Encounter with a Painted Turtle Hatchling

Posted on May 22, 2014 by Andrew Sabai
Painted Turtle Hatchling Portrait
A portrait of an angry looking baby Midland Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta marginata) face.

The other day I was launching my boat into Lake Puckaway to start work.  As I worked to free the boat from the trailer I noticed something swimming in the water below.  It was a tiny painted turtle hatchling more specifically it was a Midland Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta marginata).   The Midland subspecies has an interesting pattern on the plastron, or bottom shell that separates it from the other subspecies.  This little turtle was swimming through the water underneath the trailer, so I scooped it up in my hand.  I took a quick look and thought the kids would enjoy seeing it, so I brought it home.  Safely in a bucket we spent the day mapping the lake.  Then we headed home.

Painted Turtle Hatchling Underside
The bottom shell, or plastron of a baby Midland Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta marginata) with it umbilical cord still attached the turtle, but no sign of the yolk sac.

After careful thought my daughter named “him” Tim, she originally wanted to name him Shelly, “because he has a shell”, but my boys did not like that.  She already had a stuffed turtle named Tom, so Tim seemed a good name.  The kids enjoyed watching this small Painted Turtle for a time.  After a while, I took Tim into the backyard for a little photo session.  He was a pretty good model most of the time, but he kept trying to sneak away.  The photo shoot didn’t last long, I didn’t want to cause him stress. 

Painted Turtle Hatchling Top
The top shell, or carapace of a baby Midland Painted Turtle.

The next day it was back to the lake for more work and to release the turtle where I found him.  I gently placed him in the water, and he paddled his legs and swam away, I hope this little turtle lives a long life.   When I put the boat in the water the same day, there was a tree frog sitting quietly next to the spare tire on the trailer.  I left him be, he had already ridden two miles I figured he would stick to his spot for a few hundred feet the parking spot, and indeed he did.

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Burn Baby Burn, Prescribed Marsh Burn

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Andrew Sabai

I was driving home today when I noticed black clouds of smoke coming from the Rush Lake area.  I thought marsh might be on fire and turned in that direction to investigate.  Sure enough, the cattail marsh at Uihein Waterfowl Production Area had been set on fire to improve wildlife habitat and promote a diverse plant community.  Most of the plants at this marsh are invasive cattail species, which provide poorer habitats than the native species that would normally live here.

Aerial footage shortly after the fire.

http://youtu.be/k7qDMeGf0pA

I stopped at an overlook and began taking photos and video.  The wind was strong and out of the East. It kicked up flames and black smoke, and ashes high in the air.  Unfortunately, it gave me trouble shaking my camera and tripod, but eventually, I set up on the leeward side of the car for some protection.  Then I went to another parking spot, got out of the car, and started walking down the road that is normally closed to traffic.  After walking awhile I looked up and saw a wall of flame, heading my way, I knew it wasn’t going to give me trouble, but I could feel the heat on my face, and it was erupting like gasoline.  I was impressed.  Took a few photos and a shaky video clip and returned for my tripod.  By the time I returned that portion of the fire had run out of fuel and was completely dead.

Wall of Flame
Wall of flame appears close, but is not.

Fire moving through the landscape is an impressive scene and one that kept the prairies, oak openings, sedge meadows, and other ecosystems healthy.  It is a scene far too uncommon these days.  The TV news anchors will report a wildfire to have destroyed 100 acres of marsh.  Nothing could be further than the truth.  A fire is a part of the marsh’s life, its history, and its future.  Without fire, the marsh will fade and die, and be truly destroyed, not by the match, but by the fire hose.

Uihein Waterfowl Production Area is part of the Leopold Wetland Management District and managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Information Kiosk
Read all about it. Zoom into the kiosk at Uihlein Waterfowl Production Area.
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Northern Pike (Esox luscious) Spawning Migration

Posted on April 8, 2014 by Andrew Sabai

The Northern Pike (Esox luscious) is a voracious predator primarily of fish, but pretty much anything else it can fit down its throat, from frogs to muskrats.  The fish typically live in the shallower parts of lakes and slower moving rivers, lurking in cover to ambush their prey at high speed with a combination of rapid tail movements and jet propulsion by pushing water through its gills.  In spring, shortly after ice out and sometimes before, they begin heading into flooded marshes if available, or the weedy parts of lakes where emergent vegetation from the previous growing season is present.  It is here the Northern Pike spawns during the night in as little as six inches of water.

