Story originally printed in the Holmen Courier or online at www.holmencourier.com
Published - Wednesday, June 18, 2008
RIDGERUNNER REPORTS: Great blue heron makes minor menu mistake
If you have enough patience, it’s always fun to watch a great blue heron in action, or inaction as it turns out much of the time. They can stand in one position for an amazing length of time as they wait for prey. But once they pinpoint a potential meal, they go after it. If the prey is close, they might strike quickly, but if it is some distance away they stalk more cautiously.
Once the prey is within striking distance, they usually spread their wings and strike swiftly under the water to stab or grab the target with the beak. Then the heron uses its outstretched wings to regain its footing and hopefully pull a meal from the water.
In the first week of June, I watched a heron impale a large bluegill under the duckweed covered water on Goose Island, south of La Crosse. I’m not sure how it even saw the sunfish through the duckweed, but its aim was flawless.
 "Oops," this heron seems to be saying, "this isn't the fish dinner I ordered." The great blue heron actually had speared a painted turtle, which it was not equipped to turn into a meal. Photo by Jim Solberg |
One fish was not enough, though, and about half an hour later the heron made another dramatic lunge into the weed-covered water. The action quickly got exciting as the big bird fluttered and stumbled with a sizeable catch. It dragged the victim through the vegetation and finally managed to yank something out of the water. To my surprise though, it then shook the hard-won prize loose.
It turned out that it had picked off more than it could chew from under the curtain of duckweed. Anyone who has ever hooked a turtle while fishing will understand why the heron was not too pleased with the fair-sized painted turtle stuck on the end of its beak.
More wild edibles
During the spring wild edible class given by Nicholas Gale at the Kickapoo Valley Reserve in May, we learned of many plants growing in our region that can be eaten safely with nutritional benefits. I have tried the stinging nettle myself and found it good as a cooked green and in a beef stew.
But the plant that most impressed me was one that has literally been under my nose for most of my life and I never knew of its value. In fact, as I photographed trout lilies in some Vernon County woods a few days before the class, I noticed an onion-like odor where I had inadvertently sat on a plant.
I examined the two odorous leaves, the reddish stems and the onion-like marble sized bulb and guessed that it might be the wild leek (Allium tricoccum), that Nicholas had mentioned to me in past conversations.
During the class, he showed us a few isolated leeks, also called ramp. Aha, I thought. Now I know where I can find some. So I went back to the trout lily woods and sure enough, the area was covered with abundant patches of wild leek. I harvested a few and have been joyfully adding them to soups, stews, sandwiches and salads ever since.
By now, most of the ramp leaves are yellowing or withered away, making the bulbs much harder to find. Remember that spring is the time to look for leeks. Last week though, another wild edible mentioned by Nicholas came into bloom, the black locust.
The fragrant and pretty white flower clusters of the thorny pest tree proved to be surprisingly tasty. I tried some blossoms straight from the tree and found them reminiscent of crunchy raw sweet peas picked from the pod. Nicholas told me they also are good in salads, syrup and as fritters.
Again, if you intend to try harvesting and eating any wild plants check with other sources to be sure of the identity and how to properly prepare it for consumption. Fortunately, there are many good books and Web sites on the topic.
Nest boxes yield good news
While watching young eagles and wood ducks with Jessica Larson and Bill Thrune of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service a couple weeks ago, I was reminded of all the other baby birds that have been hatching and growing up in the area over the past few weeks. For some species, it was a one-shot deal and they are done breeding for the year, but others might raise a second batch of youngsters.
One species that may be raising another brood is the bluebird. I had the opportunity in early May to accompany Leif Marking as he monitored some of the more than 70 bluebird nest boxes he cares for. Marking is a long-time member of the Brice Prairie Conservation Club, which has one of the most innovative and successful bluebird breeding programs in the nation.
In the first week of May, we observed many nests with little blue eggs in them. When I went with him to examine some of the same nests a couple weeks later, we saw some nearly full-sized chicks with feathers sprouting. In one nest box however, we found some tiny, recently hatched chickadees. While he removes invasive house sparrows from the specially designed bluebird boxes, Leif let the little chickadees raise their babies.
You might remember that Leif also monitors some wood duck nest boxes and earlier he showed me a nest with more than 30 eggs in it. More than one duck had laid her eggs in the nest and one hen took over, but that many eggs would normally be too much to manage.
Leif called me a week ago, however, to say that 30 of those eggs had hatched and the young successfully left the nest. That was a record hatch in BPCA experience.
Whaditiz
It was a starling egg, an extremely unusual event.
Contact Jim Solberg at 782-2560 or nitefrogger@charter.net.
All stories copyright 2006 Holmen Courier and other attributed sources.