The Daily Bucket is a place where we can post and exchange our observations about the natural happenings in our neighborhoods. Birds, bugs, blossoms and more - each notation is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the natural patterns that are unwinding around us.
Gooseville, WI
May 31, 2012
We paddled into the marsh today, a first for this year. It was a chilly 52 degrees, overcast with wind from the northeast whipped off Lake Michigan in howling gusts. Those conditions called for a shorter, quicker birding trip.
Sheboygan Marsh Wildlife Area
This is the start of active marsh management of the 14,000 acres of pristine glacial lake bed that is 50 feet thick with marl and peat sediments. A Wisconsin gem.
Built for marsh restoration in 1938 by the Federal Works Progress Administration. Thank you FDR and WPA.
Still sleepy from the spring wake up call, fresh greens of broad-leaf cattails dominate the waterways while tamarack hold the high ground. Lines of male red-wing blackbirds lined the waterways on their cattail posts like sentinels. Loud scolds were echoed everywhere as we passed by trying to shelter from the wind.
Geek! Geek! geek geek Geek! Geek! Geek! Geek!
OK, OK, we get it.
Blue flag iris glows in a canvas of green shoots and ominous grey skies.
High ground islands sport tall cottonwoods that make endless drifts of cotton fluff.
The treasure of the day is the red-wing blackbird nest woven snuggly from the brown leftovers of last year with three blue eggs with speckles.
Notes: 1st found RW blackbird nest with eggs. 1st windy cold paddle of the year. Windy conditions makes birding by canoe impossible. Try again later.
What's blooming in your neck of the woods? Who's fledging or just visiting in your backyard? Please drop a note in the bucket.