Compass plant (Silphium laciniatum) is one of the classic tall grass prairie species. At one time widespread, due to the cow and the plow it has been virtually extirpated from…

Butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa), often called butterflyweed, is one of those unbelievably handsome plants that inhabits dry prairies. The population at Black Earth Rettenmund Prairie is outstanding, and from my…

This is the second year we have had kestrels nesting in the box we installed. This nest box is near our field station so we can enjoy watching the kestrels…

Moving along through the summer, our next major flowering plant is pale purple coneflower (Echinacea pallida). This attractive plant is popular in prairie plantings because of its colorful flowers. Also,…

Ted Cochrane is the local expert on the Wisconsin flora. He has been co-author on two important books, one the Atlas of Wisconsin Prairie and Savanna Plants and the other…

In my professional life I was a microbial ecologist and spent over 40 years doing field work in the great outdoors. For ten years I had a major research project…

The weather is getting hot and we can now start to think about summer. One of our earliest summer prairie plants, ox-eye (or false) sunflower (Heliopsis helianthoides), is now starting…

Google Street View provides an on-the-ground view of a street and its surroundings. It works in a lot of areas of the United States, including, apparently, all of Dane County.…

One of the joys of having your "own" natural area is meeting people who are also enjoying the site. On Saturday I was doing my weekly survey of our Sandhill…

Yesterday Kathie and I toured an interesting private savanna site near Rush Creek State Natural Area. This SNA is part of the blufflands on the Mississippi River. The tour was…