A Northwoods Almanac for 6/22/18

A Northwoods Almanac 6/22 – 7/5/18 

Pine Pollen

Pine pollen was abundant last week, to say the very least. At one point, Callie and I had to go inside because there was so much pollen in the air that we were worried we were breathing more pollen than oxygen!

Pollen production is a short-lived phenomenon, perhaps a week or so, and now the male pollen cones have all fallen onto the ground, a littering of literally millions of these tiny cones.

Meanwhile, many lakes have been briefly skimmed over with yellow pollen. Sarah Krembs sent me a photo of a loon pair and their chicks on Powell Marsh, and noted that all the "noise" in the photo wasn’t really noise, but rather pollen on the water!

pine pollen on Powell Marsh, photo by Sarah Krembs

Sightings –Pileateds, Eagle Wars, Swallowtails, Dragonflies, Cuckoos, House Wrens, Kingfisher Burrows, Big Poplar Sphinx Moths, Flooding

David Schmoller in Minocqua sent a marvelous photo of an adult pileated woodpecker feeding nestlings in a white pine cavity. He wrote that it was in “a dead white pine that almost everyone told me to cut down but I had a hunch something would make use of it. Dead trees are beautiful apartments, full of living food coming right out of the walls! . . . There are three nestlings. The parents built the nest 2 years ago but the eggs failed. They went to an aspen on the other side of the house last year. This year they returned to the old nest and refurbished it. The books say that they rarely re-use a nest. Yesterday the male chased off a grey squirrel who ran up the tree to get at the birds, carpenter ant cache, or something. The male came out of nowhere and jabbed it in the back several times, and it ran off. The squirrel was eyeing up the nest for an hour, making a lot of squawk.”

photo by David Schmoller

Jim Wahner in Mercer sent me this note on 6/16: “Just watched one of our Martha Lake adult eagles knock an immature eagle out of the air. Very impressive! The immature landed on our pier [and] hunkered down for two or three minutes shrieking the whole time, then took off. This time the eagle nailed it on the head in mid-air and hung on for a second or two. The immature now seems to have escaped, but the eagle is still patrolling our shoreline.” Adult eagles are still feeding their chicks, so I wonder if this immature eagle was in some way harassing the nest.

Wil Conway emailed several beautiful photos of a Canadian tiger swallowtail butterfly, noting it was “not an uncommon butterfly in the north country, but it has been a few years since we have had ANY butterflies in our yard. However, this year we have quite a few butterflies along with lightning bugs, hundreds of dragon flies (some pretty ones to boot), and thousands of mosquitoes as always. I just call these yellow tigers.” We, too, have noticed good numbers of the “yellow tigers.”

photo by Wil Conway

Dragonflies also appear to have hatched in very large numbers. The species we have been seeing most, and which is easy to identify, is the chalk-fronted corporal.

Sarah Krembs sent me photos of a pair of black-billed cuckoos nesting on Powell Marsh. These highly secretive birds are notoriously difficult to even find, much less to photograph. She later sent a photo of a house wren trying to bring a stick into its bird house that clearly was too large to fit. Sarah commented, “This house wren exemplifies what happens when you let guys do interior designing: ‘Let's just haul the largest stuff we can get through the door to fill up the space. That'll be good.’”

photo by Sarah Krembs

She’s right, in general, about my gender, but I did have to point out that male and female house wrens are identical in appearance, so it may just as likely have been the female!

On June 10, Mary and I paddled the Bear River from Hwy. 182 to Murray’s Landing on the Turtle Flambeau Flowage to count birds for the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin as part of the “River Raptors” crew. The wind was cranking along, but fortunately mostly behind us. Still, it made it hard to hear birds singing. One of the highlights was finding an obvious belted kingfisher nest burrow in a nearly vertical sand bank. We are pretty certain the burrow had been active because an inhabited burrow shows two furrows made by the shuffling feet of birds as they enter and leave the nest. The completed nest typically extends 3 to 7 feet into the bank and terminates in an unlined chamber. A pair may make multiple burrows in a single bank, but they occupy only one during a given season.

