A Northwoods Almanac for April 24 - May 7, 2026

 A Northwoods Almanac for April 24 - May 7, 2026  

 

Maple Sap to Syrup Chart

            Taps have been pulled, and the maple syrup season has come to a close for 2026. I don’t know how the season went overall across the state, but at least in our area the maple sugar content in the sap appears to have been down. That’s important, because the lower the sugar content in the sap, the more sap it takes to create a gallon of syrup.

            In my last column, I wrote about Bob and Terry Simeone in Land O’ Lakes who have been making maple syrup for 39 years. Over that time, they’ve learned how crucial it is to have a high sugar percentage of sugar in the sap. To illustrate this, Bob provided me the following chart showing how many gallons of sap it takes to make a gallon of syrup according to the sugar content:

1% sugar                     86 gallons

1.5% sugar                  58 gallons

2% sugar                     43 gallons

2.5% sugar                  36 gallons

3% sugar                    29 gallons

3.5% sugar                  25 gallons

4% sugar                     21 gallons

            Bob and Terry pull their taps once the sugar content goes below 2%, because it takes so much more sap, and time to boil the sap, to get the desired syrup. 

            This year, the first run of sap in Bob and Terry’s maple stand was just above 2%, and by April 5, the content was down to 1.5%, so they pulled their taps. In a good year, the sugar content will be above 3% in the first run, and remain relatively high until the weather warms to 60°, the magic number when the trees start to metabolize, or “wake-up” if you will, and the taste changes to something much less desirable.

            Interestingly, the sugar content is largely determined by the weather from the previous spring and summer. The warmer the temperatures during the previous growing season, the less sugar content there is the next year. Cloudier and cold summer weather can also lead to a lower sugar content.

            Current-year conditions matter, too. If there's too little snow, trees may struggle to absorb enough water during the early spring, negatively impacting sap production.

            More than anything else, however, climate change is the largest looming factor. In order for maple sugar sap to flow, temperatures need to freeze at night and thaw during the day, but these freeze-thaw conditions are changing. In a study done in Vermont, the annual number of unfrozen days has increased by about four days per decade since the 1970s, which has pushed the sugaring season earlier than it historically was. The University of Vermont’s Proctor Maple Research Center found that the average sugaring season in Vermont now begins 8 days earlier than it did 50 years ago. The first boil of the year for many sugarmakers used to be in March, but is now in February or even January. This also means that the sugaring season ends earlier than it once did.

            Bob says this is true for them as well in northern Wisconsin. Their last boil used to be in mid-April, and now they rarely make it into April at all. 

            This year though was more of a “normal” winter, and the sap run went into the second week of April. 

            There’s lots of variables in why a good or bad year occurs, and maple syrup producers still debate how it all works, so Bob rightfully warns me to be wary of exclaiming any “truths.”

            Still, in simplest terms, it boils down to this: no freeze, no sap, no syrup. By 2100, the region of maximum sap flow is predicted to shift northward by about 250 miles due to warming temperatures caused by climate change.

            

Sightings (FOYs - First of Years)

4/8: John Randolph reported seeing osprey on both of the Hwy. 47 nests north of McNaughton, a relatively early return for osprey given that they must have open water in order to fish and most of our local lakes were not open by this date.

4/9: Bev Engstrom in Rhinelander reported the first tree swallows.

4/10: Bev also reported the first yellow-rumped warblers appearing in our area.

photo by Bev Engstrom

4/11: Anne Small in St. Germain reported seeing the first hermit thrushes.

4/12: Mary and I saw our first shorebirds of the year - a pair of greater yellowlegs at Powell Marsh. Paul Strong in Hazelhurst reported seeing yellow-bellied sapsuckers at his suet feeder.

4/14: Spring peepers began their tumult in the ephemeral ponds near our home in Manitowish, as did wood frogs and chorus frogs. Earlier in the day, we saw our FOY northern flickers and yellow-rumped warblers along the Manitowish River.

4/15: We heard our FOY Eastern phoebe in Manitowish, and saw a northern shrike on Powell Marsh. Northern shrikes nest in the boreal forests of northern Canada, so this individual will be soon be on his or her way.

4/16: A FOY brown-headed cowbird appeared at our feeders in Manitowish. Given their reputation as brood parasites - they lay their eggs in the nest of many different species - it’s an occasion, along with the appearance of European starlings, that we don’t celebrate.

 

Ice-Off

            Woody Hagge reported that the ice went off 39-acre Foster Lake in Hazelhurst on 4/15, one day earlier than the 54-year average. The earliest date was March 20, 2012. The latest was May 7, 1996. 

