A Northwoods Almanac for May 12 – 25, 2023 by John Bates
To my mind, these two weeks are the richest, most exciting weeks of the year. It’s been a very long winter, and now, FINALLY, it’s the height of spring when everything is greening up and flowering out, birds are returning from all corners of the Americas, frogs are in tumult, it’s warm enough to sit on the deck and bask in the sun, and the mosquitoes have yet to hatch and achieve battalion status. So, let’s look at a sample of spring’s burgeoning life.
Sightings – Waterfowl, Frogs, Bitterns, Warblers, Pelicans, Snipe, and More!
As of this writing, here are some of the first-of-the-years (FOYs) I’m aware of that have occurred from April 21 to May 5:
Frogs! We heard our FOY wood frogs on 4/26, and FOY spring peepers and chorus frogs on 4/28. Then it started to snow – again – and it wasn’t until May 3 that the frogs warmed up enough to restart their joyous pandemonium. Calling is associated with water temperatures – chorus frogs start calling at 36°F and start getting really worked up once the water reaches 40°. Spring peepers are known to begin calling even when the ice is still only half-off an ephemeral pond, but they really start chorusing once water temperatures reach at least 41°F.
Brrrr!
wood frog photo by Dan Lucas
Catch the wood frogs while you can. The males call only for about two weeks in a flurry of mating activity, then go silent until next spring. The peepers and chorus frogs hang in there much longer with peepers calling in most wetland habitats and ephemeral ponds, while chorus frogs seem to prefer grassy, fishless wetlands. Mary and I run a frog count in western Vilas for the WDNR, and at the 10 sites we visit, we rarely encounter chorus frogs, even though they’re common throughout most of Wisconsin. It’s all about habitat, and these sites just don’t seem to have the right stuff.
Trees and shrubs have been wisely biding their time coming into flower. Aspens, willows, alders, and hazelnuts, all have been in flower. But wildflowers? There had been lots of snow still in most shaded woods until May 2. So, as of this morning, May 5, there’s been no flowering. But it just started really warming up yesterday, and by the time you read this, the woods should be dancing with an array of ephemeral spring wildflowers.
Relative to birds, we had our FOY northern shovelers and American wigeons on Powell Marsh on 4/24, along with redheads on 4/26. Then on 4/29, again on Powell, we had our FOY American bitterns and a flock of 10 white pelicans.
Our first palm warbler arrived on 5/2, but the big sighting that day was five Wilson’s snipes right below our house in the flooded wetlands. One was obviously a male, because he had his tail thrust up in the air and fanned out, and was aggressively stalking the others, who did a fine job of staying a short distance in front of him.
We’d hoped to actually see them mate, but no such luck. The literature says the male struts around the female with drooping wings, fanning his erect tail, while the female remains in one spot spasmodically drooping her wings and fanning her tail, whereupon the female abruptly squats and the male flutters onto her back and copulates with slowly beating wings. One researcher described an incident in which a pair was joined by a second male, and both males copulated with the female and then tried to copulate with each other.
Wowee! Exciting stuff in the wetlands!
Once bred, the female will make a shallow scrape for her eggs, usually on a wet hummock or on the edge of a marsh or swamp, and line it with grasses.
And if you’re wondering who “Wilson” was and why he got the species named after him, Scotsman Alexander Wilson (1766-1813) dropped out of the sixth grade, apprenticed as a weaver and aspired to be a poet. But he quickly learned these were the fast lane into poverty, so he emigrated to Philadelphia. Here he met the naturalist William Bartram, who inspired him so much that he set off to publish a collection of illustrations of all the birds of North America, no mean feat in the late 1700s. He eventually published the greatest natural history work of the time, the nine-volume American Ornithology illustrating 320 bird species, of which 26 had never been described before. He was known then as the “Father of American Ornithology,” and apparently inspired John James Audubon enough that Audubon was later accused of plagiarizing his work.
Thus, in honor of Wilson’s work, he had at least seven bird species named after him, one of which is the snipe. He died in 1813 of “dysentery, overwork, and chronic poverty,” aptly describing the rewards of working in field ornithology at the time.
Coming Now or Soon!
If you don’t have your hummingbirds feeders out, get on it! Hummers typically appear in our area right around Mother’s Day, so the time is now. Baltimore orioles also arrive now, so get oranges out for them. And rose-breasted grosbeaks should come on the same or near the same day, so be sure to have sunflower seeds available for them.
Our neotropical migrants – most warblers, vireos, thrushes, et al – arrive a few days later, usually beginning around May 15.
