A Northwoods Almanac for June 3 – 16, 2011
Bird Fest 2011
The seventh annual North Lakeland Discovery Center Bird Fest took place on May 21, and between the many early-morning warbler walks and the later-morning hikes, canoe, and pontoon trips taken by the participants, 96 bird species were officially tallied, including uncommon species like white pelican, sharp-tailed grouse, northern goshawk, Virginia rail, black tern, northern waterthrush, and warbling vireo.
Ninety-six species is a very good number, and many people were able to see birds they had never encountered before. Mary and I guided one of the warbler walks at 6 a.m. and later a canoe trip down a short stretch of the Manitowish. On occasion, we were able to call in birds, and people got great looks at them. Seeing the coloration up-close-and-personal on a chestnut-sided warbler or a common yellowthroat heightens your appreciation all the more.
But, while seeing so many birds truly excites everyone, I was equally taken by the amiability and camaraderie of the people involved. Folks just seemed to be relaxed and having a great time, whatever their level of skill or experience was with birds.
Kudos to the Discovery Center for pulling off another Bird Fest. As anyone who has ever organized a major event knows, there’s a ton of work behind the scenes to make one of these run smoothly, and the staff, the bird club, and all the volunteers made it look easy.
Quetico – Paddling the Pines Loop
Mary and I spent six days last week paddling in Quetico Provincial Park, a 1.18 million acre, 1,800 square mile, roadless wilderness area in Ontario directly north of the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Area. The park consistently receives international acclaim for its beauty, in large part due to its 600+ pristine wilderness lakes, the majority of which are connected via portages. Where to go in such a glory of lakes was a question, but given our love of old-growth forests, we chose a lake route that was reputed to have some of the oldest white pine in North America rooted along its shorelines and that, with luck, we thought we could navigate in six days.
Well, wilderness offers many faces. You have to meet life on its terms, not yours. On one hand, there’s amazing beauty and peace to be found in crystal lakes and unmanaged forests, and on the other, there are constant challenges to be met, from rigorous portages to clouds of black flies to unpredictable weather. We found all of these, and a little more, and we came back thinking about a number of lessons we thought we knew, but which we now understand even better.
One is to do not just adequate planning, but complete planning. We found, for instance, that much of the Pines Loop had burned in wildfires in 2006, a fact that our two reference books, both written before 2006, could not have known. So, while we found some large pines, we found much of the landscape was recovering from fire.
We also found that a number of the portage trails were not exactly where they were supposed to be on the maps. We were fortunate that we purchased a GPS just a few days before we left, and while we still haven’t figured out 95% of the gizmos, we were able to use it to locate where we were the one time the portage trail took us in a direction that wasn’t at all on the map.
We found our fair share of black flies, of very cold mornings, of mud-sucking portage trails, and trails that led us over expanses of bog that on occasion we went through. We made it across one bog after a very difficult struggle and looked up to see three vultures circling. We mentioned a few unpleasantries to them, laughed, and continued on.
For all the work, there were loons on nearly every lake serenading us nightly. Beavers were ubiquitous, and some of their dams were marvelous engineering works of art. Eagles and osprey patrolled the skies. Songbirds boisterously sang along the portage trails. We camped near several gray jay families, the young already fledged, but still darkly feathered until they grow into their adult plumage next year.
We didn’t see anyone on three of the six days we were in, and the silence was remarkable. But when we did encounter people, we also witnessed how people just naturally help one another in wilderness settings.
Our little Aussie dog, Zoë, had the time of her life, but slept like a rock every night for all the effort it took her to cross some of the boggy portages. She often rode in the canoe on top of one of our portage packs (see the picture), so she could watch everything more intently. On our last day, she even slid off the pack into the 54° water, and I, in my eagerness to gather her in, capsized the canoe.
But that’s another story.
It was an adventure, and despite being experienced paddlers, it was also a schooling on many levels. We’re glad to have gone, and equally glad to be back home on the beautiful Manitowish River.
Woodchucks
A woodchuck is regularly eating sunflower seeds from our platform bird feeders, and from our deck and the ground. He (she) was even up on our shed roof the other day (see picture) eating the leaves from an overhanging black cherry tree.
I’m a lover of all things in nature, but I’m not so happy to have this fat fellow around our house due to his species’ reputation for eating garden fare and wildflowers. He’s a harmless soul, though, a pure vegetarian not looking to rankle anyone or anything. Still, between him, the cottontail rabbits, and the deer, one needs to build a fenced fortress around the gardens in order to see the fruits of one’s labor. It’s an old story, but one that when all options are considered, we wouldn’t want to change.
Sightings
Mary and Gordy Moscinski in Woodruff had an immature summer tanager visiting their oriole feeder for about a week in early May. Summer tanagers rarely nest as far north as southern Wisconsin, so this is a highly unusual sighting of an absolutely unique and beautiful bird.
Judith Bloom on Lake Tomahawk observed her first indigo bunting on 5/18, while Sharon Lintereur reported an indigo bunting visiting their feeders in the town of Lake Tomahawk on 5/23, and Barbara McFarland in Manitowish Waters sent me a photo of an indigo bunting visiting their feeder on 5/24.
Celestial Events
While summer solstice doesn’t officially occur until June 21, this year’s earliest sunrises (5:08 a.m.) begin on June 11 and continue at the same time until June 21.
This year’s southernmost, and thus lowest, full moon occurs on June 15. A total eclipse of the moon also occurs that evening, but unfortunately it’s not visible in North America. If you feel like traveling, it will be visible completely over Africa, and Central Asia, visible rising over South America, western Africa, and Europe, and setting over eastern Asia.
For planet-watching in June, look at dusk for Saturn high in the south, and before dawn for Venus and Mars very low in the northeast. Jupiter will also appear very bright but much higher in the northeast before dawn, rising around 3 a.m.
Local Weather Station
Bob Schmidt sent me the website link for Gail Spears' excellent and highly recommended weather station on Presque Isle Lake: http://home.centurytel.net/presque-isle-weather/.
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