8/17/12

A Northwoods Almanac for August 17 – 30, 2012 by John Bates

Sightings – Broad-winged Hawks

Jeanne Milewski in Boulder Junction sent me photos of a juvenile broad-winged hawk and wrote: “I saw this hawk in my backyard on Sunday, July 29th. I had heard a screeching noise during the morning, but didn't really pay much attention to it until early afternoon when it sounded like it was right at the backdoor. I looked out the door to see it fly into a tree near our back deck. It appears to have been ‘kicked’ out of the nest. As it screeched, I heard another responding to its cry; maybe a nest-mate? I observed it regularly during the week. Also, I had seen it under our empty deer feeder and it appeared to be feeding on, perhaps, a small animal.”

Our most common woodland hawk, broad-wingeds spend most of their time below the forest canopy, perch-hunting for insects, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds. Small mammals and amphibians are their most frequent prey, but their diet depends entirely on the local availability of prey. Short-tailed shrews, eastern chipmunks, and American toads were the most frequent prey in a study of western New York breeding sites, with the proportions of prey types: 46% mammals, 26% birds, 14% amphibians, 14% reptiles. Another study in Alberta, Canada, found that the nestlings were fed mostly mammals with red-backed voles and meadow voles the most numerous items taken, with ruffed grouse chicks forming the largest component of their avian prey.

Insects and other invertebrates are also reported to occur heavily in stomach analyses.

The territorial adults can easily be located by their plaintive peee-uurr whistle, given during flights above the canopy and while perched.

Broad-wingeds migrate en masse in mid-September. You can celebrate their fall migration with the Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory during their annual Hawk Weekend Festival in Duluth starting on Friday, 9/14, and going through Sunday, 9/16. Registration and event details can be found online at www.hawkridge.org

Sightings – Adult Loon in Juvenile Plumage

Mary Rysz on Razorback Lake has been observing an adult loon since late April that is all brownish/gray. She noted that the loon never makes any noise and always stays in one bay. Her sighting didn’t make sense since loons migrate south in their first autumn and don’t return until their third year of life when they are in full adult plumage. However, never say always. In speaking with a loon researcher, I found out that about 5% of the immature birds come back early as two year-olds every year, and thus would not have adult plumage, so that's very likely the situation with Mary’s loon on Razorback.

Sightings – Fruiting Plants

            August means a host of plants are now fruiting, one of which is bunchberry, our smallest native dogwood. Barb Whenal sent me a photo of a bunchberry with its customary cluster, or bunch, of red berries conspicuously displayed above its leaves. The berries are edible, but I use the word unenthusiastically. The berry has a large pit, is rather slimy, and all but tasteless. Other than that, hey, it’s great! Bunchberries can be extremely plentiful, so if you’re willing to harvest them and pit them, they can, with ample sugar or honey, be made into a sauce or jam.

Archeological Sites: Archibald Lake and Butternut Lake

Last weekend, Mary and I co-led two hikes with Mark Bruhy, the recently retired archaeologist from the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, and his wife Katie Egan-Bruhy, an archaeologist with the Commonwealth Cultural Resources Group in Milwaukee. Both express their knowledge of our area with a passion and wisdom that brings thousands of years of history to light.

On Friday, we visited Cathedral Pines State Natural Area, which is over 1,800 acres in area and considered one of the finest old growth forest communities in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. It also is a site where late prehistoric Native peoples were drawn long before Europeans entered the area. Called the Archibald Lake Mounds and Village site, the site was occupied by A.D. 1000 with people growing crops such as corn and squash, which had become an important part of Native subsistence in the western Great Lakes region. It had, however, been generally assumed that northern Wisconsin’s short growing season and sandy soils prevented crop production in this area, but this site has proven that to be untrue. 

The Archibald Lake Mounds site was first located by archaeologists in the late 1980s, and continued visits to this location revealed remarkable evidence of crop production, processing and storage. The location includes remnant garden beds, dozens of storage pits, and a small number of large conical and horizontal mounds (burial structures). The site’s significance was formally recognized in 2011 through placement on the National Register of Historic Places.

