A Northwoods Almanac
for July 21 – August 3, 2017
Hinges
Last week,
Mary and I paddled on a wilderness bog lake in the U.P. that was home to many
hundreds of flowering orchids, and two species, grass pink orchid (Calopogon tuberosa) and rose pogonia (Pogonia ophioglossoides), comprised all
of them (we were too late to see dragon’s-mouth orchid which had already
gone-by).
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| rose polonia photo by Rod Sharka |
Orchids
have evolved remarkable flower structures to attract insect pollinators. One
petal is usually modified into a lip or a pouch (lady’s slipper orchids, for
instance) to ensure pollination. The lip acts as a landing pad, the pouch as a
non-lethal trap. Unlike most plants whose pollen grains are microscopic and
windborne, orchids concentrate their pollen into wads of “pollinia” hidden or
protected within the flower where the wind can’t carry it away. The pollen can
only be picked up by specific insects that have co-evolved to fit the flower
and be tricked into having the pollen stick to them, thus providing a hitchhiked
ride to the next flower.
The grass
pink orchid utilizes an unusual pollination strategy, projecting its “lip”
straight up at the top of the flower.
 |
| grass pink orchid photo by John Bates |
The lip appears to have many hair-like
stamens on it which would ordinarily be the carriers of pollen and nectar, but
it’s a ruse. The lip is actually hinged so that when an insect, usually a small
bee, lands on the lip anticipating nectar, the weight of the bee causes the lip
to fold down at the hinge. In turn, this causes the bee to fall backward onto a
curved column beneath it where the pollinia awaits.
 |
| From Charles Johnson's Bogs of the Northeast |
The pollinia sticks to the
insect’s back, the insect struggles to exit, and then flies to another flower
hoping for better luck. But the same event happens again. The next flower
receives the pollen from the previous flower, and in turn deposits its pollen
onto the unwitting insect, all of whom must be slow learners. Take a look at
the following video to see the process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tmff9cg6M7c
Paddling the Gile
Flowage
On 7/17, Mary and I paddled part of the Gile Flowage in
Iron County as part of an event sponsored by the Iron County Outdoor Recreation
Enthusiasts. We were led by ace historian and conservationist Cathy Techtmann
who works as the Environmental Outreach State Specialist for UW-Extension. The
3,384-acre Gile Flowage is fed by the West Fork of the Montreal River and six
other tributary streams, and has 26 miles of mostly undeveloped shoreline. With
large outcroppings of exposed bedrock characteristic of the Canadian shield,
numerous islands, and protected bays, and surrounded by land mostly owned by
Xcel Energy, the Gile has a wild feel.
The flowage started filling in 1941 after
Lake Superior District Power Company (merged into Northern States Power and now
Xcel Energy) built a dam 30 feet high and 1100 feet long in 1940 on the West
Fork of the Montreal River. The flowage serves as a water retention reservoir
for downstream hydroelectric facilities at Saxon Falls and Superior Falls on
the Montreal River.
I’m used to shallow waters in our area that are covered
with aquatic vegetation, but a study of the Gile found 85%
of the littoral area (near-shore shallows) contained no aquatic vegetation, a
likely consequence of summer and winter drawdowns conducted by Xcel Energy. A
typical annual water level regime includes a gradual summer drawdown beginning
in early May and averaging 6 feet by October. Winter drawdown begins in early
December and typically averages another 7 to 8 feet by early March.
The Gile holds the lamentable title of the first inland
water body in Wisconsin to be invaded by the exotic spiny water flea, but so
far its direct impact on the fishery is unclear. A
native of Asia, this tiny crustacean was brought to Lake Superior in the
ballast water of transoceanic ships and discovered in the Gile in 2003. Spiny
water fleas eat the microscopic freshwater plankton needed by baby game fish.
This is big water and wind is often an issue here for
paddlers, but if you’re looking to explore a little-known body of water quite
different than most in our area, then try the Gile.
Deer Fly Patches
I write
about this nearly every year, but just for a reminder in case your memory is as
leaky as mine, there is a simple way to defeat the incessant circling, and
biting, of deer flies around one’s head. A company in LeRoy, MI, makes sticky,
odorless deerfly patches that you place on the top of your hat. One side is
mildly sticky like duct tape, and this is the side you place down on your hat.