Northern Pike
Northern Pike caught during a DNR fishery survey on the Wolf River, WI 

To get to the optimum spawning places, some fish will swim a fair distance.  Shallow marshes composed of sedges and grasses are the preferred places for egg laying.  There is a lot of surface area on this vegetation to attach the eggs, and the buoyancy of the dead leaves may provide a way to oxygenate the eggs and fry, which attach themselves to the vegetation after hatching.  Unfortunately, many marshes are being invaded or converted to invasive, non-native cattails (Typha spp.).  According to one older study, cattails were the least preferred substrate for spawning Northerns, the fish even favored oat stubble to cattails.

The adult fish either head into marshes that are adjacent to lakes and large rivers or migrate up streams to them.  While in the streams and shallow marshes the smaller adults are vulnerable to bald eagles, and all are vulnerable to humans in the form of poachers.  Northern Pike usually do not eat during spawning, and do not defend their spawning area like the sunfishes, so are infrequently caught during this time.

The females attach their sticky eggs to the upright vegetation, and then the eggs are quickly fertilized by several attending males which bash the females to help release eggs.  As with many other fish, the female Northerns are significantly larger than the males.  The larger the female the more eggs she can carry—100,000 or more, whereas a small female may only carry 8,000 eggs.  Having laid and fertilized their eggs, the females and males leave the eggs to develop unguarded and at the mercy of predators, which are mostly insects at this stage.  It is just as well they leave because Northern Pike are cannibalistic and readily feed on their own kind.

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Bird Surveys on Lake Butte des Morts: New Video

Posted on March 25, 2014 by Andrew Sabai

Improved and combined several of my YouTube videos from a while back, of bird surveys on Lake Butte des Morts into one.   Full description of the video below.

ON THIS VIDEO:
1) American White Pelican chick and egg
2) Walking through Pelican and Cormorant nesting colony
3) Pelican chick calling from inside egg
4) Double-crested cormorant chicks calling
5) Hatching cormorant eggs
6) Canada Goose nest with fuzzy chicks

This island was primarily inhabited by American White Pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) and Double-Crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) . Over the years these birds trampled and poisoned the island vegetation with their guano. Worse yet, thousands of birds had a major negative, but the local impact on the aquatic ecosystem. Aquatic vegetation perished causing a drastic decline in water quality, game fish, and waterfowl. To reduce the negative impacts several of these islands were shaved down below the water line. Both species continue to nest on the lake, but in reduced numbers.

In this video we are walking the nesting island, dividing it in two, to facilitate the survey. The video is a bit shaky, but the priority was the safety of the chicks and eggs below. I had to walk very carefully to avoid stepping on eggs and chicks

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The Power of Ice

Posted on March 24, 2014 by Andrew Sabai
Little Icebergs
Small icebergs float on Lake Winnebago

In Wisconsin, we should know better, but we forget that ice is power.  Our lakes like to remind us of this, with crystalline beauty and the crushing power of ice with the wind at its back.  Winnebago was gouged out by the Green Bay Lobe of the Wisconsin Glacier.  That lobe of ice made the bathtub that is Lake Winnebago.  As the ice sat there, it dammed what we know as the Fox River and created glacial Lake Oshkosh which spread across the landscape, many times larger than Lake Winnebago.  The glacial drift, the rocks and sand filled in gorges under the lake.  As fine sediment dropped out of the water of that lake, it created a flat lake bed of clay and silt which is what Oshkosh and much of Winnebago County is.  My house sits on that old lake bottom.  When the glacier receded, Glacial Lake Oshkosh drained out the Fox River to Lake Michigan, and the deep basin filled up as Lake Winnebago, and so the landscape we know was formed.

Cold Sunrise Over Lake Winnebago Ice Shove

A view of a Lake Winnebago ice shove one cold morning (6 degrees F) in December. Usually, ice shoves occur in spring when the ice begins to “rot” and becomes cloudy. This ice was 5-6 inches thick and crystal clear. I wanted to take more photos that morning, but my fingers were very painful from the cold.

