It was a very windy day but thankfully no one blew away! This year’s open house featured a Riddle Walk, new Children’s Discovery Cabinet, great food, kayaking, tower climbing and —everyone’s favorite–Glen’s live animal presentation. Turtles, frogs, toads, and snakes charmed visitors as Glen shared their habitat needs, life cycles and mostly importantly the need […]
This month’s CEI Bird club meeting began with big news.. A Bell’s vireo was sighted just east of Kiel. This is a new bird for Manitowoc County, bringing the total observed species to 346. Our county ranks fourth in our state for number of species identified. Previously only observed in southwestern Wisconsin, this bird is […]
As warmer temperatures arrive and longer daylight enable us to spend more timeoutside, we celebrate the return of Monarch butterflies and sightings of so many othersthat are common to our area. Although some butterflies migrate there are many thatcomplete their life cycle here and overwinter both as adults and as caterpillars in variousforms. Most of […]
Collins Marsh Fun Fest and Riddle Walk June 13th 11am- 3pm. Rain date June 14th. Everyone is invited to participate in a Riddle Walk by visiting 10 locations along the trail near the Nature Center at Collins Marsh. Solve nature related riddles, record your answers and return to the nature center for a chance to […]
The morning was cold, rainy and windy when CEI Bird club met this month. We all shared the migrating birds we’ve been seeing including our favorite red-headed woodpeckers and warblers, up close interactions with sandhill cranes and a congregation of 10 eagles at one member’s site. We discussed the phone apps Merlin, Seek, and E-Bird […]
May on the marsh is a very special time of year, some of our most colorful birdspecies have arrived from their wintering locations and they are wearing their brightestand most attractive colors for mating season. It is a time of nesting for some, feedinghungry young for others and the first offspring of Canada geese are […]
Our speaker series continues at the Neustadter Nature Center May 20th at 6pm with a presentation “Invasive Species Hot Topics 2026″. Join Valerie O’Connor, Invasive Species Coordinator from Glacierland RC&D, to learn more about invasive species hot topics in Manitowoc County. She will be going over prominent non-native species and how it affects our natural […]
With a robin busily building its nest on a bench in front of the Nature Center, Bird Club members discussed upcoming projects and events. We are eager to attend CEI Bird Club member Jim Van Hoof’s “Bird Photography” presentation on Saturday April 18th. Several members are participating in the Midwest Crane count also on Saturday, […]
With Earth Day officially slated for April 22nd, Collins Marsh is celebrating it this month with 2 planned events at the Neustadter Nature Center. Won’t you join us? April 18, 2026 1:00pm “Bird Photography with Jim Van Hoof” Professional nature photographer Jim Van Hoof will share the basics of photographing our often elusive feathered friends […]
April on the marsh is a time of rebirth, reproduction, regeneration and return toproductivity fueled by the increasing warmth, length of daylight and precipitation that allthings green need to grow. The trees and shrubs are adorned in catkins covered withpollen welcoming the native bees as they awake from their winter dormancy. Amphibians know that it […]