A Northwoods Almanac for 11/8/18

A Northwoods Almanac for 11/9 – 22, 2018 

Winter Finch Forecast

Birdwatchers in the Northwoods know that the abundance and diversity of species seen from one winter to the next varies enormously. One year we can be awash in redpolls or pine siskins at our feeders – seemingly little armies of them – and the next year, nada nada. The fluctuations occur mostly in the highly nomadic northern finches, birds like redpolls, siskins, purple finches and pine grosbeaks.

Northern finches only leave their breeding ranges in northern Canada and move far south when there is a shortage of “seeds” (berries, catkins, and cones) to get them through the winter. If the seed crops of white and yellow birches, alders, American mountain-ashes, pines and spruces are good in the boreal forest, the birds can manage to stay the winter up there. But if those seed sources are poor, they’ll fly as far as it takes to find the food they need.

Since 1999, Ron Pittaway of the Ontario Field Ornithologists has prepared an annual forecast of what winter finch species are most likely to move south based on the abundance of seed crops in the boreal forest. According to Pittaway, it’ll be an irruption year – a year when the birds come south in big numbers – because the seed crops are poor in most of the boreal forest. This is tough on the birds, but great news for those of us here who will be the beneficiaries. 

So, stock your bird feeders! This should be a banner winter to see cone-loving species. But take this with a grain of salt. “Should” means could - the question is always whether these birds will concentrate in only some areas or be spread out across the entire north. If you can get neighbors to also consistently feed, therefore setting up an abundant dining area, you could see excellent numbers of birds.

As for individual species, here’s Pittaway’s breakdown:

Pine grosbeaks love mountain ash berries and conifer cones. They’re in short supply in the far north, so we’re likely to see good numbers of pine grosbeaks coming south. They like black sunflower seeds, so keep those feeders supplied! And if you have mountain ashes (and crabapples), the grosbeaks will also likely find you.

Purple finches prefer both conifer and hardwood seeds, so again given the poor seed crops well north of here, we should see good numbers of purple finches. They, too, like black sunflower seeds.

Common redpolls feast on birch, alder, and conifer seeds, and because of the poor northern crops, we could be awash in redpolls this winter. They like both niger and black sunflower seeds.

common redpoll photo by Bev Engstrom

Pine siskins prefer spruce, fir, and hemlock seeds, which are relatively poor up north, so we could see good numbers of these birds, too. 

Evening grosbeaks have been in strong decline for several decades, so even though conifer and hardwoods seed crops are poor in their normal wintering areas, we will be lucky to see moderate numbers of evening grosbeaks. I often wonder if we’ll ever see big numbers like we used to back in the 80’s and 90’s.

Finally, white-winged and red crossbills may appear in small numbers this winter, particularly white-winged crossbills because of their preference for spruce cones. These birds are so nomadic that it’s difficult to know just where they’ll go.

Bohemian waxwings aren’t finches, but they are gorgeous birds that we look forward to seeing every winter, and they, too, should be numerous. Watch for them in crabapple and mountain ash trees. They like buckthorn berries, too, which is unfortunate, because they’ll help spread them. You’ll often hear bohemians before you’ll see them – they make a continuous twittering.

Two types of irruptions may occur: one in the fall and the other in the late winter when a modest tree seed supply further north is exhausted. So, if you don’t see all these birds early this winter, keep watching.

Keep an eye also on the trees around you for their relative abundance of seeds. Eastern white pines have bumper crops every three to five years, while white spruce produces bumper crops every two to six years. Eastern hemlocks have good cone crops usually every second year. Interestingly, the abundance of seed crops is usually widespread over hundreds of miles and typically synchronized between species.

So, November is the time to clean your feeders, stock up on sunflower seeds, cajole your family into buying you a good pair of binoculars for Christmas if you don’t have a good pair, and get ready for what could be an excellent winter for watching birds.

Sightings – Bohemian Waxwings and Common Redpolls

            I saw my first flock of common redpolls in Marquette, Michigan, on 11/3, along with a few pine siskins. We also had our first flock of bohemian waxwings appear on our crabapple trees on 11/5.

