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In: Embark Support Employment, ervatory, everyone can bird, Friends of the Lake Superior Reserve, Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory, Minnesota Land Trust, World Migratory Bird Day

All are invited to attend the last in a series of three events designed for birders of all skills and abilities. Join “Everyone Can Bird: World Migratory Bird Day,” 9:30-11:30 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 14, at. Hawk Ridge in Duluth.

Designed with accessibility in mind, the event will provide American Sign Language interpretation, stationary birding options, binoculars and spotting scopes for use. Expert birding guides will lead discussion and aid observation. The Friends of the Lake Superior Reserve, Hawk Ridge, Lake Superior Reserve, Wisconsin Sea Grant, Embark Support Employment and the Minnesota Land Trust sponsor the “Everyone Can Bird” series.

Birders practicing their craft on World Migratory Bird Day a few years ago. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Free transportation is available, departing from the Superior Public Library (530 Tower Ave.) at 9 a.m. People driving themselves should access Hawk Ridge on East Skyline Parkway from Glenwood Ave. and continue past the first overlook on the paved road another half mile or so on the gravel road to another overlook. Look for Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory signage and the count platform. Accessible parking is available near the welcome table and Hawk Ridge merchandise trailer. Look for parking guidance via signage.

This event will include an “Eyes on the Skies” educational program from 10-11 a.m. in the outdoor classroom at Hawk Ridge, located up a gravel trail from the bird viewing location along the road. Learn about the history of the fall migration along the tip of Lake Superior and how to identify common raptors. In bad weather, the “Eyes on the Skies” program will be held indoors at the nearby Lester Amity Ski Chalet. An additional “Eyes on the Skies” program will be held at 11 a.m. outdoors on Hawk Ridge as part of Hawk Ridge’s Duluth Community Day events.

Registration is encouraged but not required. Learn more or register at https://go.wisc.edu/wwi6l1. These activities are designed with access in mind. People who would like to request additional accommodations should email Luciana.Ranelli@wisc.edu or call Luciana at 715-399-4085 at least 10 days before the event.

“Everyone Can Bird” is part of Duluth Community Day at Hawk Ridge. Both programs celebration World Migratory Bird Day, the raptors migrating through Hawk Ridge and people out enjoying nature together. For more on the family activities happening on Oct. 14 from 9:30-11:30 a.m., visit hawkridge.org.

The post Everyone can bird final outing on Oct. 14 first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/everyone-can-bird-final-outing-on-oct-14/

Marie Zhuikov

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In: accessible birding, Ashland County, Bayfield County, Friends of the Lake Superior Reserve, Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory, Kate McCall, Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve, Luciana Ranelli, Magaret Menzies, Mick MacKenzie, Pat Collins, University of Wisconsin Extension, Upham Woods Outdoor Learning Center

Participants of an accessible birding event spot birds on Barker’s Island in Superior, Wisconsin. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Barker’s Island in the Duluth-Superior Harbor was the site of a free, bird-focused morning recently. People of all ages and ability levels attended an accessible birding outing led by experts from the Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory and the Friends of the Lake Superior Reserve.

The group met at the Lake Superior Estuarium on the island in Superior. They were welcomed by Luciana Ranelli, education coordinator for the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve. She explained the three options for learning about birds. First was inside the Estuarium, where staff from the University of Wisconsin-Extension Upham Woods Learning Center had arranged bird artifacts and learning stations. Second was a spotting scope behind the Estuarium staffed by Pat Collins, a volunteer birding expert with the Friends of the Lake Superior Reserve. This was designed for birders with mobility issues or anyone who preferred a more stationary option. The third was a guided tour along the Barker’s Island boardwalk with Margie Menzies, educator director for the Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory in Duluth.

Mick MacKenzie (right) talks birds with Pat Collins. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Superior resident and former city council member Mick MacKenzie recently had hip surgery, so the second station appealed to him. He said he came to the event because he’s “enjoying life. It’s good to be out in nature.”

After discussing the population health of kingfishers in the estuary with Collins, MacKenzie said, “When I was a kid, there was nothing down here on Barker’s Island. We’d come here to explore and play, so all this new development is really something to see: the whaleback and the hotel . . .”

MacKenzie was interrupted by Collins. “There’s a hummingbird right here!” Collins said.

