By Sue Crowley, executive director
What a beautiful morning with just a dusting of snow to blanket the world with a fresh layer to explore tracks and other signs of beings moving about. I savor the absolute clean chill of the cold air as I take the first breaths of the outside air. Although a bit cliché, it is exhilarating and awakening.
I have been watching the pond by the Alyea lookout tower just behind the nature center. The water froze quite beautifully over this winter. I ventured out on the pond this morning and with the first tracks, it is quite exciting to swish away the snow to see what the ice looks like. On my way out, down the small path to east side of the pond, I disrupted about half dozen mourning doves taking refuge among the tangle of alders, twisted willows, red-osier dogwoods, and grasses. Out on the pond the clarity and texture of the ice is quite variable. I was hoping to still see the cool bubbles frozen in place. As luck would have it, I found an intriguing spot with an ash leaflet frozen in the ice as well (picture provided).
The ice bubbles are gas being released either from the water itself as oxygen or they may also be formed by the work of decomposers giving off methane. Also, consider that aquatic plants will release oxygen as well. I am not schooled enough to know if you can tell the difference between the two, oxygen or methane bubbles.
If you think about ice cubes in our freezers, most of us do not have crystal clear ice. The ice cubes tend to freeze from the top down thus pushing the gas toward the bottom or center and forming more cloudy or opaque cubes. Apparently, my cubes at home have a lot of gases to work with as you can see from the photo. The gas will coalesce and freeze, making the cubes opaque. I read about putting some water in a small cooler and freezing it. The top part will freeze clear free of bubbles and there should still be some liquid water in the bottom of the cooler. Pull out the top ice and you have crystal clear ice. I might just test this out this weekend.
Other variations come into play when there is a plant sticking out of the water and there appears to be ice ripples formed outward from the stem. So, whether you check out your ice cubes at home or get outside and explore the frozen waters of winter, just know that those ice bubbles were trying to escape and were being pushed down by the ice. The bubbles or ripples in a pond or wetland are interesting and beautiful to see the variety of different shapes and formations- nature’s abstract art!
Photos by Sue Crowley
By Kennedy Zittel, naturalist
Many people look forward to what bird will be the first bird they see in the new year. I eagerly anticipate seeing what bird will begin my new yearly bird list, giggling at how it usually is a junco or chickadee. There isn’t anything wrong with a sweet junco or feisty chickadee (they are my favorite songbird), but I always hope that one year it will be something different.
This year, I was busy on New Year’s Day, spending most of it helping to bring home an old, barely-working bus (long story) for my project-inclined boyfriend. It wasn’t until halfway through the day, as we were driving back, that I glanced out the window and saw 12 crows in a farm field. My exclamation of “My first birds of the year!” was met with a jump and a confused gaze until I explained how people try to note what bird they saw first each year. I was lucky enough to start 2025 with a large group of crows… a murder! That certainly is something different!
American Crows can be found in many different places – forests, fields, and along roadsides to name a few. They are opportunistic feeders… they will eat almost anything! They will eat things like seeds, fruit, insects, earthworms, small animals, and carrion (dead animals).
Crows are very social birds. During the warmer months, crows will stick together with their family; a family unit can be made of up to 5 generations. Last year’s nestlings will stick around and help their parents raise the new chicks, tend to the nest, and even bring their mother food while she sits there. During winter, crows will gather in large numbers to sleep in communal roosts.
They are considered one of the most intelligent non-primate species on Earth, some scientists compare their intelligence to that of a 7-year-old human. Crows can solve puzzles, use tools, and even remember faces.
I am very excited to have the crow as my first bird of the year, maybe it is a sign of the year to come… traveling to see more places, spending time with family, maybe even remembering faces better – certainly not changing my diet to eat what they do –ha!
What was the first bird you saw this year?
Photo: American crow from Cornell, All About Birds
Ripples by Nancy Nabak, communication coordinator
The air was black, chilled to a nice 41 degrees, and silent. So incredibly silent. But my friend and I were grateful to be one with nature while participating in the annual Christmas Bird Count.
We were looking and listening for owls in a semi-rural area.
The evening was still, but more than that. You know that type of still where the silence is almost deafening? It was that still. But we were also gifted the cusp of a full moon – so bright that everything was perfectly visible before us.
We marveled at its power, its ability to freeze us in place, leaving us staring into the night sky and pondering… Our special moon was a Cold Moon. A Cold Moon only happens every 18.6 years – when it reaches the extremes of its orbit around the earth. The moon rises and sets at its most northerly and southerly positions on the horizon. (Thank you, Dr. Hensley, UW-Platteville!)
This majestic orb also had a glowing halo. The halo you sometimes see is an optical illusion caused by the refraction of moonlight through ice crystals in the clouds.
It was a silent night. The wish of an owl was unheard, yet it was a holy night.
The next morning, we walked through the stills of a frosted forest and prairie. We counted American Tree Sparrows, Dark-eyed juncos, a few types of woodpeckers – the usual birds found here in winter. Two Red-tailed hawks were screeching at each other – one landing near the other in a tree. During courtship, it’s common that these two will call-back with each other, so there’s a good chance that we discovered a “couple.”
