Solstice Schmolstice. Pfft.

every year on this date, i have endure the mystical solstice fluff-talk of those who fancy themselves naturey spirits talk. WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL? it's a day, the longest day, incrementally small in its magnitude when one considers the length of daylight leading to and from it.

a lonely wilted bouquet from another prairie a few nights ago

the lexical concept humans attribute to this day was absent from my cognition as stood out in a prairies and oak savannahs of the Southern Kettle Moraine this eve. i was surrounded by Whip-poor-wills, in stereo...and out of sync, the singular Chuck-will's-widow calling up the hill and the occasional interjection of a nocturnal Field Sparrow or Wood Thrush. at least one American Woodcock was still flight displaying, though no peents were heard. sounds traveled to and from my ears, periodically pulled in by my cupped hands.

 

i gazed across the serene fields where lightening bugs twinkled like eyes closing in around me. above the moon was joined by Jupiter with its four visible moons and Venus to its side appearing partially obstructed. this celestial production was punctuated by a single falling star in the remains of the dwindling twilight.

sensory awe? yes. mystical? no.

i simply gravitated toward this place close the day in darkness and light.

   ~~~~~~~~~~

"aug-aug-aug" calls and wing claps of Chuck

Metaphors

I've been kicking this one around between my ears for a couple weeks.

METAPHORS for ...???

• Black and Blue: The Black-throated Blue Warbler is much more desired than a psyche that feels "black and blue." Up on Mission Hill near Brimley, Michigan one can look down across the treetops to behold these beauties singing at eye level with the vista of Spectacle and Monocle Lakes and the greatest lake of all, Lake Superior, as the background

• In the Shadows: This female Spruce Grouse is looking mighty plump. I suspect she's got some babes in her belly. She works the shadows quite eloquently. Having spent 30+ years navigating the maze of two tracks in Luce and Chippewa Counties in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, I've become fairly adept at finding this species. Though the Duck Lake fire certainly took its toll on a few haunts where I historically had found this species.

• Curled Up and Dying: Rain on foliage always strikes me as poetically sad and yet beautiful, doubly so on this corpse leaf.

• Dead But Still Standing: I lobbied to save this old white pine after the fire at our cabin. Sadly it started showing signs of its demise last summer. Now it is all but dead, poised majestically, naked, while its insides are being gutted by beetles. Soon it will be felled and swallowed by the lake.

• Stuck in a Web: Or maybe in the case of these water droplets, cushioned by a web. 

Tuesday's Trifecta

It appears spring migration and the stress of living finally caught up with me. As I write, I'm in the throes of a nasty summer cold. I began to sense a virus attempting to invade my system on the heels of my second near-24 hour birding big day in a 12 day span. However it was life's ugly unpleasantries that finally broke the camel's back earlier this week.

Up until Thursday when this bug really started kicking my ass, my summer 2015 cold had not thwarted my efforts to get outside in the consoling arms of Nature. This past Tuesday, I flushed life's shit down the can and went outdoors where Nature convened in a grand trifecta. It was as if Mother Nature was cutting me some slack in allowing me nearly effortless access to the birds and plants I sought to find.

Target one for Tuesday was the Yellow-breasted Chat recently reported at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum. This bird is a rare but regular visitor to southern Wisconsin. Despite a late start to my morning and finding a Cooper's Hawk scattering the passerines upon my arrival, I quickly had the bird in view 20 minutes after my arrival. I wanted to photograph him, but he was perching out of decent reach for my 400mm lens. So I made the trek back to my vehicle to grab my digisoping rig. Unfortunately Mr. Chat decided to make himself scarce when I returned. I finally relocated him by sound at a spot closer to the trail, but for life of me could not get eyes on him. Only when I had muttered "fuck it" and was readying to leave, he suddenly appeared within 30 feet of me. Freeze frame! Target 1 of 3 in the bag.

