The Northern Cardinal Begins to Sing

This familiar bird will soon be singing and advertising its territory. Cardinals have bright, whistled songs that sound a bit like “Cheer, cheer, cheer, what, what, what, what.” Males often sing from the tops of trees, and after they have set up their territories, females may sing duets with them.

Male cardinals fiercely defend their territories from rival males. They have even been known to fight with their own reflections in windows! When selecting a mate it appears that looks do matter...at least to female cardinals. In these birds, the brighter the male the better the mate. Scientists have noticed that bright red males hold better territories, eat more, and have better reproductive success than duller males.

Did you know? In the 1800’s cardinals were prized as cagebirds and thousands were trapped and sold until the Migratory Bird Act was passed in the early 1900’s.

Learn more: Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Snow Fleas: Arthropods with Springs

On mild winter days, you may glimpse a few insects or spiders emerging from the leaf litter and traveling above the snow. If you are very lucky you may even notice an entire horde of small creatures. If they look like pepper sprinkled across the snow, you've probably stumbled upon snow fleas!

Snow fleas are not really fleas at all, but a type of arthropod called a springtail. At 1/8 of an inch long, snow fleas are just slightly larger than a pinhead. On warm winter days they emerge from beneath the snow, where they have been inactive, and feed on decaying matter above.

Did you know? Springtails get their name from a spring-like tail that is held under their body by two tiny hooks. When the hooks are released, the creature goes springing away. Sadly, the snow fleas cannot control where they spring to.

Learn more: Wisconsin Natural Resources

The Changeable Long-tailed Weasel

This long-bodied creature is the most widely spread mustelid (a family of mammals that includes badgers, otters, weasels, and their relatives) in North America. Their amazing hearing and smell make them successful hunters of mice, voles, rabbits, birds, and shrews. If this weasel kills more than it can eat, it will often cache the food for later.

This small carnivore is a clever camouflage artist. In summer, it is cinnamon brown with a white belly. In winter, its coat is gleaming white with a bit of black on the tip of the tail. The weasel's color change is actually genetic. In southern climates where turning white would not be beneficial, it doesn't change color. In fact, if you transported a southern-born weasel to Wisconsin, its coat would remain brown year-round. If you moved a Wisconsin weasel to a southern climate, it would still turn white during the winter season.

Did you know? Long-tailed weasels live in the abandoned burrows of other small mammals, and build themselves cozy nests there...made mostly of the fur of their prey!

Learn more: Cornell Lab of Ornithology

How Do You Tell a Crow from a Raven?

Chances are you’ve seen a medium-sized, black bird at CWES, but was it an American crow or a common raven? Though you are much more likely to spot a crow than a raven in this area, both species nest in Portage County. Here are some tips for telling the difference between the two:

Call: This can be quite helpful. Crows have a raspy “caw,” while ravens give a deep, croaky “gronk, gronk."

Number: If you see a large group of medium-sized, black birds, they are likely crows. Ravens are more solitary birds and typically are seen only one or two at a time.

Size: Ravens are slightly larger than crows and have larger, more curved beaks.

Throat Feathers: When perched, a raven’s throat feathers look much more shaggy and ruffled than a crow’s.

Tail: When in flight, a raven’s tail looks wedge-shaped while a crow’s appears more rounded and fan-shaped.

Cool Crow Facts: Crow families can be as large as 15 and include young from five previous years. These birds often help their parents raise their new young. In winter, crows roost overnight in groups that can be as large as thousands of birds or more.