What we stumbled upon next was completely unexpected. We found 4 or 5 holes in the ground about the size of a baseball and some a bit bigger. The site was stunning, as it had brilliant crystals surrounding the perimeter of the holes. My buddy said, “Oh, I know what that is. A little critter in there caused this with his breath.”
There was a pond not too far away from these holes, so we did some research to figure out what it could be. The best guess we have is a mink. Mink can have dens up to 12 feet long with multiple exits. They also like to be near ponds and shorelines for fishing. Regardless of what animal caused this frozen phenomenon, it was pure art.
During this season of magic, go out where you haven’t in some time. Mark your calendar for the next full moon and really witness it. Use the birds as an excuse but take in the awe from the heavens to the earth.
photo – Nancy Nabak
By Sue Crowley, executive director
“Deck the hall with boughs of holly… Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la! “
American Holly and European or English Holly have such beautiful and rich green colors with the bright red berries to add holiday flair. Hollies are scientifically found in the genus, Ilex, with American Holly named Ilex opaca and English Holly dubbed Ilex aquifolium. These plants are broadleaf evergreens with white flowers that have green centers. As the flowers mature in the growing season they give way to the iconic red berries. The evergreen leaves are replaced roughly every three years. Holly plants are either male or female (dioecious =having two houses) and the male pollen needs to fertilize the female plants where the berries are produced. And guess what, the berries are technically not berries but drupes. A berry is defined as a fleshy, simple fruit without a stone or a core. A drupe is defined as a fleshy simple fruit with a central stone containing the seed. Other examples of drupes are cherries and peaches. I won’t go any further on the drupe and berry explanations because then that leads us into discussions such as… did you know that bananas are berries.
The cultural histories of these two plants are quite interesting. They were used in winter celebrations, and Druids brought branches into their homes to protect against winter maladies. Holly has also been used as a protector against evil. And while it is completely acceptable to prune branches from these trees and shrubs, much like Hawthorne trees, cutting the whole tree down may bring bad luck! It was only much later that Christians morphed the tales of holly and used them in the holiday season.
Of note, however, the American Holly’s range is primarily in southeastern United States, with some areas found on the northeast coasts. The English Holly is now grown commercially in the Pacific Northwest and Northern California. Wisconsin is the home to Ilex verticillium better known as Winterberry. This plant is not an evergreen broadleaf, as the plants noted above are. So, it does not get the holiday attention that the other hollies do. However, it does produce wonderful red berries-yes technically drupes, that provide lovely winter color, as well as forage for many birds. It also has male and female plants. The plants must be 3 to 5 years old before we can determine the sex of an individual plant. The one- and one-half inch to four-inch-long leaves are deciduous and not thick, leathery or spiney as the favored Holiday Hollies. The fruits are poisonous to humans, but the drupes are eaten by Cedar Waxwings, Gray Catbirds, Brown Thrashers and White Throated Sparrows, to name just a few. The berries tend to soften up as the winter season progresses.
Winterberry shrubs grow from 5 to 15 feet tall. The dense branches grow in a zig-zag pattern. They populate wet or boggy areas and can tolerate a fair bit of shade. They are found in the Woodland Dunes’ swales and ridges complex.
So, as you celebrate the season, be mindful of the beautiful hollies that may be protecting you from some evil and bad vibes or perhaps feeding the hungry birds!
Oh yeah and Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la!
By Jessica Johnsrud, education coordinator
A few weeks ago, I was walking outside just after dusk when I heard a loud series of hoots. It was the stereotypical owl song heard in the movies – the call of the Great Horned Owl. I stopped to listen, and the next time the owl sang, a second chimed in. I could tell the owls were sitting near each other and were likely a pair.
Great Horned Owls are the earliest nesting birds in Wisconsin, so it isn’t unusual to hear them this time of year. In late fall and early winter, a pair will sit perched together near the top of a tall tree, building, or even an antenna. The male’s song is deeper than the female’s, but she is the larger of the two. This is true for most hawks, owls, and eagles.
The owls I heard were perched near the top of an evergreen tree. I listened to them hoot, one immediately after the other. After a few rounds, I then heard a third Great Horned Owl. This individual was only a few blocks away and hooted a few seconds after the pair. I wonder if this was another potential suitor? The third owl only sang a few times and then stopped, perhaps moving on.
In previous winters, I have also heard and even spotted a Screech Owl in the neighborhood. It was sitting on a low branch singing its whiny trill that reminds me of a horse’s neigh. The Screech Owl is significantly smaller than the Great Horned Owl and eats worms, large insects, mice, and larger prey like squirrels and rabbits. It’s interesting that both owl species co-exist in the same area, given that Great Horned Owls will eat Screech Owls. The neighborhood does have plenty of rabbits, squirrels, and mice, so I imagine that helps keep the peace.
Both of these owl species have similar tactics for attracting a mate. The males may offer the females a gift of food, and courtship rituals also involve dancing like tail bobbing, bowing, and head jerking. The pair may also preen (groom) each other and rub their beaks together.
Listening for owls is one bright spot in the darker days of winter. With the sun setting well before 5:00pm, it’s easy to take a short walk outside after work. Bundle up and keep your ears open.
Photo: Great Horned Owl by Jessica Johnsrud