Good morning.
Wednesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 81. Sunrise is 5:29 AM and sunset 8:32 PM for 15h 03m 10s of daytime. The moon is full with 99.9% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1787, the Continental Congress enacts the Northwest Ordinance establishing governing rules for the Northwest Territory. It also establishes procedures for the admission of new states and limits the expansion of slavery.
Whitewater, and all the area of the Kettle Moraine beyond, is a place of impressive natural beauty. We have, despite the skill of our own art and design, nothing so beautiful as the natural world offers us. The 2022 Audubon Photography Awards remind as much. Immediately below, see video award winner Liron Gertsman’s entry and his description of it. Sharp-tailed grouse have a wide range that includes northern Wisconsin —
Category: Professional
Species: Sharp-tailed Grouse
Location: Thompson-Nicola, British Columbia, Canada
Camera: Canon EOS R5 with a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @400mm lens and Canon EF to RF mount adapter; 1/60 second at f 5.6; ISO 5000Story Behind the Shot: This clip from the pre-sunrise hours captures Sharp-tailed Grouse males dancing and chirping at a lek. Careful not to bother them, I filmed as they bent over, stretched their wings, and stomped their feet. It sounded like rapid drumming. Their tails standing straight up, they displayed again and again. As much as I love the power of photos to tell a story, some scenes need more than a frame to capture the bigger picture.
Bird Lore: All of North America’s prairie grouse have impressive courtship dances that have been inspiring humans for millennia. Many Native American peoples of the Great Plains and the Interior West have stirring, elaborate ceremonial dances based on those of the grouse. The Sharp-tailed Grouse is a close relative of the two species of prairie-chickens, but it’s less dependent on open grasslands, favoring habitats with more brushy cover, and often moving into wooded areas in winter.