A Northwoods Almanac for 1/8 –
1/21/2016
Ice-Up – Finally!
The Manitowish River below our home
iced-up on 12/29, a very late date for the river. I had thought I might be able
to paddle on New Year’s Day, but thankfully, no.
As for the late ice-up on many of
our lakes, Foster Lake in Hazelhurst finally froze on 12/28. Woody Hagge sent
me a summary of the 40 years of data (1976-2015) that he has collected on Foster.
This year’s 12/28 ice-up is eight days later than the previous latest ice-up
date – 12/20/1998. The 12/28 date is 32 days later than the average ice-up date
of November 26. As result, the 40-year average ice-up date for Foster moved 0.8
days to November 27. At 39-acres with a maximum depth of 38 feet, Foster Lake is
broadly representative of many of the modest-sized lakes in our area, though
there are many other factors influencing ice-up beyond the size and depth of a
lake.
Woody noted that Foster had 265 days of open water in 2015 from ice-out
(April 7) to ice-up (Dec. 28), a startling 41 more days of open water than the
average. That moved the 40-year average days of open water one full day to
224.6 days.
Trout Lake, the largest natural lake in our area at 3,816 acres and 117
feet of maximum depth, iced-up on 1/4, the latest date since they began keeping
records in 1981.
Wolves and Moose on Isle Royale
The wolf population on Isle Royale has
completely collapsed. Three wolves were counted as of September 2015, one of
which was a pup that had so far survived to the age of eight months, but which
was visibly deformed. The other two were middle-aged or older adults, likely
mated, and both closely related.
For wolf haters, this is good news.
For the actual community of life on the island, it’s terrible news. Wolf predation
has been minimal since 2012, and the two prey species that wolves depend on
have responded by rapidly growing in population. The number of moose has
doubled to 1,250 in 2015, while active beaver colonies have also doubled. At
what point these populations exceed their carrying capacity and crash from
starvation is unknown.
Prey species need predators – plain and simple and
undebatable. Unless, of course, one approves of decimation of the food base –
balsam fir in the case of moose, and a wide array of tree and shrub species for
beavers – with the resulting coup de grâce of starvation when the moose and
beaver overwhelm their range.
The issue of whether to import wolves onto the island
remains in limbo. The National Park Service has begun an Environmental Impact
Study (EIS) which won’t be completed for at least two more years. The issue has
high stakes because Isle Royale is the last place on Earth with a forested ecosystem, a wolf
population, and moose population, none of which are exploited by humans.
While
moose are thriving on Isle Royale, they are declining precipitously on the
Minnesota mainland. Since 2006, the number of moose in Minnesota is down roughly 60 percent
from a high of 8,840. An aerial survey by the state Department of Natural
Resources puts the number of moose in Minnesota at 3,450 – down about 20
percent from 2014 but above the tally from 2013, the year the agency halted
hunting of the animal.
On the mainland, moose have been dying due to a number of causes. Moose
fall prey to wolves and bears, but there’s no indication that their predation
has grown. Instead a tiny predator may be more the cause. Brainworm, a nematode
parasite carried by deer but not harmful to the deer, has expanded into
Minnesota’s moose territory. One-third of the adult moose radio-collared by the
Lake Superior Band of Chippewa on their Grand Portage reservation have died of
brainworm.
Studies have also connected winter moose deaths to a warming climate.
Moose are highly sensitive to heat, and when it’s hot in the summer, they tend
to lie in cool damp places and pant instead of eating, resulting in a weakened
animal going into the winter.
Another mortality factor is winter ticks, which attach themselves in
late fall, then feast on the moose throughout the winter. Large infestations,
which can reach as many as 50,000 on a single animal, can kill a moose. The
moose scratch off their fur when trying to remove the ticks and get
hypothermia.
In New England, it’s much the same story. In 2014, the winter tick
outbreak was so bad that more than half of the 22 collared moose calves in New
Hampshire died. In Maine, 22 of 30 calves collared that year died, as well as
ten adults, which are usually hardier than young animals. Sadly, 2015 has been
more of the same. In Maine, 21 of the 35 moose calves collared by scientists
are dead. In New Hampshire, all but 7 of the 27 moose calves collared are dead.
So far, all but one of the dead moose studied in New Hampshire and Maine have
been infested with ticks with many also suffering from anemia due to blood
loss.
December Weather
This December was warm and dark.
