A Northwoods Almanac for 12/7-20, 2018
Sightings: Northern Shrike, Barred Owl, Spruce Grouse, Red-bellied Woodpecker
We had our first northern shrike of the year visit our feeders on 11/27. Mary and I watched it for five minutes as it fluttered slowly up and down from tree to tree, an unusual behavior for a lightning-fast bird that predates on smaller songbirds. We speculated that it was trying to flush songbirds from dense vegetation where they might have been concealed. It was unsuccessful in the time we watched, and we haven’t seen it since. Ryan Brady photographed a northern shrike capturing a white-breasted nuthatch at one of his backyard feeders in Washburn – see the photo.
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| photo by Ryan Brady |
Mark Pflieger recently hung a deer carcass in his yard near McNaughton, and that evening a barred owl came in and dined on it for two and a half hours. Mark noted that it “looked like it was starving,” which is a likely scenario given that barred owls are not known to feed on carrion. Barreds are a true generalist predator, consuming a variety of birds up to the size of grouse and small mammals up to the size of rabbits, while during the summer, amphibians, reptiles, and invertebrates are also taken. In the winter, however, they feed mostly on small mammals like rodents and squirrels.
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| photo by Bev Engstrom |
John Heusinkveld reported seeing four spruce grouse on private land in the town of Newbold, which may be the most southern record in Wisconsin for a sighting of spruce grouse. He noted “at one point, we walked directly underneath them at maybe 12 feet. This was the best photo, but we also got video of the male eating buds off a jackpine . . . I’ve stomped the Northwoods for 17 years always wanting to see just one. He was fat, proud, magnificent and unconcerned. They all were. The two apparent juveniles seemed to be males by plumage, but inconclusive. We watched them for 15 minutes with 10x40 binocs. So, it was my Christmas ‘And a Spruce Grouse in a Jack Pine,’ to the tune of ‘A Partridge in a Pear Tree.’ It felt like hope in this crazy age.”
Chuck Dutton on the north end of Squaw lake in Lac du Flambeau reported having had a pair of red-bellied woodpeckers feeding in his yard since October.
Christmas Bird Counts
The 26thannual Manitowish Waters Christmas Bird Count (CBC) takes place on Saturday, 12/15, and less than a week later, the Minocqua CBC, sponsored by the North Lakeland Discovery Center Bird Club, takes place on Thursday, 12/20.
For the Manitowish Waters Count, if you live within a 7.5 mile radius of the intersection of Hwy 51 and Cty. W, you can count birds in your own yard and from your bird feeders, and then report the results. For the Minocqua Count, if you live within a 7.5 mile radius of the intersection of Hwy 51 and Hwy 70 West, you can likewise count birds in your own yard and report the results. If you have friends or family who live within these areas, please also encourage them to count birds in their yard and report their results to us.
If you’d rather not count but would be willing to have us come to your yard some time during the day to count your birds, let us know. We’ve learned a long time ago that winter birds know where the best restaurants are, and that’s folks’ backyard feeders.
The CBC is a census of birds in the Western Hemisphere, performed annually by volunteer birdwatchers and administered by the National Audubon Society. This will be the 119thyear of Christmas bird counts, making it the longest running citizen science survey in the world.
The data helps to provide an understanding of bird population trends across North America in early winter, and provides an enjoyable social experience – tens of thousands of birdwatchers participate in this event each year.
More than 100 Christmas bird counts take place in Wisconsin. If you’re interested in participating either as a field counter or by counting birds at your feeder, please contact Donna Roche (p-lanz@hotmail.com) for the Minocqua count or contact me (manitowish@centurytel.net)for the Manitowish Waters count.
Snowy Owl Status
As of November 26, Ryan Brady, Bird monitoring coordinator for the WI Bird Conservation Initiative,noted that “an estimated 26 snowy owls have been reported from 14 Wisconsin counties.
