A Northwoods Almanac
for 11/14 – 27, 2014
Winter Finch Forecast
Every
autumn, Ron Pittaway, an ornithologist in Ontario, issues his “winter finch
forecast,” which he bases on food availability throughout Canada. If the
necessary amount and kind of foods are available in Canada for each bird
species, they will most likely stay north. However, if the food supply is low,
they’ll come south, and hopefully to our bird feeders!
Pittaway
says this autumn is a mixed bag because food sources are quite variable. The
key trees for winter finches are both spruces (white and black), both birches
(mostly white, but some yellow), and mountain ashes. Spruce cones are widely
variable in Ontario this year, with good crops in western Ontario and generally
poorer crops eastward. Birch seeds are poor to average, while there’s a bumper
crop of mountain ash berries across most of the boreal forest of Canada, but
not so in northeastern Ontario.
Pittaway
predicts the species we are unlikely to see: Pine grosbeaks should mostly stay
north because the mountain ashes are so laden with berries. Pine siskins should
also stay north for the most part given that they depend on spruce seeds, and
the spruces had a good cone year. White-winged crossbills will likely remain north
as well, since they, too, depend on spruce cones.
Species that we are likely to see:
Purple finches should be coming south in large numbers because the birch seeds
are so limited. Common redpolls should also be relatively common at our feeders
because they, too, depend on birch seeds. Watch also for hoary redpolls that
will be mixed in with the redpoll flocks. Red crossbills may come south to feed
on our abundant white and red pine cones. Evening grosbeaks may make a small
movement south because of poor seed crops. But their numbers are greatly
reduced from the population peaks seen during the 1980s, so that even if they
make a major flight south, they will still be uncommon.
One non-finch species we always
look for is the bohemian waxwing. We had a flock of eight feeding on our
crabapples on 11/3, but they only remained one day. Pittaway predicts they will
stay north this winter because of the abundant mountain ash berry crop. If some
do come our way, look for them feeding on crabapples, mountain ash, and
buckthorn.
Pat Schwai on Cochran Lake is ahead of the winter
finch game. She sent me a note saying she was surprised to see six pine siskins
in her garden on 11/1, recalling that she didn’t see any last winter. Given
Pittaway’s forecast, she may not see many more this winter. One thing to always
remember, though, is how localized wildlife populations are. Pittaway is trying
to predict movements for an area several thousand miles across, so his
generalized thoughts must be taken with a grain of salt.
Christmas Bird
Count
Speaking of seeing birds this winter, we will conduct
the 22nd annual Manitowish Waters Christmas Bird Count on Sunday,
12/14. We need people to actively help us search for
birds within the count circle, or to just count birds visiting their bird
feeders that day. If you live within a 7.5-mile radius of the intersection of
Highways 51 and County W, and want to get involved counting your feeder, please
contact me at manitowish@centurytel.net or by phone at 476-2828. Counting birds at your feeder is the
simplest way to help and takes very little time or expertise. Since winter birds
concentrate around feeders, we tend to get our best counts from folks just
watching out their windows.
The
Christmas Bird Count for the Minocqua area, which uses the intersection of Hwy.
51 and 70 West as its center point, is organized through the North Lakeland
Discovery Center, and is scheduled for Saturday, 12/20. If you want to help out
on that count, please call Guy David at 715-439-0777 or email him at bgdavid@wildblue.net. They’re also in particular need of feeder counters, and
since many of you watch your feeders throughout the day, why not help out if
you can?
For
folks counting in Rhinelander, contact Vanessa Haese-Lehman at
715-369-3708 or markvanlehman@yahoo.com.
In the Park Falls area, contact Tom Nicholls at 762-3076 or nicho002@umn.edu. In the Phelps or Three
Lakes area, contact Bill Reardon at 479-8055 or breardon@nnex.net.
Juvenile Loons –
Where Are They Now
Scientists from the Upper Midwest
Environmental Sciences Center captured and radiomarked 17 juvenile common loons
on lakes scattered across Minnesota and Wisconsin during the last two weeks of
August 2014. Their objective is to describe the movements and wintering
ground use of juvenile loons using satellite transmitter and geolocator tag
technologies.
Five of the seventeen loons
radiomarked were from lakes in our area: Clear Lake, White Sand Lake, Upper
Gresham Lake, Tomahawk Lake, and Butternut Lake. As of 11/10, the Tomahawk Lake
juvenile was still on its natal lake, while the juvenile from Upper Gresham
Lake had made its migration to the Gulf of Mexico.