            We checked 42-acre Frog Lake, which is a half mile from our house, and the water was ice-free on April 16. 

            We hit 73° on 4/16, so that early warmth and accompanying rain has led to a relatively quick melting of lake ice.

 

Wind Pollination of Tree Flowers

            The flowers of many wind-pollinated shrubs and trees are seldom noticed. They’re not showy, and they don’t need to be, because they aren’t trying to lure insects into conveying their pollen to a female flower. They use the wind.

            Many of these species are in flower right now. Maples, oaks, alders, birches, hazelnuts, and aspens are all examples of flowering plants that have evolved to flower before leaf-out so that spring winds can distribute their pollen. These species are the introverts of the plant world - they don’t produce quantities of nectar, don’t revel in producing large petals, and don’t care much at all about brilliant coloration. 

Aspen male catkins

            In the vast majority of these plants, female and male flowers are either on different plants or on different parts of the same plant, with the male flowers usually grouped in hanging or “grape-like” structures called catkins. Take a look at the long, hanging catkins of tag alders and hazelnuts which have their pollen easily shaken by air currents, or by your flicking them. Once in the air, the light weight pollen can reach distant female flowers.

Tag alder catkins

            This quiet and unassuming approach saves a lot of energy by not bothering to produce special rewards like nectar to attract pollinators. However, wind-pollination works best in places that are drier, because pollen won’t travel well if it rains all the time, or in places where forests are more sparsely inhabited, which offers space for the wind to more freely blow.

Northern red oak flowers

        

Homegrown National Parks

            “Homegrown National Park” is a unique initiative aimed at restoring and protecting America's biodiversity by encouraging citizens to plant native species on their own properties. Spearheaded by entomologist and conservationist Doug Tallamy. The initiative emphasizes the critical role that native plants play in supporting local ecosystems. By replacing traditional lawns or non-native plants with native vegetation, individuals can contribute to the regeneration of habitats for local wildlife, including birds, insects, and pollinators.
            The project calls on all of us to transform our yards, gardens, and even urban spaces into mini wildlife sanctuaries. Native plants are better suited to local soil, climate, and wildlife than non-native species, which can sometimes disrupt ecosystems by outcompeting indigenous plants.             Native plants also provide vital food and shelter for a variety of species, especially insects, which are the foundation of many food chains. By fostering these natural habitats, participants in “Homegrown National Park” can help restore some of the biodiversity that has been lost due to urbanization, agriculture, and climate change.

            It’s getting close to planting season. Think native.

            See https://homegrownnationalpark.org. 

 

Online Bird Migration Tools

            Weather surveillance radar (WSR) is an excellent tool for determining where birds are flying, how many birds are aloft, and in what direction, speed, and altitudinal strata they are moving. If you want to know when and from where birds are moving on any given night, use the website www.birdcast.org.

 

World Record Holder for Non-Stop Migration

            Migration is on, and while some birds only travel relatively short distances, a 4-month-old bar-tailed godwit, a small shorebird named B6, made history in October 2022, when it left the mudflats of Alaska and flew nonstop across the Pacific Ocean, landing on the shores of Tasmania, Australia 8,425 miles later. It didn’t stop, didn’t sleep, didn’t eat. It just endured 11 days of continuous wing-flapping flight making it the longest nonstop migration ever recorded by any animal on Earth.

            How do researchers know it never stopped and never ate? Godwits can’t swim and have no way to take off from the ocean surface. They also don’t feed while in flight, and the route it took never touched land.

            B6 averaged 765 miles every day, burned through more than half its own body weight in fat, and did it all on its very first migration, with no GPS to guide it over the ocean.

            One writer summed it up this way: “A bird the size of your fist crossing the world's largest ocean alone, guided by forces we are still trying to understand - this is not just a nature story. It is a reminder that the most astonishing things on Earth are often the ones we overlook.”

 

March Climate Data

            The average U.S. temperature for March was 50.85°F, or 9.35°F above the 20th-century average, ranking as the warmest March in the 132-year record. Over half the continental U.S. area, 1,432 counties, observed their single warmest March day on record (1950–present).

            Relative to rainfall, the U.S. precipitation average for March was 1.83 inches., or 0.68 inches below average, ranking eighth driest on record. The January to March period was the driest on record for the continental U.S. - less than 70% of average. This broke the previous record set in 1910.

