A Northwoods Almanac for 4/27/18

A Northwoods Almanac for April 27 – May 10, 2018

Loons and Late Ice-Out

Ice-out on most lakes certainly appears like it won’t occur until early May, so how will that impact loons which are stacked up in southern Wisconsin waiting for the ice to go off? From long-time loon researcher Walter Piper: “When the ice goes out early, loons dawdle and wait weeks before nesting. But when the ice goes out late, as it will this year, pairs get down to business quickly, nesting within a week or so of territory return. So, loon pairs are somehow able to catch up in years of late ice-out so that their breeding schedule does not differ greatly from other years.” 

He adds, “Some of our best years for loon breeding (2013, for example), have occurred when the ice goes out late. So, those many of you shivering in northern Wisconsin and other frigid regions can relax about one thing; the loons are no worse off in years when spring comes late than when it arrives early.”

See Walter’s full post at https://loonproject.org/2018/04/16/no-progress-on-ice-out-but-no-need-to-panic/

Water Boatmen

A friend in Springstead called me on 4/21 to say he had some very odd creatures swimming in the snow-melt puddles of his driveway. He thought initially they might be tadpoles, which sent me over their quickly to check it out. They turned out to be “water boatmen” (family Corixidae), so named for their flat, boat-shaped bodies and long, fringed, oar-like hindlegs. Water boatmen trap a thin bubble of air against the underside of their body which allows them to stay underwater for long periods. When they “row” their legs, they further ventilate the bubble of air, making them less reliant on atmospheric oxygen than other water bugs.

Over 100 species of water boatmen occur in North America, and they’re very common in our lakes and rivers. They’re sometimes confused with “backswimmers” (family Notonectidae), but backswimmers swim on their backs while water boatmen swim right side up.

Why literally hundreds were swimming in this gentleman’s small driveway puddles is beyond me. After all, we’d just had a major blizzard a week earlier on 4/14, and there was still lots of snow everywhere. Where did they come from?

By the way, water boatmen are an important source of food for many fish and don’t bite, so they’re not harmful in any way. Most feed on aquatic algae and plants.

Sightings

The most impressive sighting over the last two-week period was the bona fide blizzard we had on 4/14 which left most of us with 16 to 20 inches of snow, a legacy that is still slowly melting in the woods. Temperatures in the last week (4/16-23) have been in the 50s and 60s, but what we need most to melt the snow is a long warm rain.

woodcock under one of our feeders on 4/14

On 4/10, we had our first-of-the-year (FOY) merlin right in our driveway. As we stepped out of our car, it flew from a pine next to the car carrying something almost the same size as it was. It seemed to be struggling to carry it, but eventually crossed the road and landed on a large branch of another pine. I got out my scope, zoomed in on it, and watched as it ripped feathers from a mourning dove and then proceeded to eat it. Wow!

I saw our FOY marsh hawk (northern harrier) on 4/11 swooping along Hwy. 51 in hopes of finding a wayward rodent where the snow had been cleared. A male cardinal was singing in our yard on 4/18. On 4/20, I took my first walk on Powell Marsh and had a grand total of three species – wood ducks, trumpeter swans, and red-winged blackbirds. Subsequent walks on Powell yielded numerous pairs of sandhill cranes, a northern flicker on 4/22, and song and savannah sparrows on 4/23. That 65° day on 4/23 also yield my FOY winter wren, tree sparrow, and a singing brown creeper. Oh, and on 4/21, our FOY brown-headed cowbird appeared to no applause whatsoever.

Other reports I received include:

4/12: John and Karin Randolph reported their FOY osprey along Hwy. 47 near McNaughton.

4/13: Sarah Krembs reported her FOY turkey vulture

4/16: Judith Bloom sent me a photo of a pair of wood ducks that flew in to a spot in her yard near a feeder that she had cleared for her dog.

photo by Judith Bloom

4/19: Mary Madsen in Presque Isle had her FOY great blue heron, and on 4/20, her FOY brown-headed cowbird.

4/21: Sarah Krembs sent a photo of two adult bald eagles fighting in mid-air, and noted her FOY belted kingfisher and fox sparrow.

photo by Sarah Krembs

4/23: Dan Carney had a FOY white-throated sparrow in his Hazelhurst yard. Dan has also been watching hairy woodpeckers, red-breasted and white-breasted nuthatches, black-capped chickadees, and squirrels drink sap from a wound in a maple tree in his yard. If they’d just let the sap drip on the trunk and wait until the water evaporated, they could be eating maple sugar!