MacKenzie expressed surprise that the birds were still around in September.

“They migrate through starting this time of year,” Collins said. “As long as there are flowers in bloom, they’ll stick around.”

Meanwhile, Menzies’ group got oriented to their binoculars and began their walk on the boardwalk. Sightings of the ubiquitous herring gulls around the island prompted Menzies to discuss a rare bird that steals gulls’ food: the parasitic jaeger. An annual Jaeger Birding Festival is held on nearby Wisconsin Point annually this time of year because it’s a prime time for spotting jaegers during their migration south from the arctic.

Her discussion was interrupted when two pigeons landed on the Estuarium roof. “When you look at birds, particularly from a distance, what do you notice about that bird that helps you think about what it is. What kinds of diagnostic clues can you look at on that bird?” Menzies asked.

Someone mentioned the pigeons’ orange feet.

“Yes, those red-orangey feet are a dead giveaway for pigeons. And a nice chunky body,” Menzies added.

The group moved farther along the boardwalk, following the shoreline of the island to the public beach, which is surrounded by native plants. Along the way, they spotted a turkey vulture, common mergansers, mallards, cormorants and warblers.

Kate McCall (right) and another birder look at cormorants off Barker’s Island. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Kate McCall, a member of the board of directors for the Friends of the Lake Superior Reserve group, said she attended the event because, “This is the stuff I love.” She is interested in making the outdoors more accessible for people of differing abilities and attended an accessibility training session offered by the Reserve previously.

Just one of the things she learned was that cormorants don’t shed water off their backs as easily as other birds after they’ve been diving. “That’s why they’re so clumsy when they fly afterwards,” McCall said. “I always wondered about that. It’s fun to learn more, not just about the habitat of birds, but their patterns of flight, as well. I just really enjoyed it.”

This free event was made possible through the University of Wisconsin–Madison Dean’s Innovation Grant to collaborators from Upham Woods Outdoor Learning Center, the Reserve, Wisconsin Sea Grant, University of Wisconsin-Extension, and Bayfield and Ashland counties.

The post Accessible birding event delivers first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Marie Zhuikov

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In: Elizabeth White, Friends of the Lake Superior Reserve, Ginny Carlton, Manitowoc beach cleanup, Marie Zhuikov, Titus Seilheimer, Wisconsin Point beach cleanup, Yael Gen

Birders on Wisconsin Point look for rare jaegers. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

The third weekend in September is traditionally a time for beach cleanups by communities in the Great Lakes. Volunteers scour beaches and shorelines for trash as part of the International Coastal Cleanup. Our Sea Grant staff members got in the spirit, participating in cleanups spanning across the state, from Wisconsin Point in Lake Superior, to Madison, to Manitowoc on Lake Michigan.

Marie Zhuikov and Russ Maron on Wisconsin Point. Image credit: Russ Maron

The event on Wisconsin Point featured a twist: birding. Besides being a good time to collect trash, this season offers a narrow window for Wisconsin birders to see parasitic jaegers, fast-flying pirates of the water bird world, as they migrate past Wisconsin Point from the arctic tundra to southern climes.

The “parasitic” part of their name comes from their food-stealing habits. They are categorized as “kleptoparasites,” which means they steal food from other seabirds.

The Friends of the Lake Superior Reserve (FOLSR) took advantage of the timing to invite Jaegerfest birders and FOLSR members to cleanup the beach when they weren’t on the lookout for birds.

Science communicator Marie Zhuikov and her husband have attended many beach cleanups in the past, but never one that combined jaeger-watching. On a calm and quiet Saturday morning, they joined the professional birders and their high-powered spotting scopes.

Dried bee balm flowers. Image credit: Yael Gen, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Zhuikov and her husband had better luck finding trash than birds. Alas, no jaegers were to be seen, although many ring-billed and herring gulls floated serenely in the lake. The duo moved to the end of the point and collected two bags of trash from the beach. The most interesting finds? A single Birkenstock sandal and fireworks debris.

Their efforts became even more impressive with the addition of four other bags of garbage plus a car bumper that others had collected and left bagged near the parking lot. All total, their haul weighed 160 pounds!

