Trumpeter Swans die on Twin Cities Lake

Posted on February 17, 2020 by admin

I’m constantly amazed at the swan stories I’ve seen reported this winter as Trumpeter Swan populations increase on the upper Mississippi River. This particular story is a sad one. If you find a dead Swan, please make a phone call to your local DNR.

More than a dozen swans have died at Twin Cities lake

Lead poisoning is the suspected cause of death. FEB 4, 20

Vadnais Lake Area Water Management Organization

Trumpeter swans continue to die of suspected lead poisoning at a lake in the Twin Cities metro area.

Last year, 11 of the majestic swans were found dead at Vadnais Lake in Vadnais Heights. This winter, two additional trumpeter swans have been located deceased at the lake, including one on the lake’s north end/east side, and another at Sucker Channel.

Sucker Channel is where the 11 birds were found dead last year. Four of those 11 were tested, with results positive for lead poisoning. The trumpeter swan found at Sucker Channel this week has been sent to the University of Minnesota Diagnostic Lab for necropsy and testing.

Vadnais Lake Area Water Management I Organization has a theory about how the swans are being poisoned:

“Swans use their long necks to reach the bottom and pick up stones to grind food in their gizzard. Lead sinkers are just the right size for the job, so swans pick them up preferentially. Sinkers get ground up in their gizzard and incorporated into body tissue. These carcasses pose a risk to scavengers and pets that might feed on them.”

The group is urging the public to keep an eye out for more dead swans and for anglers to avoid using lead fishing tackle, instead opting for tin, tungsten, steel, glass and other non-lead alternatives.

The dead swan on the north end of the lake cannot be safely retrieved, so it will stay there for the time being. Anyone who finds a dead swan is asked to report it by calling 651-204-6070.

Clinton, IA. Eagle watch Jan 4, 2020

Posted on November 22, 2019 by admin

If you have been on Pool 8 watching the Swan migration, you will have noticed that the American Bald Eagles are abundant wherever water is open. Eagle Watches have been a traditional Winter celebration along the length of the Mississippi River. The first of our announced dates is for CLINTON, IA. The Eagle Watch will be Jan 4, 2020 at Lock and Dam 13.

Booths, etc. will be at Clinton Community College, Iowa. Bus will run between the two to save parking, etc. Scouts will have food there to sell. We will have
coffee, etc. at the Corp. building to warm you up. David Stokes from WI
will be the guest speaker. If you would like the flyer, please e-mail astraight4@frontier.com

Eagles on ICE by Richard Middleton

Woohoo! Tundra Swans by the thousands this morning!

Posted on October 31, 2019 by admin

Had the great joy this morning of seeing thousands of pristine white Tundra Swans along Wisconsin’s Hwy 35, just to south of Goose Island! The sky was full of flying swans as well as swans filling the ponds. When I returned 1/2 an hour later, the skies were empty and there were fewer swans on the water.

“So where did they go?” I asked another birder who was panning with his scope.

“Did you notice that the wind changed direction and picked up, since 11 a.m. ? That’s what some of them were looking for. They’ve already resumed their migration to Chesapeake Bay.”

I was also curious as to what he saw in the scope. “Any gray cignets (juveniles)?” He said, yes, a few, but indeed most were adults and most were not family groups. The first drop of migrating swans is normally the single swans rather than swans traveling with juveniles.

Finally, make a grand journey THIS WEEKEND along the Great River Road between Minneapolis/St. Paul and Dubuque, Ia. In addition to Swans in the pools north of Genoa, American Bald Eagles are migrating and we are flush with both our resident eagles and the eagles moving down from the north (more on this in a later piece). Remember to visit the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, MN.

Fall Color will be in its waning weekend the next several days. Oaks are a rich rust color and some of the late coloring trees are still coming into color (it’s all in the genes!)

So hit the road!! There is lots to see! and don’t forget your copy of Discover! America’s Great River Road by River Author, Pat Middleton... your guide to eagle watching, regional history, Treasure Hunting, commercial fishing, and more!!! Order your copy of each of the four volumes which lead travelers from St. Paul to the Gulf of Mexico by CLICKING HERE!

