April snow showers bring May flowers

We finally have warm temperatures, green grass and spring flowers!  The longest awaited spring arrived with the calendar.  May is here!

The last couple of weekends have each included a long walk on the Mountain-Bay Trail.  We usually walk a quieter section further out of town that has more scenery and lots of wildlife- we always see deer, turkey, and even had a barred owl yesterday evening.  We startled the owl off the ground near a wet area and had a great view in a nearby tree.  Teddy has a blast sniffing out all of the deer trails. 

Moonrise along Mountain-Bay Trail

We also visited a couple new local wineries, including Duck Creek Vineyard & Winery in Denmark and Kerrigan Brothers Winery in Freedom.  Neat story about Freedom- in the mid-1830s, a freed black slave named James Andrew Jackson was one of the founding members of the town.  The townspeople wanted to name the town "Jackson" in his honor.  He declined, simply stating that the town should be called Freedom.

Yesterday we visited a Civil War exhibit titled "When Neenah Came Marching Home" sponsored by the Neenah Historical Society at the Smith Octagon House in the City of Neenah.  Side note- if you ever happen to pay attention to manhole covers...check one out the next time you think about it because many of them were produced at the Neenah Foundry.  The exhibit highlighted the experiences of 300 men from Neenah that fought in the Civil War, and especially what life was like when the survivors arrived home (84 of the 300 died in the war).  A lot of people don't realize that Wisconsin was a state at the time, and a number of soldiers served and contributed significantly to the Union campaign.  One notable Neenah veteran you may recognize- Pvt. Charles B. Clark, who later became a founder of Kimberly & Clark and a local politician.  The exhibit was small but very interesting- a good event to kick off Scott's birthday week.  One highlight was a regimental 35 star flag, found many years later on a shelf stuffed into a shopping bag, and carefully restored for its preservation.

 When Neenah Came Marching Home exhibit

 Octagon House, Neenah

Regimental flag and C.B. Clark's frock coat

Neenah Lighthouse at Kimberly Point on Lake Winnebago

I am looking forward to participating in the Great Wisconsin Birdathon with a group of coworkers on May 15th and 16th.  We will spend 24 hours (well, not a full 24 hours- we are going home to sleep in between!) identifying as many species of birds that we can in the Green Bay Area.  We have a number of visits planned to places that you have already read about, such as Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary, Sensiba Wildlife Area,  and Barkhausen Waterfowl Preserve to attempt to view lots of waterfowl, wading birds, warblers, and forest and grassland birds at the height of migration.  The event serves to raise money for important bird programs in the state, from Bird City Wisconsin to the Breeding Bird Atlas to conservation programs for endangered birds such as the Kirkland's warbler.  If you would like to support my team, the Green Bay Quackers, in our effort to raise money for bird conservation, please visit my fundraising page here.  Donations can be a flat rate in advance OR a pledge for each species that we observe on Birdathon day.  A donation of any amount makes a big difference for the birds of Wisconsin!