La Riviere bird blind offers great viewing, photographing

By Ted Pennekamp

A bird viewing and photographing blind was completed in mid August at La Riviere Park of Prairie du Chien and is open for use by the public.

The wooden blind is only about 10 feet away from one of the four bird baths in the park and has a wood silhouette deflector behind to help make the outlines of people using the blind less noticeable to the birds.

Prairie Rod and Gun Club member Dennis Kirschbaum said 1987 and 1988 were drought years and that is when bird baths were utilized at La Riviere. He said birds kept coming to plastic garbage can lids filled with water. There is no stream, pond or other water source in the park.

In the early 1990s, old satellite dishes from Design Homes were used as bird baths and members of the Bluff Country Long Spurs buried water lines that were hooked up to the faucet in the house at La Riviere. Kirschbaum said the water lines were on a timer and fed the bird baths with fresh water twice a day.

“Critters and birds need food, shelter and water,” said Kirschbaum. “Critters and birds started using the bird baths, with the most birds using them during the spring and fall migrations.”

Kirschbaum said the plans for the recently completed bird blind came from the York County, Pennsylvania Audubon Society. A small bird feeder might be erected nearby to help attract even more birds. People using the blind can also bring their own seed for the feeder.

The Prairie Rod and Gun Club helped set the posts for the blind and Kirschbaum put up the walls and the roof. The silhouette deflector was put up by a work crew from the Prairie du Chien Correctional Institution, who also spread recycled gravel from the city to help create a trail. The posts for the deflector wall were leftover from the black locust tree that was cut down and used for posts for the bat house project in the park. Kirschbaum said the blind will receive a final dressing after it settles. The wood for the blind and deflector was obtained via a grant through the Crawford County Land Conservation Department.

The house in La Riviere no longer exists but the bird baths are replenished with water. In addition, Kirschbaum said the Upper Iowa Audubon Society has provided a grant that will provide interpretive signs for the bird baths and blind.

People using the blind should be able to have great viewing and photographing opportunities if they remain careful and slow in their movements, noted Kirschbaum.

Another project of note in La Riviere is the construction of 13 bat houses that were put up in April of 2017. Eight houses were put up near the barn and five more are out in the grasslands, said Kirschbaum.

“There used to be about 200 to 300 bats in the barn each summer,” said Kirschbaum. “But, in 2016, we learned that the barn was to be resided, which would make it bat proof.” 

Permission was granted in early 2016 by the La Riviere Park Committee to build and put up bat houses. In late 2016, one black locust tree in the park was cut down and milled by Mick Rooney. The lumber was then dried in the barn loft.

In February of 2017, members of Ron Kucko’s building trades class at Prairie du Chien High School built more than 20 bat houses, many of which were to be used at La Riviere Park.

Kirschbaum said a crew from Alliant Energy augered the holes for the poles and Prairie Rod and Gun Club members put the houses on the poles in April of 2017.

In December of 2017, the barn was resided.

“In the spring of 2018, we had a low population of bats because of white nose syndrome,” said Kirschbaum. “So, no nesting bats have been found in the bat houses. But, there were some roosting bats.”