NWA 8/8/14

A Northwoods Almanac for 8/8-21/14

Peeping Tom

            On 7/24, Edith Barakat was in her house on Blue Lake when she noticed a large shadow cast on her wall. She walked over to her window to see what could be the source, and standing on her deck railing looking in her window was a turkey. When she told us this story, Mary’s response was, “So, you had a ‘peeping Tom’?”

Turkeys – What Do They Eat in a Northwoods Winter?

Wild turkeys clearly belong in southern and central Wisconsin, but until the last decade, there was no evidence, nor any expectation, that turkeys could survive a northern winter. Thus, the fact that they’re doing so well up here remains a bit of a mystery. The “Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Wisconsin” (2006) says, “Wild turkeys were formerly a common year-round resident in southeastern and central Wisconsin, southeast of a line from Prairie du Chien to Green Bay . . . [However] atlas data revealed an expanded distribution for this species since 1991. Their range now includes all of the southern two-thirds of Wisconsin.”

A.W. Schorger, eminent U.W. wildlife naturalist and historian, as well as author in 1966 of “The Wild Turkey: Its History and Domestication,” wrote that “the upper limit of its range may be defined by a line running southwest from Green Bay through Green Lake and Sauk Counties, thence due west along the Minnesota-Iowa boundary.”

Turkeys were actually extirpated from Wisconsin in the 1800s, the last one being shot, according to Schorger, in 1872 in Grant County. They were reintroduced into Wisconsin in 1976 from captured wild birds in Missouri.

How did they fare over this last difficult winter? The WDNR staff upland game specialist recently released some info stating in part: “It appears that documented mortality was localized, and that in general turkeys came through winter in better-than-expected shape in the north."

Ryan Brady, DNR research scientist in Ashland and Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative Monitoring Coordinator, told me that the DNR conducts annual brood surveys in the summer/fall, so the jury is still out on their overall reproductive success. However, he has heard many anecdotal accounts that suggest at least near-average success.

Bruce Bacon, retired wildlife biologist for the DNR, said, “We thought winter really wacked them but?? There have been reports of quite a few large broods. Spring harvest was up which would indicate good numbers made it through winter. They are a lot tougher than I ever thought.”

As for what they eat in winter, Brady noted, “I don't think anyone has a good grasp of that but it's assumed buds, ag fields (manure), and bird feeders play a significant role during winter.”

Bacon said, “They eat whatever they want! In western and central Wisconsin, they did some stomach analysis of roadkills and found every seed imaginable, even thistle seeds. In some areas, turkeys bud in tree tops just like grouse. What gets them are ice storms and really deep fluffy snow which is hard to walk on. Heavy snow or crusty snow just allows them to reach higher. They do not dig down thru much snow. [They] will follow deer as they dig down.”

David Foster, an avid birder in our area, chimed in, “Audubon says in snowy areas they will root for hemlock buds, evergreen ferns, spore-covered fronds of sensitive ferns, club mosses, and burdock . . . turkeys will eat also salamanders, snails, ground beetles, and other insects when available.” 

A study of turkeys’ winter survival in Maine found that “During periods of deep and persistent snow, juvenile hens were the most susceptible to dying compared to adult hens. Adult hens store more fat and their slightly larger body size helped them survive. Adult males survived best, as they were larger than adult hens and store more fat reserves.”

The study also noted, “Food sources found on or near the ground, such as acorns and corn, had three times the energy available for turkeys compared to soft mast (dogwood, high-bush cranberry, etc.) and seep diets where insects and other invertebrates are found . . . Where you find south facing slopes with conifer stands nearby a food source such as standing corn, apple trees and other shrubs still holding fruit and/or spring seeps where seeds and other vegetation are still available, you have a good chance of finding turkeys.”

Another study showed that wild turkeys can go over 14 days without food and still survive.

So, they can handle winter better than everyone thought, which still begs the question that if this is so, why was their range historically limited to milder habitats? What has happened in the last decade that has no historical precedent? I would quickly offer climate change as the obvious answer, but our last two winters were quite long and cold, and thus like formerly “normal” northern winters. The difference may be that our temperatures “only” dipped to -31°, and historically we hit -40° with some regularity. Perhaps it was the truly extreme temperatures that were limiting.

