Category: Door to Nature
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Door to Nature: Thrushes of Door County
The thrush family of songbirds is well represented in Wisconsin and Door County. That term is not usually used, however, when most people talk about the American robin, which is perhaps our most common thrush. These birds are in the scientific family called Turdidae, which includes bluebirds, robins and solitaires, as well as the spotted-breasted […]
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Door to Nature: Fringe Benefits
The term “fringe benefits” means a bonus to your wages or salary. There are three wildflower species in the Baileys Harbor area that have this bonus to their beauty – and perhaps to their utility in attracting pollinators. One that blooms in May in The Ridges Sanctuary and Toft Point State Natural Area is the fringed […]
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Door to Nature: Ascomycetes in the Spring
There are only a few mushrooms worth seeking in the spring woods. The black morel is one that sometimes appears before the yellow or brown morel, and both of these are edible in limited amounts. One year, two friends from Suamico visited, and we picked 16 pounds of yellow morels in one day. We divided […]
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Door to Nature: Frogs and Toads
Late April is when my late husband, Roy, and I used to venture down a trail in The Ridges Sanctuary to listen for the croaking wood frogs in one of the swales. Their calls can be compared to raspy, quacking ducks, or, as Roy used to say, they sound like the old cartoon character Mr. […]
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Door to Nature: Sugar Maple Tree Sap
A favorite slogan of mine is, “May is the month for morel mushrooms.” But now I also like “March is the month for maple syrup.” Friends who live in Sturgeon Bay tap 200 sugar maple (Acer saccharum) trees each year in late winter. The best sap run occurs on sunny days when the temperature rises […]
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Door to Nature: Winter Finches
Spring is an exciting time to go bird-watching. We await the arrival of many species returning from the south in April and May, showing their colorful breeding plumage. Autumn is a rewarding bird-watching season as well, but it’s a more challenging time to identify migrating birds because adults have subdued, post-breeding “attire,” and the immature […]
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I have noticed a female sharp-shinned hawk catching birds in my front yard since last November. I can tell she’s a “sharpie” by the squared-off end of her tail, and by her head, which is smaller than that of a Cooper’s hawk. She is also distinctive in that she has several small patches of white […]
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Door to Nature: Winter Bird Feeding
Forty years ago, when we moved into our new home in the middle of the county – within a large upland hardwood forest with only a few scattered hemlock trees – the habitat was quite different from the Lake Michigan conifer woodland where we had lived previously. Our home was 180 feet higher in elevation and was […]
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Trees and Mushrooms: How Are They Connected
It was in the autumn of 1993 when my late husband, Roy, and I set out on a four-week driving trip to see the mountains and giant trees of the Pacific Northwest. We had both taught classes at The Clearing Folk School in Ellison Bay and were eager to see some of the places that […]
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I watched a male pileated woodpecker carve out a large hole in one of the tall basswood trees south of my front yard. It was big enough for him to get his entire head and neck inside. There were probably some tasty insects hidden there. Birds that are nonmigratory know where to find natural food […]
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Edible and Poisonous Wild Mushrooms
Author’s Note: This article is not meant to encourage anyone to eat wild mushrooms. Ignorance and carelessness are the major reasons why people suffer poisoning and sometimes death. Wild mushrooms have their particular growing season and are dependent on adequate soil moisture to develop. Many mycophagists (people who eat fungi such as mushrooms) know the […]
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Christmas Bird Counts Coming Up
It’s time to begin planning for the annual Christmas bird counts. The Sturgeon Bay count goes on all day, Saturday, Dec. 17, and the Brussels count is all day, Sunday, Dec. 18. People who can identify birds well and maintain feeders may count at their homes if they live within the 15-mile-diameter counting circle. Contact […]
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A local birder reported seeing a single cattle egret in a field in central Northern Door in late October this year. Birders are always on the lookout for unusual species that may be visiting briefly on their southward migration in the fall. When my late husband, Roy, and I lived at The Ridges Sanctuary’s Upper […]
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Door to Nature: Invasive Roadside Shrubs
There are many weedy plants along the roadsides that county workers mow once or twice a summer. This mowing helps to spread the seeds along the shoulders of the roads, so we’ll never be rid of these nonnative plants. Some do provide seeds for migrating birds, however. There are other plants that develop along the […]
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Door to Nature: The Brushfoot Butterflies of Late Summer
I’ve written about birds for many weeks, but now much of the singing and mating have ended. I did hear a crested flycatcher call during my morning walk on Aug. 1, and I also heard an eastern wood-pewee and red-eyed vireo sing, but the other avian residents were quiet. Once the nesting season finishes, most […]