            Meanwhile in the U.P. of Michigan, Yoopers have experienced near record snowfall. The record was set in 1978-79 of 390.4 inches in the Keweenaw - Delaware, MI to be exact. They have a chance of breaking that record yet this April in three locations: Herman, Calumet, or Keweenaw County. Herman was at 365 inches as of 4/12.. 

 

Celestial Events

            The first full moon of May (the Ojibwe “Flower Moon”) occurs on May 1. The full “blue moon” will occur on May 31.

            May 5 marks the midway point between spring equinox and summer solstice.

 

Thought for the Week

            “A river - with its attendant cascades, eddies, boils, and whirlpools - is the most expressive aspect of a natural landscape, for nothing else moves so far, so broadly, so unceasingly, so demonstrably, and nothing else is so susceptible to personification and so much at the heart of our notions about life and death. Across generations and around the globe, humans, we double-footed jugs of seventy percent water, have seen rivers as both our source and the way out of this world.”- William Least Heat-Moon

 

A Northwoods Almanac for 4/10 - 23, 2026

 A Northwoods Almanac for 4/10 - 23, 2026  

 

April’s Origins

            From Scottish writer Ali Smith: “The English word for [April] comes from the Roman Aprilis, the Latin aperire: to uncover, to make accessible, or to remove whatever stops something from being accessible. It maybe also partly comes from the name of Aphrodite, Greek goddess of love, whose happy fickleness with various gods mirrors the month’s own showery-sunny fickleness. Month of sacrifice and month of playfulness. Month of restoration, of fertility-festivity. Month when the earth and the buds are already open . . .” 

            Another definition of aperire  is “to open,” which symbolizes the opening of buds and flowers in spring. April was considered sacred to the goddess Venus (the same goddess as the Greeks’ Aphrodite) who for the Romans was the goddess of love and beauty, but also a goddess of gardens.

            On Venus’ birth, it was said the seas bubbled and turned rosy, and she arose, full grown and standing on a seashell in all her glorious beauty. She floated to Cyprus, arriving in April, and as soon as her white feet touched the shore, grass and flowers sprang up at her feet and she was sweetly received by the Three Graces.

            For those of us not steeped in Greek/Roman mythology, the Three Graces were Aglaea (Splendor/Beauty), Euphrosyne (Joy/Mirth), and Thalia (Good Cheer/Bloom). They symbolized giving, receiving, and reciprocity.

            So, as April throws every kind of weather punch imaginable at us, from ice storms to blizzards to tornadoes to heat waves, remember that it all leads to grass and flowers springing up at our feet and the eventual planting of our gardens. 

            Spring will come - it always does - but how long it will last is an open question, and the answer is as unpredictable as the April weather.

            Enjoy the tumult if you can. It’s surely a test of our patience, our humor and our resilience. I know cabin fever is hard upon us. 

            Keep the faith.

            

April’s Full Moon - “The Maple Sugar Moon”

            The full moon for April came on the evening of April 1, a moon the Ojibwe call “The Maple Sugar Moon.” How appropriate for me, because for the first time in my long life, I got to help haul sugar maple sap in metal pails. I’d always wanted to do this, and let me tell you, it was work! We transferred the pails that hung on the trees to larger five-gallon metal pails, which I learned very quickly when filled to near the top weigh close to 40 pounds. One in each hand, full to the brim, means 80 pounds to haul on snowshoes to a central receiving bin where the sap was drained via gravity through a pipe to a 500-gallon tank.

The crew

            I was helping my friends Bob and Terry Simeone who have been “sugaring” for 39 years on their 65 acres near Land O’ Lakes. Their property rests on the Winegar moraine, the final stopping point for our last glacier, which at its edge left behind decent soil, hummocky hills, and lots of rocks as its legacy - land perfect for sugar maples to thrive. 

            This year Bob and Terry “only” put in 200 taps, a seeming pittance compared to the thousand or more taps they used in their younger years, a time when they made over 200 gallons of syrup every year and collected the sap with a horse-drawn sleigh.

            I learned quickly not to fill my 5-gallon pails to the brim - around three-fifths full seemed a good compromise - which even then represented 50 pounds for every trip to the receiving bin.

A few days later, my shoulders spoke to me in a strong language I hadn’t heard in a long while.

            Later that week, I returned for a second sap gathering day, and because I had learned to moderate my loads, my shoulders spoke more kindly a few days later. 

            “Work smarter,” I tried to remind myself, and I did. 

            Next up is the first boiling which will have taken place by the time you read this. Bob and Terry will likely end up with well over 1,000 gallons of sap, a figure that translates after clouds of steam rise into the night from the evaporator into 25 gallons of the magic elixir we call maple syrup.