            Two people sent us recent photos of a beautiful moth they had seen, and both moths turned out to be big poplar sphinx moths. The caterpillars of these large moths especially like to eat leaves from trees in the poplar family (aspens in our area), thus the name.

photo by Denise Fauntleroy

            Finally, the flooding that hit northern Wisconsin and the U.P. last weekend was the second such “100-year flood” in the last three years. Our area averages around 32 inches of rain a year, so to receive 12 inches or more in just a day or two, is too much to take for even areas like ours that are well-wooded and maintain most floodplains. In the last six years, Wisconsin has seen five 100-year floods and one 1,000-year flood.

Update on Loon Breeding Prospects

Walter Piper in his 6/10 blog post (https://loonproject.org/2018/06/10/a-late-year-but-a-promising-one/) noted that, “Breeding prospects for loons in northern Wisconsin seemed dim only three weeks ago. Not only had a frigid April delayed the start of nesting, but Simulium annulus [a species of black fly] was doing its best to keep loons from warming the eggs that had taken so long to appear . . . But loon pairs that had been reluctant incubators in mid-May suddenly bent to the task late in the month . . . At last count, 79 of 123 pairs we cover are on nests that have survived the crucial first ten days. Two weeks or more of incubation remain for most of these territories. But barring some unforeseen disaster, 2018 might be one of the most productive years for northern Wisconsin loons in the last quarter century. Who would have guessed that a breeding season that started so inauspiciously would gain such momentum?”

I wonder, however, how loon nests survived our enormous rain event over last weekend. Rising water levels can easily drown a nest, and my suspicion is that many nests were lost.

Turtles Crossing Roads Purposely Crushed

            One thing that gets my goat is when people purposely run over turtles crossing the road. There’s simply no excuse for it. Not only is it plain wrong to kill an animal indiscriminately, but the female adult turtles have survived against enormous odds to even get to the point of laying eggs.

Here’s how those odds stack up. The snappers lay on average between 20 and 40 eggs. The nests are highly vulnerable to animals such as raccoons, skunks, foxes, and mink that will dig up and eat the eggs. Up to 90% of the nests will be destroyed, often during the first night. In an average year, 80% or more of snapping turtle nests will be destroyed by predators.

So, only about 14% of all clutches emerge annually, and of those, only about 15 hatchlings actually leave a successful nest (emergence success is only about 20 - 45%). The probability of survival from egg to adulthood is thus 1 in 1445 individuals.

If the nestlings do survive to emerge from the nest, the probability of their survival from hatching to adulthood still is only 1 in 133, because while they are still under three inches in length they get eaten by raccoons, mink, weasels, skunks, herons, and large fish. The number of juveniles reaching maturity in any given year is only 1 to 1.8%.

Bottom line: female snappers have a probability of death between hatching and breeding age of 99.17%. So, less than 1% survive to the moment where they are crossing the road.

photo by Mark Westphal

            Add this to the equation: Snapping turtles don’t reproduce every year – only about 72% of the females lay a clutch. In northern areas, age at first nesting is generally around 19 years, but the average age of reproducing females is even higher, 34 to 40 years in northern populations. One writer notes that “in comparison, by the time a snapping turtle nests for the first time, more than 10 generations will have passed for a deer.”

            Then there’s the weather. In northern areas, short cool summers with high amounts of precipitation cause years with complete reproductive failures. Cold temperatures in the north also slow embryonic development. If the weather is too cold after hatching, the hatchlings sometimes try to overwinter in the nest, which works in the south where the ground does not freeze, but in our latitude is a very risky roll of the dice.

Thus, huge fluctuations in reproductive success occur from year to year, and there may be only one year of ideal climatic conditions for nesting and hatching out of 5 to 10.

One last thing to consider – these turtles can be elders. Longevities up to 100 years can be expected especially in northern populations where the season is shorter.

So, the yahoos who choose to run over turtles rather than simply avoid them are killing potentially very old turtles who have had to survive a huge array of gauntlets over many years to get to that moment when they are crossing the road. And then some knucklehead thinks it’s funny to crush them.

