Phase 2 runs from about 10AM until noon and entails picking prairie seeds which will be dried out later and spread on the conservancy over winter.   Bags will be provided.  Bringing gloves and snips or a knife would be greatly appreciated.

Lastly, around noon, we will offer up free pints of kombucha from Whitewater's very own Kombooch Brewing along with a variety of kringles to try.  Wine and cheese!  Nah.  Naturalists do their own thing...try some interesting combos...what fruit-flavored kringle goes best with berry hibiscus kombucha?

The warm weather encouraged me to slow down this weekend at the conservancy and notice the small stuff. That meant overlooking the sweet clover and wild parsnip and instead dwelling on the dragonflies & damselflies, the bees, Bobolinks and botanical offerings. 
The Bobolinks put on a great Father's Day show. Mom and Dad were huddling with their son when I walked across their path. Son followed Dad, then the two of them carried on a conversation with Mom with the Dad giving the son a vocalization lesson. Pretty awesome.

​Included below is a snippet of the trail cam shots from April at the ABC.  American Wigeons and Gadwalls seemed more abundant than in prior years, both hanging out for more than three weeks.  The snowpocalypse in early April led to some funny photos.  In addition to the Wigeons and Gadwalls, hopefully you will find American White Pelicans, Hooked Mergansers, Ring-Necked Ducks, Northern Shovelers, Green-Winged Teals, Wood Ducks, BOUS's**, Mallards, Canadian Geese, Sandhill Cranes and Big Blue Herons.  Let me know if I've missed anything.  I'm not the best at IDing birds.  Also, the Wilderness trail cam did not have the date correctly set...these were all taken in April of 2018.

**  BOUS's = Beasts of Unusual Size.

The trail cam over the new wildlife blind caught a mink, a coyote and quite a few sandhill cranes in its first week.  Ice is gone (for now) and there were some of my beloved buffleheads along with the early migrating species out over the weekend.   

So before I go plant, there were cranes at the ABC earlier in the week and lots of waterfowl in the large ponds to the east.   Trails are wet, so come prepared with rubber boots.

On to plants...thanks to the advice of my friend Sarah Schultz, we have a draft list of plants, shrubs, trees, etc. of the ABC set up within the Universal FQA Calculator software.  In laypersons, the greater the concentration of high-Cs, the better.  Summary stats are below; full details can be downloaded under the "Flora" tab.

Conservatism-Based Metrics:
Total Mean C:3.4
Native Mean C:4.3
Total FQI:38.9
Native FQI:43.9
Adjusted FQI:38.3
% C value 0:24.4
% C value 1-3:28.2
% C value 4-6:29.8
% C value 7-10:17.6
Native Tree Mean C:2.7
Native Shrub Mean C:3.8
Native Herbaceous Mean C:4.5
Species Richness:
Total Species:131
Native Species:10479.40%
Non-native Species:2720.60%
Species Wetness:
Mean Wetness:-0.4
Native Mean Wetness:-0.9
Physiognomy Metrics:
Tree:118.40%
Shrub:64.60%
Vine:53.80%
Forb:9068.70%
Grass:86.10%
Sedge:107.60%
Rush:00%
Fern:10.80%
Bryophyte:00%

Happy World Wetlands Day!   For a recap of what happened at the ABC in 2017 and some of what is in store in 2018, please click on the link below for a two page newsletter.

New in 2018...in addition to an Instagram presence (#adamconservancy), we are using an app called StriveOn to make an interactive tour of the ABC more interesting.   The software uses GeoFences that provide separate site content on your phone (an audio, some pictures and text) when you get to each of the seven stations or fences in the conservancy.   Walk the Inner Peace trail and you should encounter each "fence".  On the route, here about the source of the mysterious moos in the early morning mist and a bit more about the dilapidated fens on the property.

The links below will (hopefully) take you to Google or Apple's app store to download the StriveOn app Slipstream Technologies.   Once it is loaded, you can search (using the magnifying glass at the bottom) for "Adam Birding Conservancy" to get some basic info.  To take the tour and get the full features, you will need to be on site and walk in the range of the "fences".

Decided to stop "bucking" the trends and moved into the 21st Century...we are now on Instagram - click on the link below and/or post to #adamconservancy.

https://www.instagram.com/adamconservancy/

I was once a wet swamp, but now I'm blind and can see (waterfowl...better anyway).
Thanks to Cody Watson and his students at the Whitewater High School for building a wildlife viewing blind at the ABC in the pond to the right of the dike path by the ABC sign. It is shown in its final form (with privacy shower curtain and pavers) as well as in stages with Cody giving a thumbs up near the end. There's a wood duck box and a muskrat den within fifteen yards of the blind which will make for good viewing next spring.
Thanks again to Cody and thanks to the Whitewater High School for their efforts!