            If you haven’t had warm pure maple syrup on homemade sourdough pancakes, well, I think it’s fair to say you haven’t fully lived. I’d invite you over for breakfast, but then I’d have to share our syrup, a hard thing to consider now that I know from experience how much work goes into it. 

 

The Broad-Winged Hawk Project

            Hawks are returning! We saw our first rough-legged hawk on April 1 in the Powell Marsh Wildlife Area. Rough-legs spend the winter just south of us where the snow cover thins out enough for them to hunt.

            Rough-legs are a temporary pleasure. They stop over for a while on their way north, but soon depart for their breeding grounds in the treeless tundra or dense conifer taiga of far northern Canada and subarctic Alaska where they nest often on cliffs. 

            Our most common woodland hawk, the broad-winged hawk, typically begins returning in late April from its wintering grounds in Central and South America. A study launched in 2014 by Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Pennsylvania, the “Broad-winged Hawk Project,” has trapped, banded, and placed satellite transmitters on broad-wings in Eastern Canada and Northeastern U.S., starting with birds nesting in Pennsylvania and eventually expanding into New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Ontario, and Québec. Thirty-one of those transmitters have yielded at least one season of data, shedding light on migration patterns, premigration movements, home ranges, and habitat needs.  

Broad-winged hawk range map

            Typically, only adult female hawks are tagged, as the transmitters are too large for juveniles and smaller adult males (male raptors are almost always smaller than females).

            One of the most surprising findings so far is that hawks who summer within a few miles of each other might spend their winters thousands of miles apart. Some birds from Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Ontario commingle in Colombia, while others fan out to Brazil, Peru, and Nicaragua.

            Equally surprising is that approximately 30 percent of the tagged birds flew west or even north before their fall migration, spending anywhere from one week to two months there before eventually turning around and heading south to Central or South America.

            Here’s the data on just one of the birds: In early August 2022, a few weeks after her young fledged, “Skatutakee” - named for the small mountain within view of her nest - left her breeding territory in Dublin, New Hampshire, and flew to La Tuque, Québec, where she stayed until mid-September. Between August and November, she traveled more than 6,000 miles - 600 of which were “extra” north-south movements associated with her pre-migratory flight - and navigated her way through 13 different countries before settling in Bolivia for winter. The following spring, she returned to New Hampshire, where she experienced a nest failure in late July and promptly headed for Québec once again. 

            In 2023, she left on 13 September and settled in Inca, Peru by 19 November.

            In 2024, she flew south on 11 September and arrived in Cascajo, Bolivia (a little later than usual) on 8 December.

            In 2025, she started her migration from Québec on 12 September and by 12 November she settled in a new wintering site in Suapi, Bolivia.

            What to make of this relative to our area? Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory and Hawk Mountain Sanctuary have begun a collaboration to expand the Broad-winged Hawk Project to the Central Flyway, so those of us in the Upper Midwest should soon be seeing migration data from tagged hawks who breed in our area.

            I’ll keep you posted as more is learned.

 

FOY (First-Of-Year) Sightings in Manitowish

            3/21/26: FOY American robins and red-winged blackbirds.

            3/24/26: FOY common grackle.

            3/29/26: FOY chipmunk.

            3/30/26: Two American woodcocks were “peenting” on opposite sides of our home. Several purple finches appeared at our feeder. 

Woodcock on nest, photo by Bev Engstrom

            3/31/26: Two great horned owls were calling close to one another. Great horneds could be sitting on eggs by now - they nest very early throughout North America.

            4/2/26: FOY song sparrow.

            Continuing at our feeders are dark-eyed juncos and American tree sparrows. We’re at the southernmost edge of the breeding range for juncos, so a few might stay, but tree sparrows nest in far northern Canada and will be moving on.

 

Annual Midwest Sandhill Crane Count

            The 50th annual Midwest Crane Count will take place on Saturday, April 18, 2026, from 5:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. Mary and I participated in our first crane count in the Green Bay Area in the 1970s, and have counted in Iron County since the mid 1980s. It’s always an adventure!

            To participate, contact the following county coordinators:

            Vilas and Iron County: Hannah Thorpe hannah@discoverycenter.net

            Oneida County: Bob and Jan Dall janbobdall@gmail.com

            Forest County: Nicole Shutt forestcountycranecount@protonmail.com

 

Ice-Out Soon?

