A Northwoods Almanac for June 28, 2019

A Northwoods Almanac for June 28 – July 11, 2019   by John Bates

Sightings

6/10: Kent Dahlgren in Presque Isle sent a photo of a pair of trumpeter swans with their seven chicks.

6/16: I was sent a photograph of a mink carrying a great blue heron chick from a rookery nest in Wausau, and this was the second chick it had carried down. I’ve never heard of mink climbing trees and taking heron chicks before! Bruce Bacon, retired wildlife manager in Mercer, says that minks do climb trees, and that they are known to raid wood duck boxes.

6/20: Highbush cranberries and pagoda dogwoods are in flower around our home, and blue flag irises are now in flower along wet edges.

pagoda dogwood

6/21: Jennifer Heitz sent a photo of a red-headed woodpecker that has been frequenting their peanut feeder every few days. She noted, “We haven't seen one since we lived on Upper Gresham Lake more than 25 y ears ago!  What a treat!” More and more people seem to be seeing red-headed woodpeckers in our area – perhaps this is a trend?

6/23: We have purple finch and pine siskin fledglings visiting our feeders and begging for food from their parents. Some of the young are downright fat, but still chase the adults around to be fed rather than feeding themselves. This is common among songbirds. When chicks fledge, they are typically still fed for several weeks by the adults. 

6/25: The dawn bird song choir is rapidly diminishing and will be all but gone in July, but every morning we still hear a male catbird singing his heart out at the top of a dead black ash tree near our bedroom window.

CCL

            On 6/12,I paddled a section of the Manitowish River with a group of high-school students from the Chicago area who are participants in the Center for Conservation Leadership (CCL). The CCL students spend three weeks hiking, canoeing, and learning hands-on about conservation from scientists, naturalists, and land and water managers, culminating in a three-day camping trip in the Porcupine Mountains. On their return home, they then begin a stewardship program in their own community over the course of the school year.

            The moment I recall best from paddling with these students was when I asked two of the young men how they were doing, and both remarked how quiet it was and how calm they felt. They said we’d been paddling for over an hour but it only felt like five minutes. 

            I loved that – the river was working its way into their hearts.

Wetlands Hike 

On 6/18, I participated in a series of hikes into wetlands in the Springstead area of Iron County, a program put-on by the Northwoods Land Trust and co-sponsored by ICORE (Iron County Outdoor Recreation Enthusiasts). Led by Tom Jerow, retired WDNR water specialist, and Ron Eckstein, retired wildlife biologist, we visited four different wetland habitats: an ephemeral/vernal pond, an open bog, a sedge meadow, and an alder/shrub complex where Springstead Creek runs out of Upper Springstead Lake.

While some classification systems divide the state’s wetlands into over 30 types, the Wisconsin Wetlands Association makes it a bit easier by only categorizing 12 different types. The typing is based on hydrology (the timing, frequency, and amount of water), soil type, and the plant life the site supports.

One differentiation that always confuses folks is between a bog and a fen. A bog receives its water from rainfall and snowmelt, and its soil is acidic and very low in nutrients. A fen occurs where springs bring groundwater to the surface, and it’s usually more basic in ph and more nutrient-rich.

Whatever the classifications, we had a great time exploring these wetlands that were all within a mile or so of one another. Bug dope was helpful as well, but once we were out on the more open wetlands, the wind took care of them.

Peter Annin Talk – Great Lakes Water Wars 

            Peter Annin, author of The Great Lakes Water Wars, came out in 2018 with an updated second edition of his book and remains exceptionally busy speaking around the country on how the 20^thcentury was the age of oil, and the 21^stcentury is becoming the age of water. Conflicts over water will escalate rapidly throughout this century and throughout the world. The Mercer Library and ICORE invited Peter to Mercer to give a talk on 6/24, and over 50 people attended, a great turnout in our tiny community. Limited column space prevents a lengthy summary of his talk, so I simply recommend getting the book – it’s an eye opener. 

Impacts of European Diseases on Populations and the Impact on Earth Temperatures

The number of people living in North, Central and South America when Columbus arrived is a question that researchers have been trying to answer for decades, but unlike Europe and China, no records exist on the size of the indigenous societies in the Americas before 1492. 