Sorry, but all I can see is red.

Thunderstorms/Firecrackers

            During a thunderstorm, our mini-Australian shepherd is a quivering, panting mess, a frequent condition for many dogs when thunder is booming. We had a huskie once who in her fear leaped right through a screen door. This is a very common story for many dogs.

            So, when folks blow off huge firecrackers – M-80’s and the like – what do they think is happening to all the dogs in the neighborhood? For that matter, what do they think is happening to all the wildlife in the area? And when they choose to light firecrackers well into the night, what do they think is happening to all the people trying to sleep, and, in particular, to those who have to get up early to work or who are ill?

            Here’s what I hope folks will consider: Go to an open park area as far away as possible from homes and woods and waters where dogs, wildlife, and people live. There, feel free to detonate to your heart’s content. And even then, please conclude before 10 p.m. so folks around the perimeter can get some sleep.

            It’s called simple courtesy, and I hope people will engage it.

Celestial Events

            As of yesterday, June 21, the sun now begins rising one minute later every morning.

            The full moon – the Strawberry/Rose/Honey Moon – occurs on 6/27. Look for Saturn that night about two degrees below the full moon.

            Mars will be five degrees below the waning gibbous moon on 6/30.

            July 1 marks the last of the year’s latest sunsets – the sun now starts setting one minute earlier every night.

Thought for the Week

Rivers tell the story of everything we do. Whatever nature or humans do in a watershed, it is ultimately revealed in the river. . . We need to see rivers as sacred places. If we are good stewards, they will provide us with sacred experiences. – Valerie Rapp

A Northwoods Almanac for 6/8/18

A Northwoods Almanac for June 8 – 21, 2018   by John Bates

Sightings

5/17:  Judith Bloom emailed me a photograph with this note: “One of the Tomahawk Lake loon pairs has nested successfully every year on the same very small island. They have produced at least one chick every year since 2012 from the same nest. Ice out was May 9^th, and on May 17^th we observed a Canada Goose nesting on the island with a pair of loons ‘hanging around’ very nearby. They are now both nesting on the tiny island! We saw the loons changeover yesterday afternoon. We find it hard to believe that the Canada Goose is tolerating this.” Judith’s photo shows the loon and the goose only about five feet apart!

photo  by Judith Bloom

5/29: Callie saw our first fireflies of the year in Manitowish.

5/31: We saw our first sphinx moth (hummingbird moth) of the year working over our hanging basket of petunias. We couldn’t get a good picture, so we’re unsure of the species, but I think it might have been a snowberry clearwing). Hopefully we’ll see more of him/her.

5/30: Prodigious numbers of silver maple seeds have been falling throughout the wetlands that are around our home. We’re now in our 35^th year of living here, and I can’t remember any year with this many silver maple seeds. This strategy of going to seed quickly in late spring is timed so the silver maple seeds fall on exposed soils as floodwaters recede in wetlands.

5/31: Mary and I conducted our second frog count of the year in western Vilas County, and most notable were the many vociferous eastern gray tree frogs. Their very short and very loud staccato call reminds me of quick machine gun burst.

6/1: On a drive through Powell Marsh on Hwy. 47, the vast bog looked like a snowstorm had hit due to the abundance of flowering cotttongrass.

6/2: Sarah Krembs spotted three American golden plovers on the Powell Marsh Wildlife Management Area, demonstrating that the shorebird migration north is still taking place. American golden plovers nest in the Arctic tundra, so these birds still have a long flight ahead of them. However, these three have likely already flown a long way. Overwintering occurs primarily on the pampas of Argentina and the campos of Uruguay. Of 42 banding recoveries of American golden plovers, five birds had migrated very long distances – 2,200 to 5,000 miles.

photo by Sarah Krembs

6/3: The first reports are coming in of turtles laying eggs.