            Average ice-out date on 39-acre Foster Lake in Hazelhurst is 4/16 according to 53 years of continuous data kept by Woody Hagge. Foster averages 224.8 days of open water. Marshes go first, followed by smaller, shallow lakes, then larger, deeper lakes.  

            

Celestial Events

            On 4/12/1961, Yuri Gagarin from the USSR became the first human in space.

            On 4/15, look before dawn in the east for Mars 4° below and Saturn 5° below the waning sliver moon.    

            The new moon occurs on 4/17. 

            On 4/20, look low in the east before dawn for Mars just above Saturn.

            The peak Lyrid meteor shower occurs on the night of 4/22.

 

Thought for the Week

            “There are simply no answers to some of the great pressing questions. You continue to live them out, making your life a worthy expression of leaning into the light.” – Barry Lopez

 

A Northwoods Almanac for 3/27 - 4/9/2026

 A Northwoods Almanac for 3/27 - 4/9/2026 

 

Sightings - Sharp-shinned Hawk, Purple Finch, Tree Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco

            Our blizzard on 3/15 and 3/16 brought four new species to our feeders - a sharp-shinned hawk, several purple finches, a dark-eyed junco, and a tree sparrow. Hunger is certainly a motivator! 

            The sharp-shinned sat on a branch near one of our feeders and would have been easily seen by any nearby bird. I wondered at its tactics, but perhaps it thought that the weather would force a young bird to take a chance on getting a seed and not know what hit it.

            I turned my head briefly to talk with Mary, and the branch was empty when I glanced back. Whether the sharpie grabbed a songbird or not, I don’t know, but we’ve not seen it since. 

            Migration is on! The birds that wintered-over not far south of here are the first to return, so you will likely already be seeing American robins and red-winged blackbirds, common grackles, and European starlings by the time you read this. Whether we will get a flight of redpolls and pine siskins yet this early spring is an open question - they’ve been a scarce commodity all winter for most of us.

             

Manitowish River Opens

            The Manitowish River opened up below our house in Manitowish on 3/9, which is a bit early - the average date is around 3/16.  

            In 2024, the river only iced-over for two weeks - from Jan. 15 to Jan. 30, the shortest period in the 42 years we’ve been here. 

            The latest year of opening was 2014 when the ice went off on 4/10.

            As soon as the ice is was off, we heard Canada geese honking on the river. 

            Trumpeter swans are back, too, though since some winter-over on the Manitowish, it’s hard to know who is a recent migrant and who has been here all along.

            We saw our first hooded mergansers on the river on 3/17, and I suspect common goldeneyes were here by then, too, but it’s always a bit of luck to see any bird at a specific time and place. 

            The early waterfowl migrants are those who wintered only as far south as open water. Later waterfowl migrants, like blue-winged teal, winter in Central and South America, so their appearance is delayed. But most of “our” waterfowl winter in the southern U.S., so they show up quickly after ice-off.

green-winged teal range map

blue-winged teal range map

 

Papa Hambone

            There have been many superb Wisconsin writers on the natural world - Aldo Leopold sitting on top of the pedestal - but I suspect there has never quite been one like George Vukelich. I was speaking earlier this month at Canoecopia in Madison on the topic of “The Love Language of Rivers,” a fancy title for me sharing excerpts from writers who have written beautifully of their love for rivers, and one of the excerpts I chose was from George Vukelich. 

            After my talk was over, a gentleman introduced himself to me as Vince Vukelich, one of George’s children. He wanted me to know that many of George’s articles and recordings are on this website: www.papahambone.com.

            George wrote two columns weekly for the Isthmus of Madison, a monthly column for the Wisconsin Outdoor Journal, columns for the Capital Times and Madison Magazine, produced a dozen documentaries, and hosted the WPR program Pages from a North County Notebook on Sunday nights. His two books, North Country Notebook Volume 1 and North Country Notebook Volume 2 are always in reach on my overcrowded bookshelves. And he also wrote a novel, Fisherman’s Beach.

            Back in 1993, I wrote a review for the Wisconsin Academy Review (now Wisconsin People and Ideas magazine) of his North Country Notebook Vol. 2. In it I said: “Vukelich's writing bridges the abyss that usually separates the stereotypical consumers (hunters/fishermen) and the non-consumers (hikers, birders). He's anthropomorphic without falling into handkerchief sentimentality, and without giving up his license to catch (‘prune back’ says Vukelich) innumerable fish. There's wisdom and perspective here, characters we can relate to, all given with a strong dose of laughter. He says, ‘When you live up in the North Country in winter, you just naturally keep track of things because you could wind up freezing your buns if you don't.’”  