Dan also noted that he still had at least 100 common redpolls at his feeders. We have perhaps 30, and I know of many other folks with a small army of redpolls still eating them out of house and home. Despite their gluttony, these far northern nesting birds will soon be leaving, so we should enjoy them while we can.

4/24: Every morning now, there are birds singing in our yard - what a blessing.

First Paddle on the Manitowish

            Bob Kovar and I paddled a section of the Manitowish River on 4/20. This was our first paddle of the year, and while we had to wade through some deep snow to get to the boat landing, the paddling was easy once we were launched. We were hoping to kick up a lot of species of waterfowl given that ice was still covering all the marshes and lakes in our area and migrating waterfowl have been relegated to the open rivers and creeks. And we did – good numbers in particular of trumpeter swans and hooded mergansers, as well as our FOY belted kingfisher.

photo by Bob Kovar

            Perhaps most interesting, however, were the wings of ice cantilevered over the river. I don’t know the physics of how this works, but some of the wings were many feet across and provided ample shelter for anything that might want cover from predators, rain, or sun.

photo by Bob Kovar

The Old-Growth Forest Network

Joan Maloof, professor emeritus of botany from Salisbury University in Maryland, founded the Old-Growth Forest Network in 2012 to preserve and promote the country’s few remaining stands of old-growth forest (see www.oldgrowthforest.net). Joan’s goal is to have set aside one forest in every county in the U.S. where visitors will be able to experience a native forest in its mature diversity and complexity. Of the 3,140 counties in the U.S., the Old-Growth Forest Network is targeting the 2,370 counties where forests naturally grow. In many counties, these forests will be already protected land, such as National Forest, Fish and Wildlife land, State and County Forests, or Municipal Forests.

            Joan recently visited Wisconsin to dedicate the first site in our state to be placed in her network – the Cathedral Pines near Lakewood in Oconto County. Cathedral Pines is within the Chequamegon Nicolet National Forest, and is also designated as a state natural area by the WDNR. Here the oldest white pines have been aged at 368 years old, and a few stand 155 feet tall with diameters of four feet, perhaps the largest white pines on public land left in the state.

            Joan has dedicated 72 sites now – only another 2,300 counties or so to go! Thus, the task in front of her is enormous, but this is where other folks can help. If you have an interest, check out how you can help on her website.

Corrections Appreciated!

A long-time reader of this column recently wrote that I had a mistake in an Almanac column for February, 2017. I had written that ice-out had occurred in mid-February that year on the Manitowish River, which was very early, with the earliest date in my records being in February, 1997. He noted that there was record-setting cold in February, 1997, and that the river couldn’t have gone out that early. And he was right! I had meant to write 1998, but for whatever reason, I wrote 1997. 

            I wanted to put his correction in this column for two reasons. One, to set the record straight. And two, to encourage readers to email or call me if you think I’ve got something wrong. I try very hard to be accurate and fair-minded in what I write, because if I exaggerate or cherry-pick statistics, it’s very easy to lose your trust as readers. And trust, once lost, is exceedingly difficult to regain – there’s always that niggling doubt based on the past wrong.

            So, please, feel free to contact me – I’d appreciate it! I do make mistakes – just ask my wife and daughters. So, point them out as they come up, and I’ll gladly write a correction. And be civil – I’m not your enemy if you don’t think climate change exists, and I do. It helps us reach agreement, or at least understanding of the other’s position, if there’s no name-calling or a lot of unfounded accusations.

Upcoming Events

            Nicolet College is hosting Bob Simeone for an evening talk on Friday, May 4. Bob has worked both locally and internationally on sustainable forest initiatives, and will be speaking on “Fifty Years of Forest Management: Striving Toward Sustainable Natural Forest Management Worldwide.” Bob will then lead us the next morning, May 5, on a visit to Rainbo Lodge where he will discuss their sustainable forest management plan. Sign up via phone at 715-365-4615 or see their website - www.nicoletcollege.edu/continuing-education/community-education/outdoor-adventure-series

The North Lakeland Discovery Center’s 14^th annual Birding Festival takes place on May 11 and 12, and is a fun event to attend whatever your level of birding skill may be.

Celestial Events

            The full moon (the “Grass Appearing” or “Maple Sugar” moon) occurs on 4/29. On 4/30, look for Jupiter four degrees south of the moon. On 5/4, look before dawn for Saturn nearly two degrees south of the waning gibbous moon. And 5/5 marks the mid-season between spring equinox and summer solstice – hard to believe we’re already half-way to summer solstice!