[wisb] Re: Thomson vs. Schurch-Thomson Prairies
- From: Peter Fissel <pfissel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: mikeduchek@xxxxxxxxxxx, wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 08 Jun 2014 21:46:20 -0500
Mike (et al.) -
As you head south on County F off Hwy 151 south of Blue Mounds, you veer right
on F where County Z goes straight. In a half-mile or so, you come to a little
wooden sign on the right side of the road for "Thousand's Rock Prairie". That
is not a typo. It is a "rock prairie" named after the Thousand family, which
is a local name in the Mt. Horeb area. It's a pretty small area. After a
cultivated field or two, you come to a much larger restored prairie. There is
a parking pulloff with a Nature Conservancy sign for Thomson Prairie. Upland
Sandpipers are often easily heard from up on the hill, and scanning the fence
posts and rock piles down the hill frequently nets you a sighting. Grasshopper
Sparrows, Eastern Meadowlarks and Bobolinks are common, with occasional
Clay-colored Sparrows. This area straddles the Dane/Iowa Co. line, and there
is another access point farther south on F (although not a parking pulloff as
such.)
As you head south on F, you'll go by Prairie Grove Rd., which we'll come back
to shortly. For now, keep going south on F for about two miles. The second
road to the right (west) will be Reilly Rd. - this is the main access for the
Prairie Enthusiast's Schurch-Thomson Prairie. There are more or less the same
suite of birds here as at Thomson Prairie, with the addition of Bell's Vireo
most years recently (not that I can personally attest to that - and believe me,
I've tried.) If you take Reilly all the way to the end, there is a parking lot
(and more importantly, a Porta-Potty... priorities.) I recommend a visit later
in summer, when the flowers are blooming down in the valley and the Regal
Fritillaries are flying.
Backtracking to Prairie Grove Rd., if you take that, you will come to Arneson
Rd., which looks like the farm lane that it is. But it's also an access point
for the A-Z Unit of the Barneveld Prairie complex - there is signage up near
the house. That road has been reliable in recent years for a Western
Meadowlark.
Peter Fissel
Madison WI
On 06/08/14, Mike Duchek wrote:
> Jasonn Weber and I had it today as well, west of the two track. It now
> appears as I look at the maps that area might have been just outside the
> preserve, but as far as I could tell there were no markers anywhere. We had a
> couple brief looks (Jasonn found it first before I was able to get a couple
> of looks with him) and then it kinda disappeared. But it was easy to ID once
> we saw it. As Peter mentioned, there were also ORCHARD ORIOLES (and
> BALTIMORE) in the area singing, as well as other expected species. HORNED
> LARKS were heard and seen everywhere in the nearby farmfields and roadside.
> At the main part of the preserve we had LARK (easy, right as you come in) and
> GRASSHOPPER SPARROWS. We had DICKCISSELS at a few locations near
> Barnevald/Blue Mounds. I am now realizing I may be mixed up between the
> Thomson Prairie (TNC) and the Schuch-Thomson Prairie (TPE), but Iâm not
> sure. Either way, we missed out on upland sandpipers and the Bellâs vireo
> previously reported, bu
> t Iâm now not sure we were looking in the right place due to that confusion
> on my part... ;/
> -Mike Duchek, Madison, Dane Co.
>
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- » [wisb] Re: Thomson vs. Schurch-Thomson Prairies - Peter Fissel