The other side, the upside, is very sticky, and deer flies, which almost always
go for the highest point on a person, adhere to the tape instantly. Basically,
you make yourself into a walking fly trap. When you’re done working or playing
outside for the day, you just roll the tape off your hat into a ball and toss
it, and the flies, into the waste can. Simple, no chemicals, and it works like
a charm. Since no insect repellants work on deer flies, I’ve used the patches
for years. Get them at many sports shops in our area or through the company’s
website: www.deerflypatches.com).
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| deer fly patch doing its job! |
Sightings
7/3: Judith Bloom reported seven pairs of loons of Lake
Tomahawk, of which four hatched chicks and one was still on a nest.
7/12: Pyrollas, or shinleafs, are in flower in sandier soils
in our area. In the wintergreen family, the waxy, typically white flowers
always hang downward. Another member of the wintergreen family, pippsissewa, is
also now in flower and likewise hangs downward.
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| shinleaf |
7/13: An eagle chick fledged from the nest which we watch
across the Manitowish River from our home. This is a bit early, but not as
early as the eagle chick that fledged near Bob Kovar’s home in Manitowish
Waters. It fledged on 7/2. Our early snow-off and ice-out this spring made
early nesting an option, and many eagles appear to have taken advantage of it. Bob
notes that “his” eagle is making a huge racket, which is typical of young
eaglets who may beg for food well into the fall.
7/14: Silver maples below our house are turning red already
due to stress from high water. The Manitowish River has been in flood since
April, and all that water is proving to be too stressful for some trees.
7/15: On a hike at Powell Marsh WMA, we found Deptford pink
wildflowers. These delicate, tall, exquisitely pink flowers were given the
Latin genus name Dianthus: Dianthus
from “dios” which means God, and “anthos” for flower – the divine flower.
Unfortunately, Deptfor pink is an escapee – an introduced flower. However, it
is not in the least bit invasive, so we still marvel when we see it.
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| Deptford pink |
7/16: Sarah Krembs sent a photo of a black bear gorging on
sunflower seeds from a tube feeder that she had just filled 20 minutes earlier.
Kind of the bear to give the birds a brief breakfast first.
Frog Count
Mary and I concluded our three
frog counts for the year on July 13. What struck me this year was how
comparatively early our nine frog species all began singing, courtesy I’m sure
of our early ice-out which moved up the normal timing. The frogs that are left
singing now in mid-July are green frogs and bullfrogs. The rest have bred, laid
eggs, and are living their more terrestrial lifestyles now. Occasionally spring
peepers still chime in, and may do so all the way into the fall, but their
breeding period is long past.
Fireworks and
Wildlife
July 4th is over -
enough with the fireworks already! Why am I a curmudgeon about this? Here’s one
reason from a writer on Little Arbor Vitae Lake:
“We are summertime residents of
Arbor Vitae on Little Arb. We have a beautiful gray fox who comes nearly every
evening on his or her nightly rounds . . . My grandfather always called gray
foxes tree foxes, but I had never witnessed one actually climb a tree until
this summer. On July 3, my daughter and I were sitting on our front porch. The
fox came along and climbed a tree right across from where we were sitting. Our
neighbors whose cottage you cannot see, as they are far enough away, decided
that it would be fun to throw strings of firecrackers into the road. The first
string of firecrackers exploded when the fox was about twelve feet up; the poor
fox was so startled that it either jumped or fell out of the tree! Whap! Whap!
Whap! Thump! It immediately started crying. I know they make a bark; it was not
the bark; it was their other vocalization. You know, your first instinct is to
jump up and make sure it was okay, especially because its distress was caused
by another human, but I thought, "No, I have to just let things
happen." The fox laid there and cried intermittently for about twenty
minutes and then after that was silent. My daughter and I feared the worst. But
we saw a fox two nights later and assume it to be the same fox. What a relief!
It was astonishing enough to see the fox climb the tree, and it was quite
distressing to see it fall out and cry. I am upset that this was a man-made
problem. Anyway, that is my tale, and I am still excited to see this fox nearly
every day. What a treat!”
Celestial Events
The new moon occurs on 7/23.
We’re down to 15 hours of daylight as of 7/26. This is our last warmest day of
the summer with an average high of 79°. The peak Delta Aquarid meteor shower
takes place in the early morning of 7/28 – look for an average of 15 to 20
meteors per hour. Look on the evening of 8/2 for Saturn about 3 degrees south
of the waxing gibbous moon.
Thought for the Week
“And that
is just the point . . . how the world, moist and beautiful, calls to each of us
to make a new and serious response. That’s the big question, the one the world
throws at you every morning. ‘Here you are, alive. Would you like to make a
comment?’” ~ Mary Oliver
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