Birdwatchers are delighting in a bounty of song and color as birds continue to return statewide. Baltimore and orchard orioles, scarlet tanagers, indigo buntings, rose-breasted grosbeaks, ruby-throated hummingbirds and other backyard favorites like house wrens, gray catbirds, American goldfinches and red-headed woodpeckers are showing well in most areas. Warblers are moving later than usual this year with large numbers still being seen in the southern tier of the state, only now including later species like Canada, bay-breasted, and Connecticut warbler.
Tag: Outdoors
Call them crazy, but birders like Barbara Morford and Emily Landmann enjoy getting up in the dark to reach the field right as the chorus of birds gets into gear, around 5:30 a.m. The morning of Monday, May 17, they headed to the Jordahl Farm north of Richland Center to go birding for the Driftless Area Land Conservancy’s annual birdathon.
The Spring Green Farmers Market kicked off its summer season on May 15 with fresh produce, plants, local goods and some folk music by Don Greenwood.
Follow along each week on the adventures of Mark Walters, a syndicated outdoor adventure columnist who lives in Necedah, Wisconsin. He began writing his column, An Outdoorsman’s Journal, in 1989. It includes hunting, fishing, lots of canoeing and backpacking. He currently writes for around 60 newspapers on a weekly basis. He hopes you enjoy reading about his adventures!
This past week I spent a lot of time in the turkey blind with Michelle Chiaro who was hoping to harvest her first turkey and with my 20-year old daughter Selina who has was hoping to harvest her ninth.
MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is hosting the 9th annual Free Fun Weekend June 5-6. Park admission fees, fishing licenses and trail passes will be waived for Wisconsinites to find their adventure outdoors.
Need fishing bait? Find some right in your backyard! Worms and nightcrawlers are great for catching fish, especially bluegills, pumpkinseed and other panfish.
The most anticipated time of year for birdwatchers has arrived! Right on schedule, May ushered in a wealth of neotropical migrants this past weekend, including Baltimore and orchard orioles, ruby-throated hummingbirds, rose-breasted grosbeaks, indigo buntings, scarlet tanagers and more. Not seeing any yet? Don’t despair as this is just the beginning of their return and has been limited mostly to the southern half of the state so far. Now is the time, though, even up north, to fill the seed feeders, prep the sugar water and offer orange halves and jelly.
Follow along each week on the adventures of Mark Walters, a syndicated outdoor adventure columnist who lives in Necedah, Wisconsin. He began writing his column, An Outdoorsman’s Journal, in 1989. It includes hunting, fishing, lots of canoeing and backpacking. He currently writes for around 60 newspapers on a weekly basis. He hopes you enjoy reading about his adventures!
This past week I spent six days either turkey hunting at my food plot in northern Juneau County or crappie fishing on backwaters of the Wisconsin River in Columbia County.
The River Valley Area Community Gardens (RVACG) held a community gardening demonstration to kick off the 2021 growing season on Saturday, where new gardeners were given tips and tricks of the trade and a tour of their garden home.
Follow along each week on the adventures of Mark Walters, a syndicated outdoor adventure columnist who lives in Necedah, Wisconsin. He began writing his column, An Outdoorsman’s Journal, in 1989. It includes hunting, fishing, lots of canoeing and backpacking. He currently writes for around 60 newspapers on a weekly basis. He hopes you enjoy reading about his adventures!
Back in 1982 I fractured my lower spine in three places and spent two weeks in Madison’s University Hospital with some serious questions about my ability to walk again. I do not know if I have ever written about this subject but long story short, I had an incredible recovery and the one thing that I remember my doctors repeatedly telling me is, “stay active or arthritis will set into your spine and life will not be pleasant.”
As winter’s chill works itself into a thaw and green begins to color the landscape, it is prime time to sleuth out some of Wisconsin’s most delicious hidden gems.
MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) reminds anglers that the 2021-2022 fishing season will open May 1, without any changes to season dates. All regulations and license requirements still apply.
The Friends of Governor Dodge State Park have funded four StoryWalks at Governor Dodge State Park. They are scheduled this spring and summer. StoryWalks are outdoor reading walks.
Unfortunately, not everything can make it to print, we’re busy each week bringing you stories from all over Richland, Sauk and Iowa counties. To see additional news that doesn’t make it to print each week, follow Valley Sentinel on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/valleysentinel, or on Twitter and Instagram: @vs_wisconsin. The photo above appeared last week on our Instagram.
Follow along each week on the adventures of Mark Walters, a syndicated outdoor adventure columnist who lives in Necedah, Wisconsin. He began writing his column, An Outdoorsman’s Journal, in 1989. It includes hunting, fishing, lots of canoeing and backpacking. He currently writes for around 60 newspapers on a weekly basis. He hopes you enjoy reading about his adventures!
The last time that I canoed on the stretch of the Wisconsin River that I am about to write about was back in 1991. That was a big year in my life as I spent the winter camping and training to hike the Appalachian Trail with my golden retriever Ben in the Meadow Valley Wildlife Area. With Ben carrying 12-pounds and me a whole bunch more we hiked 1244 miles of the AT. When I got home I purchased “Star” who was 6-weeks old and would be Ben’s future mate. The three of us jumped in a canoe and I paddled down the Wisconsin River and when I got home in the early fall, I returned to Meadow Valley.
Spring is baby animal season! It’s also a great time to remember the importance of keeping wildlife wild.
Follow along each week on the adventures of Mark Walters, a syndicated outdoor adventure columnist who lives in Necedah, Wisconsin. He began writing his column, An Outdoorsman’s Journal, in 1989. It includes hunting, fishing, lots of canoeing and backpacking. He currently writes for around 60 newspapers on a weekly basis. He hopes you enjoy reading about his adventures!
I am writing to you once again this week about a very unique trip that I took to my brother Tom Walters lake home on Lake Washington which is in west central Mississippi and one of the nation’s top ten crappie lakes. I have written in the past about my love for hunting and fishing in both Louisiana and Mississippi and this adventure once again reaffirmed that belief.
Follow along each week on the adventures of Mark Walters, a syndicated outdoor adventure columnist who lives in Necedah, Wisconsin. He began writing his column, An Outdoorsman’s Journal, in 1989. It includes hunting, fishing, lots of canoeing and backpacking. He currently writes for around 60 newspapers on a weekly basis. He hopes you enjoy reading about his adventures!
This week and next I will be writing to you about a very interesting fishing trip that I just took with my brother Mike Walters to my brother Tom Walters lake home on Lake Washington in west central Mississippi.
Mild and dry weather allowed migration to advance steadily this week. The south continues to see excellent abundance and diversity of waterfowl, but with smaller numbers of swans and geese now. Shallow wetlands, ponds in open habitats and flooded fields have been hotspots, hosting various ducks, some greater white-fronted geese, good numbers of Bonaparte’s gulls, American white pelicans and growing numbers of shorebirds, including greater and lesser yellowlegs, pectoral sandpipers, Wilson’s snipes, and the first black-necked stilts. Tree swallows have become more prevalent, and the first purple martins and barn swallows have returned as well. Other water-associated species to look for now include ospreys, belted kingfishers and yellow-headed blackbirds.
Winter has released its icy grip on Wisconsin’s lakes and streams and now it’s time to make plans for the open-water fishing season.
