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Waiting for winter to pass….<\/p>\n
This isn’t another rant about uncontrolled fires in the West and the people who think nothing should be done to make the human-occupied areas safe for habitation, but complain about those fires.\u00a0 It’s just a follow-up to the article about raging forest fires that I posted last week.<\/p>\n
The attached photo is something I shot after a controlled burn in a local wilderness area, which is mostly open prairie where the wildflowers grow from Spring into Fall, providing cover for local reptiles, ground birds like quail and pheasant, and food for a lot of insect species in this area.<\/p>\n
This keeps the weeds down, and by “weeds”, I mean invasive species like purple loosestrife and Scotch thistle and teasel, which drive out the native species like blazing start (5 varieties locally) and milkweed (4 varieties locally). Over the winter, the ash from these fires goes into the ground as fertilizer for the soil, and in some cases, cues the seeds to open in the Spring and start pushing up into the air.<\/p>\n
It gives the local Fire Departments practice in controlling a burn like this, so that it does not get out of hand and endanger local housing. Camping overnight in this part of this state park is not allowed, but people have done it, even so, and started fires that they couldn’t put out.\u00a0 They also got arrested for those two things: camping in a restricted area and starting a fire.<\/p>\n
In this case, at this time of year, all the ground-dwelling species like snakes have started their hibernation since the days first got cold, and the likelihood of running into a rattler or a frog is zero.\u00a0 The possibility of snowy owls showing up here is high this time, if the past five years of snowies (AKA arctic owls) showing up due to lack of food up north repeats itself.<\/p>\n
There’s a popular 50-acre fishing lake in this particular park, where the free food people fished it out so badly this past summer that the trout and crappies and bluegills had to be restocked.\u00a0 Well, when you’re short of cash, and getting desperate, free trout is good.<\/p>\n
I’ve been seeing more of these controlled burns around here this fall, including one on Wednesday to the west of me, which means that DNR is on the job, doing what they get paid to do and the fire departments along with them. For those practice sessions, and knowing that they are doing what should be done, I am one grateful person.<\/p>\n
It’s also a strong reminder that not all state governors are loons who want the “glam” of office and the paycheck, but don’t really give a crap about anything else.\u00a0 Ours may not be perfect, but this governor of ours is certainly preferable to the governor in a state where people who once had homes are being forced to live on the street, and the wildfires are completely out of control.<\/p>\n
Come springtime, the first things I’ll see will be the geese returning, and maybe some duck species like the blue-winged teals and the buffleheads, and here and there, the marshes will start growing rushes, where the herons and cranes can hide their nests.\u00a0 I may find leopard frogs in shallow waters, or find a dragonfly species that is rare around here. The rushes will have started growing and all sorts of wildflowers will be thriving.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, the\u00a0 flotillas below were just getting underway when I arrived. As you probably know, they have a lead goose, plus the followers in the train. But if you observe them carefully, the lead goose position has a constant rotation: the three up front are the leaders, the most experienced in the wing of geese, and they change position with the lead goose repeatedly. Behind them, there are at least three more on each side of the wing who will slowly move up to take the lead. In this way, every senior goose gets to lead and the younger ones learn to pay attention.\u00a0 While I was watching, at least four squads took off, heading west to one of the flyways to join the larger flocks on the trip south. The least experienced have to memorize that trip route in one go, because they may have to lead the flocks northward in the spring.<\/p>\n
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I wish all of you a fine, sunny weekend and pleasant weather and instead of hunting the flyers this time, just let them have one autumn flight in peace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"