Plan ahead for Map Gift Giving! Textiles, Fine Art Prints, Home Decor

Posted on October 22, 2019 by admin

Our Historic Map Collection is Growing by Leaps and Bounds! More than 350 hand painted Historic, Retro, and Custom Designed Maps are now available, many on our Mississippi River-focused Great River Shopping Cart !

Now is the time to order your historic map ART for Christmas/Holiday gifting.

Our 1887 Mississippi River Historic Ribbon Map can now be artisan matted, framed and shipped nation-wide for $220. Need a custom map of YOUR estate or favorite destination? Please PHONE 888-255-7726 Hand painted originals available now! Usual wait period is 1 month! So order now for a gift to be available by Christmas. Four matting choices!

CLICK HERE TO SEARCH our Map shopping site by any KEYWORD… date, cartographer, locale, state, etc. If you don’t find it, Call us! 888-255-7726

Custom Framing Services

Old Time Railroad Stories in three volumes

Steamboating on America’s Rivers!

Phone 406-471-756 with Questions, or
visit our MAP Shopping Cart to order online!

For Mississippi River BOOKS and More, visit click links above, or enter BOOKS in the Search Box.

Driftless Region Mysteries

Posted on September 6, 2019 by admin

The unglaciated region of western Wisconsin, northeastern Iowa, northwestern Illinois, and southeastern Minnesota is a natural and beautifully sculpted landscape that is known as the Driftless Area. The area is considered “Driftless” because it was not shaped by the movement of glaciers thousands of years ago. A part of the attraction to the region is the forested hillsides that extend into deeply carved river valleys that cut into limestone bedrocks. A key feature that makes the Driftless Area a unique place is the Baraboo Range, comprising of a collection of monadnocks- huge masses of rock rising up out of the middle of a plateau. The Driftless Area is a strange combination of plateau, deep river gorges, sinkholes, bluffs, and monadnocks.

The Driftless Area covers about 20,000 square miles, which primarily extends into western Wisconsin-roughly 85 percent. The landscape has plenty of caves, notably Viroqua City Cave and Cave of the Mounds, and the most rugged part of Driftless Wisconsin is the Ocooch Mountains. In southeastern Minnesota the Driftless Area begins at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, at the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers. This region is defined by vegetation of mixed woodland, goat prairies, and old plateau covered by loess. The Minnesota River cuts across the Driftless Area. In Driftless Iowa the landscape is of forested valleys, streams, rivers, and majestic limestone bluffs. In Illinois, rolling hills and wooded ridges, and features such canyons, ravines, bluffs, and palisades makes up its portion of the Driftless region

Order Your Own Copy of our DRIFTLESS map Here

The Driftless Area’s forests, prairies, wetlands, and grasslands provides ideal habitat for wildflowers and wildlife. Farming continues to be an activity that thrives in the Driftless Area. Unique soil conditions and higher elevations are ideal for growing particular crops. Amish farmers have long situated themselves in the region, but a new breed of organic farmers has emerged in Driftless. Wisconsin in particular, has expanded into a hotbed of organic farming. The Driftless Region is also ripe for fishing for a variety of trout including brown trout, rainbow trout, and brook trout. Whitetail deer and wild turkey, ring-necked pheasant, along with other games such as ducks and geese, grouse, quail, mourning dove, rabbit, squirrel, raccoon, fox, and coyote can all be hunted in specific portions of the Driftless Area.

Lisa Middleton’s provides a detailed mapping of the region, and depicts particular features that partly shape the region. The Driftless Region is simply a beautiful and diverse landscape that is like no

Order Your Own Copy Here

You will also love our antiquarian map collection! Click Here

Sandhills in the Valley, March 14, 2019

Posted on March 14, 2019 by admin

Every year the day arrives when I can say “spring has sprung in the valley,” Today was that day! 49 degrees. Sandhill cranes, redwing blackbirds, Canada geese, a pair of trumpeters, a turkey vulture, a Valley awash in snow melt. While it seems late compared to recent arrival dates, a quick review of past Sandhill arrival dates shows that the cranes arrived right on schedule.