6/3: Shrubs in flower right now include various dogwoods, nannyberries, and highbush cranberries. Bunchberry, our smallest native dogwood, is also currently in flower. Other flowering shrubs and small trees have come and gone in very rapid succession, such as crabapples, juneberries, apples, pears, plums, and lilacs. It’s been a fast transition into summer! Don’t blink or you’ll miss the flowers.

6/4: Judith Bloom on Lake Tomahawk photographed a great crested flycatcher perched on a shepherd’s hook in her yard. Great crested are woodland insect eaters, so having one come to a seed feeder in one’s yard is quite uncommon. One study of 265 great crested stomachs found their diet to contain 93% animal and 6% small fruits. Animal matter consisted of 21% butterflies and moths, 16% beetles,15% grasshoppers and crickets, 14% bugs, 13% bees and wasps, and smaller percentages of various flies, other insects, and spiders. 

photo by Judith Bloom

           

Canada Goose Molt Migration

            You may have noticed a lot of geese flying low in flocks in recent days, and the reason is that they’re undergoing their “molt migration.” These flocks are typically made up of first- and second-year non-breeders as well as adult birds that failed to nest or lost their broods. They’re flying north a distance of a few miles to 900 miles to isolated places where they will be safe to molt their flight feathers. Their migrations appear to be always northward to large lakes to take advantage of plants in earlier stages of growth.

A study at Crex Meadows in western WI found that first-year birds and non-nesting pairs formed flocks in early May and remained together until departing on their molt-migration in late May to early June. In fact, 97% of the non-nesters and 90% of the unsuccessful nesting pairs had migrated by mid-June. Later band recoveries indicated that some of these geese molted in the Hudson Bay lowlands of northern Manitoba, over 800 miles north of Crex Meadows. Another study of individual geese from southeastern Michigan showed that they make an annual molt-migration 300 miles north to Seney National Wildlife Refuge in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Bear Lake Road – Woodcocks, Nighthawks, Whip-poor-wills

            On 5/31, Mary and I conducted our second frog count, and to get to one of our count spots, we had to traverse Bear Lake Road, which is west of Boulder Junction off of Cty. K. Portions of this road were clearcut in the last few years, and over these years within the clearcut areas we have regularly hear woodcocks, nighthawks, and whip-poor-wills. This night was no exception. We heard at least four whip-poor-wills endlessly singing to defend their territories, heard numerous woodcocks “peenting,” and perhaps most impressively, had a nighthawk perform its courtship “booming” dives three different times right next to our car.

If you’ve not heard this sound, there’s no way you’d connect it to a bird, nor for that matter to any living thing that I know of! The “booming” sounds are thought to be produced only by the male, and are made by air rushing through their primary feathers after a sudden dive. They dive at heights from 15 to 90 feet at about a 70° angle with the ground, and then turn back upward at about 10 feet from the ground. The booms are only made as mating and territorial displays.

“Booming” just doesn’t do the sound justice. To hear the sound, go to:

https://birdsna.org/Species-Account/bna/species/comnig/multimedia/audio

            Since the birds display most commonly after dusk (they peak at 30-45 minutes after sunset), it’s difficult to see them diving. But if the light’s just right, occasionally you can view them. Nighthawks also give a flight call note that’s quite similar to the peenting of a woodcock, but is much more frequent. One author writes that it sounds like someone whispering the word “beard.”

Birds Eating Flower Petals

5/23: Our flowering crabapple trees and apple trees blossomed this day, and by early afternoon, a flock of cedar waxwings was busy eating the flower petals.

I’ve been distressed by this activity in the past, worrying that they are killing the flowers, and thus the fruit. But they appear to just eat the petals, not the central part of the flower where the stamens and ovary are located. Petals are, after all, just an advertising device to attract pollinators, and they perform no actual function beyond that – all the reproductive work is done in the ovary of the flower.

As one of the most common fruit-eating birds of North America throughout the year, and among the few avian fruit specialists, cedar waxwings likely play a key ecological role in dispersal of seeds. They may well be one of the best “Johnny Appleseeds” of birds because of their very mobile lifestyle.

An analysis of the stomachs of 212 birds collected from the eastern U.S. found that fruit constitutes 84% of their annual diet, flower parts 4%, and insect prey 12% Their winter diet averages 100% fruit.