A recently published paper in Quaternary Science Reviews, “Earth System Impacts of the European Arrival and Great Dying in the Americas after 1492,” written by four geographers from the University College of London, is the closest thing we now have to an “answer.” The researchers estimated the pre-contact population for North America (U.S. and Canada)in 1492 to be between 2.8 and 5.7 million based on archaeological evidence, tribe-by-tribe counts and environmental carrying capacities.  

However, for the entire Western Hemisphere (South America, Central America, and North America), they estimated a much higher total population of 60.5 million (a range of 44.8 to 78.2 million).That would have been about 10 percent of the world’s population at that time, and the cities in the Americas would have been among the most populous on the planet. For comparison, Europe’s population in the early days of the Renaissanceat the time was 70 to 88 million spread over less than half the area. 

In the century following European contact, a tragedy of epic proportion occurred. 55 million indigenous people (90% of the total population) are estimated to have died primarily from infectious diseases for which they had no immunity, like smallpox, influenza, the bubonic plague and measles. In the aftermath of the diseases, warfare, famine and colonial atrocities did the rest.

 Indigenous America’s populations were thus reduced to 5 to 6 million people, a period that is called “The Great Dying,” making the Great Dying the largest human mortality event ever in proportion to the global population. 

But that’s just part of the story – here’s another part, and just one of the consequences. The Great Dying of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas would logically have had global impacts on the Earth as a result of the abandonment of the cleared land that had supported all those people. About 62 million hectares (149 million acres)of land, or about 10% of the landmass of the Americas, are estimated to have been farmed or were under other human use when Columbus arrived. For comparison, in Europe 23% had been used by humans at the time, and in China, 20% of land. 

From that base, the researchers concluded that 56 million hectares (134 million acres) of cleared land that had once been used mostly to grow food now grew up into forests. And since tree growth converts atmospheric carbon dioxide into leaves, branches, and tree trunks, this resulted in a massive uptake of terrestrial carbon. This unprecedented reforestation event in the Americas led to a reduction of 5 parts per million CO₂from the atmosphere, which, the researchers theorize, resulted in lowered global surface air temperatures. 

Enough CO₂was removed from the atmosphere that it contributed to the coldest part of what’s known as the “Little Ice Age,”and likely explains the drop in CO₂in 1610 that is seen in Antarctic ice cores. During this period, severe winters and cold summers caused famines and rebellions from Europe to Japan. 

Of course, scientific controversy is swirling regarding this theory, but it offers at least a partial solution to the enigma of why the whole planet cooled between 1600 and 1800, the height of the Little Ice Age.

Celestial Events

            For planet-watching in July, look early in the month after dusk for Mercury low in the west-northwest, Mars very low in the southwest also early in the month, Saturn in the southeast, and Jupiter in the south-southeast. Before dawn, Saturn can be seen low in the southwest.

            The days are now growing shorter by one minute every day, and by July 13, two minutes shorter every day.

            The new moon occurs on 7/2, and if you’re up for an adventure, travel to South America where you’ll be able to see a total solar eclipse. 7/2 also marks the mid-point of our year.

            Look after dusk on 7/3 for Mars just below the waxing sliver moon.

            On July 4, the Earth will be at aphelion, the farthest it will be from the sun this year – 94.5 million miles.

Fireworks

            And, oh yes, just for the record, fireworks and wildlife don’t mix. Nor do they mix with all of us who own dogs.

Thought for the Week

            Once upon a time . . . there was the simple understanding that to sing at dawn and to sing at dusk was to heal the world through joy. The birds still remember what we have forgotten, that the world is meant to be celebrated.  Terry Tempest Williams

            

A Northwoods Almanac for June 14, 2019

A Northwoods Almanac for June 14 – 27, 2019  by John Bates

Monarch Sun Compasses and Time Antennas

            Monarch butterflies have reappeared in northern Wisconsin as of the beginning of June – I saw my first one on 6/6. To me, their return is nothing short of miraculous because as monarchs have slowly migrated their way north, several generations of monarchs have already lived, laid eggs, and died this year in North America. 

The first generation were those that wintered in the 10,000-foot-high Mexican mountains, and then migrated in the second week of March into the southern U.S. They’re called “super-generational monarchs” by ecologists, by which they mean they’re very different physiologically from all other monarchs. They’re bigger, they can live for many months, they can’t reproduce initially, and they can fly all the way to the Mexican mountains in the autumn, up to 3,000 miles. 

