A Northwoods Almanac for 2/3/17

A Northwoods Almanac for 2/3 – 2/16/17  

Blue Jay Gluttony

Julie Hillary sent this note: “Last fall I watched a blue jay swallowing seeds at the feeder. When he returned for another load, I counted how many he took before flying off again. Would you believe 93! I called Al and we counted the next load together. Around 90!”

Julie has me beat. The most seeds I ever counted a blue jay taking at one time was 53. However, in one study, a blue jay was observed packing over 100 sunflower seeds into its crop during just one visit to a feeder.

Blue jays don’t swallow the seeds – they store them in an expandable pouch, in their crop, that temporarily holds food. Research studies have recorded blue jays making over 1,000 trips per day when hiding food. In one study in Virginia, 50 blue jays were observed selecting and caching 150,000 acorns over a period of 28 days. Each bird cached a total of 3,000 acorns by selecting and hiding an average of 107 acorns per day harvested from 11 pin oak trees. The researchers found that the jays would carry about seven pin oak acorns per trip.

In another research study, blue jays were observed storing over 2,000 beach tree nuts in one month.

The distance typically traveled to a caching site may be relatively short – a few hundred yards – to a mile or more. One study found that blue jays will bury seeds up to 2.5 miles from their original source, which is a record for any bird. If the jays made ten round-trips per day at 5 miles each round trip (50 miles a day), each might fly 1,500 miles or more per month.

Upon arrival at a cache site, an individual bird places all its acorns in a pile, then buries them singly within a radius of three to ten yards, covering them with dead leaves or pebbles. As omnivores, blue jays may cache any number of items. One observer reported watching four jays cache dead mice in winter. Another observer watched jays cache egg shells, a calcium source, in the fall.

Surprisingly, no studies of cache recovery have been made in the wild, but one source says blue jays retrieve about 30% of the seeds they cache. With many hundreds of cache sites, the memory required to find what’s been stored is quite astonishing, particularly given that the food stored on the ground in fall will be under snow in the winter.

            Blue jays select mostly undamaged nuts to bury; research shows that only 10% of the acorns they cache are not viable seeds. Thus, blue jays are credited with greatly helping the range expansion of many oak species. In fact, the rapid northward dispersal of oaks after the ice age may have resulted from the transport of acorns by jays. Further, researchers now say that due to the blue jay’s habit of burying acorns over a wide area, 11 species of oak trees have become dependent on jays for the dispersal of their acorns.

            So, if you want to plant some oaks on your property, perhaps it would be wise to gather acorns, place them on your feeders, and let the blue jays do the work for you. I should note, though, that blue jays have been found to prefer pin oak (Quercus palustrus) acorns to red oak (Q. rubra) acorns, presumably because of the higher tannin content in the red oaks. It would be interesting to do a little study at one’s feeder, presenting both species of acorns to the jays, and then see what happens.

Wisconsin Climate Change Data

For those who want to explore the best data available on climate change within Wisconsin, please visit the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts (WICCI) webpage at http://www.wicci.wisc.edu/impacts.php

WICCI was formed in the fall of 2007 by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the University of Wisconsin Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. The Nelson Institute had been approached by several state legislators, who wanted to understand the impact of climate change on their constituents. DNR staff wanted to understand impacts on the state's natural resources, so they could make better management decisions.

Here’s an overview of the data from their website: “Wisconsin's climate has changed since 1950. The average temperature for the whole state has risen by roughly 1.0–1.5 degree F. The rise has been uneven: northwestern parts of Wisconsin have warmed by roughly 2.0 degrees F; southern and northeastern parts have not warmed much, if at all. Temperature changes also differ by season. Winter and spring have warmed more than summer and fall. Nighttime low temperatures have risen more than have daytime highs.

“These changes are reflected in Wisconsin's growing seasons. Since 1950, the growing season has become between one and four weeks longer in different parts of Wisconsin. North central and far northwestern regions have seen the greatest growing season increases. Winter has become correspondingly shorter. Lakes freeze later and thaw earlier on average now than they did in the past. These changes are reflected in plant and animal communities. Spring birds arrive earlier today than in the  past. Spring plants bloom earlier. Gardeners are seeing shifts in plant hardiness zones.”

