Many outdoors activities involve teams, small groups and cooperation.
Not now, though. Spread out; don’t crowd one another; it’s no time for group sessions.
But it’s okay to be near flocks and rafts (bluebirds and turkeys), herds (deer and cranes) and skeins and convocations (geese and eagles).
Without nest boxes, it’s anyone’s guess where bluebird populations would be because we see very few of these cavity nesters in natural cavities, trees and other wood structures.
Pasture barbed wire fences used to be held up with wood posts, many made from split oak rails five or six feet long. Bluebirds used the old posts.
The Bluebird Restoration Association of Wisconsin (BRAW) is an affiliate of a national organization, North American Bluebird Society (NABS) and continues to monitor bluebirds fledged (leaving boxes) throughout Wisconsin.
According to Gene Kroupa, one of nine elected officers of BRAW, pointed to a 25% drop in birds fledged in 2019 compared to 2018, due in part to cold spring weather, which delayed nesting, destroyed some eggs laid and starved some birds.
In addition, tree swallows, chickadees, and house wren fledglings also decreased and so did the number of bird boxes members monitored.
In 2018 BRAW’s 3,899 boxes were monitored statewide, while 3,210 were watched in 2019, an 18% drop.
“Our trail people (birders who monitor a series of boxes) are aging out,” Director Kroupa said. “About 50% of the boxes are occupied by bluebirds, but some were taken by sparrows, swallows, chickadees and wrens.”
Of those boxes monitored, an average of 2.4 birds fledged per box, according to Kroupa.
BRAW continues to recruit new members, board members, and trail people. Sometime those are all the same people.
“Some have as few as one or two boxes, others have hundreds,” he said. “Sometimes there are existing trails with boxes that need a new monitor, too.”
BRAW had five monitors in Columbia County, 36 in Dane, 11 in La Crosse, four in Lafayette, two in Green, 18 in Portage, and six in Sauk. Fifty-three of Wisconsin’s 72 counties have monitored nest box trails.
Individuals interested in bluebirds, boxes, trails, monitoring, and box maintenance can contact BRAW at
webmaster@braw.org.
Wisconsin’s youth turkey hunt is April 11-12, followed by Period A of the regular season beginning April 15. Period F closes May 26. Each period runs Wednesday through Tuesday.
Sale of spring turkey bonus authorizations continues until the season closes, cost is $10 and $15 for residents and nonresidents.
Applications (residents only) for the 2020 Wisconsin elk hunting season closes May 31; the fee is $10.
Most public lands, parks and forests continue to be open to users during the COVID-19 drawdown. DNR Secretary Preston Cole emphasized that, “The DNR is committed to providing a safe environment for our visitors (public lands) to enjoy, while protecting the health of our staff.”
Expectations are high that many residents will take advantage of gathering from Wisconsin’s long list of opportunities, be it a hike on a trail, photo session, eagle nest observation, trout breakfast, morels for a Mother’s Day gift, or bike ride on a wilderness route.
The pandemic is bringing folks outdoors for safe recreation.
Now is the deadline to crack and pick last fall’s shagbark hickory nuts, or locate trees for gathering this October. Did you know syrup can be made from shagbark hickory bark flavoring?
All recreational licenses expire March 31. Renewals are now on sale.
Spring is showing with the return of many bird species and easy observations in deciduous forests of those who remained during winter.
Deer and turkeys, squirrels, too, continue to visit harvested crop fields and those that were left standing during. Most wildlife made it through the winter season in good condition, but a few diseased and weathered animals didn’t.
A few green sprouts are showing, including skunk cabbage, holdover garlic mustard, yard grasses, leafing out watercress, and evergreen mosses and ferns. Pussy willow catkins, some shrubs showing only pollen flowers, others seed-producing structures, are now blooming. No water needed to keep them fresh-looking indoors.
The influx of outdoors users has started with double the usual number of fly-fishers on streams during the continuing catch and release season, ending May 1. The regular season opens the next day.
— Jerry Davis is an Argyle native and a freelance writer who lives in Barneveld. He can be reached at sivadjam@mhtc.net or at 608-924-1112.