What also makes these monarchs super-generational and very different from the generations before them is that they make less of one special hormone, a hormone that in its absence prevents them from aging, allowing them to live 8 times longer than other generations of monarchs. The typical adult monarch, the non-super-generational, only lives 2 to 6 weeks.

Thus, the super-generational monarchs are able to fly all the way to Mexico, winter-over, and then return to North America. These individuals are the same species of monarch, but they have a totally different life span. It would be like some of us being able to live for 400 years. 

What also makes their migration back to the U.S. miraculous is that they have a brain the size of a sesame seed, but this brain guides them to go to a place they have never been before and then to specific trees in the Mexican mountains, and then back to North America. How do they know where to stop, for instance, in the Mexican forest? No one knows.

But scientists have figured out how they navigate. They have two internal clocks: a circannual clock, which keeps track of annual cycles like when to migrate, and a solar compass-clock that tells time, which is the key to their navigation. 

Consider that they have no map – they only have a heading to follow. Their solar compass can read the horizontal position of the sun, but the sun moves from east to west throughout the day. If it’s mid-morning, the sun will be on their left if heading southwest. If it’s mid-afternoon, the sun will be on their right.

 So, they have to know what time it is via the position of the sun, and after years of research, scientists have learned it’s the monarch’s antennae that can somehow convert the sun’s position into “telling time.” They then do some fancy internal math and set their compass on the right heading. And if it’s cloudy? Special cells in their eyes can find the sun on cloudy days using polarized light.

Once in Mexico, they live off stored energy all winter, and then something changes. The hormone that stopped them from aging increases, and they become reproductively active again.

Now they need to reverse their internal compass heading and fly back north. Somehow their compass reverses itself, and in a few weeks, they arrive in the southern U.S., where these adults lay eggs and die. A new generation then hatches out, flies part or all of the way north, lays eggs and dies. Once here, summer monarchs live only three to five weeks compared with eight or nine months for the overwintering adults.And when the autumn arrives, the 5^thgeneration, the super-generational, leaves for Mexico.

It certainly seems like magic, but these skills have been written in their genetic code and passed down through literally millions of generations. 

So, when you see that first monarch this June, say a particularly reverential hello, because that monarch has never been to Wisconsin before and its eggs will likely be the source of the annual super-generation that will depart in the early fall for Mexico once again.

                                                                   

Sightings: Lewis’s Woodpecker, Northern Mockingbird, Blackburnian Warbler, Eagle/Heron Attack

There’s tons going on! Here’s a sampling of sightings I’ve had or that were sent to me:

5/28: Sue Conley and Michael Stieghorstobserved four pairs of scarlet tanagers while kayaking on White Sand Lake in Lac du Flambeau: “They were moving about at all levels of pine, poplars and cedars (mostly about 2/3rds of the way up) on the east shoreline. Three males were brilliant red and the fourth even brighter orange . . . Several dull yellow/green females were present . . . and no obvious bonding activity between pairs nor competition among any of them, nor other birds . . . it was so vibrantly, brilliantly, memorably vivid as we watched for about 20 minutes!” 

5/29: Mic and Nancy Austin, who live a few miles west of Hazelhurst, sent me photos of a Lewis’s woodpecker that had been at their feeders for two days. Named after Meriwether Lewis who first described one on the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1805, Lewis’s woodpeckers are a far western species that nest eastward only as far as Colorado. In Wisconsin, there’s only been five sightings of this species since recordkeeping began in the late 1800s, so this was a big deal! Unfortunately, the bird departed before anyone else could get to see it, but please keep your eyes peeled for this species if you live around Hazelhurst, because it may still be in the area.

5/31: Caroline Sedlak sent me photos of a red-headed woodpecker that was exploring their yard in Minocqua. She noted, “We have lived here since 2010 and this is the first time we have seen one.” They are quite uncommon, so it’s a coup to have one in your yard.

