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Date: April 21, 2008 Locality: 1) Buena Vista Grassland, Portage and Adams counties, WI. 2) Aldo Leopold Foundation, Baraboo, WI Camera Equipment: Canon Digital Rebel, Nikon CoolPix L3, Canon 28-105 3.5-4.5 II USM lens, Canon 100-400 IS Lens, Canon EW-63II Lens Hood
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"Old Yellow legs" Tympanuchus cupido pinnatus Monica and I met up with Ashly, a grad student thats working on Greater Prairie Chickens in central Wisconsin at 4:30 am. The location is a DNR field station called "the shed." |
"broadtail" Got to the booming grounds at around 5:40 am, after a 1/2 mile walk in a pasture. |
"square tail" Living the dream. After Jerry showed me the first Attwater's Prairie Chickens during a "interview" at the Houston Zoo in feburary 2005, I dreamed of one day seeing booming in action. |
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"brown prairie chicken" When I was in Texas, I even thought about taking a trip to see Lesser P-chickens in the panhandles. That never worked out, or did going to boom sites at the NWR or Texas city. |
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"foolhen" The first time I knew this species existed was during a ornithology class field trip to Attwater Prairie Chicken NWR. Saw mounted specimens. |
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"bar-breasted grouse" |
"the kettledrummer" Notice the hen with the radio transmitter. |
"the boomer" |
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"heath hen" The start booming when its still dark, right before there is light, you seem them start to run around at the Booming grounds. |
"prairie hen" |
"wild chicken" |
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"prairie chicken" Ashly, the UW grad student, is trying to capture female prairie chickens with drift fences. He really wanted this one. |
Boomer If Eastern Collared Lizards are the Mountain Boomer, then this is the Prairie Boomer. |
Kettle Drum of Love |
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We lifted up the blind, the chickens flew away. Within 10 seconds, they were out of sight. |
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Monica & the chicken. So, the grad student on this project took blood and banded this male Greater Prairie Chicken. We caught two, but one escaped. BTW, the sky in this picture is from Big Bend National Park, god bless Photoshop. |
P-chicken toes. Not a great job at focusing. |
Area surrounding the Lekking site. Ashly says that this site is one of the largest ones around, with 25 males. It's on a private piece of land, the farmer is paying the penty and taking this land off CPR next year. It is going to be growing potatos. Just great.... |
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Area surrounding the Lekking site. During our drive home, we saw Trumpter Swans, Rough-legged Hawks and lots of roadkill. Including a roadhit racoon curled up on side of the road, leg still twitching. Should I let it die in peace? Should I stress it more and try to get it to a vet...as I drove on, the decision was made. What's the fate of wildlife in this world? Paradise Lost has turned into Habitat Loss. |
The Leopold Foundation The Aldo Leopold Legacy Center, with all of the land ethics. Notice all the solar panels on top of the roof. They provide 110% of the energy needed for this building, all of which goes into the grid and the energy company cuts them a check. |
Waterless Urinal! Saw one of these at Big Bend National Park too! Every place needs one! |
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Rodents North American Porcupine and Beaver. Still working to add the latter to my lifelist. |
The Shack I only knew of it in black and white before this day. |
The Shack With a Leopold bench in front. One of the guys made a joke making sure not to making a Leopold bench out of materials from Home Depot. |
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Entering the Shack |
BOP Perch A bird of prey perch in the Shack. I think Dr. Temple said it was for Carl (who had a hawk) and Estella, who had a crow. |
Table The main table in the shack, where it supported many great writings from many different people. Including lots of conservation papers about cranes. Curt tells a nice story about when Dr. Archibald & his crane from ICF meet Nina Leopold, her husband and their dog on a walk. Dr. Archibald says something in the nature of "make sure your dog don't hurt my crane!" I wish I was there to see. |
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Little Brown Bat Myotis lucifugus Remember reading about this species in Pond Life (A Golden Nature Guide) as a kid, now I see it in the flesh. Hanging out in the shack. |
Painted Turtle Painted turtle shell. Moving to Wisconsin has reunited me with the turtle of my childhood. |
Female map turtle shell. A female map turtle shell (pretty sure). Turtles, in the shack. In the UW Wildlife Ecology library, I found Leopold's copy of Field Book of Snakes of the United States and Canada (published 1941). It's well know that Handbook of Birds of Eastern North America by Frank M. Chapman is Aldo's first field guide, the Field Book of Snakes, could be his last one. I need to do more research. |
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Outside Jen (from ALF), Dr. Temple and Ryan, checking out the landscape. Later, one of the student reminds us, what happened 60 years ago on this day: Aldo Leopold died of a heart attack while fighting a wild fire. The day is also John Muir's birthday. Ironic. |
Gray Treefrog One of the guys IDed the call as Gray Treefrog. I love herps! Herp ethic, an extension of land ethic. So today, started the day at "the shed," and ended at "the shack." Not a bad day's work. |
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