            Check out papahambone.com if you’re not familiar with George Vukelich. He had a unique voice, one worth hearing. 

 

Impacts of a Blizzard and All Weather is Local

            I imagine the species of wildlife that was happiest about our blizzard was snowshoe hare. Deep snow acts as a trap for most predators while serving as a distinct home-field advantage for a snowshoe hare who can stay on top of the snow with its enormous feet.

            For most species, however, travel became very difficult and food resources were blanketed with snow. March is known as “the starvation month,” so the particular timing of this storm could have spelled trouble - many species are likely barely holding on in anticipation of spring finally arriving.

            On the other hand: It’s been the warmest March on record so far across the United States in terms of daytime high temperatures. Not only will temperatures break March monthly records out West in particular, but this heat wave will apparently even break April records. Around 800 high temperature records were forecast to be neared, tied or broken at 165 locations in Western and Central states - some by more than 10 degrees - with unusual warmth set to linger into late March.

 

Good News for the Eastern Monarch Butterfly Population 

            The eastern monarch butterfly population overwintering in Mexico’s oyamel fir forests occupied 2.93 hectares (7.24 acres) during the 2025-2026 overwintering season, according to the latest survey released by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Mexico’s National Commission of Protected Natural Areas (CONANP). This represents about a 64% increase compared to last year’s estimate of 1.79 hectares.

            Each winter, researchers survey monarchs while they cluster together at their overwintering sites in central Mexico. Rather than counting individual butterflies, scientists estimate population size by measuring the total area of trees occupied by monarch clusters. One hectare equals approximately 2.47 acres, or just over two American football fields. Although the number of monarchs per hectare varies by year and site, estimates suggest roughly 20 to 30 million monarchs per hectare, with a median estimate of 21.1 million.

            So, with nearly 3 hectares of habitat, their population should be around 60 million.

            However, the eastern monarch population remains below levels considered necessary for long-term sustainability. Research suggests that at least 6 hectares of occupied overwintering habitat are needed to support a stable eastern migratory population.

            Year-to-year changes in population size depend on conditions across the entire migratory range, including the availability of milkweed and nectar plants during the breeding season, weather conditions along the migration route, and habitat quality at overwintering sites. 

            Conditions during the 2025 breeding season were more favorable for monarchs than in 2024, hence the higher numbers. The year 2024 got hotter and drier in the Upper-Midwestern monarch breeding range as the summer progressed leading to lower-than-expected numbers of monarchs in the second and third generations of 2024. When the late summer monarchs left their northern breeding grounds in 2024, they also faced large areas of drier-than-normal conditions through the U.S. part of their migration. 

            The summer weather in 2025 was closer to normal, so they fared better.

            The best way to support monarchs is to create more habitat for them (milkweed species!), and to keep those habitats free from harmful insecticides.

            To follow this spring’s migration, visit maps.journeynorth.org. Monarchs have made it into Texas as of this writing on 3/20.

 

SNAs Anniversary

            This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Wisconsin State Natural Areas Program, the oldest and largest of its kind in the country. 

            The Wisconsin Legislature created the State Natural Areas Program in November 1951 to protect the best examples of Wisconsin's native natural communities.

            The DNR, in collaboration with over 60 partners, cares for nearly 700 sites that protect outstanding examples of Wisconsin's native landscape of natural communities, significant geological formations and archeological sites. 

            More than 230 animal and plant species are listed as endangered or threatened in Wisconsin. Over 90% of those listed plant species and 75% of the listed wildlife species are found within state natural areas.

            Nearly all state natural areas are open to the public for hiking, hunting, bird-watching, nature study and photography, but most are largely undeveloped. 

            Vilas County leads the state with 33 SNAs, followed by Door County with 29, and Bayfield County with 28.

 

Celestial Events

            April’s full moon occurs on the 1^st, and is aptly referred to by various tribal nations as the Awakening Moon, Grass Appearing, or Maple Sugar Moon. 

            We’re up to 13 hours of sunlight as of 4/5.

            For April planet watching, look after dusk for Venus low in the northwest and Jupiter in the west. Before dawn, Mercury can be seen very low in the East, Mars also very low in the southeast, and Saturn rising in the east. 

