Bar Bare Runs

What is it with U.W. Milwaukee and the Milwaukee River? First they chew up a 30 acre wetland north of Capital drive, paving over some serious songbird habitat to put up a parkinglot. The year previous to that we actually sighted the most endangered songbird in the United States there, only because they are endangered we couldn't tell anyone we saw them there- what the H? My wife and I both saw about a dozen Kirtlands Warblers flitting about filling up on bugs (mosquitos and gnats). We happened to have two different bird guides so we checked over and over to make sure they wern't Canada warblers or something similar, and sure enough they were Kirtlands. That same year an amazing discovery was made in the Michigan Upper Penninsula, a flock of about 16 nesting Kirtland's Warblers. What was so important about this discovery was that it was the first time this species had ever been known to nest anywhere other than the 60 mile area in Northern Michigan that had Jack Pines. Well, guess what the following year the new nesting site was down to two nesting pairs and now it is gone - go figure. It couldn't have been U.W. Milwaukee's stupid lying parking lot oh no they are above reality.

Lying? oh yea, I used to run a little bit and I ran the loop that goes through Estabrook park across on Port Washington Road and down along past the tower park and the old U. W. M parking lot, all within 75 feet of the river, which Federal law allows everyone access to pass through. Anyway, I see a lot of 55 gallon drums in my work, so when a drum farm appears, I notice it, I even notice the condition of the drums. Well, such a drum farm appeared, with relatively new, perhaps used once, apparently empty drums, stored in a bran new fenced in area behind one of the towers. I wondered what a broadcast tower would use such a variety of drums for, since they were all different, but thought nothing of it. Well after the drums had sat out in the weather for several months, perhaps a year, they got to rusting and looking pretty shabby... whatever. Then, one day, the drums disappeared from the fenced in area and were scattered about and partially buried in the river bank. The same exact drums with the same exact markings. What?

Well, spring showed up and the Yellow warbler returned to its nest on the south side of the gully that used to separate the towers from the parking lot. On a tangent, earlier that Winter, a Bald Eagle had actually stopped in town and sat in a tree overlooking the parking lot, that was cool, and a couple of Milwaukee police detectives saw it too, since they stopped to see if I was okay after driving really erratic after I saw the eagle from the Capital Drive and Humboldt intersection. I also got a couple of nice pics of Hooded Mergansers on the River where the bluff used to be. I had to crawl on my belly in muddy snow to get the shot, since they are super skittish when on the river as compared to when they are on the lake.

Anyway, sometime in May or June, the Yellow Warbler tree was cut down, I was really sad about that and wondered what sort of barbarian vandal would do such a thing. After that, about July 1st, I found a bunch of toad tadpoles in part of the wetland area. I brought my 5 year old daughter there the next day, July 2nd to find the entire wetland and parkinglot solid ground up mud. Many of the trees were cut down and simply by my skill at orienting myself, was I able to find the spot were the tadpoles were. They were still alive and living in a bulldozer track. My little girl and I braved the swarms of mosquitoes, and collected about 600 of the little critters and stuffed them in an empty fish tank. Her and her friend spent the next month catching them as them metamorphosized into toads, and collecting them in containers which we then released all over this part of the city, wherever there was sufficient habitat. Toads, you know will drown once they metamorphosize, which is why they prefer shallow ponds. One we kept as a pet, it lasted 6 years. In passing, we also saw a pair of Hooded Warblers on that site, a Bluebird nest and there used to be Tree Sparrows wintering there every year.

I followed up a little, after the 4th of July weekend, throughout which the workers kept up their devastation. Obviously so no one could complain to the authorities. Did I mention U.W. Milwaukee was behind all this? The barrels were used as an excuse, the DNR claimed they had floated up from the dump which had been there and they used that as proof that the dump was leaking into the river. I talked to Frank Zeidler, who was mayor when the dump was operating, and he verified that the barrels were bull poop, since everything in that dump had been melted into glass, so there was no way anything would ever leak. My dad used to swim in the Blue Hole, which was turned into the dump after a few kids drowned.

Well, guess what, Bubble Gum (U. W. M.) now wants to destroy more migratory bird habitat. 30 acres of wetland along the migratory bird corridor isn't enough. Now they are after the Black Throated Blue warblers, the Blackburnian warblers, the Wilsons Warblers, the Common Yellowthroats, Magnolias, Yellow Rumped and Black and Whites. Not to mention the Scarlet Tanagers. Their target, the space just north of North avenue.

What I have noticed over many years of birding is that most migratory birds require a wooded area above a minimum size. If it is too small, they pass it over and if they pass over too many, they do not make it to their nesting grounds and die. So, F'in what. Well, the Wisconsin forestry industry, if you include tourism is a multibillion dollar a year industry, and what keeps the trees free of insect pests? Wood warblers is the answer, which is what all the above mentioned warblers are, except the Scarlet Tanagers, and they eat bugs too. Oh, yea and the Milwaukee river has water in it, do any of you children know what grows in water and is a serious nuisance and health threat? Does anyone know what eats the majority of them every spring?

So, what kind of complete idiots run that school?