6/5: Sondra Katzen and Dave Derk were in Presque Isle getting ready to go out fishing in the early evening and witnessed the following: “We were on the pier when we heard a lot of bird distress calls coming from the middle of the lake in more than 40 feet of water and about 150 yards from shore. Crows and ravens were flying from all directions to see what was going on. We quickly jumped in the boat and headed to the commotion, thinking an eagle had injured a loon. When we got to the scene, we came upon an adult eagle in the water holding onto an adult great blue heron, who was also in the water. And about 10 feet from the eagle and heron was a pair of loons. We believe the eagle had the heron in its talons and was attempting to pull it to shore . . .

“As we approached, the crows and ravens flew away, and the eagle lifted itself out of the water and flew away. The two loons stayed nearby just watching the entire scene unfold, and probably grateful they weren’t the ones being preyed upon. The heron was obviously in distress and weak from flapping its wings trying to fly out of the cold water. Having a lot of animal experience, Dave grabbed the heron at the neck and its legs and assessed it to see if it had any injuries. The heron looked in good condition, but was weak. When we reached the shoreline, Dave carefully placed the heron down, where it walked along the shore. 

“The next day we went back to the location where we released the bird to check and see if it was still there. We did not see it and took that as a good sign that the heron recovered from its ordeal with the eagle. Over the next two days, we also threw a few walleyes to the eagles (they have a nest on the lake) to make up for rescuing the heron.

“Several days before that we were fishing for perch in a shallow bay on the lake. A rather large snapping turtle swam towards our boat. He had two leeches attached to him, one was on its head and the other between his nose and an eye. We enticed him closer with a tasty perch, and Dave used pliers to remove both leeches. The turtle ended up eating seven perch, which were originally slated to bring home for my parents!”

6/2:Sharon Lintereur sent a photo of a barred owl poking its head out of a nest box that they made specifically for it in their Lake Tomahawk woods. An owl has nested in this box for several years and is likely the same female.

6/8: During the Mercer Lupine Fest, I led a bird walk on the Little Turtle Flowage. The highlight of our observations was watching a bald eagle harass an osprey in flight long enough that it dropped the fish it was carrying, and the eagle then swooped down, caught the falling fish in the air, and flew away. I’ve seen this a few times over the years, and it’s always a “Wow”!

6/9: The cottongrass bloom along Hwy. 47 in Powell Marsh is a veritable snowstorm of white.

6/10: Sarah Krembs sent me several excellent photos on 6/10 of a female Blackburnian warbler that had been collecting nesting material in her garden for several days. Blackburnians are notoriously difficult to see, much less get good photographs of a female collecting nesting material, so kudos to Sarah. I find the photos particularly interesting because they confirm the suspicion that our neotropical warblers are late in nesting this year. Our very slow to arrive spring led to an equally slow migration of many species into the Northwoods. Females typically incubate their eggs for 11-12 days, and the chicks will fledge in another 12 days.

6/10: We had a northern mockingbird visit our yard. Mockingbirds are very uncommon in the Northwoods, so we felt quite blessed that one found our yard to spend its day. 

Turtles Laying Eggs Now

            Snappers and painted turtles, along with a few highly uncommon wood and eastern spiny softshell turtles, are laying eggs right now throughout the Northwoods. It’s important to protect these turtles given that only 5-10% of the eggs they lay are estimated to hatch (lots of predators out there!), and then only 1-3% of those hatchlings will live to become adults. Thus, for every 100 eggs, fewer than 1 will make it to adulthood, a daunting prospect if you’re a turtle. So, slow down if you see one crossing the road and do what you can to slow others down, too. And, if they’re nesting on your property, you might consider fencing off the nest as soon as the eggs are laid to protect them from predators. Hatching won’t occur until late August and into September, at which time you can remove the temporary fence. 

Palmer Drought Severity Index

            We’ve finally had a stretch of dry weather in early June which has helped reduce the extreme high water in our area. To see graphs of water conditions nationally and regionally, search for the “Palmer Drought Severity Index.” I’ve attached their graph of the Wisconsin Statewide Drought Severity Index for January through April from 1895 to the present which shows this spring to be the second wettest the state has experienced over the last 124 years, only exceeded by a spike in 1973.

