News
October 2025
Fall North American bird migration is an extraordinary time across Wisconsin. It runs roughly August 15th to November 30th . Timing depends on species and location. Waterfowl and songbirds will cross the state in the millions. On a single night this year, September 17, 52 million birds crossed Wisconsin. Our diverse state habitat (forests, marshes and grasslands) and our site between the Atlantic and Mississippi flyways helps the birds find shelter and food as they move south. We provide a welcome stopover, just another reason to be planting native plants for them to use. The majority will move in darkness.
The Lights Out! Message emphasizes the risks posed to birds by light pollution aka ALAN: artificial light at night. The birds are both attracted and disoriented by artificial light, leading to millions of unnecessary collisions. Turn off non-essential exterior lights form 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has created a brilliant website, BirdCast, with live migration and forecast tools by state and county. The numbers are staggering and fun to watch as to species, speed, number and heights flown.
BirdCast Migration Dashboard - Wisconsin
BirdCast Migration Dashboard - Waukesha County
September 2025
Unfortunately a new aquatic invasive has been identified on Pine Lake. Amanda Schmitz, AIS Coordinator for Waukesha County was performing an early detection survey and found starry stonewort (Nitellopsis obtusa) in the northeast bay. This highly invasive freshwater alga is native to Eurasia but invasive in Midwestern waters. It can create dense surface mats obstructing boating and overtake habitat by crowding out native aquatic species. It is a distinctive lime green when growing with single cell stems and whorls of branches. It’s submerged star- shaped bulbils are distinctive. It is almost always a hitchhiker, so please when returning your boat to Pine always inspect your boat, trailer, anchor and lines for fragments. If the lake you depart has a cleaning station always take advantage of that. Watch for this on your shoreline and around your pier. It can grow to 2 feet. Familiarize your self with this alga and be looking for it at the landing and your pier, or obstructing navigation.
August 2025
Since inception the Pine Lake Preservation Committee has sought to quantify erosion control around the lake roughly by neighborhood. The scoring is based on the presence of 35 foot buffer zones along a shoreline and tree canopy. Below is the graphic from 2024:
If your neighborhood score is low, talk to your neighbors about planting buffers around your bay etc, increasing shoreline vegetation as a group to limit nutrient and pollutant runoff. DNR grants are available for group shoreline planting projects: Healthy Lakes WI Grants