Red-backed Voles
Have you noticed all the gnawed and bare stems of various shrubs and saplings in our area, nearly all of which are several feet above the ground? This work is attributed to red-backed voles, a species which I admit to knowing very little about, but which has certainly tweaked my interest with its hard work over the winter. In autumn, these voles are said to cache seeds, nuts, and roots near their nests for winter consumption, but if the need arises, the bark of deciduous trees and shrubs becomes an important winter food. The need must have arisen, because there are hundreds of gnawed shrubs and saplings all around, particularly in wetter areas.
A whole host of predators consume this rodent, including coyotes, short-tailed shrews, fishers, martens, weasels, foxes, all owls, most hawks, and even great blue herons and northern pike. These species should be delighted with so many voles to choose from.
Results from the Wisconsin Conservation Congress Spring Hearings
The annual Wisconsin Conservation Congress Spring Hearings have historically asked participants to discuss and vote on wide ranging hunting and fishing regulations. But more and more, the spring hearings take up larger environmental issues that matter to everyone in the state, which is exactly as it should be. This spring the Congress overwhelmingly supported the following five issues which I find of particular local importance:
1) Wake boarding: Six questions were presented to regulate this boating activity, which utilizes a specialized powerboat outfitted with ballast tanks and a huge engine to create massive waves for “surfers” behind the boat. Those waves can, of course, damage shorelines and lake bottoms, as well as destroy bird nests along shorelines, including those of common loons.
For example, here was question 64: “Do you support prohibiting wake boats from causing hazardous wakes on lakes less than 1500 acres?” 6292 said yes, 2879 said no, 553 said they had no opinion.
Question 66 asked, “Would you support the WCC and legislature creating a new state Statute that prohibits operation of a boat that intentionally creates a hazardous wake on lakes of a specific physical characteristics defined by size, depth, length and width?” Again, 6179 voters said yes, more than double those saying no.
Bottom line: All six questions restricting or prohibiting wake boats were supported by a landslide.
2) Ban of lead tackle in fishing to help prevent wildlife poisonings: Question 54 asked, “Do you support the WCC working with the DNR, the Natural Resources Board and our state legislature to implement a statewide ban on lead jigs and sinkers weighing 1 ounce or less?” The vote was 4727 yes, 2960 no and 2172 had no opinion. One of many reasons to do this? A recent study showed 30% of dead loons in Wisconsin were lead-poisoned. The cost to replace lead jigs and sinkers? Next to nothing.
3) End lead poisoning of eagles: Question 55 discussed how wildlife rehabilitators in Wisconsin treat a couple hundred eagles and other raptors annually for lead poisoning after the birds ingest lead while scavenging in fall and early winter. Voters were asked if Wisconsin should have a statewide outreach program to increase the use of non-lead ammunition, and 5649 said yes, 2330 no, with 1868 folks remarkably having no opinion.
The issue is endlessly debated, but I think it’s relatively simple. Copper bullets have been proven to work overall just as well as lead bullets, though they’re a little bit more expensive
For me, this question didn’t go far enough. Why don’t we take the moral high ground and actually legislate lead out of all hunting? Given what’s at stake here – inadvertent poisoning of so much wildlife – there’s not a single excuse, other than the slightly increased cost, for not banning all lead.
4) Reinstate the “Prove it First Mining Law-1997 Act 171”: 6106 said yes, 1069 said no, and 2692 had no opinion. What is the issue here? Act 171was passed in 1997-98, with overwhelming bipartisan support (29-3 in the Senate and 91-6 in the Assembly and signed by Gov. Thompson) as a reaction to high-profile cases of pollution from sulfide mines.
The “Prove It First” law requires independent scientific proof that a copper-sulfide mine has operated elsewhere in the United States for at least ten years without causing pollution and that the mine has been closed for at least ten years without causing pollution. In 2017, Act 171 was repealed. Because metallic mining continues to pollute where it is done, it’s common sense to reinstate the Prove It First Act 171, and nearly 6 to 1 of the voters in the spring hearings saw it that way.
5) PFAS and other forever chemicals: Question 52 asked, “Does the public support more testing and stricter standards for PFAS levels including in biosolids and groundwater?” 6579 said yes, 1069 said no, and 2499 failed to have an opinion.
To see all the results from other important questions during the spring hearings, go to: https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/sites/default/files/topic/About/WCC/2023/SpringHearing/2023_StatewideResults.pdf
Celestial Events
On 5/17, look before dawn for Jupiter just below the waning crescent moon. We’re up to 15 hours of sunlight on this day!
The new moon occurs on 5/19.
On 5/23, look for Venus two degrees below the waxing crescent moon.
And as we grow closer to summer solstice, the days are now growing longer by less than two minutes a day. As late as this spring has been, summer solstice is not far off.
Quote for the Week
“It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart.” ― Rainer Maria Rilke
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