 

Thought for the Week

            “I would rather be ashes than dust. I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.” - Jack London

 

 

A Northwoods Almanac for March 13-26

 A Northwoods Almanac for March 13-26, 2026 

 

Sightings - Golden-crowned Kinglet 

            Mary and I were snowshoeing near dusk a few weeks back when I leaned against a decaying red pine with lots of large and small holes in it, and a golden-crowned kinglet flew out from just under my arm and landed on a nearby branch. It was obviously roosting for the evening in one of the holes, and I disturbed it.

            Bernd Heinrich in his book Winter World wrote several chapters on the extraordinary lengths that golden-crowned kinglets go to survive a northern winter. To begin with, they are the smallest songbird of all that winters in our Northwoods, and the second smallest in the summer, only out-smalled by ruby-throated hummingbirds. Golden-crowned kinglets weigh all of 5 grams, which is about a fifth of an ounce, or two pennies worth, and stretched out they may reach four inches in length. Heinrich says they own the title of the world’s smallest perching songbird (hummingbirds are not considered songbirds). Their size matters in winter, because the smaller the animal, the proportionately larger is the surface mass, leading to the greater loss of heat.

            Toss in the fact that they maintain their body temperature at 109° to 111°F (43 to 44°C), some 5°F (3°C) higher than most birds. That means they have to burn more calories in winter to stay warm (BTW, their body temperature would cause most of us to die of heat stroke).

            Nevertheless, few birds can out-tough them - they can survive down to minus 40 degrees F. Add in the fact that Heinrich found tiny geometrid (“inchworm”) caterpillars comprised the bulk of the kinglet’s diet, which are truly few in number, tiny, and difficult to find. Heinrich observed that kinglets feed incessantly, all day long, foraging tirelessly and averaging 45 short “hop-flights” per minute. 

            Our winter nights can reach -30°F and last 15 hours, so it would seem that their survival would be an impossible task. One research team measured the amount of fat the kinglets put on during the day, and while proportionately it was very high compared to other birds, they calculated that the kinglets would need twice the calories in their fat reserves to last the night.           Heinrich thinks they may go into torpor overnight to lessen their calorie loss, but that’s not proven. He then took some of his students and tracked birds at dusk to see what they did at night, and they found that the tiny birds may conserve energy by huddling together in small

groups, and that the birds may roost together sometimes in miniature snow caves on evergreen branches, thereby benefitting from the snow’s insulating properties.

            Even utilizing all their behavior and physical adaptations, Heinrich writes, “[Their survival] defies physics and physiology. We don’t know for sure how they do it.”

 

Beaver Lodge and Safe Ice - A Cautionary Tale

            I was walking along a frozen lakeshore a few weeks ago when I came upon what appeared to be a relatively modest “hump” of snow. Our dog walked up on top of it, and as I was standing there, I thought, “This looks like a new beaver lodge. I better go around it on shore.” As that realization dawned on me, the ice under my feet immediately gave way, and I was plunged into water up to my chest.

            A few shocked swear words later, I was able to pull myself up onto shore, but I was soaked. Fortunately, I was only 300 yards or so from my car, so I sloshed my way through the snow and was in the car and home stripping off my “not yet frozen but getting there” clothes a few minutes later.

            I know not to walk on ice around a beaver lodge. I just didn’t recognize it as a lodge right away, and I paid the price. Fair warning - because beavers swim out daily under the ice and collect branches from their winter cache to eat in their lodge, the ice around the lodge is often thin.

 

Moose in Wisconsin and the U.P.

            In northern Wisconsin, moose remain a true rarity with perhaps a few breeding pairs among an estimated 20+ total individuals. For decades, Moose have not been recognized by the DNR as a resident species in Wisconsin, thus limiting any formal research into their current status. However, the Wisconsin DNR and Natural Heritage Inventory (NHI) recently said they intend to update the state rank for moose from SNA (Status Not Assessed) to SU (Status Uncertain) reflecting the recognition that moose are here and part of Wisconsin’s native fauna.

            In the DNR’s stead, an Iron County resident, Amanda Griggs, began many years ago conducting moose surveys on her own in our area. She founded “Hidden Moose of Wisconsin,” a long-term research project trying to uncover and document Wisconsin’s moose population (see hiddenmoosewisconsin.wixsite.com). As a volunteer, she’s deployed dozens of trail cameras and is actively investigating a host of questions about moose in northern Wisconsin.  

            The moose story is quite different in the U.P. of Michigan. In the mid-1980s, the Michigan DNR translocated 59 moose from Algonquin Provincial Park to Marquette County. The goal was to establish a self-sustaining population in the U.P. of 1,000 moose by the year 2000.

            All the translocated moose were fitted with radio collars to track survival and movement, and though there were some natural losses, the population grew steadily from the late 1980s through 2007. 

