The Corona Diaries 4: Look At the Animals

September 2020

Folks know that there are Frank Lloyd Wright buildings scattered around Madison – the Monona Terrace sits on the western shore of Lake Monona and is probably the most prominent. However, there are others such as the Unitarian Meeting House over on the west side as well as various residences including the Lamp House just a couple blocks from the Square. But I recently discovered that he was responsible for this:

Wright designed the entrance to Spring Trail Pond in what is now the UW Arboretum in 1926. (Let us not forget that Aldo Leopold helped design the Arboretum and was its first research director.) Furthermore, he designed a wall for the Old Spring Tavern right across the street around the same time.

The building was an inn during the last half of the 19^th century serving stagecoaches from Milwaukee that were heading to points west. I presume early corporate titans in Milwaukee wanted to go check out the mines in Mineral Point that they had invested in before heading to Prairie du Chien to see the ore off on its journey down the Mississippi River. Wright's wall was installed when the Dicksons owned the place. According to Mrs. Dickson, "Frank Lloyd Wright & his stone mason built the stone wall around the place, Frank Lloyd as boss, I can still see him with his old brown leather britches, giving his ideas & council…"

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As I noted in my last entry, I began riding my bicycle this summer. A friend of mine gave it to me a couple years ago but I finally got it tuned up this spring. I had attempted to find a bike shop here on the east side but shops were booked out for weeks as I was not alone in having a bike in need of a tune-up. Instead I found a joint that would come out to me. It was a pretty slick process. The technician parked his van outside my house, took the bike inside, and an hour later he emerged with my two-wheeler as good as new.

Until this past May, I hadn't done much bicycle riding in ages. I rode a lot my senior year of college and for a few years after graduation but that was 20+ years ago. Thankfully riding a bicycle is like, well, riding a bicycle. But now I'm riding mainly for pleasure instead of to and from work and friends' apartments. We live near the Capital City Trail so it's easy to avoid cars for many journeys.

Heading west would take me to the isthmus and downtown, areas well traveled. So I decided to see what lay to the east. The area is relatively new and rather suburban - not really my kind of thing. Much of Madison's far east side off of Milwaukee Street and Cottage Grove Road was farmland until the 60s and 70s. Now it's ranch homes with sporadic storefronts, mainly on Cottage Grove Road. This the land of the car.

What I discovered was the Acewood Conservation Park. The park is on the west side of a retention pond and a bike path goes right through it. I'm not sure what it was in its former life but there are concrete pads and pipes scattered around the site. It quickly became a favorite spot to spend time at after work as well as on weekends. In addition to simply being a beautiful little area, it was really nice to get out of the house and be somewhere that is devoid of computers and cars and whatnot. I suppose treks there supplanted my morning ritual of walking down to Starkweather Creek.

I rarely saw people in the woods. Most runners kept to the path, but there were times when a jogger zipped through the trees. If I saw another person, it was usually someone who looked like the cover of a Jethro Tull album from 1971 drinking on the shoreline. No matter. I didn't go there for people watching; instead the wild life was the main attraction.

Red-winged blackbirds were everywhere as were pairs of mallards and Canada geese. One day I spied several of these:

When I got home, I consulted the always handy Birds of Wisconsin Field Guide and discovered them to be Great Blue Herons.

If I stood around and watched the water for a spell, I would eventually see something bobbing on the surface, go under, and then reemerge a few yards away. My initial thought was that I was watching a beaver or a muskrat or some such animal. Before long I realized that I had the wrong class and discovered this to be a sizeable snapping turtle that called the pond home.

Later on I found that, in addition to my reptilian friend, there were indeed muskrats living there as well.

One day I followed a narrow trail into the woods that led towards the pond. Rounding a corner near the water, I heard a nasty sounding hiss. A mother goose was sitting on her nest and not at all thrilled that some human had decided to wander near. So I turned her loose I beat a hasty retreat to avoid an avian attack.

A couple of weeks prior to one trek to the pond my Frau reported seeing a brown bird on our feeder that she'd never seen previously. It was like Mr. Snuffleupagus from Sesame Street because I would never see it while she would.

Then one day at the pond I was walking my bike back to the main path when I noticed these two sitting on a branch right above me.

I again consulted the trusty Birds of Wisconsin and concluded that these were Brown-headed Cowbirds, the only parasitic bird in the state. It lays its eggs in other birds' nests and leaves the child rearing duties to them. Upon seeing the photos, the Frau ID'd the male as being the the kind of brown bird frequenting our feeder.

In addition to the Starkweather and Acewood conservation parks, I discovered another one not too far from home, Heritage Prairie. As my legs have gotten stronger, I've been able to bike a bit farther afield and check out some of the more out of the way parks. Madison has a wonderful urban forest and a really nice park system. There are parks everywhere you go. Some are traditional ones with playgrounds while others are just natural areas good for a walk, some quiet contemplation, and/or watching the animals.