Monday, July 7, 2014

NWA 6/27/14

A Northwoods Almanac for June 27 – July 10, 2014

Deer with Quills
On June 13, Jim Swartout sent me this email: “I encountered an interesting sight yesterday at our property in Minocqua – a doe with a nose full of porcupine quills. She seemed unfazed as she grazed in our meadow. I wonder how long the quills will last, and if there is any way she can get rid of these herself?”
I wrote to Mark Naniot, a very experienced wildlife rehabilitator at Wild Instincts near Rhinelander, and he replied: “A few possibilities on the deer. The quills will keep working their way in and may or may not cause problems. They can abscess and cause further problems or pass all the way through into the mouth. After a few days they do start to soften up in the body and are often just walled off and will stay there. We had one of our dogs that we were still pulling quills out of three months after it happened. Quills do have kind of an antibiotic material so infection is less common but does still happen. We can't say for sure but it will probably be okay in time, but you never know the path the quills will travel.”
On 6/18, Jim dropped me another note, as well as several more photos of the deer, saying the quills were still protruding, but the deer looked unperturbed.
            I’ve often wondered what happens to animals in the wild that have encounters with porcupines. One researcher spent seven years studying porcupines in the Catskill Mountains of New York and discovered that quills are antibiotic as Mark Naniot noted. He was led to this discovery when, attempting to capture a porcupine, a quill was driven deep into his upper forearm and completely beneath the skin. Two days later, after some intense pain, it emerged from his lower forearm completely intact without leaving a trail of infection behind it. He made an extract of the quills, tested it against bacteria, and found it slowed bacterial growth. Interestingly, the researcher believed the antibiotic quality protects the porcupine against itself, in case its own quills are driven into its body from a fall. Porkies do fall from trees when branches break or they slip.
            I’m not sure what will happen with the doe that Jim has been observing, but one certainly hopes she’ll be okay – I’ll keep you informed as I hear more from Jim.

Loon Kills Mallard Chicks
            Mitch Meyer was kayaking on the Turtle Flambeau Flowage last week when he was surprised to witness a loon attack and kill two mallard chicks. The hen mallard and her brood had been swimming calmly in the same area with a pair of loons when suddenly one of the loons dove, came up under one of the chicks, and grabbed it. It proceeded to shake it and kill it, then dove again, grabbed another chick, and killed it. In the meantime, the hen and the other chicks had scattered widely to get away.
            Mitch then watched as one of the chicks that had been separated from the family brood swam as fast as it could right past the loons, apparently thinking its mother had fled in that direction. Mitch figured the chick was a dead duck, as it were, but the loon ignored it. The chick climbed up on a stump and seemed to scan around for the rest of its clan without luck.
            I called Mike Meyer, a DNR research scientist and toxicologist who has conducted extensive decades-long research on loons throughout the Northwoods, for his take, He said that loons commonly “clear out their breeding territory.” He has personally observed loons killing other waterfowl, as have others he’s spoken to, but the frequency with which they do it has never been studied and is thus unknown.
            Mike also noted that loon “floaters” – adult loons seeking to usurp a territory – will kill the young of other loons if they’re vulnerable.
            So, while there’s this “darker” side to loons, it is the nature of all animals to protect their home territory, even if the perceived “protection” seems to us to be excessive.

Turtles Laying Eggs
Since mid-June, Mary and I have observed numerous snapping and painted turtles laying eggs. And we’ve observed numerous turtles smashed as they were crossing roads, a transgression that makes us fume because it’s so easy to avoid hitting the turtles. This quote from David Carroll in his book The Year of the Turtle: A Natural History reflects that lack of respect from humans: “Snapping turtles, the embodiment of turtles who shared the earth with the dinosaurs for a time and are now obliged to share it with the human species, might well report that the former companions were far less stressful.”
Part of the reason for my distress is that snapping turtles, as we know them today, evolved about 40 million years ago. They are the ancestors of about 80% of all the turtles today. That’s pretty astonishing. They represent something extraordinarily old that we ought to venerate, not purposely kill.
They can live a long time, too. The oldest observed age for snapping turtles that I can find in a literature search is over 75 years, while the oldest age based on ring counts is 79 (it’s possible to determine how old a snapping turtle is from the rings on the shell). The older snapping turtles get, the slower they grow, so the biggest individuals could be over 100 years old.                                                                                                                And like most reptiles, snapping turtles lay eggs. Some females have been known to migrate over 8 miles one-way through lakes and rivers to find ideal spots. The mean speed of travel can be up to 1 mile per day, which can mean a long time of exposure out of the water. A strong nesting site fidelity exists, too, so once a female has found a good nesting site, she often remains faithful to it throughout her life.                                                     Not all females nest every year – somewhere between 50 to 75% of the female population returns to a given nesting site in any given year. The embryos in the eggs stop growing soon after fertilization until the eggs are laid, giving the female time to find the ideal spot. The female takes about 1.5 hours to dig the nest chamber and then lays from 22 to 62 one-inch eggs. After laying the eggs, the female will fill the nest hole with sand and leave, but up to 90% of the nests will be destroyed by predators such as raccoons, skunks, foxes, and mink, often that same night.                                                           
On a related note regarding folks capturing turtles, then putting them into pools, using them for races, etc: These are wild animals – they deserve better.