Close to 300 agricultural or garden bed sites have been reported in Wisconsin. Information concerning these garden beds or ridged fields is extremely limited, however, as many have been destroyed by historic agricultural and logging activities. What is known is that garden beds or ridged fields were used for crop production and that corn was one of the primary crops.

Several hypotheses have been proposed to account for the function of the ridged configuration of field systems such as that represented at Archibald Lake Mound Group. Proposed functions include improved drainage and water retention; increased fertility; pest, disease, and weed control; temperature control (funnel cold air away from crops and thus lengthen the growing season); and erosion control.

The period of significance for the Archibald Lake Mound Group is defined as extending from around AD 1000 to 1500. This period is inclusive of the period of occupation, based on two radiocarbon dates (AD 1210 to 1290 and AD 1290 to 1420).

The Archibald Lake Mound Group has excellent archaeological integrity, and thus may provide data about the lifeways of the prehistoric occupants of the site and the relationship between the Late Woodland and Oneota populations in this region.

On Saturday, we visited the Franklin Lake Nature Trail, a segment of the 13-mile-long Hidden Lakes Trail east of Eagle River, which encircles Butternut Lake and threads through many of the 20 archaeological sites that are part of the Butternut-Franklin Lakes archaeological district. Seventeen of the contributing resources are located on National Forest System land, one is on State land, and two are on land privately owned. All of the sites are situated near lakeshores, and none extend further inland than 200 meters (656 feet). The 20 sites are estimated to be approximately 57 acres in area, though it is likely that future research will find many to be larger than currently estimated. 

The sites vary in function, age and season of occupation. Further, though they range from 7,000 B.C through A.D. 1600, there is a cultural continuity and association among them that is clear. 

Examples of the sites include the Butternut Lake village site, which was seasonally occupied between around A.D. 700 and 1600 and extends almost a mile along the lake’s east bay. 

The Isthmus site, while not used as a village, was used for processing and storing food.  Radiocarbon dates place Native occupation there between A.D. 800 to1200 with the remnants of numerous storage pits still visible along the surface.

The Hemlock Cathedral site is situated along a rocky terrace on Butternut Lake, the location marked by an ancient stand of hemlock. Used seasonally as a fishing station from A.D. 500 to 1300, archaeological excavation recovered evidence of fish processing with tools such as copper harpoons and knives, and stone net sinkers.

The Butternut Lake Inlet site was first occupied around 1500 B.C. Excavations revealed the foundation of the oldest dwelling thus far recorded in northern Wisconsin, along with evidence of hunting, fishing and gathering, domestication of dogs and other interesting aspects of the daily lives of the ancient residents.  

The twenty archaeological properties situated along the shores of the Butternut-Franklin lakes area were placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006. 

Bird Migration

            Shorebird migration is on, with warbler migration kicking into heavy gear. Insect-eating birds have to stay ahead of the first killing frost, so they’re already on the move south. Keep an eye out for mixed flocks of songbirds that will be both relatively quiet and difficult to identify due to many birds having molted into their winter plumage.

Celestial Events

Today, 8/17, our daylight now totals 14 hours, but our daylight is going fast – we’re losing about 3 minutes every day. It’s only a little over a month until autumn equinox, so get outside and enjoy the light while we have it.

 The new moon also occurs tonight, while our second full moon of the month will grace us on 8/31 (the first full moon occurred on 8/2). Full moons occur every 29.5 days, so every month but February has a chance to have two full moons, or what is called by some a blue moon.

            Why a blue moon and not a green or purple one? Folklorist Philip Hiscock traces the usage of the color back to the 16^th century when folks used the phrase, “He would argue the moon is blue,” as a way of showing the person would say just about anything no matter the truth of it. Over time, the definition evolved from meaning something absurd to meaning something quite rare or impossible. Then there are historical examples of the moon actually appearing blue due to dust particles in the air from volcanoes or intense droughts. These were rare events, so the observations added weight to the use of the phrase a “blue moon” which came to denote something very uncommon.

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.