House Wren Architecture 

Sarah Krembs in Manitowish Waters wrote to me several times over the summer and fall of her observations of house wrens. She recently took a very detailed, and I think fascinating, look at the nest construction of male house wrens. Here’s some of what she discovered:

“Not that I'm rescinding my summer's comments about male house wrens (i.e. poor interior decorators), but I may be owing the male house wren a bit more respect. As I mentioned, we cleaned out the bird houses around the garden and in three of them I found evidence of a very hard working male house wren. I had watched this summer as he busily created nests but I hadn't realized HOW busy he had been. Two nests were partials and a third nest was huge. The nests were all made of the same type of twig (looks like poplar). He had zero creativity in finding nice soft materials for his lady friend to get comfortable in during the duration of incubation, but I know that's not his job. Instead, he gathered over a thousand sticks one by one and placed them into boxes in the hopes his lady would approve of one of them. I cannot fault the male house wren in his persistence.                     
             “Here are the facts: I counted all the twigs in the nest which was half as small as the large one I have in the picture. The half-size nest had 317 twigs, all of the same type, but of all different lengths. The longest twig was over nine inches long. The large nest had to have at least 600 twigs. Between all three, I figure this guy had carried in the range of well over 1,000 twigs. That's 1,000+ individual flights to go find a twig, bring it back, shove it in a one-inch hole, arrange it in the house, and go back and do it again. This doesn't even count the number of times he had to retry with a twig, because I saw him drop quite a few as he attempted shoving them into the hole of the box.

           “Here's the saddest part: we never had a family of house wrens in the area where he built all these nests this summer. I don't know if his lady friend never made it back, decided she didn't like ANY of his efforts, or if something else happened. But, poor Mr. House Wren did A LOT, A LOT of unpaid and unappreciated labor without complaint for his lady friend, and for that, I've gotta respect the guy.”    

I followed up Sarah’s study with some research and found that the male house wren claims an unoccupied territory, then places some sticks in a cavity or nest box apparently to demonstrate to a female that he’ll be a good mate. He’ll also typically add some bits of wool or cotton, some seed fibers from early seeding trees like aspens and cottonwoods, and/or some insect cocoons. If and when a female then pairs with the male, she’ll largely take over the nest-building, finally lining the stick nest with soft material. Her total trips to finish the nest average about 170.

It’s thought that all the sticks that the male first places in the cavity act as a “house-on-stilts” so that any rainwater leaking in can run out the bottom of the cavity or collect in the bottom without wetting the actual nest.

Re-use of cavities is common, so it will be interesting to see if Sarah’s male returns, and if his efforts get rewarded in 2019 after he was so spurned in 2018.

Celestial Events

            On 11/11, look for Saturn 1.5 degrees below the waxing crescent moon. 

            The peak North Taurid meteor shower occurs later that night and into the predawn of 11/12. 

            The peak Leonid meteor shower is best seen in the predawn of 11/17 through the predawn of 11/18. As the Earth crosses the orbital path of Comet Temple-Tuttle, the comet litters our atmosphere with bits of debris that vaporize, which we then see as “meteors.” The Leonids are famous for periodic storms of meteors, but no Leonid storm is expected this year. Nevertheless, if you’re up early and the moon has set, this is a meteor shower worth watching. BTW, you don’t need to look in any particular part of the sky for the meteors. They streak out in all directions, and thus appear in all parts of the sky.

            The full moon – the Beaver/Freezing/Ice Is Forming/Snow Moon – occurs on 11/22.

Thought for the Week

            You could throw away the calendar and still know it is November if you listened. The wind has its November voice, and so do the fallen leaves; but the unmistakable voices are those of the owls and the geese . . . The owl’s call is the companion of long, deep nights and the winds that rattle the latch. The geese say, “Get up and go!” but the owls say, “Stay and tend the fire.– Hal Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

            

Please share your outdoor sightings and thoughts: call 715-476-2828, e-mail at manitowish@centurytel.net, snail-mail at 4245N State Highway 47, Mercer, WI