March 15, 2009 “Bitter cold night as late as 03/13/09. So cranes waited until we hit the 50 degree mark two days later.“March 12, 2008 “3 Sandhill cranes fly over Goose Island near La Crosse.March 13, 2008 A Single crane flies, calling, over Coon Creek near Stoddard. Lots of melting snow in the valley. Temp of 56.7 degrees. ”

March 11, 2007 “Sandhill Cranes on the islands off Goose Island Park south of La Crosse. Temps in upper 40s, two weeks after record snowfalls in Western Wisconsin, so lots of snow on the ground. March 12 the cranes are reported along Coon Creek and other valleys off the Upper Mississippi River.”

Feb 23, 2005 (a good two weeks earlier than normal!)
March 15, 2003
March 13, 2002
March 13, 2001 March 16, 1999
March 1, 1998
March 10, 1997
March 13, 1996
March 18, 1993
April 4, 1992
March 9, 1988
March 17, 1987

Sandhill Cranes Seem to Have Arrived!…. I think!

Posted on March 8, 2019 by admin

Well, this is a first! I’m starting to hear that folks south of La Crosse are hearing Sandhill Cranes… but normally, I don’t release such reports until I confirm for myself that nesting cranes have moved in.

This year, there have been a number of interesting Sandhill Crane reports. So far, I’ve heard of 1) a group of 6 or so cranes who spent the whole winter in Wisconsin 2) cranes gathering in Madison by March 1, and finally a phone call that cranes were calling along Coon Creek south of La Crosse by March 4. But it’s been like -12 degrees, and the few minutes I could stand outside, didn’t happen to be the moments that cranes were calling. So yes, I think they are back right on time this year. We should all be seeing them as temps warm up this next week! Once the ice begins to break up (not happening yet) Tundra Swans should be moving in.

New Kindle Versions of our Most Popular Steamboat Book…and a Little Something Extra!

Posted on December 8, 2018 by admin

If your favorite River Buff has become a Kindle fan, we now have the following NEW Kindle Editions available for Pre-order for Christmas gifting this year!

“Treasure Hunting” has been one of our most requested river topics through the years. Pirates, military trails, payroll caches, old maps and steamboat wrecks have all left tales of sudden death and unrecovered treasures. In the first of our Kindle “INSIGHT Series” we have collected a number of our previously published favorite treasure hunting stories, how-tos, and resources available to the Treasure Prospector here on the upper Mississippi River.

“One Man’s Treasure” is now available for pre-order in the Kindle Store. PRE-ORDER RIGHT HERE, now, just $2.99!

Our ever-popular steamboat anthology, COME HELL OR HIGH WATER by Michael Gillespie is newly available as a quality 2-Volume KINDLE edition. Filled with historic photos, witty commentary, footnotes, bibliography, Glossary and fascinating river facts and stories. Each Volume is purchased separately.

Volume 1 PRE-ORDER RIGHT HERE. $9.95

Volume 2 PRE-ORDER RIGHT HERE. $9.95

La Crosse Area Plans for Christmas Bird Count 2018

Posted on December 5, 2018 by admin

The La Crosse Audubon group will be again sponsor The La Crosse Area Christmas Bird Count on Saturday, December 15th. Birders who want to participate, can contact Dan Jackson <DanJackson@lbwhite.com>

The La Crosse Area CBC is centered on the La Crosse County Courthouse and extends north to County OT, south to the southern tip of Goose Island, west to Hokah, MN, and east past Barre Mills. (See a map at: http://www.couleeaudubon.org/CBC_LaCrosse.pdf). If anyone lives within the count circle and isn’t available to help with a section, we can also use your help by having you count birds at your own feeder.

The annual Christmas bird count reminds me of the little research I did a few years past into why so many old post cards featured a dead bird. Interesting story which I will relate shortly!!!