Beautiful day on the County Grounds draws supporters to the Monarch Trail

Cool and breezy, not a cloud in the sky: a great time to visit the Monarch Trail on the County Grounds in Wauwatosa. A steady stream of people did just that. Many had come to take advantage of the lovely weather to walk the trail. Others stopped by to purchase plants being sold to support the Friends of the Monarch Trail and their efforts to preserve and maintain butterfly habitat.

I stopped by to chat and take a few photos to share.

Friends of the Monarch Trail supporters gathered along Eschweiler Drive.

Walking the Monarch Trail near the Eschweiler complex.

Monarch Trail leader Barb Agnew showed me where to find this warbler nest in the tall grass of the Eschweiler complex quadrangle. It was completely invisible to the untrained eye (and therefore easy to miss and step on!) Good reason to stay on the marked trails and to keep dogs on a leash. Moreover, it demonstrates the importance of maintaining unmowed sections of grassland.

I can think of few things that better symbolize the fragility of life and the importance of habitat preservation than ground nesting birds.

The ABB building is now open for business. Beyond, construction continues on the new Watertown Plank Road interchange.

Three seedlings have been planted here on the ABB parcel of Innovation Park, across the road from the Monarch Trail.

The brisk wind drew at least one kite flyer to the hilltop next to Discovery Parkway.

The Milwaukee County Grounds, as I have long advocated, can be a place for small adventures as well as for health and well-being. The healing potential of nature nearby has come to be more widely recognized as our lives have become more urbanized. Dr. Marc Gorelick of Children's Hospital has written a blog post about this recently: Hitting the Wellness Trail.

Herons roost in Menomonee Valley

-->

I discovered the heron rookery by accident a couple weeks ago. I was investigating an out-of-the-way corner of the Menomonee Valley.

Does it sound strange that there can be an out-of-the-way place in the Valley? It’s true: A place so unlikely to be visited by people that herons are willing to roost there. It’s one of the greatest miracles of urban wilderness, to be able to experience wildlife in the midst of industrial development.

I fairly literally stumbled upon the rookery, making my way across broken concrete, when I heard a commotion in the crown of the trees overhead. Two or three large birds squawked loudly and took flight as the branches dipped and swayed from their weight. I caught only a glimpse at first.

Picking my way through the underbrush I scared off several more of what seemed likely to be herons. I also noticed what appeared to be nests—bundles of sticks in crooks of high branches. Finally I spotted a bird that remained stationary long enough for me to train my lens on it.

This bird, if not all of them, turned out to be a black-crowned night-heron. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website, this is the most widespread heron species in the world. It also says, “They live in fresh, salt and brackish wetlands.” I don’t think the Menomonee Valley canal quite lives up to any of those descriptions. Is there a term like “brackish” that refers to a mixture of fresh and polluted? Still, I’m encouraged to know that the water is clean enough to attract herons.

There were more surprises in store when I revisited the spot this weekend. I had to cross a railroad to get to get to the rookery. No sooner did I step on to the rail bed than I saw five or six herons, along with sundry mallards and herring gulls, lounging on the tracks farther down. By the time I got close enough to grab this shot with my telephoto the others had all flapped away.

Then when I reached the meager woodland, lo and behold, the expected handful of birds turned out to be several dozen or more! With every step more birds started up with their raucous complaints. Everywhere I looked up I saw more nests. The leaves of the ground cover—mostly creeping Charlie and bishop’s weed—were completely speckled with droppings.

Suddenly it was my turn to be startled as a train just barely visible through the trees began to move. There was an enormous crashing of metal on metal. Each car clanked loudly in rapid succession as the couplings were wrenched into motion. The herons took no notice of this unnatural racket. It was me with my camera that they found threatening.

Upon further reflection, the presence of herons here in the Valley is no more miraculous than the presence of railroads. In the twenty-first century, here in this place, who is to judge which is more natural? We have inherited a landscape that has been utterly transformed in pursuit of utilitarian ends. If an unused corner of it can appeal to herons, consider how much more wildlife we might attract into our urban lives by deciding it is an end worth pursuing?

The good news of the Menomonee Valley is that we have made that decision. We are bringing nature and wildlife back along with new industries. I look forward to the day when more discriminating species than black-crowned night-herons, mallards and herring gulls will flourish in the Valley.

This post is one in a series that relates to my Menomonee Valley Artist in Residency. For more information about the residency and links to previous posts and photographs, go to MV AiR.

May in Milwaukee County Parks

May has been a month of transition. With a much delayed spring this year, it felt more like March, coming in like a lion, out like a lamb. Most of the natural areas in the parks were still very brown at the end of April. June is going to arrive with its usual exuberant greens. Although this is my first post in over a week - end of the school year is always busy - I have been out walking throughout the month. So I thought I'd share a selection of my picture takings over the past month.

A single shoot of marsh grass manages to poke its way through the mud-matted residue from last year in the Root River Parkway in Franklin.

The Root River, like so many others in the Milwaukee Basin, has suffered from the effects of increased runoff caused by continued development in the watershed. Once-stable banks held fast by riparian tree roots have been deeply eroded.

As storm clouds clear over the lake in Jackson Park a lone goose glides over the water.

The statue of Thaddeus Kosciuszko that gives Kosciuszko Park its name is the only green so far.

The grass has greened up in McCarty Park, West Allis, but the concrete channel that lines Honey Creek remains eternally drab.

Flowers finally bloom! An unlikely hillside full of bluebells slopes down towards the Menomonee River underneath the looming Highway 41 overpass in Doyne Park.

The overcast sky didn't keep crowds from gathering on the lakefront yesterday for a kite fly-in at Veteran's Park.

I finally found myself immersed in rich green foliage this weekend on a long walk through a swampy section of the Little Menomonee River Parkway. Here is the view upstream from the Hampton Avenue Bridge.

Perseverence - and boots - rewarded me with this find. I approached it with reverence and left it intact. The adult redwing blackbirds that hovered in trees nearby didn't even create their usual clamor while I made the shot. The nest is about chest high in last year's dried cattails. New green shoots will soon rise up around it.

To see additional pictures from this month's forays into the urban wildernesses that grace Milwaukee County Parks, go to my flickr page.

May isn't over! After posting the above last night, I went for a bike ride up the Little Menomonee River Parkway this morning. Hot! Feels suddenly like summer. Where did spring go?

I discovered a flooded section of the path and in it a swarm of tadpoles! Cool. Yet more pix on flickr.