“The total of 26 owls is well short of the 97 seen by this date during last year’s big irruption but greater than the 7 seen by now in 2016-17, which was a non-irruption year. While it’s a little early to know exactly how things will unfold by mid-winter, one thing is already clear – the proportion of juvenile birds hatched last summer is much lower this year than recent years past. This is consistent with reports from the Arctic that suggested a summer of low lemming numbers and poor reproductive success for snowy owls.”
Monarch Butterfly Status
I tried this week to find the latest information on the status of monarch butterflies, but I was only able to find information up through the fall migration. Still, it was very encouraging. Based on activity in the monarchs’ primary Midwestern breeding grounds, Monarch Watch founder and expert Chip Taylor predicted in September that “the migration should be the strongest since 2008.” He wrote that “the sequence of events and temperatures that determine how the monarch population grows through the season has been better this year than for any year since 2001 . . . but there is still a big unknown. Will the fall conditions favor survival during the migration? Most of the migration through Texas occurs in October so should sufficient rains occur, nectar scarcity would not be an issue. Monarchs then still have to pass through northern Mexico, a traverse of another 600 miles or more depending on the routes taken.”
Apparently, mortality during migration may have increased in recent years for monarchs, potentially contributing to the declines in their overwintering population. For example, the abundance of monarchs was one of the highest in decades in the Northeast during the 2017 breeding season, but in the subsequent winter, the population was well below historic levels in Mexico, likely linked to the fact the southern autumn of 2017 was the hottest in over 100 years.
So, even though 2018 was a great year for monarch reproductive success, the jury is still out on their migratory success.
Fourth National Climate Assessment
Volume II of the Fourth National Climate Assessment was released on 11/23 by the United States Global Change Research Program.President George H.W. Bush signed the Global Change Research Act into law on November 16, 1990, with a mandate to understand and respond to global change, including the cumulative effects of human activities and natural processes on the environment.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA), one of thirteen federal agencies comprising the USGCRP team, was the administrative lead agency. The report was produced with the assistance of 1,000 people, including 300 leading scientists, roughly half from outside the government. For the 1,500-page report, go tohttps://nca2018.globalchange.gov.
Copper Bullets
Several readers noted that they had switched from lead bullets to copper bullets based on what I had written in my last column. Randy and Debbie Augustinak in Land O’ Lakes noted that “initial attempts to locate all-copper bullets locally were futile (i.e. Fleet Farm & others), but we were eventually able to order them online from Cabelas. We subsequently learned that the national chains carry these products because non-lead shot is mandated in California.”
I’m very surprised to learn that copper bullets aren’t available locally – if true, consider contacting your local supplier and requesting they stock copper ammo.
Winter Solstice
Cold temperatures are only one element in the difficulty of living out a northern winter – the long nights are the other. For many of us, the coming of the winter solstice is truly a time for celebration given that in the Northern Hemisphere, the December solstice marks the turning point for the return of light.
The 2018 December solstice takes place on Friday, December 21 at 4:23 p.m. CST, marking our shortest day – 8 hours and 39 minutes.
But, in fact, our earliest sunsets occur at 4:14 p.m. from 12/5 to 12/14.So, why doesn’t the earliest sunset come on the shortest day? Here’s the answer from earthsky.org:
“The key to understanding the earliest sunset is not to focus on the time of sunset or sunrise. The key is to focus on what is called true solar noon – the time of day that the sun reaches its highest point, in its journey across your sky. In early December, true solar noon comes nearly 10 minutes earlier by the clock than it does at the solstice. With true noon coming later on the solstice, so will the sunrise and sunset times.
“It’s this discrepancy between clock time and sun time that causes the Northern Hemisphere’s earliest sunset and the Southern Hemisphere’s earliest sunrise to precede the December solstice.” Got that?
Celestial Events
The new moon occurs tonight, 12/7.
The peak Geminid meteor shower takes place on the night of 12/13 through the predawn of 12/14. This is the year’s best meteor shower, averaging 50 to 100 meteors per hour.
Thought for the Week
“What makes a place special is the way it buries itself inside the heart, not whether it's flat or rugged, rich or austere, wet or arid, gentle or harsh, warm or cold, wild or tame.” Richard Nelson
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