16th Annual Spring River Cleanup

Today, my dad and I worked with Trout Unlimited and The Milwaukee River Keepers to clean the Menominee River. We picked up a lot of bottles, cans, paper, plastic bags, and plates. The weirdest thing we picked up was a plastic bag with a salmon head inside it. It was stinky! The biggest trash we saw was a grocery cart. We couldn't pull it out because it was totally stuck in the mud. All together, my dad and I filled 5 large trash bags in only 2 hours.

It is important to keep the river clean to keep the environment clean, which keeps the animals and fish healthy. The Menominee River is very beautiful. It flows right into Lake Michigan, so it is important to keep the river clean. If you want to help out next year, you can check the  The Milwaukee River Keepers website. But remember, you can always pick up trash if you see it and help keep Milwaukee's beautiful rivers clean.

Beautiful River

The Milwaukee River is beautiful all year round. We wanted to show a few different faces of this ever changing place.

FALL

Great Blue Heron Fishing

 Fly Fishing

Kayaking in the Morning

Hawk in Flight

Salmon Fishing

WINTER

First Ice

SUMMER

Kayaking

 Great Blue Heron

Salmon River

Every Fall the Milwaukee River is invaded by a very special fish, the Chinook--or King--Salmon. Starting in August, the salmon enter the river from the Milwaukee harbor and head north to spawn. Although originally not native to the river, or Lake Michigan, the salmon were released on the river, so they return each year to lay their eggs.

They live their lives in Lake Michigan and they can grow to be 35" long and up to 35lbs, although the record weighed in at 43 lbs!

The salmon have large sharp teeth and feed on fish such as Alewives throughout the year.

One of the favorite lures to use to catch salmon are flies. Fisherman also use spawn sacs, spinners, and spoons to catch these trophy fish.

The Schlitz Audubon Center

The Schlitz Audubon Center is on the shores of Lake Michigan, just north of Milwaukee. The Audubon Center was once a farm owned by the Schlitz Brewery, and was used as a place to rest it's busy draft horses. Today, the land is a 185 acre nature center. The center has woods, grassland, trails, a 60ft observation tower, bridges, ponds and beautiful beaches along lake Michigan.

The nature center's rustic building is a very environmentally friendly facility. The center uses natural light, solar power, a geothermal heating system, and low impact lighting and plumbing where possible.

The Eastern Screech Owl

This winter an eastern screech owl moved into a wood duck house in our park. The owl was about 8" high, with a brilliant spotted chest and soft brown color. His eyes looked dark green, and its ears were very pointy. When we first saw the owl it stood and watched us observantly from the wood duck house.

But then, our neighbor's dogs scared him and he flew to a nearby tree. From the tree, he watched us some more and turned his head all the way around. Did you know that  an owl can turn its head 270 degrees! This is so it can see its prey and watch out for danger while sitting still and quiet.

To learn more about the eastern screech owl you can visit nationalgeographic.com

owl illustration from National Geographic

Reptiles at the Milwaukee Zoo

Welcome to the zoo filled with wild animals! There are many kinds of creatures at the zoo including reptiles, amphibians, mammals, birds and bugs. Today I would like to show you some of the terrific reptiles. There are snakes, turtles, lizards, crocodiles and alligators. Here are a few we saw at the Milwaukee County Zoo...

Tree Monitor

Green Tree Snake

King Cobra

Alligator

Gila Monster

Turtles at the Pond

We met a few interesting reptiles at the pond recently. First, I saw a huge snapping turtle. He was over a foot long, very old and didn't move at all. Next we saw a baby snapping turtle. He was fast, tiny and very cute. He wasn't very afraid of us. He was a brave little turtle. 

I also saw many painted turtles. They pretty much like to hang out on logs in the sun. Painted turtles aren't so brave. When they see you they hop into the water and swim deep into the weeds.

You can see where the turtles swim in the pond, because they leave a trail through the weeds. It's kind of confusing, because there are so many trails mixed together. 

Resting Snapping Turtle

Baby Painted Turtle

Painted Turtle - stuck on a log