick in its mouth for us to toss. Their owner had grown up in Mazomanie so he shared some of his memories of childhood fishing trips to the creek and now absent lake.

      From here the well-groomed gravel path winds out of our eyesight. This is where on previous trips I turned around back to the car. A few days before I had been told that a new covered bridge had been built across the creek closer to the Wisconsin Heights High School so that needed to be checked out. Just around the next bend the bridge and the school could be seen not all that far away. I had no idea I was that close to the end on the other hikes.The bridge is a delightful way to cross the creek, but there was only the stubble of a corn field on the other side. (Since we were there I've been told this field is going to be restored to prairie.) The bridge was donated by John Wick in memory of his wife Helen. We continued on until we reached an icy snow covered bridge; we were within shouting distance of the school, so we turned around. The sun was setting and now we were walking into the wind so it was time to finish this adventure.

     The Wolf Run Trail runs two miles from Mazomanie to the Wisconsin Heights High School following Black Earth Creek. This part of the trail is being developed by a partnership of government and private groups (two of which are the Wolf and Wick families). Plans are that the trail will one day follow the creek and Highway 14 to an area near the airport in Middleton. This 18-mile trail will be known as the Good Neighbor Trail. In the future there are hopes that the trail will connect to the proposed Great Sauk Trail to Devils Lake State Park. The creek flows between steep slopes forming a valley floor that shelters family farms, wetlands and oak savannas. The trail is open to bicycles in the summer, and snowmobiles are allowed in the winter. The entire trail is on a level plain, making for easy walking and perhaps short trips from the parking lot with a wheel chair.

    I think I will try out my new snowshoes there some day after a fresh snowfall. I think I'll also return some summer day with companions and bicycles.

Back again !

This sharp-shinned hawk has been visiting my backyard in the winter  
for about the last five years.
It's sad to see a pile of feathers every now and than but that’s nature’s way.

Pristine Trail

   Later yesterday afternoon I dressed for a hike.
Just by crossing the road I can connect to several beautiful paths.
I found this one too picture perfect so I turned around
and went the other way.