Avian Ecologist

Indian skipper week!

As prior mentioned, I “deconstructed” the histograms on Mike’s site to list species by their peak occurrence dates. This is mostly to help me, as I’m learning butterflies, to know what’s occurring here when.

Brule Bog Trail

Today, we walked the boardwalks of the north country trail!

Mercury!

On our way home from exploring the outdoors tonight, we saw Mercury! I’ve always wanted to see this planet. It was a tiny sparkle just below Venus. We watched as it sank below the horizon around 10 PM.

Billings Park

Today, we walked the trail out to Girl Scout point and 2nd point road.

Soo Line

Tonight, we walked the Soo Line from the Hwy 65 intersection north for a bit before turning back.

Park Point Nature Trail

We walked to the “infrastructure” past the pine forest today before turning back.

Willard Munger Trailhead

This evening, we parked near the intersection of Pulaski St. and Bayhill to walk the trail. We walked a bit west and took a side trail to cut over to Bayhill. From there, we walked past the water treatment facility until we got to a bay overlook. We spotted a beaver lodge! Then, we walked […]

May Wildflowers – WI (Partially Adapted)

It’s National Wildflower Week! Check out the list of this month’s blooms and plan what you’ll try to see! shade Calypso orchid coralroot Striped Early Pod-grass Slender yellow-eyed grass iris Yellow water blue-eyed grass Prairie Mountain Three-leaved false Solomon’s-seal Meadow garlic Indian cucumber root Fringed milkwort Seneca snakeroot False mermaid-weed Cleavers bedstraw Muskroot Greater celandine […]

Rare Birds of St. Louis Co., MN – May

Clark’s grebe long-billed curlew pomarine jaeger McCown’s longspur Scott’s oriole

WI Rare Birds – 1st Week May

At the end of last month, a yellow rail was found poking around an office building! This is a good reminder that during migration, they can show up anywhere. Historically, black rails have been recorded this time of year in the state too. In the 70’s there were intriguing records of black-throated sparrow and Baird’s […]