A Northwoods Almanac for 3/16 - 29, 2018

A Northwoods Almanac for March 16 – 29, 2018  by John Bates

Sightings

Mary and I spotted eight Canada geese on the Manitowish River below the Rest Lake Dam on 2/28, along with three trumpeter swans. The swans may have been representatives of those that wintered-over here, but the geese winter south of here, so they have just migrated back. Keep an eye on any open water now – waterfowl are returning!

Bald eagles are rebuilding their nests, and on average, should be incubating eggs by April 1. Mary and I have been watching the pair that nest across the Manitowish River from our house carrying large sticks to the nest.

            Ravens are also now beginning to nest, most often on south-facing ledges far from humans.

            On 3/4, Sarah Krembs in Manitowish Waters observed her first chipmunk of the year.

            On 3/10, Judith Bloom observed a dozen or so Canada geese plus some mallards in the open water at the far east end of Lake Minocqua just across from the entrance to the fish hatchery.

 On 3/11, Randy and Debbie Augustinak in Land O’Lakes photographed a barred owl successfully hunting from their bird feeder pole. They noted, “He swooped down on an unsuspecting vole, flew up into a nearby tree, and down the hatch it went! Surprisingly, the chickadees don’t seem to mind him hanging around.”

photo by Randy Augustinak

Snow Fleas

            Warmer winter weather always brings out armies of snow fleas, which appear as little more than tiny black specks on the snow. They are most often seen near the dark trunks of trees where one assumes they are enjoying a little more heat. Officially, they are called springtails and are not actually fleas, or even for that matter, technically insects.

In the summer, hundreds of thousands of springtails can populate one cubic meter of top soil, but since they live within the soil, they largely go unnoticed by people. In the winter, however, they can be easily spotted against the white backdrop of snow.

Springtails feed on decaying leaf litter and other organic material in the soil, and play a role in natural decomposition. So, they’re a “good” thing.

They can withstand bitter winter temperatures thanks to a glycine-rich antifreeze protein that binds to ice crystals as they start to form, preventing the crystals from growing larger.

Winter Stoneflies

            I received a phone call a few weeks back from a man inquiring about what kind of flying insect he was seeing out on the snow. I’m not an expert on insects, but from his description, my suspicion is he was seeing winter stoneflies. There are two families of winter stoneflies with oodles of species, so even if one had the insect under a microscope, it would be a challenge to determine the specific species. However, I’ve attached a photo of the most likely culprit – 

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            Stoneflies winter as larvae in streams. They’re almost always associated with clean, well-oxygenated water, and thus are commonly used as an indicator of a healthy creek or river.

            They’re adapted to the cold via the various sugars and chemicals they possess which provide them with an internal antifreeze. Why they have evolved to emerge during the winter is certainly open to speculation – are they crazy, for instance? –  but one reason may be that there are fewer predators in early spring like birds and bats, as well as fewer insect competitors to deal with. Still, it seems like the cons would exceed the pros.

            Many stoneflies are “shredders,” meaning as larvae, they feed on autumn leaves that have fallen into the water. But in late winter as emergent adults, some species don’t feed at all, while others feed on various liquids, algae, pollen, plant buds, or lichens.

            Some male winter stoneflies attract mates by drumming their abdomens against various surfaces, each species having its own beat, preferred location, and drumming surface. If a female likes the beat, she will drum back until they find one another. Once mated, the female lays up to a thousand eggs in the water, and the cycle begins again. So, it’s not only woodpeckers and grouse that drum to attract mates – so do stoneflies!

Pine Cone Willow Gall

            Last week, Mary and I were skiing when we stopped to check a map. Near the map post, we noticed a shrub with “pine cones” on the tips of many of its branches, something we have seen other years as well. The problem with our observation was that the shrub wasn’t a conifer, but rather was a willow, and willows don’t produce pine cones. My first thought was that it had to be an insect gall of some sort, but what kind? A little research later, I found that the gall is called the “willow pinecone gall” and is produced by the gall-midge Rhabdophaga strobiloides.

By cutting the gall apart, we could find a little larval “worm” nestled in the center of the cone. As spring comes on, the larvae will pupate and eventually hatch as an adult in May. The adult will fly away, but before doing so, the female will lay an egg on the tip of a branch where new willow leaves would ordinarily form from a terminal bud. The egg will hatch, and the larvae will burrow into the willow stem, triggering the plant to secrete growth hormones that alter how the leaves will grow. The leaves now layer themselves into a cone-like structure, a bit like an onion, and the larvae nestles into the center for the rest of the year, growing and shedding its skin through several instars.          

The mature larvae protects itself from freezing inside the gall by concentrating a glycerol antifreeze in the bodies, and if that works, it will emerge as an adult next May and start the process all over again.

Interestingly, there’s competition for these cozy winter apartments. Numerous other insect species can be found in the willow pinecone galls, including a parasitic wasp that raises its larva on the flesh of the midge larva.

Budding

Trees and shrubs are budding out. Pussy willows are what everyone notices first because even with sub-zero temperatures and a foot of snow on the ground, the buds will break. The willow flower bud is actually inside the fur coat of silvery hairs that insulate it against the cold. The hairs trap heat from the sun and warm the bud.

Willows are either males or females, and it’s usually the male pussy willows that emerge first, with the male stamens eventually warming sufficiently to produce pollen.

Of our three native maple trees, silver maples flower first, well before red maples, then sugar maples. The buds on the silver maples below our house are already swollen and seemingly ready to burst.

Camo

We still have a bevy of pine grosbeaks frequenting our feeders, and Mary noted that the juvenile and females are perfectly color-coordinated with the willow and alder shrubs they often are perched in. Their russet heads and gray bodies blend in perfectly.

Celestial Events

            The BIG event coming soon is, of course, spring equinox, which will occur on 3/20. But actually our days and nights will achieve equality on 3/17, and from now until late September, we will be blessed with more daylight than night.

            Spring equinox is, of course, mislabeled. Equinox is accurate, but “spring,” well, consumer advocacy groups could win a lawsuit on this one. Still, we typically see our first-of-the-year red-winged blackbirds and robins around the equinox, so these harbingers of the real spring are providing signals that spring is on the way. But will it be HERE on March 20? Of course not. And if you are complaining about its reluctance to truly arrive, then you need to have a consult with your memory doctor. This is the Northwoods – recall that it often snows in early May. So, patience is our calling, and while it’s hard to persevere, it’s northern weather that makes this the Northwoods.

Thoughts for the Week

            In the spring, I have counted one hundred and thirty-six different kinds of weather inside of four and twenty hours. – Mark Twain

            To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring. – George Santayana

Please share your outdoor sightings and thoughts: call 715-476-2828, e-mail at manitowish@centurytel.net, snail-mail at 4245N State Highway 47, Mercer, WI, or see my blog at www.manitowishriver.blogspot.com.