A Northwoods Almanac
for May 30 – June 11
Birdathon Results
Raising
money for any cause requires provocation, a reason that touches peoples’
hearts, their sense of justice, or their desire to see someone or something
thrive. And sometimes it requires a creative, or a bit zany, event to draw
attention to the cause, to raise it above the clamor that rightfully exists for
so many other deserving people and issues.
So, the
bright idea arose that to get folks to pay attention to the needs of birds, we
could do a birdathon, a one-day blitz to find as many bird species as
possible. Folks could then pledge money
per species found, or donate a lump sum, to provide support for ongoing efforts
to protect and/or enhance the lives of birds.
Thus the Great Wisconsin Birdathon came to life in 2012 as a joint
effort between the Wisconsin Natural Resources Foundation, the Wisconsin
Society for Ornithology, and the Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative (WBCI).
In 2014, 217 birders, 55 teams, and 745 donors together raised $56,000 to
support seven bird conservation projects in Wisconsin.
As you’ve
likely heard, budget cuts this year threaten funding for a wide array of
environmental programs, agencies like State Parks, and science research
positions. But it’s not an entirely new story. The Wisconsin Natural Resources
Foundation was formed in 1986 as declining budgets then severely compromised
critical programs of the WDNR.
Highlights
from their more than 25 years of work include:
* $5.4 million contributed to public and private
conservation efforts
* Creation of the Wisconsin Conservation Endowment, which
includes 68 funds and $4.12 million in assets that permanently support
specific lands, programs, and species
* Coordination of more than 1,500 field trips where 28,000
people have explored significant sites and projects across Wisconsin
* Support of nearly 500 grassroots conservation projects
in every county of the state through their Besadny Conservation Grants Program
* Providing opportunities for 48 Wisconservation Corps
members who have restored more than 14,000 acres at 150 State Natural Areas
* Helping fund the recovery of populations of trumpeter
swans, whooping cranes, American martens, and other species
Funds raised through the Great Wisconsin
Birdathon benefit the Bird Protection Fund, which supports the year-round
needs of birds for breeding, migrating, and wintering.
This year, the goal is to raise
over $70,000, and we tried our best to contribute on May 20 when, with a team
of eight intrepid birders, we birded portions of Iron, Vilas, and Oneida
counties.
We limited how far we went (some
teams drive over 500 miles!) to about 40 miles, in part because we wanted to
focus just on this area, but also because we didn’t want to race around and
lose the joy we get from simply being in the beauty of the Northwoods.
So, we took our time, started at
the late hour of 4 a.m. (many teams start at 12:01 a.m.), stopped at 8:45 to
eat a good breakfast at our house, slowly walked a bunch of trails and sort-of
trails over the course of the rest of the day, then said “enough is enough” at
7 p.m. Nevertheless, Mary and I finished the job well later that night by
listening for birds while we did our DNR frog count survey.
Our efforts netted 108 bird
species, a fine number for our northern forest area and for how we approached
the day. Birders in other areas with a wider array of habitats got greater or
lesser numbers (the record for the day was 213 species by a team in southern
Wisconsin!), but the real deal is about how much money we are raising. Final
tallies won’t be in until mid-June, but our team already has gone over the
$2,000 mark. You can still donate until June 15 (go to www.wibirdathon.org) if you wish to help
Wisconsin birds. But more importantly, just keep watching birds. Giving money
for conservation is only a small part of how we honor the communities of life
around us.
Sightings
5/12: Sarah Krembs sent a remarkable photo of an adult red
squirrel carrying one of its babies. She wrote, “Almost every morning I am
grumbling at the red squirrels outside my window as they gobble up all the
sunflower seeds I have put out there for the songbirds. I admit to having had
many uncharitable thoughts regarding squirrels. But then something happened
yesterday which makes me rethink my opinions. On Benson Rd., I was watching the
river when I heard rustling in the leaves near me and I saw a red squirrel
carefully carrying something in its mouth. It paused to reposition “the
something,” and I realized it was a baby squirrel! Mama was carrying it from
one tree to another. I watched mama do this another time and spotted the new
hole where she was carefully placing her babies. She ran off for another, and
that’s when I left her to it because she had spotted me by then and was not
happy with my presence . . . She was so careful, and the little baby’s arms were
wrapped around mama like a little monkey. It was all so tender.”
