Category: Door to Nature
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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 […]
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Birdwatchers are familiar with the great variety of small songbirds that visit feeders and bird baths, but other nesting species here in northeastern Wisconsin are rarely seen. One of these is the black-crowned night-heron. This species usually breeds on the islands surrounding Door County or in dense marshes along the shores and appears mainly at […]
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Door to Nature: Winter Birds of Prey
The winter avian landscape is usually much quieter than the summer breeding season. Bird activity during the winter is mainly to find enough food and seek shelter from predators. With few insects available to eat, it’s important to provide seeds and suet for both the bird visitors from the north and the year-round residents such […]
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Door to Nature: Royal Fall Wildflowers
The exciting array of showy wildflowers that decorates northeast Wisconsin’s country landscape in all directions might be called the “royal purple and gold” of autumn. One of my absolute favorites is the New England aster, which is in peak bloom by late September. Asters — sturdier and more successful than most wildflowers — are in […]
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DOOR TO NATURE: Chanterelle Mushrooms
The best time to find a great variety of wild mushrooms is autumn. That’s because fungi increase their development as the growing season for all plants comes to an end. A few species have an earlier fruiting time, however. May is the best month for morels, and July is usually the prime month for seeking […]
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Door to Nature: ‘Mosquito Hawks’
Dragonflies are fearsome insect predators and dazzling fliers The summer skies over most wetlands can be laced with rapidly flying creatures that are difficult to identify. These are dragonflies that feed on many small, flying insects. You cannot easily determine their identity unless they come to rest on a plant or object near you. Dragonflies […]
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DOOR TO NATURE: Flags and Irises
Flag Day is June 14, and many American flags fly all over the country on Independence Day. This is also the time of year when you can find beautiful natural flags – in the form of the blue flag iris – blooming in many wetlands. This tall, native flower inhabits quiet waters such as small streams, shallow […]
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This family of common wild and domestic plants is easy to identify because typical flowers are in parts of three or six, and the leaves are parallel veined. One of the most well known is the giant trillium of spring deciduous woodlands. This is the only flower in the group that does not have tepals. […]
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DOOR TO NATURE: An Uncommon Common Merganser
Charlotte Lukes retrieved this story from Roy Lukes’ 2009 Peninsula Pulse files to honor the late Chick Peterson of Ephraim. June is usually the prime time for young birds to be leaving their nests. There are about 85 bird species in North America that use cavities – either holes in trees or human-made nest boxes […]
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Door to Nature: Fledgling Birds
June is the month when most songbirds are mated and females are in their nests, incubating eggs. Males sing from trees nearby, encouraging their mates to be successful at hatching the eggs and remaining vigilant for predators. During the 1970s, my late husband, Roy, and I used to conduct a breeding-bird survey for the federal […]
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Have you ever heard of the Bluebird of Happiness? Every time I see a bluebird, it makes me happy. Most people have never seen one close up, but if you maintain and monitor a bluebird trail, you know the joy of seeing these birds using your nest boxes. “The Bluebird of Happiness” is a song […]
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DOOR TO NATURE: Help Native Birds Survive
There are many people who enjoy birdwatching and feeding songbirds that nest in our area. It is important to keep your feeders and bird baths clean and refreshed daily. The bird flu that has devastated many poultry farms does not appear to affect small songbirds. There has been evidence of larger birds like bald eagles […]
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Door to Nature: The Mimics of the Bird World
Spring is when we look forward to returning songbirds and revel in the males’ territorial music as they claim nesting areas and try to attract females. The sandhill cranes can be heard from more than a quarter mile away if conditions are favorable. Smaller songbirds require less territory and are not as loud. Black-capped chickadees, […]
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DOOR TO NATURE: The Blackbird Family
Blackbirds are not appealing to the average birder. They are considered a nuisance, especially if you approach their nest sites. The male flies at you with his sharp claws and beak to drive you away. We used to have red-winged blackbirds dominate our bird feeders and prevent access by other birds. Their piercing calls were […]
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Many years ago, March was the month when my late husband, Roy, and I would anticipate the return of flocks of whistling swans as they migrated back north from their wintering sites along the Chesapeake Bay. You may remember that the name “whistling swan” was changed to “tundra swan” sometime during the early 1980s. I […]
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DOOR TO NATURE: My Winter Bird Feeders
I have six feeding stations in the front yard that are getting lots of activity now that the land is snow covered and the air is cold. The feeders offer black-oil sunflower seeds, hulled sunflower seeds, dried cracked corn, millet seeds, shelled peanuts, suet cakes and marvel meal. The view from my second floor allows […]
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DOOR TO NATURE: Hare and Rabbits
Each day, a little after sunset, a large cottontail scampers across the front of my house and down the brick path to the bird feeders. It eats the fallen seeds and scattered cracked corn after all the squirrels and birds have gone to their nighttime roosts. We are familiar with the cottontail, which is very […]
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Door to Nature: Icy Winter Affects Wildlife
This strange winter weather of the past month has made finding food difficult for the local squirrel population. December brought 20 inches of snow to my upland hardwood area. The first 16 inches melted back to bare ground, and then the last few inches were covered by freezing rain. The ice-covered ground makes it hard […]
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Door to Nature: Christmas Bird Counts
Every year, the National Audubon Society runs Christmas bird counts: citizen-science events that take place throughout the North American continent. Each is a 24-hour effort on one chosen day from Dec. 14 to Jan. 5. The two counts that I organize are for the Sturgeon Bay circle and the Southern Door circle, which is called […]
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Door to Nature: The Holly and Mistletoe Season
Now is the time for Christmas decorations and traditions. Holiday songs express the joys of seeing holly berries and their dark-green leaves, and kissing under the mistletoe. The popularity of these two plants goes way back to olden days in northern Europe. The green leaves and red berries of holly offered a reminder of living […]