NWA 6/12/15

A Northwoods Almanac for June 12 – 25, 2015 

Celestial Events

            Our earliest sunrises of the year occur from 6/10-6/20, all commencing at 5:08 a.m. Without Daylight Savings Time, it would 4:08!

June 19 marks the year’s northernmost sunset – 33.7° north of west. 

            On 6/20, look for Jupiter near the waxing crescent moon.

Summer solstice occurs on 6/21, marking our longest day of the year – 15 hours and 45 minutes. Compare this to our shortest day on winter solstice of eight hours and 39 minutes, a full seven hours less daylight. On 6/22, the sun begins rising one minute later each day for the first time since January 1.

            The latest sunsets of the year occur from 6/20 to 7/1 at 8:53 p.m.

           

Sightings – Fawns, Kingbirds, Indigo Buntings

5/18: Cheri Smith photographed an Eastern kingbird sitting on a weather vane in her front yard, noting “He was quite entertaining to watch chasing bugs in the yard. I remember as a kid how they used to torment our labs when they got too close to their nesting area.”

5/20: Ron and Pam Ahles on the Pike Lake chain of lakes sent a photo of a brilliant indigo bunting that stopped at their feeders for several days and then departed. Indigo buntings do nest in our area, but as the Atlas of Breeding Birds of Wisconsin says: “This is one species that has benefited greatly from habitat fragmentation since settlement. All types of shrubby and brushy sites, from forest openings and edge, to overgrown old fields, to thickets along fencerows and stream, are occupied by this common summer resident . . . the logging of the great forests in the northern part of the state and the conversion of prairie and oak savanna to agriculture in the south and west resulted in the creation and continual regeneration of much shrubby second-growth and edge so favorable to this species.” So, for those of us living in deeper woods, indigo buntings only stop briefly for a few free meals during migration before departing for more open habitats.

5/24: Paul Lemkuhl sent me a series of photos of a doe nursing her newborn fawn. Does typically give birth to their fawns in the last week in May and into the first week of June.

5/27: Jim Schumacher sent me a great photo of bog laurel in flower. Their anthers, which hold the pollen, are “spring-loaded” – when an insect lands on the flower, the anthers spring out of tiny depressions in the flower, spraying the pollen onto the insect.

5/28: Cherie Smith in Lake Tomahawk sent me a photo of a northern mockingbird that she observed in her yard.

5/30: Linda Johnson sent me a rather unpleasant photo of slugs eating earthworms – I would never have guessed they did this!

6/5: Don and Greta Janssen sent this note: “First time ever that we had a pair of mallards cleaning up the sunflower seeds below the feeder. We also had a doe and newborn fawn in the yard. The fawn was very wobbly on its legs and nursing and the doe kept licking it all over.”

Fawn Phenology

Within hours of its birth, a fawn can stand and will also nurse. The doe may leave the fawn(s) for much of the day, but will stay within 100 yards. If the doe had twins, she will move them to separate spots as far apart as 100 yards that first day. Over the next few weeks, a fawn most often spends its life hidden in dense cover where it is a master at remaining motionless. The doe will visit only two or three periods each day. Her strategy is that by keeping twins widely apart, and by visiting only occasionally, she will reduce the chances of predation on the fawns. Since newborn fawns have very little scent, predators have difficulty finding them.

            The fawn chooses its hiding place, walking away from its mother to bed down in cover. The fawn may often change its location throughout the day, reducing the likelihood that scent will attract a predator.

The doe pays little attention to the fawn’s departure, returning to the general area where they last parted and calling the fawn to come out and nurse.

The doe licks the pernineal region of her fawn while it’s nursing to stimulate defecation. In doing so, she consume the fawn’s feces, further removing scent from the fawn.

At three days, most fawns can outrun a man. At three weeks, most can outrun a coyote.

By three weeks, fawns begin eating vegetation and reducing the time spent nursing. By six weeks, does typically end most nursing, and by ten weeks, she fully weans the fawns, which are now capable of grazing and browsing.

Many people report seeing fawns apparently playing – kicking up their feet and racing around with their tails flagged, often zigzagging and bucking like an open-field runner. Perhaps it’s merely play, but equally likely, the elusive running gives them practice in eluding predators.