But in May an abrupt change in diet occurs, with fruit dropping to about 15% of diet, while flowers comprise 44% of diet. Both changes appear related to seasonal changes in availability of dietary items; fruit crops are depleted, while spring brings an abundance of flowers. The flowers provide plant sugars (sucrose), but also contain at least two other potential nutritional components of significance to waxwings: protein in pollen and carotenoids in petals.

One of the Greatest Days Ever Worldwide in Bird Counting

I saw this astonishing report on eBird, and it’s worth quoting at some length (text by Ian Davies on May 28, 2018, at Tadoussac Dunes in Quebec, about 130 miles northeast of Quebec City): 

“Today was the greatest birding day of my life . . . On our arrival (5:45 a.m.) [at Tadoussac dunes], it was raining. A few warblers passed here and there, and we got excited about groups of 5-10 birds. Shortly before 6:30 a.m., there was a break in the showers, and things were never the same. 

“For the next 9 hours, we counted a nonstop flight of warblers, at times covering the entire visible sky from horizon to horizon. The volume of flight calls was so vast that it often faded into a constant background buzz. There were times where there were so many birds, so close, that naked eyes were better than binoculars to count and identify. Three species of warblers flew between my legs throughout the day. For hours at a time, a single binocular scan would give you hundreds or low thousands of warblers below eye level.

“The flight line(s) varied depending on wind direction and speed . . . When calm, birds were high . . . High winds brought birds down low, sometimes feet from the ground and water. Rain also lowered birds, and the most intimate experiences with migrants occurred during a rain squall and strong wind period.

“Counting birds and estimating species composition was the biggest challenge of the day—balancing the need to document what was happening with the desire to just bask in the greatest avian spectacle I’ve ever witnessed. A significant effort was made to estimate movement rates throughout the day . . . Total number of warblers: 721,620.

“To our knowledge, the previous warbler high for a single day in the region was around 200,000, which was the highest tally anywhere in the world. Other observers in the area today had multiple hundreds of thousands, so there were likely more than a million warblers moving through the region on 28 May 2018.”

            Specific species totals included estimates of 144,324 bay-breasted warblers, 108,243 Cape May warblers, 108,243 magnolia warblers, 72,162 Tennessee warblers, 72,162 yellow-rumped warblers, 50,513 American redstarts, 28,865 Blackburnian warblers, and 109,426 warblers they were unable to identify in flight.

Black Flies and Loons

Mary and I were watching a common loon adult incubating eggs on the Gile Flowage very close to Hwy. 51, when we noticed him/her off the nest and swimming nearby. We drove by again a few hours later, and the loon was nowhere to be seen.

Several days later we again drove by and the nest appeared to be abandoned. We both wondered aloud if black flies had forced the adults off the nest.

That same day, 5/27, we saw this note on Walter Piper’s blog (Walter has been studying loons in our area for over 30 years): “Last week was a tense one. Dozens of [loon] pairs had laid one or two eggs, but black flies descended on them, making incubation impossible for most. Of the fifteen or so pairs with nests last week, only two incubated at all, and one of these pairs sat only during the first twenty minutes of our observations . . . All other pairs spent their time in the general vicinity of the nest, but diving frantically, shaking and tossing their heads, even snapping their bills fruitlessly at the relentless biting insects . . . I feared another dreadful year of nest abandonments, like 2017.

“What a difference a week makes! While not altogether gone, the flies are dwindling rapidly. Breeders that could only view their eggs from afar 7 days ago are back on them . . . they have overcome the first major hurdle.”

Celestial Events

            THE celestial event of this two-week period is, of course, the summer solstice on 6/21 which will provide us our longest day of the year – 15 hours and 45 minutes. Our northernmost sunrise will occur at 5:08 a.m. with sunset at 8:53 p.m.

            After dusk, look for brilliant Venus low in the northwest, Jupiter bright in the southeast, and Saturn rising in the southeast. Before dawn, look for Mars rising in the southeast.