Photo Credit: Marie Cook

Phenology Fun Fact

Phenology: Enjoying the Wonder and Finding Meaning

Warm winter days when the snow is melting is a good time to look for snow fleas. In Wisconsin, where life revolves around lakes and rivers, phenology helps us understand how changing seasons and weather affect our local beings. Taking notice and recording the world around us is exciting (hearing that first loon on the lake), important (witnessing spring fish spawning), and sometimes surprising (early ice-out).

How do you relate to nature’s calendar? Maybe one of your intentions for 2026 is to take notice of (and record) the wonder around you. Nature is a great teacher. 

“In the end, we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand and we will understand only what we are taught.”

~ Baba Dioum

Here are some great phenology resources:

Reproduced from Lake Ripples Magazine.

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Mycology can be fun… and tasty. These look like some Chicken of The Woods.

Of course, never eat any fungus without establishing a multifactor positive ID of the species first to be sure it is safe.

Photo Credit: Marie Cook

What are eagles telling us about our environment, and how does that data get collected? 

Because of the efforts from federal and state agencies, along with dedicated nonprofits and volunteers, eagles were taken off Wisconsin's Endangered and Threatened Species list, but they remain protected by state law as a species of Special Concern. Our friends at Wisconsin Sea Grant recently shared an article with links to some great videos about how and why researching our national bird is important. Aptly named a "sentinel species," these beautiful, large raptors can give us a heads-up about toxins in our environment. Since 1990, the Great Lakes Eagle Health Project has tracked reproduction success and contaminant levels in eagles across Wisconsin, especially along the Great Lakes shoreline. The project brings together federal, state, tribal, and academic partners to test eagles for a variety of pollutants, like heavy metals, PCBs, and most-recently PFAS, and investigate how they’re affecting eagle health.

You can help the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and other state and federal partner efforts!

  • Report active nest locations to the DNR (from a distance!)

  • Avoid bald eagle nests during the breeding season (February 15-August 1).

  • Discourage illegal and unethical shooting of eagles.

  • If you are a hunter or angler, use lead-free ammunition and tackle.

Here are some opportunities to interact with Bald Eagles in a responsible way:

Reproduced from Lake Ripples Magazine.

You can subscribe to Lake Ripples for free here.

Looks like this Barred Owl may have been up past its bedtime.

Tabor is has a diverse set of natural inhabitants. But sometimes you have to look closely.

Photo Credit: Marie Cook