Multiple Loons Intruding on Territorial Lakes

            Numerous people reported to me earlier gatherings of adult loons on their lakes than what they have historically seen. Loon gatherings are common in mid-August once loon pairs have successfully reared their chicks and their territorial defenses have diminished. But back in mid-July there had to have been other explanations. I looked at Walter Piper’s “loon project blog” (http://loonproject.org/recent-events/) to see what his much more expert thoughts might be. Walter currently has 96 loon territories under observation, and has been studying loons in our area for 22 years. Here is what he wrote about a lake he was studying where five adult loons were intruding upon a mated pair: “We do know that many intruders visit in order to learn whether or not a territory has chicks; if they detect chicks, they are more likely to intrude in the following year and attempt to evict the breeding pair member of their sex . . . We also know, from a recent analysis, that loons practice natal-site matching; that is, they attempt to settle as a breeder on a lake that is similar in physical size and in pH to the lake they were reared on. So undoubtedly some intruders must be learning about lakes where they intrude so that they can settle on one similar to their natal lake.

“But there must be more motivation for intruders to visit lakes defended by breeding pairs. Among the 5 intruders, for example, were: a banded 9 year-old loon not known to be settled on a territory yet (i.e. a probable “floater”), an unbanded loon whose status is wholly unknown, and three banded loons known to be members of breeding pairs from neighboring territories. While the first two birds could plausibly be shopping for territories through chick detection or natal-site matching, the neighbors are unlikely to be doing so.

“What, in fact, could neighbors stand to gain from intruding next door? Several hypotheses are possible here. Neighbors might gain by becoming familiar with other loons with which they might become mated in the future, if they both lose their current breeding positions and must settle elsewhere in the general area. Neighbors might also be trying to learn about the territory, which they might occupy in later years, providing one of the current pair members dies. Another possibility is that neighbors have no particular interest in the territory where they intrude but, rather, are intruding in order to draw attention away from their own territory (since loons on the water tend to attract flying loons to land and investigate). That is, intruders might be attempting to “decoy” loons away from their own territory so that others do not learn about it and attempt to settle there. Finally, neighbors might simply visit to forage in someone else’s territory, depleting the food supply there instead of at home.”

Walter also noted in an earlier blog entry that his total number of chicks banded this year is almost exactly half of last year’s total due to the enormous stress placed upon the incubating adults by black flies. Importantly, he gave the big picture: “As my work has shown me over the past two decades, breeding success is a roller-coaster. In fact, if you combine last year’s bumper crop of chicks with the withered output of this year, the message is that loons are producing enough chicks to sustain the population.”

           

Purple Finch Chicks

We have a bounty of purple finch chicks visiting our feeders this summer. Last week, we had 24 young we could count at one time vying for the feeders. This is certainly unusual for us – neither Mary nor I can remember ever having so many around.

Their presence has led me to wonder about where they nest, when they fledge, etc., and here is the quick summary of what I’ve learned: The nest is usually placed out on a branch of a conifer tree (342 out of 435 nests, or 79%), in one study. They average

four eggs in a clutch, and the young fledge in 13 to 16 days after hatching. The young can only fly weakly and remain in the vicinity of the nest site during the first week after fledging. We’ve certainly noticed this, as well as their begging the adults to feed them.

Both parents feed fledglings, but it’s unclear for how long.

Surveys from 1966–1994 show a decline of 50% in the breeding population in the northeastern U.S. and southern Canada. Our bumper crop of chicks is hopefully indicative of a good hatching year throughout their range.

Haze in the Air

            We’ve had some pretty sunsets the last week or so, due mostly to smoke from the Northwest Territories in Canada, where millions of acres have burned. Go to Weather Underground (www.wunderground), pull down “Severe Weather,” then click on “Wildfires” to see a map of how much smoke is currently covering the Midwest.

Celestial Events

August 10 marks the full moon. This is the closest and largest full Moon of the year, an annual event that has come to be known as a "supermoon" in the media. The truth is that it is only slightly larger and brighter than normal, and most people are not really able to tell the difference.

The Perseid Meteor Shower peaks this year on the night of August 12 and the morning of August 13, producing up to 60 meteors per hour at its peak. The waning gibbous moon will block out some of the meteors this year, but the Perseids are so bright and numerous that it should still be a good show. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Perseus, but can appear anywhere in the sky.