Thanks to Rich, Steve and Cody for erecting the second blind facing east and to Cody's Whitewater High School class for building the structure.   It makes for excellent shorebirding viewing given the low water levels.

Over 300 pictures of animals in March. The lead shows six river otters playing in the bubbling springs pool. This is a 90 second montage.  Most were equally split between river otters and racoons (daily visitors), but there are a few of coyote, a pheasant, skunk, possum and a weasel.

A dozen ABC'ers tramped the Inner Peace trail on Saturday, February 27th is sunny and pleasant conditions.  The snow was stiff enough to support snowshoes and it worked out well.  Winds and wildlife sightings were modest...most interesting creature was the return of the leucitic sparrow by the parking lot.

The 2020 ABC Newsletter is in the link above.  It offers up the top stories from last year, some pictures and a few insights into 2021.  Enjoy!  Happy World Wetlands Day (actually on February 2nd...the snowstorm on Sunday gave me a jump start).

Two or three white bucks have made the environs around the conservancy their home this year. In Wisconsin, it is illegal to harvest or possess white or albino deer without written permission from the DNR. Hopefully they will survive the winter.
Bill Quackenbush, Ho Chunk's Cultural Resources Division’s Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, was kind enough to provide a detailed description of the Ho Chunk's perspective on these animals.  It is a fascinating and deeply moving read.  Thanks to Bill for taking the time to educate us!  He writes:  

As with most cultures there is a wide array of viewpoints, thoughts and wonderment regarding albino like animals. It suffices to say, they do hold varying amounts of reverence amongst many of the folks I spoke to on this matter.  Case in point: In 1994, a white buffalo calf was born near Janesville, WI. At the time, we were still formally recognized as the Wisconsin Winnebago Business Committee. Owen Mike who was a Ho-Chunk Buffalo Clan member, visited the family and white buffalo calf and he stated the importance of such an animal and the hope it brings to the Ho-Chunk and other ancestral people throughout our region. I believe if you do a search for white buffalo & Janesville & Owen Mike, there are articles of this still online. In part from this, we (Ho-Chunk) established a bison rearing facility located on the Wisconsin River, to bring back to our Nation the bison (Muscoda Bison Ranch). From discussions with Owen, we have our own internal stories regarding the cultural significance of these animals that adorn themselves in white. He showed some of us years ago, a spirit stone that is located at his homestead in the Dells Dam area, and this buffalo shaped spirit stone was there to remind his clan of the many blessings gifted to us by Mauna. I just so happened to be going by there the other day, so I stopped in and reflected upon this matter some. This reverence towards these white representatives I believe holds true with other types of animals as well.
 
I posed this same question to several Deer Clan members about the white deer these past few weeks, and all had different perspectives on why these albino like deer are to be viewed as having special significance. They all agreed due to the rarity of the animal itself and the oral stories that are associated with clan member names such as Caaskaga (White Deer)(Orville Greendeer – aka 1of4 wisemen) – (Clayton Winneshiek), well the sight of a white deer often draws one to reflect upon the importance of our four deer clan groups, and the connection to the four directions and such (Carlyle Greendeer). When I asked my Mother of this, she stated each of the for deer families hold their respective clan stories pretty tight, but they serve varying roles that all deer clan abide by. As environmentalists we are to care for our grandmother(earth) and to assure our People are not caught off guard of natural disasters and such. She said that us men should always study the weather and surrounding animals and such and that if anything changes, we are to let everyone one. She then said if we notice a white deer, we should let everyone know so they can go see this if they wish to lay tobacco within site and thank Mauna for bringing us these messengers (Caasuciiga – Ardella Quackenbush). 
The Deer Clan (Ča Hik'ik'árajera) is a small clan of the Lower or Earth Moiety that is strongly allied to the Elk Clan, with whom they have a friendship relation. It is said that "the Deer clan's responsibilities concerned the environment and weather."1 Deer clansmen participate in the spiritual nature of the deer. Since the four limbs of the deer have a mystical unity with the cardinal points, if a Deer clansmen moves his limbs suddenly, he may cause a human being to die. Weeping loudly can have the same effect as well as summoning forth gale force winds. For similar reasons, they must be careful not to sing the clan song too loudly. It goes like this:
I use the cries of the four directions,
I use the cries of the four directions;
I use the cries of the four directions,
I use the cries of the four directions.

​The dead are painted with the same colors and pattern as those of the Elk Clan.

For more information on the elk clan, please visit:

I occasionally see a pair of river otters at the Conservancy.  Caught these two on film on Sunday, August 2nd after scaring off about 25 great egrets by the site that will be the Trumpeter Blind that faces the large body of water to the east.   As I was filming the otters, a weasel ran up the embankment from the water channel to the left, paused to look at me from two feet away, and then dropped into the water on the other side of the embankment.   Two clips here.

Professor Eric Compas took some drone footage of the ABC.  I sliced it up and added some titles for explanation.  Taken in late April and early May, you can see how high the Bark River is from this footage.  Also, with a careful eye, you can make out a yellow-headed blackbird and some other waterfowl when the drone drops closer to ground level.

A few photos from the ABC this spring, most of which are courtesy of Zach Kastern.

Also, the berm is in place for the blind facing east...it is a favorite hangout of the trumpeter swans.   Just need the coronavirus to dissipate before Cody and a few volunteers will help set it up.

The 2019 ABC Newsletter is available under the "About ABC" tab on this website.  Enjoy!