Research comparing the ultimate success of younger does with more experienced mothers shows that fawns of experienced mothers (four years old or older) had lower mortality rates. The older does aggressively claim the better habitat for hiding their fawns, move them shorter distances in the first weeks of life, and separate siblings further.

Sometime after ten weeks, the fawns’ behaviors look much like their mothers, and they then stay with their mothers all the time.

Hooded Merganser Chicks

Sue DeFrancisco in Minocqua sent me her observations of a hooded merganser nesting in tree cavity near her home: “What a remarkable experience this has been to watch our hooded merganser nesting in the wood duck box. It's Friday, June 5th. Sunny, breezy, 60+ degrees and not a creature in sight. At 9 a.m. our hen, who appeared extremely agitated, emerged and perched in the nesting hole. Every so often, she dropped into the nest for a few minutes and then returned to sitting on the hole. She never flew out. For 5 hours I sat staring at her perched 40 yards away! Around 2 p.m. I noticed the hen had reentered the nest, but I thought I saw something fall from the hole. Or did I? The hen then shot out of the nest and straight down like a rocket. This was it!! Faster than I could blink, the ducklings came shooting out one by one in all their furry splendor. The sweetest was the 2 in tandem. I lost count at seven and it was over in less than 45 seconds. I wanted to both laugh and cry. I definitely was speechless and in awe. They most likely went down river where it's safer and the current isn't as strong, but I sure hope our hoodie parades her family back up river in a few weeks.”

A White Pink Lady’s Slipper

            Diane Steele sent me a lovely photo a pink lady’s slipper, but contrast her photo with the one sent to me by Arlene Lantz of a white lady’s slipper. I’ve seen many pink lady’s slippers (Cypripedium acaule), but never a white one. In looking at photos of a true white lady’s slipper (Cypripedium candidum), this is a different species that is not seen in our area, and which has a different shaped flower. Thus, Arlene’s flower appears to be a white version of the pink lady’s slipper, a rarity in itself.

Beech Bark Disease

Callie and I have been hiking in Vermont and New Hampshire over the last week, and we’ve been surprised by the extent of beech bark disease on the American beech trees here. Since beech trees don’t occur as far west as the Lakeland area, we seldom see them and weren’t aware of the truly significant mortality and defects occurring in American beech. Recent data from plots in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine show that about 28 percent of the large beech have died, another 22 percent were dying, and many of the surviving trees are severely injured.

Beech once ruled the northern forest. “There’s been a monumental shift in the amount of beech from pre-settlement days, when there was a huge amount of beech everywhere,” says Charlie Cogbill, a plant ecologist with Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest. “In northern New England, it was 40 percent of the original forest throughout almost the entire area. Today, according to FIA data (Forest Inventory and Analysis, done by the USDA Forest Service), it’s more like 15 percent.”

The disease results when bark, attacked and altered by a tiny exotic insect called the beech scale, is then invaded and killed by two species of fungi, one native and one exotic. The scale was accidentally brought to Nova Scotia around 1890 and has continued to spread to the north into Quebec and to the west and south throughout New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

The usually smooth, gray bark becomes highly disfigured with canker-like warts, or the bark becomes very rough, altering a beautiful tree into something quite different, and frankly, unattractive.

Other insects and wood-rooting fungi quickly invade the wood beneath the bark killed by beech bark disease. Many trees remain alive in a weakened state for years, but many are broken by the wind - a condition termed "beech snap"

Beech mast provides high quality food for wildlife, most notably black bear, but also white-tailed deer, marten, fisher, wild turkey, ruffed grouse, and many small mammals. Beechnuts have nearly the same protein content as corn and five times the fat. Compared to white oak acorns, beechnuts have nearly twice the crude protein and twice the fat.

The good news is that vigorous trees free of the disease have been found in heavily affected areas. Recent trials with some of these trees have shown them to be resistant to the scale, offering hope that methods can be developed to increase resistance in affected forests.

Painted Trilliums - Trillium undulatum

On a more positive note, we were delighted to find a trillium species in New Hampshire that we had never seen before – the painted trillium. The reddish purple splotch at the base of the petals serves as the “paint” providing not only beauty, but acting as a pollinator guide.