Celestial Events

            Jupiter is the star of the evening sky show this month. Look for it in the southeast after dusk. And while you’re looking in that direction, you should be able to find Saturn low and just to the east. On 6/16, look for Jupiter two degrees below the waxing moon. The full moon occurs on 6/17 – the “Strawberry/Rose/Honey” moon. Summer solstice officially occurs on June 21, but from 6/17 – 6/24, we’ll experience our longest days – 15 hours and 44 minutes. On 6/18, look for Saturn just above the moon. Our days start growing shorter on 6/25.

Thought for the Week

            Arthur Carhart in a letter to Aldo Leopold in 1919: “There is a limit to the number of shorelines on the lakes; there is a limit to the number of lakes in existence; there is a limit to the mountainous areas of the world, and . . . there are portions of natural scenic beauty which are God-made, and . . . which should be the property of all people.”

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, or see my blog at www.manitowishriver.blogspot.com

A Northwoods Almanac for May 31, 2019

A Northwoods Almanac for May 31 - June 13 , 2019  

Fawns!

The last week in May marks the time when fawns are typically born in northern Wisconsin. Keep in mind that fawns produce little scent to attract predators and their instinct for their first two weeks of life is to be as invisible as possible by lying still. They typically stay perfectly still even when threatened or when simply approached.The mothers increase their fawns’ likelihood of survival by only feeding them a few times a day and moving them around to new spots from day to day to reduce their scent in any given place. 

photo by Hannah Dana

So, if you see a fawn that you think is abandoned, it’s most likely laying still because that’s their evolved strategy for survival. The doe will almost always come back unless it has been injured or killed. 

However, if you feel strongly that a fawn has in fact been abandoned and it may be in trouble, call a professional rehabber first to get his or her thoughts. Don’t feed the fawn, and don’t move it unless it’s laying in a roadway. Our three local wildlife rehabilitation centers are Northwoods Wildlife Center in Minocqua (715-356-7400),Wild Instincts in Newbold (715-362-9453), and Raptor Education Group in Antigo (715-623-4015).

Wildlife Rehab

Here’s just one example of why you should support our local wildlife rehab centers, this from Marge Gibson at the Raptor Education Group in Antigo in late April:

“It has been several days of critical cases being admitted. Coming on top of the starvation situation due to the spring/winter snow storm, we are hoping for a few calm days ahead soon to allow us to catch our breath. 

“We admitted an adult male Bald Eagle with lead poisoning and a wing fracture from Wood County . . . 

“Yesterday, David Edlund noticed a young Trumpeter Swan with a wing injury. He called the DNR Tip line for help . . . The swan was rushed to REGI with a serious wing injury and lead poisoning. She had emergency surgery soon after she arrived at REGI and is now recovering. She is also being treated for lead poisoning.

“A Rough-legged Hawk, an arctic species, was found along a road side in Central WI unable to fly. She was very thin. X-rays revealed she had been shot and had lead poisoning. This is a law enforcement case and we cannot comment on it further. However, if you know of someone that shoots hawks, eagles or other native birds, PLEASE call the DNR Tip Line at 1-800-847-9367. You can remain anonymous . . . 

“We admitted an adult Saw-whet owl that was found not moving during severe weather in Stevens Point. Thanks to the great folks that found and rescued him from certain death . . . He is recovering. 

“We admitted an adult Red-tailed Hawk and a Short-eared Owl during the severe weather. The Red-tailed Hawk was in respiratory distress - pneumonia. She is recovering as well and doing well. Thanks to the folks that found her and got her help. The Short-eared Owl was hit by a car and sustained internal injuries. He is not yet eating on his own but improving. 

“Our patients from the snow storm and horrid “spring” weather are improving and on the road to recovery. They are all eating on their own now so are less labor intensive than when earlier in their starvation condition. It is great to see then downing food with great excitement now and gaining strength. Thank you again to everyone that helped in so many ways. You are all wildlife heroes.”

High Water Levels!

            Most local lakes and rivers are experiencing very high water levels this spring. The Manitowish River where we live, for instance, is in full flood stage despite the early snowmelt waters being held back to fill the Manitowish Chain of Lakes.

The Great Lakes are experiencing equally high waters. According to data from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released on May 24, Lake Superior is sitting at about 15 inches higher than historical averages for May, and 9 inches higher than it was this time last year. Lakes Superior and Erie are all currently above record monthly highs (Lake Erie is 26 inches over its long-term average), while Lake Ontario is tied for its record monthly high, and Lake Michigan and Lake Huron are just 2 inches below their record highs.Lake Ontario has really come up this spring – it’s currently 20 inches higher than the previous year’s level!

