Prairie Ridge Ecostation

The mulberry fruits are ripe, so the air around Prairie Ridge is filled with the high-pitched calls of Cedar Waxwings! These charismatic birds love mulberries and hundreds of them have been chowing down in the trees. Waxwings get their name from the red wingtips that look like sealing wax. Their tall crests, black face masks and yellow tail tips make them elegant visitors to our mulberry trees. They’ll be visible hopping from branch to branch as long as the berries last — then they’ll head off to find better fruit sources for the rest of the summer.

Have you ever noticed this plastic tube at Prairie Ridge? It’s a rain gauge, a valuable tool that accurately measures precipitation.

For over a dozen years, we’ve shared our measurements with the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS), a project that studies microclimates and their impact on weather patterns. Scientists, meteorologists, the National Weather Service, and others nationwide use CoCoRaHS data to study everything from global climate change to local rainfall effects on bird nests.

You can be become a CoCoRaHS participant too! The project is currently recruiting new members. Visit https://cocorahs.org for more info, and explore our data at https://ncmns.net/4vMYX9I.