My next stop was the Mazomanie Dog Training Grounds to try and pick up a Dane County Bell's Vireo. Within less than a quarter mile walk I came upon one singing its burry jumbled warble on a historic territory. I could not get eyes on the bugger, but did record his serenade. Had I not already seen this species in Sauk County this year I would have worked harder to visually locate the bird. I was hoping to get a Dane County Black-billed Cuckoo as a consolation here, but none were detected at what was now 1 p.m. on an 85+ F° day. However I was pleased with the ease in which target 2 of 3 was achieved.

Prairie Fame-flower (Phemeranthus rugospermus) with Hemipenthes sinuosa bee fly,

Following a late lunch at the Spring Green General Store, I headed to the blazing 90+ F° heat of Wisconsin's desert prairie, Spring Green Preserve. My third and final target of the day was the ephemeral late afternoon bloom of Prairie Fame-flower. At the west unit of the preserve I bee-lined up to the oaks where I had seen this species blooming last year. No evidence of the plants were visible. Hmm... I walked further north then retraced my steps back south, then east. By now I was sweating like a whore in church. There was no sane human in sight and no Prairie Fame-flowers either. Damn. Was I going to have to make the much longer hike in the east unit to find this flower? Could I make it without collapsing? More importantly did I have enough time before my ever important drinking engagement with a friend? I pondered these deep questions as I retraced my path back to the car scanning the terrain for all pink flowers. My eyes feasted on many Venus' Looking-glass blooms when suddenly, boom, the brilliant pink of the Prairie Fame-flower was before me in the center of the path. This flower must pack some sweet nectar as it was attracting several ants and a bee-fly to its bloom. Target 3 of 3 for the day was bagged with a bit more work, but as always there were other golden nuggets of sensory delight to occupy my eyes along the way.

Venus' Looking-glass

Though short on time, I decided to make a quick stop at the east unit of Spring Green Preserve where my consolation prizes for the day came in the form of a cooperative male Efferia albibarbis Robberfly with prey and some impressive unknown spider and its egg sack.

With that I was ready to hit the Craftsman Table and Tap for my fourth go at the Pearl St. Dankenstein IIPA. At 9.5% abv this beer is comfortably numbing.

DICK

DICK. That would be the alpha banding code for Dickcissel.

Gotta get it somewhere and so I did on May 27 at Thomson Memorial Prairie, Dane County, Wisconsin. The Dickcissels just started moving into southern Wisconsin in the past week.

How lovely that the oft socially impaired birder has things like DICK to make him/her go "hehe". Or how about "giss," the code for general impression shape and structure that the not-so-sexually-savvy birder pronounces as "jizz" leaving many to wonder why some geek with binoculars is talking about semen in the context of birding.

Yeah birders, they're a weird lot.

Pasqueflower 8

Winter has blown back into Wisconsin, but signs of spring still persist...like the Pasqueflower, one of the earliest spring ephemerals.

My mind is not in some positive fluff and nature mode to utter any profound or witty blogging. In fact my creativity and motivation is stifled to muster any sort of blog worthiness. (Ha! What creativity?) However I feel compelled to get in the saddle and do something...

Pasque Flowers, exquisitely pleasing to my eye, are a favorite harbinger of Wisconsin spring for me. Last year I was tipped off to a location where hundreds of specimens can be seen in the Southern Kettle Moraine State Forest just north of Lake LaGrange. I returned there on Friday to greet the blooms. They were not yet at peak, but impressive still with at least one hundred plants present.

Others report this unique prairie wildflower blooming now at the prairie parcel of Pheasant Branch Conservancy and Walking Iron Park in Dane County. I have also seen a few atop Bald Bluff in the Kettle Moraine Oak Opening State Natural Area (Jefferson County) this year. In years past, I was first introduced to this beauty along the Prairie Trail at Nelson Dewey State Park in Grant County.

The blustery wind and chill is nudging me to stay indoors today despite this being my first "free day" in the last four. It may be a long wait for the sun. Better thicken my skin and brave the outdoor world where something better awaits despite the cold.

