A wave of warblers have made their way into the Brule area. Black-throated green, northern perula, yellow-rumped, pine, black-and-white, and Nashville warblers have been sighted or heard. Also back are the ovenbirds, grasshopper sparrows, brown thrashers and rose-breasted grosbeaks.
Spring flowers are starting to liven up the landscape now. Trailing arbutus, wood anemone, wild strawberry, purple violets, round-lobed hepatica, bloodroot, and marsh marigolds are blooming. June berry, chokecherry, pin cherry, and sugar maples, oak and white birch are also flowering. Tamarack tree needles are starting their spring growth, as the needles were shed last fall. Fern fiddleheads are starting to emerge from the forest floor.
Toads and wood frogs have been very vocal on the warm nights ... and so have the mosquitoes.
- With bears becoming more active, the spring calving season, and crops coming up the number of animal nuisance complaints are picking up. For wolf, bear, and migratory bird complaints call the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Wildlife Services at 1-800-228-1368 or (715) 369-5221 for the northern half of Wisconsin. Make sure to leave a message with them, they are very good about calling back.
- There will be a Brule Archery Club meeting and work day on today (Saturday). Bring some rakes and shovels and join in the fun. Meet at the Afterhours Trail at 9 a.m. at the ski warming house.
- Today is International Migratory Birding Day. The International Migratory Bird Day celebrates the return of millions of migratory birds from their warm winter habitat in South and Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean, and the southern U.S., to their North American homes where they nest and rear their young.
The Friends of the Bird Sanctuary ( www.fotbs.org ) will be celebrating the day with a birding hike starting at the clubhouse at 8 a.m. Steve La Valley, DNR water regulations and zoning specialist, will conduct a hike focusing on migratory birds and the habitats that they need.
Directions to the clubhouse: three miles south of Solon Springs on Highway 53 (or three miles north of Gordon on Highway 53), west on County Road M about 3?4 mile, then northwest on Bird Road 3?4 mile. The clubhouse is on the right. More information on the International Migratory Birding Day can be found at: http://www.birdday.org/press.php .
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- The Brule area has been experiencing some warmer than average (summer-like weather) in the past few days.
Temperatures are expected to turn more seasonable with the cold front on its way. Small chances of thunderstorms are forecasted in the evenings through the weekend.
The Bois Brule river is flowing at 154 cubic feet per second (cfs) as of Thursday. The 62-year average is 210 cfs.