Celestial Events: International Space Station Viewing
Sky maps showing the exact path of the ISS as it crosses the sky are available on the Heavens Above website. www.heavens-above.com.

Sightings – Lark Bunting and Moose Calf                                                                                               Mary, Callie, and I spotted a lark bunting on 6/15 on one of the dikes in Powell Marsh. This is a remarkably lucky sighting given that lark buntings breed in the high plains – the grasslands from southern Alberta down through the Texas Panhandle. Only 31 records of lark buntings have been confirmed in Wisconsin since 1922 – we’re number 32!                                                                                                          
On a much sadder note, a yearling bull moose was killed on 6/13 less than a mile from our home in Manitowish on Hwy. 47. It was hit by vehicle at 10:45 the previous night. The good news is that a pair of moose is breeding in our area! The bad news – they just lost their calf from last year. The silver lining – the cow could be pregnant with a new calf or calves. New calves are typically born from late May to late June, so perhaps there’s another young one or two on the way. If anyone sees an adult moose in our area, please report it to Sam Jonas, the wildlife manager at the Mercer DNR.

Firecrackers and Bird Nesting
            It’s time for my annual admonition regarding firecrackers and bird nesting. The aging curmudgeon in me continues to wonder what joy there is in making the Northwoods sound like a military firing range around July 4th. But separate from that, I simply wish to remind folks that many song birds are either still completing their first nesting, or they are still feeding the nestlings who have fledged, or they’re in the midst of their second nesting. Loud explosions can easily frighten them off their nests or inhibit the feeding of their young.

Role Reversal – Eagles Feeding Humans
Mark Pitman wrote this note to me back in early May: “Symbiotic relationship . . . ‘the relationship between two different kinds of living things that live together and depend on each other.’
“For the past two very difficult winters we have enjoyed feeding eagles on our shoreline of Lake Minocqua.  Each morning at least one and sometimes several are perched in pines along our beach waiting to see what I might deliver onto the ice for their breakfast. I hunt, and my wife, friends and I enjoy the bounty of our harvest. Squirrels, venison and turkey all make great meals for our family and the entrails and trimmings that result from cleaning the game are saved and frozen, then thawed daily for our feathered friends. A successful muskrat trapper has frequently delivered carcasses, which the eagles also enjoy. I frequently pick up a fresh road-kill squirrel or other small critter, which never goes to waste.    
            “The ice has now receded to about 50’ from shore but the ritual continues. The birds sit patiently overhead and allow me to walk directly below them and place the daily rations on a couple of old stumps on the water line. Within seconds they swoop down, grab their ‘prey’ and fly to a nearby perch to enjoy an easy meal. Ornithologists may find fault in this, but the eagles seem to enjoy it, then they are off to do whatever they do for the rest of their days.
            “Like many, I didn’t fish the opener, but thought about a nice meal of fresh walleye. This evening at 7:50, I happened to glance out the window and saw an eagle about 20 feet from shore flapping and struggling to get to one of the ‘feeding stumps’. As I watched through binocs, he made the stump and hoisted out a really nice walleye. My first thought was, ‘how is he successful catching nice fish on the shoreline and not me?’ He began eating near the lower jaw and proceeded to eat all the entrails out of the fish, then proceeded to eat the head, gills and pectoral fins. About 30 minutes later, with darkness approaching he hopped into the water and dunked his head a few times, then flew off to roost across the lake.
“Not wanting to leave those nice filets, and now reversing our roles, I ran right over to the feeding log, picked up the remains, and brought to the cutting board the perfect 19” be-headed walleye. I filleted it out, then returned the spine and tail (and some meat since I’m not a very good fish cleaner) to the stump, along with a muskrat carcass. Tomorrow night my wife and I will dine on fresh walleye, overlooking Lake Minocqua and be grateful for the bounty around us. Symbiotic relationship? Perhaps.”
             
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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