The ice on the lake this winter is a thin child of the mile high monster that carved out the lake, but it is still a force to be respected.  Water is a very unusual molecule with the most peculiar of traits.  As it changes from a liquid to a solid by cooling it gets larger, unlike everything else we experience.  It only expands a little, but over the span of miles it adds up.  It also expands with tremendous force.  Think of the expansion of water into ice bursting through iron pipes.  Ice is a nearly unstoppable force to be reckoned with.

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Windthrown Tree – Photo of the Week

Posted on March 15, 2014 by Andrew Sabai

Trees that grow in wetlands like this hardwood swamp have shallow root systems making them prone to being pushed over by strong winds.  When I tree tips over (tipups) like this Green Ash tree, in this manner, it digs a hole and leaves a pile of dirt.  The whole process creates a number of tiny new habitats in the wet woods.  The removal of the tree’s canopy allows more light to the forest floor, creating a small area for more sun-loving plants, and young trees to grow.  The whole dug creates bare ground for new plants to germinate and complete where once a tree grew.  In this case, the hole the tree roots left behind creates a little pond, which acts like a little refuge for more aquatic creatures as the spring flood waters subside.

Windthrow Tree
When a tree falls, and no one is around, does it make a sound? Maybe not, but when it falls as a windthrow, or tipup, The roots dig a hole. These tipups can provide unique habitats in a forest. The holes can fill with water, and the fan of roots can provide safe places for mammals to hide. In drier areas, these tip ups may be visible for decades or centuries after the trees have rotted away. The holes are still there, and the pile of decayed roots, soil, and rocks remain in a pile, sometimes with new trees growing on top.

As the decades pass the mass of rotting roots will provide comes for all sorts of animals, and eventually, a pile of dirt that will provide a little piece of high ground for a new tree to grow.  Most likely that tree will meet the same fate as the original.  It makes me wonder how many times this has happened in this swamp over the centuries.  How many countless plants and animals have owed their existence to that first tree that toppled over in a thunderstorm so many years ago?

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River Otters’ Curiosity

Posted on March 12, 2014 by Andrew Sabai
Watchful River Otter
A River Otter keeps an eye on some canoers

Sometimes wildlife is just as interested in you as you are in it.  On a September camping trip with the family, I was sitting around the fire, gazing across the lake.  It was late morning, the lake was calm, and the skies were overcast.  I noticed something on the other shore about 250 yards away.  It had a strange gait as it ran along the shore and quickly disappeared.  I stared for a minute, ran up to the car, and grabbed the binoculars.  I thought it must be an otter or a giant mink, but they’re extinct.  After I returned with the binoculars, I waited and waited but did not see anything.  Then I noticed something in the water and looked with the binoculars.  Sure enough, River Otters.  A little family.  My family came to look at them, but they were now too far away for a good look even with magnification.  I decided to run down to where they were, but they stayed away from me.

My wife and oldest child took to the canoe to get a closer look.  After a while, they returned and said that the otters were curious and approached the canoe, not the other way around.  I took the canoe and the other two kids and headed over to the far side of the lake where the otters were last seen.  They were hanging out in a small bay.  They spotted us, observed for a minute, and then approached the canoe.  We stopped paddling and stayed put on the calm water.  The otters began circling, alternately swimming underwater, surfacing, snorting, and standing as straight up out of the water as they could to get a good look at us.  When they completed their circle around us, we headed back to camp to leave the otters in peace to fish.  Otters are amazing creatures, and I felt fortunate to have gotten a good look at them.

I returned for another camping trip in October.  As we looked out over a different lake near to where I had seen the otters in September, we saw another group of three.  Most likely this was the same family.  The small scattered northern Wisconsin Lakes are probably too small to support a family all year.  Not that there are not enough fish, but I suppose the fish get wise to otters and become difficult to catch.  Or maybe otters like variety.  From the shore the otters were not very interested in us this crisp fall afternoon; it was probably the novelty of people floating on water that drew in the curiosity of the otters earlier in the year.  This time I watched the otters only for a few minutes; perhaps my curiosity was also satisfied.

