Two months ago, I made my first trip to Madison Audubon's Otsego Marsh property (click here for a map) just northeast of Goose Pond Sanctuary. Never heard of it? You're not alone; it's a hidden gem. And now, I can't stay away!
If you haven't made it out there yet this summer, we invite you to visit. It's free, open to all, and an easy drive. There's a parking lot, a hiking trail through the woods, easy put-in locations for canoes and kayaks, and best of all, it's the site of our latest land purchase.
Across the road from Hawkos Pond, the centerpiece of the Otsego Marsh natural area, is our new Reierson addition. Those 36 acres might not look like thriving habitat right now, but in a few years, that soybean field will become diverse prairie with ducks, crayfish, and turtles nesting, and bees, butterflies, and bobolinks flying. That stretch of woods packed with buckthorn and honeysuckle will become a tantalizing oak savanna. That wetland surrounded by reed canary grass will... maybe still be surrounded by that horribly persistent invasive species, but we will be working on it!
On Monday, our director of philanthropy, Becky Abel, and I suited up with masks and hand sanitizer and put a canoe in at Hawkos Pond. While we paddled slowly, we listened to the plucky calls of green frogs and watched a metallic green sweat bee work a water lily flower. We were visited often by a curious kingfisher, and chuckled as a pair of barn swallow parents doggedly convinced their quartet of newly fledged youngin's to just fly, darn it. We saw scores of dragonflies of many varieties. We smelled the sweet fragrance of swamp milkweed blooming along the edges.
A green sweat bee on a blooming water lily flower. Madison Audubon photo
Y'all, this place is amazing.
You can be part of this incredible landscape by contributing to our Reierson Puzzle project. Thanks to a special pool of funds, we were able to seize the opportunity to purchase those 36 soon-to-be glorious acres that will enhance the Otsego Marsh area. Now, we're refilling those coffers. With each donation, a new puzzle piece is revealed. Together, we can turn the patchwork landscape into a whole picture of a vibrant ecosystem.
Your donation, in any amount, will give you the immense satisfaction of knowing YOU helped protect this beautiful marsh -- and all its buzzy, rattling, plucking, croaking, chirping, and quacking inhabitants -- for generations to come.
I hope you will visit Otsego Marsh and fall in love with it too!
Sincerely,
Brenna Marsicek
Director of communications and outreach
Madison Audubon
Cover photo by Madison Audubon