WJFW in Rhinelander reported that only three days out of the entire month were
partly sunny or sunny. December was also the warmest month on record since 1887
in Milwaukee, and the second warmest for Madison.
The abnormal warmth has impacted birdlife.
More birds that normally migrate south have been hanging around the Northwoods.
Ryan Brady in Bayfield reported on 1/1 that three gray catbirds have been seen
in the area, along with a brown thrasher, a horned lark, a red-winged
blackbird, and a Harris’s sparrow. It may be that a few individuals every year
are sick/injured/unfit in some manner or another and are unable to migrate. In
normal winter years, they would have died by now, but with our unusual warmth,
perhaps these few have been able to live longer into the winter.
Celestial Events
January 7th marked the last
day of our latest sunrises. The sunrise in Minocqua had been stalled at 7:40
a.m. for 12 days, but today, 1/8, the sun rose one minute earlier, the first
time since June 11th. Back then it appeared at 4:08 a.m. (5:08 using
daylight savings time), and stalled for 11 days until 6/20 when it began rising
one minute later. So, it has been nearly six months since we’ve seen the sun
rising earlier every day! By 1/13, our days will be growing in length by two
minutes per day – get out the sunglasses!
Today, 1/8, look later in the
evening for Venus stacked right on top of Saturn. Pre-dawn on 1/9 may be easier
viewing – look in the low southeast. As for planet viewing in January, look
after dusk for Jupiter rising in the east. Before dawn, look for Venus, Mars,
and Saturn, all low in the southeast.
The period from 1/6 to 1/26 marks
Minocqua’s average coldest days of the year, combining the average coldest high
temperatures (21°) with the average coldest low temperatures (3°).
The new moon occurs on 1/9.
Christmas Bird Counts
Christmas bird counts were conducted
in Minocqua on 12/17 and in Manitowish Waters on 12/19. The surprise for both
counts was the exceptional amount of open water we encountered. But even with
so many lakes and rivers open, nearly all waterfowl had left for the
comparatively balmy south. The Minocqua counters did find a large flock of
common mergansers with a few hooded mergansers and mallards sprinkled in. And a
small flock of Canada geese were resting below the Rest Lake Dam on the
Manitowish River, but that was it for waterfowl.
 |
| photo by Jim Schumaker |
The Minocqua count garnered 27
species, the Manitowish Waters count 22 species, fairly typical numbers for our
area. The biggest surprise for the MW count was a yellow-bellied sapsucker,
while the Minocqua counters found some pine siskins, which are quite rare this
winter, at least so far.
Our oldest daughter, Eowyn, lives in San Diego and
mentioned that a Christmas count there garnered a mere 220 species, the
fourth-most diverse count of more than 2,400 recorded in the western
hemisphere. Humane soul that she is, she didn’t rub it in too badly. But if
anyone needed some quantifiable data on the difference for wildlife between a
winter in the Northwoods of Wisconsin and a winter along the Pacific Ocean near
the Mexican border, there you have it.
This was the 116th year
of Christmas bird counts. In 2014, 2462
count circles were covered; 1888 in the United States, 460 in Canada, and 114
in the Caribbean, Latin America, Bermuda, and the Pacific Islands. 72,653 people participated, with
62,211 in the field and 10,442 watching feeders.
A total of 2106 species were counted, roughly
one-fifth of the avian taxa on Earth. In the United States, 655 species were
tallied – Matagorda County-Mad Island Marsh in Texas led the way with 234
species. The Super Bowl winner, however, was a count circle in Yanayacu,
Ecuador, where a mind-boggling 529 species were counted. For comparison, in
Wisconsin, 109 counts were conducted, with a count circle in Madison the high
at 92 species.
Sightings
Pine and evening grosbeaks have been
very hard to find so far this winter – we’ve yet to see a single one. However,
Lauri and Mitch Myers in Mercer have both species at their feeders, while Sarah
Krembs in Manitowish Waters had several pine grosbeaks appear at her feeders on
12/27. She sent me some fine pictures of both genders.
 |
| photo by Sarah Krembs |
Donna Stone sent a photo of a
red-headed woodpecker that appeared at her feeders near Rhinelander on 1/3.
Red-headed woodpeckers remain very uncommon in our area and are a blessing to
be seen during the winter.
 |
| photo by Donna Stone |
Reflections
“I
suspect that the mind, like the feet, works at about three miles an hour. If
this is so, then modern life is moving faster than the speed of thought, or
thoughtfulness.” – Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking
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