The website provides many maps and graphs which help immensely to visualize the changes taking place in our state and to recognize the surprising variability across regions.

Please consider: “Objective reality exists. Facts are often determinable. Science and reason are no political conspiracy; they are how we discover objective reality. Civilization's survival depends on our ability, and willingness, to do this.” – Alan MacRobert

Sightings: Snowy Owl, Barred Owl

            Early this week, Ryan Brady, the Coordinator for the Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas and the Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative, provided the latest statewide snowy owl update. He reports that “only 51 individuals were tallied this year compared to 135 by the same date last year and nearly 240+ in the two years previous. [This is] a bit closer to an average year, if there is such a thing for snowy owls.” A snowy owl was reportedly seen on 1/16/17 near the Winter Park ski area nature shelter, but I’m unaware of any later sightings.

            Peggy Richmond sent me a photo of a barred owl that perched on her deck railing in the Natural Lakes area for the better part of an afternoon on 1/22/17.

photo by Peggy Richmond

While this is a marvelous experience for anyone looking out their window, a barred owl sighting near homes in broad daylight usually bodes poorly for the owl. Peggy’s sighting occurred during our long January thaw when the snow compressed and compacted into a dense crust. For owls that plunge into the snow to capture rodents in the snowpack, a crust snow creates problems. On the other hand, a crust snow often forces rodents to abandon their subnivean hideaways and forage for food above the snow, which exposes them to predation. Apparently, Peggy’s barred owl must have found its particular woodland bereft of rodents, so was forced to try hunting at Peggy’s feeders. The bird did fly away later that day and hasn’t returned, so hopefully that means it hasn’t starved, but is back hunting in its woodland habitat.

            Bev Engstrom sent excellent photos of a pine siskin and a male northern cardinal. Bev noted that the cardinal “was soaking up the sun on a frigid morning along the Wisconsin River in Oneida County.”

photo by Bev Engstrom

photo by Bev Engstrom

Upcoming Snowshoe/Dog-Sled Events

When we first moved here 34 years ago, organized snowshoe trips were unheard of. But today, it’s a very different scene for snowshoers. Three snowshoe events take place tomorrow, 2/4. I belong to ICORE (Iron County Outdoor Recreation Enthusiasts), so I am shamelessly promoting our free snowshoe hike on Saturday, 2/4, from 1-3 p.m at Schomberg County Park on Hwy. 51, about half-way between Mercer and Hurley. In addition, the 6^th annual snowshoe celebration sponsored by Tara Lila takes place just south of Eagle River on Saturday, 2/4. The celebration features new snowshoe and fat bike trails at the grand opening of the Ripco Road unit. Lastly, the North Lakeland Discovery Center is also offering a snowshoe hike on 2/4 at the Van Vliet Hemlocks near Presque Isle. It’s a great weekend for snowshoeing!

Later in the week, Mary and I are leading a full-moon snowshoe hike for Nicolet College at Minocqua’s Winter Park on 2/9. And ICORE is also sponsoring a free sled-dog program at the Mercer library on Saturday, 2/11, from 1-3 p.m.

Celestial Events

            Today, 2/3, marks the midpoint between winter solstice and spring equinox. The average midway point between ice-up and ice-out, using the 41-year average for Foster Lake in Hazelhurst, occurs on 2/5. We hit 10 hours of daylight as of 2/7.

            A penumbral eclipse will occur during the full moon on 2/10 with the maximum eclipse occurring about 6:45 p.m. This is a subtle eclipse. Astronomers describe it as a tease, with the moon only becoming shaded on its north side for about 45 minutes on either side of the maximum eclipse.

            For planet-viewing in February, look after sunset for Venus brilliant but very low in the southwest and setting by 9 p.m. Just to its upper left, Mars follows the same pattern – it’s also visible low in the southwest and setting around 9 p.m.

            Later in the evening, look for Jupiter rising in the east around 11 p.m, and shining high in the south before dawn. Saturn rises in the southeast at 4 a.m. and remains in the southeast until the rising sun outshines it.

Quote for the Week

“Without any stake in the places where we live, we walk through days in which there are trees but no tree in particular, we drive along roads that could be anywhere. Such casual familiarity is the opposite of intimacy and attentiveness.” – John Elder