Hotspot Write-up for Pershing Wildlife Area
Pershing is a 7900 acre State Wildlife Area, divided into Northern and Southern Units. The DNR manages for three distinct habitat types - wetlands, brush-prairie and forest.
Pershing is located in Taylor County in North-Central Wisconsin. To find Pershing, from the intersection of Hwys 64 and 73 near Gilman, go north on Hwy 73 about 6 miles to Hannibal. Turn left (west) onto County Hwy M and go about 3.5 miles to East Loop Road on the right (north), access to the North Unit. To reach the South Unit, take a left onto Gilman Road 2 miles West of Hannibal, and follow it south to Rued Road, the south border of the property.
Pershing is the best place in Wisconsin to see Sharp-tailed Grouse and April is the best time to visit. The South Unit has two blinds that can be reserved by calling the Ladysmith DNR office at 715-532-4369. There is no fee but it is first come, first serve. Reservations can be made any time after the first of the year and the last two weeks of April are usually the peak period for displaying grouse. Short-eared Owls can be observed here at dawn and dusk and Northern Harriers, Sandhill Cranes, Clay-colored Sparrows and Swamp Sparrows are common. Large ponds and small lakes attract Ring-necked Ducks, Common Loons, Horned Grebes, even White-fronted Geese and the occasional Trumpeter Swan. Monson Flowage is known as a productive shorebird spot in later spring. American Woodcock and Wilson’s Snipe can be seen doing their sky dance in spring and LeConte’s Sparrows can be found in the wet meadow areas. Some other birds found here include Sora, Black Tern, American Bittern, Osprey, Rough-legged Hawk, Bald Eagle, Common Nighthawk, Alder & Olive-sided Flycatcher, and during migration many warbler species. In winter you can find Northern Shrikes perched in trees in the savanna areas.
January 21st, 2009 at 10:00 am
I think what you’ve written is a good overview of the area.
Do you think it would be helpful to further break down the area by watersheds and/or habitat types and then give more specific species that are likely to be found in each area? That would probably require, first breaking the area up into what ever sections we decided upon and then taking some field trips to each of the sections and recording what we saw.
And if we did that, we could also include habitat and watershed images of each section to break up the text.
Just a thought.
Greg
January 21st, 2009 at 9:22 pm
I would agree with Greg - I had a really neat book of birding “loops” for the Denver area when I moved there years ago - it did break down each loop (like the Rocky Mt Arsenal, Mt Evans, etc) into actual routes and what birds to find where along the routes - it was still in a booklet form and very user-friendly and informative - I don’t know to what extent we want this hotspot guide we’re doing to go, but I would definitely agree with more specifics - good basic write-up Claire - and a good starting point - now we just have to collaborate for details
January 22nd, 2009 at 11:11 am
In terms of a layout that could be used for the web site and possibly for the print-out, I could see the following sections:
Home Page - would contain an overview (probably similar to what Claire has written above) and a navigation scheme (to the main sections below) that would be used throughout the web site. Other main sections of the web site could include:
History Page - description of the history of the Pershing W.A. area, it’s purchase by the DNR, etc. etc.
Specific Flowage (Habitat) Breakdowns Page(s) - (Ex. Monson Flowage, Shoulder Creek Flowage, Sharptail Habitats, etc., etc.) - each probably could contain images and specific bird species likely to be found in each, images of the area, etc.. Each area described could be a separate page (on the web site) or just a separate section on the same page.
Ongoing Species List Page - an ongoing tally of bird species observed on Pershing.
Projects Page - description of any projects that are currently being carried out on the property - including our bluebird trail project if that’s undertaken.
Other Main Section Pages??
Those are my thoughts re: the web site organization
Greg