Happening at the Crossroads
January 7, 2007
We at Crossroads at Big Creek have been awaiting 2007 with eager anticipation. Crossroads has grown to the point that we needed to add personnel. On January 2nd Dee Paulsen joined The Crossroads'staff as Administrative Coordinator and Summer Program Director. Dee is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. She earned a master's degree through Viterbo College and was employed as a teacher in the School District of Sturgeon Bay for twenty-two years. Dee is married to Dr. Eric Paulsen and has two children, Nels and Annika. She is active with the Door County Land Trust and the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. Dee is currently writing children's stories with the goal of publication.
"I'm very excited," Dee says,"because I believe in conservation and outdoor education and I look forward to being a part of providing educational opportunities for learners of all ages."
One of thgose learning opportunities, a lecture on "Cardinals" is set for 2:00 PM on Thursday, January 11. In preparing a recent lecture on greeting card birds, we determined that cardinals are not only the most depicted birds on holiday greeting cards, but also among the most popular birds with Door County residents and visitors... in spite of the fact that cardinals are not native to the peninsula.
The brilliantly colored red birds have been extending their range from eastern and southern parts of the United States. They were first seen in Door County in 1940. How they got the name cardinal is convoluted, to say the least. The story starts with dried up dead insects in South America.
Cochineal insects live on and suck the juices from prickly pear cactus. In the regional areas of Mexico, Bolivia and Peru, where the insects still are still raised and harvested, using methods going back to the Aztec and Inca cultures, the females are scraped from the cactus, dried, and the pigments are extracted from their shriveled bodies. 70,000 individual females are needed to produce a pound of dye. This, by the way is not sexual discrimination. Males lack mouthparts and die of starvation immediately after making their contribution to the perpetuation of their species.
In the 16th century, when the conquistadores began the long-term exploitation of Latin America, cochineal dye was one the valuable treasures sent back to Europe. Michelangelo was among the first visual artists to utilize pigments made from mashed cochineal insects. During the Renaissance fiber artists changed fashion by favoring scarlet cloth colored with cochineal.
Roman Catholic Cardinals and the wealthy (is this a redundancy?) wore clothes treated with cochineal. When pioneer explorers and biologists came to America, they found beautiful scarlet birds and in the wetlands, blazing red flowers. Both were given the name "cardinal" because their colors so closely resembled the red robes of the Vatican Cardinals.
By the way, Cardinals are particularly striking against the white of snow, and if we get sufficient snow for cross-country skiing, the trails will be groomed and open to the public. If snow is adequate on Sunday afternoons, Friends of Crossroads again will offer their Family Ski Program, loaning skis to families. Crossroads'trails are always open to the public, but if there is snow, hikers are asked to use designated foot trails.
Crossroads at Big Creek is a donor-supported learning preserve dedicated to life-long learning in science, history and the environment. The entrance and parking area is located across from Whitetails Unlimited on Michigan (TT) Street in Sturgeon Bay. For more information, call 920-746-5895.
Animals on the snow - January 1 News
Watching the skies at Christmas - December 17 News
Christmas presents for wildlife - December 3 News
Find out what Christmas trees wildlife prefer - November 22 News
Learn about middens - November 20 News
