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

 

A Northwoods Almanac for 2/27 - 3/12/26

 A Northwoods Almanac for 2/27 - 3/12/26  

March Madness

            March instigates an emotional yo-yo, a roller coaster of glorious ups and dismal downs. No month is more promising but also deceiving, more transformative but also relapsing, more exciting but so quickly depressing. Only those who haven’t lived here think spring is actually coming, while those of us who have been led down this bridal path over many years know it’s fool’s gold. 

            Still, even those of us who should know better are prone to thinking, well, maybe THIS time will be different, proving that hope springs eternal no matter how hopeless the case.

            Of course, we’re not the only ones who have experienced March’s deception. March, the carnival barker of months, has teased and tormented many, many others. Here is just a small sampling of the laments made over centuries:

            It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. - Charles Dickens

            In March, winter is holding back, and spring is pulling forward. Something holds and something pulls inside of us too. - Jean Hersey

            March: where weather forecasts take wild guesses! - Unknown

            Our life is March weather, savage and serene in one hour.  - Ralph Waldo Emerson

            March was an unpredictable month, when it was never clear what might happen. Warm days raised hopes until ice and grey skies shut over the town again. - Tracy Chevalier

            So, buckle up. When I think of March, I see in my mind’s eye the unforgettable beginning of ABC’s Wide World of Sports - “The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat - the human drama” - as the Yugoslavian ski jumper Vinko Bogotaj goes careening of the ski jump head over heels. March will always be like that, a drama of risky transformation, a veritable jump off a cliff. But if we can tamper our expectations, ease our dreams and desires, we can smile at it, albeit ruefully, and just, seatbelt fastened, go along for the ride.

 

Sightings - Trumpeter Swans

            Trumpeter swans must be the earliest of our nesting waterfowl to return in the spring, even when the ice is still a foot thick on all of our lakes. Mary, Callie and I saw a pair of trumpeters resting on the ice of the Little Turtle Flowage on 2/12. And Jennifer and Joe Heitz reported seeing four trumpeters fly over their heads in the Star Lake area on 2/15, noting there was no open water anywhere in the area.

            It’s true, however, that some trumpeters winter-over in our area. A small flock has spent the winter for many years on the open water of the Manitowish River between Rest Lake and Benson Lake, and some are seen on the open Wisconsin River by Rhinelander. Could those that we saw and that Jennifer and Joe saw be from over-wintering flocks?

            Yes, it’s certainly possible, but given how far they were from open water would seemingly make it less likely. 

            Trumpeters are aquatic plant eaters, so they have to feed on open water. So, why return so early when ice-off is at least a month or more away? Is it the vying for optimal territories?             I honestly don’t know, but assuredly they know what they’re doing. It just isn’t at all apparent to me.

 

2025 Deer Hunt Stats

(All data from Paul Smith, 2/8 article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel):

*In the fall, the DNR estimated the state herd at 1.82 million deer, the highest ever on record.

*As of Jan. 27, 2026, hunters registered 338,685 white-tailed deer through the various hunting seasons.

*The total harvest is on track to be about 4% higher than the previous year and the highest since 2012, when 368,313 deer were registered.

*The buck kill of 165,614 is 14th highest on record and the most since 2007.

*The Nov. 22-30 gun season resulted in 183,094 deer registered, a drop of 4% from the previous year. Take into account, however, a heavy snowstorm hit much of the state late in the nine-day season (you might remember that little 30+ inch snowfall) and likely reduced hunter effort.

*The crossbow deer kill of 70,047 (43,006 bucks and 27,041 antlerless) is up 10% from last year.

*The archery (vertical bow) deer harvest increased. As of Jan. 27 the total was 41,459 (25,701 bucks and 15,758 antlerless), a 7% year-over-year increase.

*Yet, the number of deer hunters has dropped by 116,640 (or 16%) in the last 25 years, according to the DNR.

            The question when presented with an array of data points like this is what conclusions one can draw from them? What do these numbers say about the state of our deer herd, the impacts of winter weather, of wolves, the continuing decline in deer hunters, the increase in bow hunting and archery on the gun season, et al?

            It’s complicated, so I’ll listen to voices that have been around the longest time and speak with the most experience and integrity. Two come to mind: Keith McCaffery, retired deer biologist and likely the most trusted voice on deer ecology in the state, and recently retired deer biologist Jeff Pritzl. I recommend trusting their writings.

 

Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program

            The Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program was created in 1989 as a bipartisan initiative to provide funding for the DNR to protect natural areas, water quality, and fisheries while expanding outdoor recreation. Signed by Governor Tommy Thompson, it was renamed in 1993 to honor former governors Warren Knowles (Republican) and Gaylord Nelson (Democrat), highlighting a long-standing bipartisan commitment to conservation. 

