Thanks to Dr. Eric Compas and his student Aidan Biedrzycki for starting a mapping project at the ABC.  Using a drone with a sophisticated camera that records high res film, a detailed aerial map of parts of the Conservancy will help us monitor trends over time in the vegetation.   Thanks Eric and Aidan!

Dr. Bruce Eshelman's students at UW-Whitewater conduct research on small animals at the ABC.   Pictured are some of the dedicated team that are out in the field every day during monitoring season.  They've found voles (M. pennsylvanicus), jumping mice (Zapus hudsonius), birds like warblers and even a least weasel.

A special thanks to Rich Rozelle for blazing some new trails at the ABC.. There's now a route that gets to the woods (and around both sides) and that extends to the fen and up to the drumlin on Findlay Road.  The portion of the path that runs from the dike by the osprey nest to the woods is especially pretty - the tall grasses are mostly absent and the variety of prairie plants is pretty nice.

Another big thanks to Dr. Rhine's Advanced Composition class at UW-Whitewater and to Prairie Enthusiast volunteer Zach Kastern for braving the hot fall weather to pick prairie seeds on September 23rd.  Most excellent!

 Things are springing back after the April burn.  Saw several snapping turtles, bobolinks, Eastern Meadowlarks, perhaps some grasshopper sparrows and a host of emerging plants, some of which are in the slideshow below.  Also a curious creature taken at 3AM in the lower left in the first picture...owl or animal or other?

Thanks to Prairie Enthusiasts Drew, Zach, Elvira, Chris & Sage for helping plant some Cardinal Flower, Butterfly Weed & White Turtlehead on Saturday.   We also pulled some garlic mustard in the woods afterwards before the weather turned on us.  Found some wild leek and some irises and a skull! (photo credits to Zach Kastern)

Tallgrass Restorations did a nice job burning the dry acreage at the ABC on Monday, April 24th.  More pictures are on the Facebook account.

Nothing fancy or phenomenal here...had problems with the trail cams this spring.  Lots of coots, teals, shovelers and wood ducks in picture form.

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.