The l7 loons can be followed on the
UMESC website – watch for updates at: http://www.umesc.usgs.gov/terrestrial/migratory_birds/loons/migrations.html
Survival rates of loons during
their first few years of life is much lower (about 50% over three years) than
that of adults (about 93% annually). Surprisingly little is known about the
movements, habitat use, and causes of mortality of common loons during these
first few years, so hopefully this data will help clarify their story.
Sightings
I finally saw my first flock of snow
buntings on 11/6 along Hwy. 47 where it bisects Powell Marsh. As seed eaters,
they do best wintering on open ground with little snow. Birders in southern
Wisconsin usually see them all winter, while we only get to view them in spring
and fall migration.
The pair of eagles that nest across
the river from our house failed to raise any chicks this summer and were seldom
seen near the nest after mid-June. In the last several weeks a pair, presumably
the same ones, began working on the nest. Every day now they’re in the nest,
and often flying back and forth above the river. We’re not sure what they’re up
to, but we’re pleased to see the nest hasn’t been abandoned.
Rusty blackbirds have been visiting
our feeders in the last few weeks, but are very unlikely to remain any longer
now that so much snow has arrived.
Colleen Henrich from Lake Tomahawk has a male
red-bellied woodpecker coming to her suet feeder. One had visited her feeders
two years ago, but hadn’t stayed around. While common to southern Wisconsin,
red-bellieds are still quite uncommon in our area, and always a welcome sight.
Kay and Andy sent me photos on 11/7 of a bobcat
patrolling their front yard in Natural Lakes. Kay noted, “We have seen rabbits
in our yard this past summer and understand that they are the main diet for bobcats.
I have seen a couple of rabbits since then, so I know he didn't get all of
them.”
I’m writing this column on Monday, 11/10, and it’s
snowing to beat the band. Eighteen inches or more are forecast, and the birds
that have been only casual visitors at our feeders over the last month are
omnipresent today. The first big snow covers up not only seeds on the ground,
but many of the smaller plants that still retain their seeds. If we think the
first snow is a wake-up call for us, it’s a message that portends far more for
birds.
Celestial Events –
Leonid Meteor Shower
The
Leonid meteor shower takes place every November as the Earth crosses the orbital
path of Comet Tempel-Tuttle. The peak night of the shower is expected from late
evening November 17 to the morning of November 18.
The
Leonids are usually a modest shower, with typical rates of about 10 to 15
meteors per hour at the peak. The Leonid shower is known, however, for
producing meteor storms. In 1966, observers in the southwest United States
reported seeing 40 to 50 meteors per second (that’s 2,400 to 3,000 meteors per
minute!) during a span of 15 minutes on the morning of November 17.
Meteors showers are named
for the point in our sky from which they appear to radiate. This shower is
named for the constellation Leo the Lion. If you trace the paths of Leonid
meteors backward on the sky’s dome, they do seem to stream from Leo. However, the
meteors often don’t become visible until they are 30 degrees or so from their
radiant point and are streaking out in all directions. Thus the Leonid meteors
– like meteors in all annual showers – will appear in all parts of the sky.
November in a
Nutshell
In his book Sundial of the Seasons, Hal Borland beautifully
describes November:
"One thing about late Autumn, it displays the
stubborn simplicity of the earth. Man may contrive himself into all kinds of
human complications, but this earth which bore him and will be his home
until the
end of his days seems to settle back periodically into quiet contemplation.
There stands the hills, rugged as time, and there lie the valleys at rest. The
sun cuts its small arc in the southern sky and the long night is the
counterpart of June's long day. The tree stands stark, life at rest in the
root, and the meadow is sere with frost. The goldenrod is a dead stem, and
a waiting seed, restless in the wind. The simplicities are everywhere. The
frog has buried itself in the mud and the woodchuck sleeps only a few degrees
this side of death. Leaves begin to molder in the simple economy of nature,
last Summer's shade leaching back into the soil. The urgencies are eased
for another season. Only the wind hurries now. Soon even the rain will flake
down, wafted crystal drifting on the brittle air. Ice, the most stubborn
of all the simplicities, will pry at the fundamental rocks. And out there in
the depth of the night the entire universe will be in eternal order.”
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