A Northwoods Almanac for February 3 – 16, 2012
Sightings – Pine Grosbeaks
Pine grosbeaks are finally filtering down from Canada into northern Wisconsin. First in our area to report them to us was Jo and John Knapp in Presque Isle who have been enjoying a flock of 14 to16 pine grosbeaks coming daily to their feeders since 1/17.
Audrae Kulas reported three female pine grosbeaks on 1/18. Jean Hall in Arbor Vitae observed her first pine grosbeaks on 1/20 as did Mary and I at our feeders in Manitowish. Pat Schwai on Cochran Lake saw her first pine grosbeaks, seven females and one male, on 1/21.
Several columns ago, I quoted Ontario ornithologist Ron Pittaway’s forecast for northern finches moving down into the U.S. this winter. He wrote, “A small movement of pine grosbeaks is probable because mountain-ash berry crops are variable and some are of poor quality in the boreal forest.” Indeed the movement has been small so far, but my hope is that everyone feeding birds in our area gets a chance to see one of these beautiful birds at their feeders. After all, those of us spending much of the family’s life savings on what have become semiprecious sunflower seeds deserve to be rewarded.
Non-Sighting
The summer tanager, affectionately nicknamed “Wrong-way” by those feeding him, has not been seen since 1/13. He was first seen on 11/17, so he survived nearly two months of a Northwoods winter, an exceptional feat for a bird which usually spends its winters in Central America. He may still be alive somewhere in the area – indeed, no one has found him frozen under a feeder – but the odds are certainly very long against his survival.
Two More Wintering Birds That Don’t Belong Here
On 1/23, Pat Schwai on Cochran Lake watched a grackle come to her birdbath for a drink. She noted that she had never seen one in winter. In the 19 years we’ve done the Christmas Bird Count in Manitowish Waters, we’ve found a grackle five times, which says they’re quite unusual, but not necessarily rare, to find during a Northwoods winter. Grackles are often the first migrant bird to arrive in spring – well, if you call mid-March “spring” – so they don’t winter too far away. Nevertheless, as a ground-feeding seedeater, they really don’t belong up here in snow country.
On 1/27, Jilleen Neumann in Hazelhurst e-mailed this: “I saw a big, fat robin yesterday about 4:30 P.M. hopping around on the snow under a mixed-seed bird feeder. Is this telling me we are having a mild winter?” Well, we are indeed having a mild winter overall, but I think the robin’s presence tells us more about either its great adventuring spirit or its need to see a therapist.
Northern Shrikes and Redpolls Arriving
Mary and I have still yet to see a northern shrike this winter, but others are now reporting a few. On 1/16, Jo and John Knapp in Presque Isle had a northern shrike hanging around for a few days, whereupon it left and then re-appeared on 1/27 for a day. On 1/23, Niki Childrey sent me a picture of a shrike near her home in Harshaw. On 1/25, Kathy Eder wrote: “We had a downy woodpecker feeding on our suet feeder and a shrike came down and chased her into the window. When she fell he swooped down. She tried to escape but he caught her and flew away with her. The woodpecker was almost as big as the shrike, and yet the shrike flew about 20 feet away where he finished the job and then when we tried to take a picture he flew way off into the woods, carrying the poor downy with absolutely no effort. It was pretty exciting.”
Common redpolls are finally arriving as well, becoming, well . . . rather common. Pat Schwai on Cochran Lake had 30 appear at her feeders on 1/12 when the northern counties were getting hit with heavy snow. On 1/21, John Eldredge in Sugar Camp reported having a flock of 25 to 30 redpolls at his niger seed feeder. Mary and I have maybe a dozen redpolls mixing in now with the swarm of goldfinches at our feeders. We still also have three American tree sparrows coming regularly, a species that doesn’t commonly winter this far north.
Evergreens, Ever Warm
Mary and I snowshoed or cross-country skied nearly every day in January with temperatures on those days varying from as high as 40°F to as low as -25°F. The cold days reminded us of the importance of getting under conifer cover where the wind can be rocking up in the tree canopy but barely stirring a leaf on the ground.
Animals know this, of course. Mammals that survive a northern winter mastered the art of utilizing microclimates long ago. A moose can lower its heat loss by one-third by moving from an open meadow into a coniferous forest where reduced wind speed and radiant energy from the trees help keep it warm,.
Conifer cover not only reduces wind, it reduces the amount of snow that reaches the ground by two-thirds or more. One afternoon, we were snowshoeing in a foot of snow in an open wetland, and feeling very thankful for the snowshoes, and then we walked up into a dense pine stand where there was only three inches of snow on the ground, making our snowshoes more of a hindrance than a help.
Again, animals know all about these variations in snow depth and snow character. Coyotes, for instance, possess relatively small feet, and their success or demise is keenly related to their ability to negotiate different types of snow. Soft snow is their enemy. Veteran tracker Jim Halfpenny in Yellowstone Park writes, “I can tell from their [coyote] footprints that they walk carefully on soft snow (trying to avoid sinking in too deep), trot on medium snow (but lightly, to avoid breaking through thin crusts), and lope on hard snow crusts. Coyotes often follow wind-packed courses on the leeward side of exposed sagebrush avoiding careless steps to the side where the snow is soft.” If you’ve ever “post-holed” up to your knees in deep snow, you know exactly how exhausting that can be. In winter, the energy balance for coyotes gets tipped profoundly into the red when the snow is deep and soft.
Soft, deep snow is nirvana, however, for wintering rodents who use the snow cover as a thermal blanket. Mice and voles tunnel under the snow, often constructing grass nests at the end of the tunnels where they huddle for warmth. Halfpenny calculates on a calm 23 degrees F night, a mouse would lose 3.7 times more energy per minute on the snow surface than in its tunnel. Halfpenny noticed that many more tunnel shafts appeared above the snow after very cold nights. So, he implanted a radio-transmitting thermometer into a deer mouse, then set it loose at 3 A.M. with the temperature at -30F. The mouse ran for several minutes across the snow, and their radio signal indicated its body temperature was dropping precipitously. The mouse quickly dug a tunnel, waited twenty minutes until its temperature normalized, then took off across the snow again. The mouse did this three times, its internal body temperature dropping as much as 20 degrees when it ventured out.
Every animal constantly adapts to changing winter conditions and has its own ingenious story of winter survival. The moose mentioned earlier actually overheat on sunny winter days, and must move to north-facing slopes to cool off, while elk, with a smaller body mass and less insulation, hang out on the south-facing slopes to absorb all the sun they can get.
Celestial Events
Here’s what to look for when planet-watching in February: At dusk, the action is all in the southwest – look for Venus, brilliant at -4.1 magnitude, in the southwest, and for Jupiter, not quite as bright at -2.3 magnitude, high in the southwest. Before dawn, look for Mars (-0.8 magnitude) high in the south, and for Saturn (-0.5) also in the south.
Saturday, February 4th, marks the midway point between winter solstice and spring equinox, while February 5th marks the midway point between the 35-year average ice-up and ice-out dates on Foster Lake in Hazelhurst. We also receive 10 hours of sunlight as of 2/7. So, for those getting a bit winter weary, we’re getting there.
The full moon (the “snow/hunger/when coyotes are frightened moon”) also occurs on 2/7. The Ojibwe name for February is onabinigizis, meaning “snow-crusted month,” referring to the typical thaw we get in later February that forms a crust on top of the snow.
Please share your outdoor sightings and thoughts: call me at 715-476-2828, drop me an e-mail at manitowish@centurytel.net, or snail-mail me at 4245N Hwy. 47, Mercer, WI 54547
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