A Northwoods Almanac
for March 20 – April 2, 2015
Sightings
Pat and Rick Schwai on Cochran Lake sent me this
note, along with several photographs of a pine siskin with its head stuck in
their thistle feeder: “This pine siskin got himself in serious trouble at one
of our feeders yesterday. Rick took the photos thinking the little guy had
expired. Not so! Rick then had to figure out a way to free the bird
knowing his hand wouldn't fit in the feeder to support the head as he gently
pulled. Rick found what he needed and I returned home moments later to find him
warming the bird in his hands. We transferred the bird to a shoebox and
took it indoors. Midway through the siskin's recuperation, we were
encouraged when the bird briefly lifted his head and grasped onto a twig perch.
After several more minutes we took the box outdoors, lifted the lid and waited
as the siskin looked around, hopped to the edge of the box and finally flew
away. I suspect he'll be content to feed off the ground from now on!”
3/13: Mary Madsen on Twin Island Lake in Presque Isle
sent me an update on the bobwhite that appeared in her yard last summer: “He's
made it through all of that bitter cold weather and still comes to eat twice a
day. I’m looking forward to hearing him call again. Maybe we'll have to
find him some friends . . .”
3/14: Jim and Deb Schumaker reported their first pair
of geese had returned to Lost Creek, which runs between Big Saint Germain Lake
and Lost Lake. Waterfowl will start to pour in now as rivers open – thousands
have already returned to the open waters of southern Wisconsin.
3/15: Sharon Lintereur in Lake Tomahawk noted the
start of maple syrup season: “We have 100 trees tapped and the sap is running,
hurray!! Yesterday nothing except for a couple of trees and today we haven't
found a dry one. Our prediction is this is going to be a fast and furious
season. If it keeps up the way it has been, we will be boiling on the weekend.”
Later that evening, she updated me: “The sap started
running around noon, and we just got done collecting approximately 75 gallons;
not bad for the day.”
Fresh, pure maple syrup on waffles and pancakes –
what could be better!
3/15: Mary and I skied on what is left of the North
Lakeland Discovery Center’s ski trails, and notably heard a brown creeper
signing. The male sings from the moment he begins courtship until the young
fledge. Once mated, the males and females search for dead or dying trees in
order to place their nest under the loose bark. They construct a hammock-shaped
nest under the bark made of insect cocoons, bark, spider egg cases, and tiny
twigs. They’re an early nester, but this would be particularly early if they
began in the next week. Their use of dead and dying trees for nesting is one of
dozens of examples of why we need to leave dead trees standing in our
woodlands.
We also heard perhaps hundreds of pine siskins
singing throughout the woods, a chorus one usually hears around a backyard
feeder but not deep in the woods. Remarkably, the first confirmed breeding of
pine siskins in Wisconsin wasn’t reported until 1948 in Iron County, and it
wasn’t until the 1960s that siskins were known to breed in all the other
northern counties. They still remain quite uncommon breeders in our state,
often breeding early in April, but our knowledge of their breeding biology is
really sketchy.
Given
their enormous numbers currently in our area, and assuming some may remain to
nest, this may be a great year to learn more about when and where they nest, as
well as their overall breeding cycle.
Great Backyard Bird
Count
Final totals are in for the Great Backyard Bird
Count. Participants from around the world set new records for the number of
species identified during the four days of the Count and for the number of
checklists submitted. Total checklists
amounted to 147,265 (up 3,156). Total
species topped 5,090 (up 794). Estimated
participants were 143,941 (up 1,890).
Bitter temperatures, snow, and high
winds produced problems for folks in the Northeast, resulting in a drop in
participants from that region.
Of note, pine siskins aren’t just
common in northern Wisconsin this winter. 2015 was a banner year for pine siskins,
which were reported on 10.5% of GBBC checklists compared to 1.2% of checklists
in 2014 when most siskins stayed in Canada.
Banding Birds
Speaking of
pine siskins, on 3/6, Bruce Bacon, a master bird bander and retired wildlife
manager in Mercer, came over to our home in Manitowish to band the birds at our
feeders. We’ve been inundated with pine siskins, but also have small numbers of
common redpolls, purple finches, and the usual assortment of black-capped
chickadees, red-breasted and white-breasted nuthatches, blue jays, mourning
doves, et al. We worked for nearly five hours, and in that time, Bruce captured
and banded 106 pine siskins and 2 hairy woodpeckers. He also recaptured 6 pine
siskins from earlier in the day. But we were unable to capture any other
species of bird!
We quit
around 3 p.m., but only because the day was getting long. Bruce usually quits
when he starts seeing an equal number of recaptures to new captures, but we
sure weren’t seeing that! Bruce estimates that we probably have around 300 pine
siskins feeding on our property – we could have been banding until dark!
A few days later (3/8), Bruce
banded the birds on his property just north of Mercer and caught 249 birds (2
blue jays, 2 chickadees, 1 hoary and 16 common redpolls. and 230 siskins). He
noted, “A long-tailed weasel killed one siskin in a trap next to the window I
was sitting at before I removed him. He was fast!!! Of 230 siskins, 125 were
recaps, so your banded birds will still be around.”
Rivers Opening Up
The
Manitowish River opened by our home on 3/16. Last year the ice went on 4/10, so
we’re three-and-a-half weeks ahead this year from last.
Few natural events are as
anticipated as ice-off, whether on rivers or lakes. Most creeks and small
rivers are likely open by now, but it may be another month until the ice goes
off on our lakes. Average ice-off dates vary from lake to lake, but a good
general average is around 4/18.
Cranes Coming
Whooping cranes are due to begin
returning to Wisconsin this month. On March 11, Operation Migration (www.operationmigration.org) reported
that the birds had begun to leave their wintering grounds. Although they
were originally led by ultralight aircraft to Florida in their first year, most
of the eastern migratory population spent the winter elsewhere. As of the
beginning of March, 22 whooping cranes were wintering in Indiana, 7 in
Kentucky, 7 in Tennessee, 27 in Alabama, 3 in Georgia, 14 in Florida, 18 were at
unknown locations or not recently reported, and 2 were long-term missing. The
total for Florida includes 7 newly released juveniles.
Many sandhill cranes have already
returned to southern Wisconsin. Given their propensity for coming north even
when we’re still iced-up, I suspect we’ll be seeing some returning before the
end of this month.
Celestial Events
Spring equinox
occurs today, 3/20, at 5:45 p.m if you are fussy about such things. This is an
event that ought to be as anticipated as ice-off, but given that spring equinox
rarely actually means that spring is here tends to dampen one’s enthusiasm.
Still, we’ve now reached the point where our daylight will begin to exceed our
night, and that is surely worth celebrating. We gain about 3 minutes of
daylight every day now.
Look for
robins and red-winged blackbirds any day now – the first wave usually appears
around the equinox.
Tomorrow,
3/21, look after sunset for Mars just above the waxing crescent moon. The
following night, 3/22, look also after sunset for Venus about 3° above the
moon.