Their colleagues editor Elizabeth White, educator Ginny Carlton and graphic designer Yael Gen participated in a more botanical cleanup at the Lakeshore Nature Preserve on the Madison campus. They began by collecting seeds from dried bee balm plants. Gen said they pulled the seed heads off and saved them in paper bags. “If you turn one upside down and shake it, the seeds resemble ground pepper,” she said. The seeds will be used for a class and to reseed other areas of the preserve.

Titus Seilheimer and his sons with one of their beach cleanup finds in Manitowoc. Image credit: Amy Seilheimer

Next, they got a workout clearing an invasive buckthorn thicket along the shores of Lake Mendota using loppers and saws.

Fisheries specialist Titus Seilheimer and his family worked on Silver Creek Beach in Manitowoc. “We typically organize two cleanups per year, spring and fall,” Seilheimer said. “We had two other volunteers for our cleanup for a total of six. We removed 68 pounds of trash. That included two tires for most of the weight. We found fairly typical trash with 40 cigarette butts, small pieces of foam and plastic, shotgun shells and wads, bottle caps and plastic bottles.”

Way to go, Sea Grant staff! You cleaned up 228 pounds of trash, plus gobs of unwanted plants and provided seeds for the future. A commendable effort for one morning in September.

The post Sea Grant staff collect commendable beach cleanup haul first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Marie Zhuikov

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In: Friends of the Lake Superior Reserve, Michael K Anderson, Natalie Chin, Superior Municipal Forest

Michael Anderson, Natalie Chin and Friends of the Lake Superior Reserve member Ruben enjoy a hike through the Superior Municipal Forest. Image by Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant.

As we walked across the frozen bay, a dark shape appeared. Nearing, we could see a large chunk of deer hide lying wrinkled in the snow like a rich lady’s carelessly discarded fur coat.

Were we deep in the wilderness? No. We were just a 15-minute drive outside of Superior.

My Sea Grant coworker, Natalie Chin, and I were treated to a tour of the Superior Municipal Forest last week, courtesy of the Friends of the Lake Superior Reserve group and naturalist Mike Anderson.

This green gem offers 4,400 acres of the best remaining example of a boreal forest in Wisconsin and it’s the third largest municipal forest in the country.

Although I’d driven through the forest several times, I’d never had time to actually walk out into it. So, I jumped at the opportunity for this outing, and invited Chin, who is new to the area.

Two trees killed by shoreline erosion on Kimball’s Bay. Image by Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant.

We met in a parking lot for a motorized winter trail. With snowshoes and highwater boots on, we hiked with several other Friends members down the trail to a frozen bay, which Anderson told us was Kimball’s Bay. All was quiet except for the crunching of snow under our boot. We found several old red pines on the shore that had fallen recently, their trunks snapped due to high water levels in the St. Louis River, which caused the shore to erode. The trees leaned and leaned until they could lean no further, and snapped from the extreme physical forces.

Along the way, Anderson described the history of the area. Although the ends of many of the peninsulas that poke into the bay are developed with homes, the municipal forest is preserved from development. Anderson was active in efforts to protect the area. Only cross-county ski trails, hiking trails and a campsite point to human use of the forest.

We trekked across to the other shoreline, passing an ice angler and coyote tracks. Two deer bounded across the ice ahead of us. We clambered up and over another point onto Cedar Bay, which is a narrower inlet. A short walk led us to the dark shape of the slain deer in the snow.

Deer hide in the snow. Image by Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Soon, it was time to return to our cars and the demands of urban life. Reluctantly, we headed back, savoring views of a slanting setting sun and a rising waxing moon.

The Friends of the Lake Superior Reserve hopes to organize more tours come spring. The group acts as ambassadors and supporters for the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve – the same folks in the building where our Sea Grant Lake Superior Field Office is located. They are a nonprofit group of volunteers who love the St. Louis River Estuary and work to highlight its importance to the community.  They even help with the reserve’s science projects sometimes. Find out more about what they do here. If all this sounds interesting to you, consider joining their group. It might give you a whole new perspective.

Besides being a great guide, Anderson is an accomplished nature and event photographer. You can view some of his municipal forest and St. Louis River images here:

Deep fall paddle

St. Louis River

Original Article

Blog – Wisconsin Sea Grant

Blog – Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/a-touch-of-wilderness-near-the-city-the-superior-municipal-forest/

Marie Zhuikov