5/15: Mary Kaminski on Cochran Lake, which borders the
Chequamegon National Forest, has perhaps four pairs of evening grosbeaks
frequenting her feeders. She wrote, “The year before last we had two pairs
that were feeding their young ones . . . I think they all came back, as we have
5-6 males together and the females coming by also, but not as many at one
time. We have an open flat feeder, which they like.”
5/15: Brigitte Hornberg in Lac du Flambeau wrote, “We have
been waiting forever to have a cardinal visit our feeders. Well, today is our
lucky day! Had almost forgotten how striking they are. Did not stay long, but
am now hearing his call in the woods.”
5/15: This evening was a perfect night for migration – see
the snapshot of the radar over the Midwest taken at 10:30 p.m, just after the
birds began rising from the ground and continuing their migration. Most
songbirds migrate at night, lifting off a half-hour or so after dark.
5/16: Jim Swartout in Minocqua sent a photo of a beautiful
smoke-phase hen turkey on his property that was displaying courtship behaviors.
He noted, “When another hen intruded, she took serious umbrage.”
5/16: Sharon Lintereur sent an unusual photo of an American
toad with very reddish skin.
5/16: Sue DeFranciso sent this note: “My biggest joy this
year was our wood duck box which we put up five years ago along the Tomahawk
River on the back end of our property . . . To the best of our knowledge we
have our first nesting hen which we believe to be a hooded
merganser and she went in (we think) on April 8th. What was so interesting was
that we had two merganser hens fighting in the opening hole on April 2,
2015 . . . side by side. Added to that, we had pileated
woodpeckers pecking at the hole to make it at least double the size
starting in 2014. At the same time the two hens were fighting over the
box, the pileated (male/female) were on the box/tree. I'm guessing
they possibly wanted to nest in the box, too. I have no idea when to
expect the ducklings to drop from the box. I feel like an expectant mother!”
5/18: Cherie Smith in Lake Tomahawk sent a rather unique
photo of both a common yellowthroat warbler and an indigo bunting sharing her
bird bath.
5/18: Dick Lemanski in Hazelhurst sent a photo of a pair
of red-bellied woodpeckers that have created a nesting hole in an oak tree in
full view of their living room window. He noted, “There has been a steady
parade of parents going into the nest with food for over a week now, often from
our suet cake which is nearby, and we hope to see fledglings peeking their heads
out of the hole any day now.”
Photos like this always help answer
the question of whether an older, perhaps dying tree is “going to waste.”
5/19: Dick Swartout sent a photo of a gorgeous scarlet
tanager that had stopped by their property despite the snow that day.
5/19: Tom Oscar photographed begging robin chicks, showing
how early robins nest and successfully bring off young. Given how early it is,
I suspect this robin will mate and produce a second clutch yet this summer. The
female incubates her eggs for approximately 13 days after laying the last egg. Hatching
takes 24 hours, and nestlings usually fledge in 13 days. The second brood can
fledge 5 weeks after the first. Robins regularly rear two broods per season. In
one study, 41% of 39 pairs remained on the same territory for the second brood.
Old nests may be reused, but they more commonly build new.
5/23: Sarah Kremb’s father, Dave, put up a birdhouse near
their garden in the morning, and a house wren had taken up residence by the
afternoon. Sarah noted there was competition: “The wren isn't the only one who
wanted the new home. I watched as the wren fought off a pair of chickadees. They
had gone inside a couple times, looked around, chatted with each other and
flapped their wings a lot about it. They had decided to put in an offer on the
house and were just about to call the moving company when the wren came and
yelled at them to keep looking, this sale had already closed.”
5/24: Jane Lueneburg sent me a note that a nearby robin’s
nest with newly hatched chicks was robbed by a bear making his rounds. Bears
are true opportunists, so although I’ve never heard of them eating robin chicks
before, I’m not surprised.
Celestial Events
On 6/1, look for Saturn about 2°
south of the waxing gibbous moon.
The full moon, variously called the
“Strawberry” or “Rose” or “Honey” moon, occurs on 6/2.
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