            But data from over the last 16 years obtained via aerial population surveys shows that their annual growth has slowed to less than 1%.

            In the most recent moose survey conducted by the DNR in January 2023, an estimated 426 moose were counted in the western Upper Peninsula (the remainder of the U.P. is not systematically surveyed).

            In February of this year (2026),  a cooperative team from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and Northern Michigan University captured and collared 41 new moose and additionally recollared two of last year's yearlings.             With these additions, researchers now have 56 active GPS collars deployed across the population with the intent to understand why moose numbers in the western Upper Peninsula have remained relatively stagnant. 

            So, the question always arises as to why there are so few moose in Wisconsin when there are so many in the U.P. In 1989, the Wisconsin State Legislature directed the DNR to investigate the feasibility of reintroducing elk, moose, and caribou. The resulting report, published in 1990, evaluated whether Wisconsin could realistically support these species again, and came back saying an elk reintroduction could likely succeed, but that moose and caribou would face significant challenges. 

            The report identified several limiting factors for moose, including ecological pressures from high white-tailed deer densities which result in presence of brainworm, a fatal parasitic nematode for moose that is carried by deer (in Minnesota’s moose population, for instance, brainworm causes between 25% and 45% of adult moose deaths).

            As a result of that assessment, Wisconsin chose to begin reintroducing elk near Clam Lake in 1995, but declined to introduce moose.

            Would moose do well in northern Wisconsin if reintroduced? The 1990 report suggested we don’t have the specific mix of habitats that moose favor. Frankly, I question that - moose occupied the northern half of the state prior to settlement - so, the habitat was adequate then, and should be so today. But I do agree that brainworm from our too high whitetail deer population is now and will continue to be a limiting factor, as are our warming winters.

            It’s difficult to answer the question whether moose could be reintroduced into northern Wisconsin and survive. Climate change likely dooms them in the long run. In the meantime, keep an eye on Griggs’ website to see what she comes up with.

 

Canada Jay Nesting

            Speaking of warm winters impacting moose, they are also impacting the nesting population of Canada jays in our area. I’ve coordinated the Manitowish Waters Christmas Bird Count since 1993, and up until 2011, we always had multiple sightings of Canada jays. In fact, we counted 13 individuals in 1994 in our count circle and 10 in 1998.

            But, we’ve not seen any during our counts since 2011 - 14 years running now. 

            Why? Well, that requires us to understand their breeding strategy. Canada jays mate and lay their eggs in late February into early March, rearing a family of young jays by mid-March, an extraordinarily early timing requiring large amounts of high energy food. Why they raise their chicks so early in the year, with heavy snow around them and deep cold often well below zero, is a mystery, but they are only able to do it because of all the food they cached in the fall. 

            Canada jays cache insects, berries, mushrooms, and strips of flesh they’ve pulled from carcasses, sometimes caching up to 50 pounds per bird. They coat the food items with their sticky saliva - the stickiest saliva of any North American bird - making a little package that they jam in amongst spruce needles, in a tree crevice, a broken-off stump, or under loose bark, and then they somehow recall where to find it months later in the dead of winter.

            They are “scatter-hoarders,” and as one writer says, Canada jays “have a memory like a Vegas card counter.” They create thousands of food caches, by some estimates up to 8,000, and somehow remember where to retrieve some 80 percent of those morsels.

            So why are their numbers declining in our area? Because winters are warming in northern Wisconsin, and a January or February extended warm spell thaws out the frozen food caches, spoiling the food and leaving nothing to feed the chicks. 

            We’re at the southernmost edge of their range as it is, so any warming impacts their nesting success. Thus, Canada jays have been moving further north where winters are more consistently cold. 

 

Celestial Events - Spring Equinox

            Hooray for March 20, the official day marking the spring (vernal) equinox - our days are now longer than our nights!

 

Climate Stats

            2025 was Earth’s third-warmest year since records began in 1850. Global average temperatures in 2025 were 2.4°F (1.3°C) above pre-industrial (1850-1900) levels.

            The planet is rapidly approaching warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial averages, a number scientists believe is a threshold for much greater risks to lives, livelihoods, and ecosystems.

            Global coastal sea level was recently measured to be on average around 1 foot higher than assumed, according to a recent report in the journal Nature, with some places - such as Southeast Asia and parts of the Pacific - reaching up to 3 feet higher.

 

Thought for the Week

            “To travel well within your neighborhood is the greatest of journeys.” - attributed to Samuel Johnson