Unseasonably high water resulted in only two Sandhills and no nests on Crane Count Saturday morning.   Friday night offered up the sounds of coyote, chorus frogs, cranes, Canadian Geese and even the occasional cow from several miles away.   Must have been the nearly full moon.    We did see pelicans, a bald eagle and a pair of American Kestrels over the weekend. 

Spring migration has started...several hundred sandhill cranes were on the ABC and the farmer's field to the west on Saturday (3/18/17).  Five tundra or trumpeter swans were packed together in the northwest lake where the Bark River floods in the spring.  Ms. Bridges found 36 species on Thursday (see http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S35223221). 

​Keep your fingers crossed in the hope things warm up and Tallgrass Restorations can do their burn before we get too far into nesting season.

This is the first post in almost six months...time flies, as have the waterfowl who have mostly made their way through in their fall migrations.

On Saturday, December 3rd, about a dozen members of The Prairie Enthusiasts helped cut and apply herbicide to some sandbar willows along the Dike Duck Ponds, spread some prairie seed in the "sandwich prairie" (the land by Findlay Road sandwiched between the two farmettes) and helped create a larger no leaf fly zone for Abe, the baby burr oak pictured at left by chainsawing cherries and other trees in the sunsight of its branches.

Thanks to everyone for their help!

The next update will be a recap on 2016 and a look forward to 2017 on February 2nd (World Wetlands Day).  Stay tuned, and a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you in the interim.

Great invasive pulling conditions on Sunday following the early AM rains.  Cleared the upland prairie area of the flowering wild parsnip and some of the thistles.  Even the five footers came out with roots relatively easily.  For Odonata lovers, there are lots of twelve-spotted skimmer dragonflies around.

Been a while since the last post.  This slideshow includes a picture of the Upland Prairie walk (thanks to neighbor Rich Rozelle), the new signage, photos of the osprey and prothonotary warbler nesting boxes and a few birds, animals and plants.  Enjoy!

Moving into May, the quantity of waterfowl is down but there are still some interesting finds.  Four Trumpeters were in the northeast pond today and a whooping crane has been seen by a few people as well.

A special thanks to members of the Glacial Prairie chapter of the Prairie Enthusiasts (Walter, Dale, Zach, Michelle & Elvira) for helping spray Canada Thistle and Sweet Clover this past Saturday. We uncovered some interesting things, including a clutch of 22 eggs in a pheasants nest below.
Trail cam appears to have snagged an otter in one of a few large holes near the woods.
Birding news...neighbors Rich and Brenda saw 9 yellow-headed blackbirds at their feeder last week.  Zach and I uncovered a pair of chatty bobolinks.  Thanks also to Dan Schneider for the prothonotary warbler boxes.  Three rest along the dyke path by the Bark River.  Osprey nest should be up in a few weeks.

 The 2nd annual Crane Count Campout on 4/15/16 offered excellent weather, a chorus of coyotes and a green meteorite after dusk along with a dozen sandhills and five nests the morning after.  A trail cam on one nest with two eggs provided over 2,300 spectacular pictures.   Every ~45 minutes, the eggs would be rotated and relief came with a second crane only once a day.  Unfortunately, six days in and with the water level having dropped materially, a raccoon raided this nest and destroyed both eggs...probably less than a week away from hatching.  Very sad.

The variety of waterfowl at the ABC is getting better.   A few shots are below...more have been posted to the Fauna page (link up on top)