Video and still photographs taken with a Sony a580 dslr.

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Emmons Creek Winter Walk

Posted on March 1, 2014 by Andrew Sabai
Emmons Creek
Winter scene on Emmon’s Creek in Central Wisconsin.

I like winter, but there comes a time when winter has lost its magic, and I feel it is time to move on with the seasons.  I want to see animal life and green plants.  The winter is rather dull.  Sure, there are some hardy birds around, and a handful of mammals are visible.  The lakes are all frozen over, and fish can be found by drilling a hole in the ice, lowering line and lure, and waiting in the cold for a bite.   There is something about seeing fish in the winter for me that lightens my mood, and there are places to see them.  Rivers, streams, and creeks that are fast-flowing or mostly groundwater-fed can be free of ice all year round.  Such is the case with Emmons Creek as it flows out of Fountain Lake in Portage County, Wisconsin; the lake is groundwater fed, and there are many tiny short streams fed by springs.

Thinking of the creek, I packed up boots, and GoPro Hero 3+ camera mounted on a stick and went in search of aquatic life.  The weather was not supportive:  the temperature was – 7° F and the wind chill -20°.  The sun was out, but it was only helped with the lighting for photography.  I pulled into the parking lot and put on my brand new uninsulated hip boots, grabbed my camera, and headed to the creek.  I walked about 100 yards through deep snow along the creek and stepped in.  My thermometer said the water was 37°F, which on a normal day would seem rather frigid, but my feet were happy the boots were surrounded by temperatures 44 degrees warmer than the air.

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Waiting for the Sun Again

Posted on March 1, 2014 by Andrew Sabai

Photographers spend a lot of time waiting for the sun to rise.  The so-called “magic hour,” when light can be amazing, is often coincided to be 1/2 hour before and a 1/2 hour after sunset.  On a frigid November morning I decide to chase the light, and in the process try to catch a glimpse of a comet.  I position myself on a limestone slab overlooking Lake Winnebago in the city of Oshkosh, Wisconsin.  Ice covers the bay behind me, and looking to the east across the rest of the lake, ice mostly covers the rocky shore.  I mount my camera on the tripod, ready for shooting.  As I walked to the point earlier a pair of duck hunters arrived and similarly set up for a morning’s shooting.  As I sit on my rock with the wind to my back, I look out over the lake.  Here and there are small flocks of ducks, some calling back and forth an hour before the sun’s appearance.  I predict the duck hunters will have luck.

By accident I happen to look the way of the duck hunters and watch two ducks tumble from the sky, a moment later I hear two shots.  I saw the birds too briefly to identify them, but their small silhouettes against the slowly brightening sky tell me they were not the mallards I heard calling earlier.  I check my phone for the time; about one minute after the hunting hours begin, lucky.  As the sky changes I too have a bit of luck, there was no spectacular light this morning, but it is satisfying to watch the stars fade, and the sunrise.

As I pick up my equipment, I find frost had begun to spread over my backpack, tripod, and my lens barrel.  I checked the glass, but it was fine.  As I pack up my gear, I notice the nearby duck hunters are doing the same.  They are wading in the lake breaking the ice around their decoys.  I suppose the sight of ducks frozen in ice is unappealing to other ducks.  I head back for the car with some photos to upload on the computer and later the duck hunters will return to their house with something for dinner.  I’m not sure who is crazier this morning.

Video taken with a Sony A65v and Sigma 150-500mm 5.6-6.3 APO HSM

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New Blog

Posted on January 29, 2014 by Andrew Sabai

Welcome to the Lake and Wetland Ecosystems Blog.  This is the new home of the Winnebago Conservation Photography blog and will include content expanded to all lake and wetland topics, including an expanded geographic area to include the entire mid-west.  However, it will still have a strong influence by my geographic region.  It will also have easier ways to access information on wetland flora and fauna.  The website will be going through a period of rapid increase in content over the first half of this year, so check back often.

 

While the former blog will remain up for the near term all new written content will appear on this site.  You can also purchase photographs at andrewsabaiphoto.com to help support this site.

I hope you enjoy the changes and the new content on this website and the others listed sites above

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