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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