Birding the Bong

Camping at BONG

The Richard Bong State Recreation Area once designated to become a jet fighter base beginning December 1, 1955, is named after Major Richard Ira Bong, a Poplar, Wisconsin, native, born on September 24, 1920, the son of a Swedish immigrant, was America's leading air ace during World War II, flying in his P-38 Lightning in combat, downing an impressive 40 enemy planes. On August 6, 1945, while half a world away the Enola Gay dropped the bomb on Hiroshima; Bong stepped into an airplane for the last time. His Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star malfunctioned just after take-off, and while he bailed out, he never had a chance. He was just too close to the ground. After surviving two years of combat flying, Richard Ira Bong met his end while on a routine acceptance flight. Richard Bong's decorations included the Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star (with 1 OLC), the Distinguished Flying Cross (with 6 OLC's), the Air Medal (with 14 OLC's), and many other American and foreign medals.

The decision to close the unfinished base was due to the realization that the B-58 Hustler could be accommodated at other bases through the elimination of B-47 Stratojet units ahead of schedule. Bong Air Force Base was declared excess on August 23, 1960.  The fighter base project was abandoned three days before concrete was to be poured for a 12,500-foot runway. Secretary of the Air Force James H. Douglas, Jr. later explained the decision to close Bong by saying: "Finally we realized that by 1961-62 when Bong would be ready, we would have several other medium bomber bases empty of squadrons & we really don't need Bong." Thus Bong AFB was abandoned before ever being completed.
 
Local citizens had the foresight to protect this open space for future generations and in 1974 the State of Wisconsin bought the land making it the state's first recreation area. The recreation area encompasses 4,515 acres of rolling grassland, savanna, wetlands and scattered woodland.

While Bong offers a myriad of recreational uses from camping to model rocketry; bird-watching was the primary reason Barbara and I chose it, to spend our 4th of July weekend.  With bicycles and canoe along; we scoured and explored a great portion of the area around the Sunrise Campgrounds which are not surprisingly on the east side of the recreation area.  Sandhill cranes browsed amongst the tall grasses next to the model airplane enthusiasts. One of the more curious finds was a Great egret, on the very farthest reaches of its northernmost range, wading through the tall reeds and an equally surprising nesting pair of Common moorhens with young, hiding in a shrub near the lake.

The July sun was extremely hot and the cicadas were singing loudly, however there were few mosquitoes to interrupt the overall outdoor enjoyment.  Peddling along on two wheels was by far the best way (besides driving a vehicle with the AC on full blast) to keep cool, so that’s what we mostly did.  The recreation area is dotted with small bodies of pond water and one larger “lake” now called Vern Wolf Lake.  “East Lake” (created when an irrigation ditch was dammed in the 1960s) features two deep 18’ holes in the lake bottom which are remnants from the Air Force Base construction. They were apparently trying to reach bedrock to support a refueling station. “East Lake” was formally dedicated on August 12th, 1995, and renamed to honor Vern J. Wolf, one of the original volunteers at Richard Bong State Recreation Area. He was a longtime Burlington resident, a journalist, poet and teacher.

We had our canoe along (The "Canoe-dle"), a well-worn, battle-hardened, 17' aluminum Grumman which was gifted to us from Barbara's parents; Robert and Joanne Bart.  Together we cast off on it's maiden voyage (as our mutual possession) into Vern Wolf and paddled along for over two hours looking into every tiny inlet for something interesting.  We saw a multitude of Red-winged blackbirds and heard many other Marsh and House wrens along the shores.  Painted turtles sitting in the sunshine atop mostly-submerged logs, slipped into the water as we passed them by, and the sounds of children laughing from within the beach area, wafted out across the water.  Native plants and grasses; each emitting their signature smells, accompanied us as we stroked and sculled our craft.

Our two bicycles proved to be our transportation mode of choice within the park to traverse from birding area to birding area, however a 5.5 mile hike was also included in our weekend's activities.  There are many, many miles of well-groomed trails within the park.  Mown grass constitutes the majority of the multi-use ones so the ground is mostly level.  Each trail offers a variety of scenery from woods to prairie and lakes to marshland.  A graceful pair of Mute swans could be seen in a quiet, out of the way emerald-green pond adjacent to a nearby private golf course.  Yellow and Common yellow-throat warblers were also seen in abundance, as well as the sounds of the Great-crested and Alder flycatchers.  Canada geese, Great blue heron, Turkey vulture and American crow showed their presence along the trail as we slowly walked and looked. 

An older guy passed by us a few miles into the wilderness, jogging in the opposite direction in the 90 degree heat, with no visible water along to hydrate himself.  We wondered aloud as to his sanity.  Later it came into question with clarity when we encountered him again running up and and down a set of railroad tie steps.  "I come out here to train for a stair climb", the man breathlessly said.  "Ohhhh...great!" was our reply as we shook our heads in utter amazement, and walked on.  Barbara remarked, "I guess there are no other stairs anywhere to practice on".  I laughed.

A stalwart and predictable American robin visited a certain evergreen in our campsite each dawn and dusk to sing his robin song at the top of his tiny lungs, and a pair of friendly 13-lined ground squirrels trundled over the grasses in and out of their hole, perilously close to our lit fire pit.  Bull frogs thunder-croaked and lightning bugs cheerily lit the early evening skies with their iridescent glowing bodies.  The smell of wood smoke and hot forest drifted to our noses while we sipped cold beer in our red Walmart folding camp chairs; an small electric fan clamped to the tent creating the only feeble breeze.  This was pure 100% America on the eve of it's birthday, and I was damn glad to have been born in it.

Sources:
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Stephen Sherman, June, 1999. Updated June 28, 2011.
The Bong Naturalist Association

Meat on a stick anyone?