Week 10: On the Rails

No, not the bird...

Nothing like my blogging getting derailed by 9 days of photos from birding the Lower Rio Grande Valley during my eighth visit since 2009. I feel bogged down with post-processing bird photos, winter in Wisconsin and the devastation otherwise known as Scott Walker consuming this state,.

Alrighty, so this post isn't really much about birds, but I did get out for a hike yesterday in the Southern Kettle Moraine State Forest. While I was hoping for more birds with temps warming up, the woods were eerily quiet in the afternoon sun. However en route to my destination I did find my FOY Northern Shrike. Not the greatest photo, but one of my favorite Wisconsin winter birds.

While hiking, I opted to travel sans zoom lens so bird photography was a no-go. I predicted the photo ops would be few and indeed I was correct. The only bird I viewed with any photo potential was a Downy Woodpecker. I'm not knocking common, but that species is, well, COMMON.

So instead I traveled with my lightweight Nikon V1 and its 18mm lens taking macro and scenery photos.

It feels good to take in the blue sky and sunshine...

Especially when life feels like this...

Although most plant life remains dormant. I managed to find some interesting holdouts from last season...

Indian Pipe

Now will I ever get around to posting about my Texas birding forays? We shall see...

Week 5 1/2: An exercise in telling time

Sheesh. I'm already behind in trying to briefly chronicle each week of 2015. Add to that, we've barely entered this year and I'm already experiencing confusion with counting up to 4. I noticed my last post from January 29th was titled "Week Three." WRONG. That would be week four. Time is moving in a warped half speed as we plod into February, a generally boring bird month in Wisconsin. Better get hopping on my home projects! Before long, spring will come calling and turning my life upside down.

Snow fall Pheasant Branch Conservancy Feb. 3

January 30th I watched another nice show by the local Short-eared Owls at Jefferson Marsh. There has since been a considerable amount of snow. I wonder if the birds are continuing to hunt the marsh or if they've moved on? Other southern haunts continue to hold this species, so I suspect they may still be in the area. However, at Jefferson Marsh, more snow means snowmobilers using the trail that runs through the marsh, so perhaps the owls have left due to this disturbance.

February 4th I spent a little time gulling at the Kohl's outlot in Johnson Creek, WI. It's on my way home from work and keeps me entertained for birding during the winter doldrums. I finally found some adult Kumlien's Iceland gulls loafing in the field with the usual Herring Gulls.

Glaucous gulls continue to occur in small numbers here as well.

February 5th I found myself at Pheasant Branch Conservancy after my dentist appointment in Middleton. The open water of the springs of the conservancy tend to concentrate what I would consider a nice variety of Wisconsin winter passerines. This American Robin was enjoying a fruity snack on a chilly day.

The Great Horned Owls of the Creek Corridor at Pheasant Branch were also present. One was sunning itself in the opening of this tree cavity while the other sat camouflaged in a nearby cedar. These were my first of the year Great Horned Owls.

With more snow, the field birds of winter have been drawn to the roadsides for easier viewing. Horned Larks and smaller numbers of Lapland Longspurs have been easy to come by while Snow Buntings have thus far been nonexistent this year.

Horned Lark, Jefferson County, WI

I say February is a boring birding month in Wisconsin. I should clarify that statement. Relatively boring appears to be the case in southern Wisconsin. Up in the north the Common Eider continues along with sightings of Red Crossbills, Evening Grosbeaks and Bohemian Waxwings. Two possibly three Northern Hawk Owls continuing in the state and just yesterday a report with a photo of a Boreal Owl emerged from Oneida County! And finally a Gyrfalcon, a nemesis bird for me for certain, was found in Superior this past Monday. It was actually captured by a bander and determined be an old bird originally banded in 2003. Apparently it made annual visits to the grain elevators in Superior through 2007 and has not been seen since until this most recent recapture. A pretty incredible story and a tempting to bird to chase. However for now, I will remain resolved in my promise never to chase a Gyr again.