            The program has provided over 1,500 grants in all 72 counties of Wisconsin to land trusts and conservation nonprofit organizations, state park friends groups, and local governments, enabling improvements to parks, trails, and waterways. The program has helped permanently protect well over 750,000 acres in Wisconsin, and almost every Wisconsin resident has a Knowles-Nelson project within a mile or two of their home. In a poll taken of Wisconsin residents, 93% said they favored the program - nine out of ten.

            From its inception, the Stewardship program has funded not just DNR land acquisition and recreational development, but a family of grants through which local communities and nonprofits, matching the state investment dollar-for-dollar, have expanded parks and public nature preserves, boat landings, town parks, ATV trails, snowmobile bridges, you name it.

            On 2/18, Senate Republicans canceled a vote on a $28.25 million GOP-authored bill to extend the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship program for two years ($14.12 million per year). The amount may sound like plenty, but the bill provides nothing for buying land, except $1 million designated for the Ice Age Trail. Everything else in the bill would fund maintenance work and habitat restoration.

            This is a dramatic decrease in funding from the program’s inception. The key loss is the elimination of funding for buying land over the next two years, thus tying the state’s hands to take advantage of any opportunity to increase lands for hunting, timbering, recreating in any form, and to secure critical wildlife habitats.

            I’ve heard a few people saying, “So what? We have too much land already, and the cost is too much. My taxes are already too high.”

            For the record, the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program costs $11 per Wisconsin resident annually, debt service included, way less than the cost of a state park sticker, a fishing license, or a typical campground fee for one night. 

            Still, it’s eleven bucks. What are you getting for it? 

            Well, for extensive details of why the Stewardship program matters, go to the link: https://knowlesnelson.org/toolkit/, and click on the “Explore Impact Sheets” tab. 

            There you can search by county, Assembly district, Senate district or “Ice Age Trail” community, and learn how many projects, how many acres, and how much taxpayer money Knowles-Nelson has invested in Wisconsin, and specifically your county, over the last 36 years.  

            Still, some are saying the program is only for buying more land and helping hikers and the non-motorized crowd.          

            Nope. It benefits everybody. Everybody. 

            Examples abound. In Oneida County, 135 projects have been done including new restrooms and renovation of the Lake Tomahawk Boat Landing, a new bathhouse and boat landing renovation at Hodag park, landscaping with benches and picnic tables along with the construction of the Newbold Recreational Trail, and new bathrooms, beach improvement, a picnic area and swing set at the Monico Town Park. It did include a 680-acre expansion to the Oneida County Forest, but remember, timber harvests on county forest lands provide large revenues for nearly every northern county.

            In Vilas County, 180 projects have been done, including to help purchase 960 acres of land in the Tenderfoot Forest Preserve, perhaps the best stand of old-growth forest left in our state. But over a half million dollars also went to an ATV wash station, shower facility, utility upgrades and expansion of the Torch Lake Campground. One-third million went to a new pavilion and playground at the Conover Town Park, and a couple hundred thousand went to a picnic area, parking and restrooms at Rearing Pond Park in Presque Isle.

            In Forest County, money went for a 2,800-acre expansion of the Forest County Forest (counties harvest timber!), but grants also were given for the reconstruction of a snowmobile bridge on the Nicolet State Trail, aquatic weed harvesting equipment for the Pine Lake Protection and Rehabilitation District, and the construction of a bike trail connecting the Crandon School complex to the Wolf River State Trail.

            Money went in Florence County for County Forest ATV trail rehabilitation and a new culvert, along with a boat landing and shelter at the Long Lake Swimming Beach.

            So, please look more deeply into what this program does for our state and for your county, and then decide what your 11 bucks is worth to you. 

            For me, it’s one of the best ways I can think of to spend it. 

            As outdoor writer Pat Durkin says, “Stewardship isn’t a burden – it’s a smart investment.” If you agree, call your legislators and tell them to fully fund the program.

 

Celestial Events

            For planet watching in March, look after dusk very low in the west for Venus, for Jupiter high in the South, and for Saturn very low in the west but only through mid-month. Before dawn, there’s not much - look for Mercury very low in the southeast.

            As of the first of the month, our average high temperature reaches 32° for the first time since November 29.  

            The full moon occurs on 3/3 with a total lunar eclipse in the morning reaching maximum at 5:33 AM. The eclipse will be viewable by nearly everyone in the U.S.

            On 3/8 look after dusk low in the west for Venus just one degree above Saturn.

 

Thought for the Week

            A land ethic “reflects the existence of an ecological conscience, and this in turn reflects a conviction of individual responsibility for the health of land . . . Conservation will ultimately boil down to rewarding the private landowner who conserves the public interest.” - Aldo Leopold