Over the past 50 years, water levels have varied from year to year and decade to decade over most of the lakes. One year can be well below normal, while the next year can be well above normal. However, between 1999-2014, the lakes experienced an unprecedented period when water levels for Lake Michigan, Huron and Superior fell below their long-term average for 15 years.In fact, in January 2013, Lake Michigan and Huron set all-time record lows surpassing the previous record low from March of 1964.​

            But levels have been trending upward since 2013, the year when pleasure boats were stranded, cargo vessels were forced to lighten loads, wetlands dried up, and various conspiracy theorists speculated that water was somehow being siphoned off and sent to the parched West.

This is quite a shift going from one extreme to the other. The concerns with the record high water levels this year are about an increase in erosion along the lakeshores during storms and an increase in property damage due to the high water. 

The forecast for June is mixed. Lake Superior is predicted to rise another 3 inches and Lake Michigan and Huron are predicted to rise 2 inches. However, Lake Erie and Ontario are expected to fall 2 inches and 1 inch respectively.

Sightings

            5/15: Dan Carney spotted his first Nashville warbler of the year in Hazelhurst. 

5/22:Hanna Dana sent a lovely photo of a new-born fawn in Arbor Vitae. She noted in her email: “This morning I noticed a ‘lump’ under a small spruce tree in my front yard. I assumed it was something which had blown there during last night's storm. When I got close to the tree I realized the ‘lump’ was a new-born fawn. I know does often leave their new-born for hours at a time but this mother was gone all day and well into the evening. I called the Northwoods Wildlife Center and was told to call back in the morning if the fawn was still there and they would send someone to take it to the Center.  Some does will leave their fawns for up to 24 hours. Just before nightfall, the doe returned and the fawn, which had seemed lifeless prior to that, stood and nursed. The two sauntered into the woods, and I was fortunate to witness how the story ended.”  

            Also that day, Marlene Rasmussen on Upper Springstead Lake put out sugar water not in her hummingbird feeder but in a dog dish, and three warblers came and drank from it – a Cape May, a magnolia, and a yellow-rumped. I immediately tried the same trick, and haven’t had a bird yet! Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. 

            5/26: Mark Westphal photographed a pair of American white pelicans on Powell Marsh on 5/26.

photo by Mark Westphal

            That same day, I finally heard my first red-eyed vireos, a very common species that should have been back 10 days ago. And between birding at two sites, I was also able to record 15 different warbler species.

5/28: We had an amazing burst of color at our feeders on 5/28 – a scarlet tanager on our suet feeders, Baltimore orioles on our oranges, an indigo bunting cleaning up seeds on our deck, purple finches and American goldfinches eating from our tube feeders, and a cardinal singing in our yard. 

  

young male indigo bunting not fully "blued" out

Birdathon

            On May 21, I joined a team of birders (the “Up North Hammerheads”) for the annual Wisconsin Birdathon, an event sponsored by the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative. It’s an annual walkathon-style fundraiser that has raised over $400,000 since 2012 for bird conservation and research. The way it works is that folks donate money to a team either directly or based on the number of birds they identify that day.

            The top team last year counted 195 species, a phenomenal number requiring nearly all 24 hours in the day, great planning, tons of driving, and expert/obsessed birders. Our team does the count it in a more laid-back fashion, focusing on a few areas within Oneida, Vilas, and Iron Counties, and taking our time enjoying one another, the site, and the day.

            This day we recorded 94 species, a very respectable number given how late our spring has been up here – there were numerous common species that we failed to find simply because they hadn’t returned yet! Most importantly, the team has raised nearly $2,000 to help fund various bird protection initiatives, and we had a lot of fun together – a good combo, don’t you think?

Blooming Time

            Our pear, plum, and Juneberry trees came suddenly into full bloom on 5/26 – what a difference a warm day with full sun can make in the spring.

Celestial Events

            As of June 1, we’ll be blessed with 15 hours and 30 minutes of daylight, with summer solstice only three weeks away.

            The new moon occurs on 6/3. Look after dusk on 6/5 for Mars just above the waxing sliver of a moon.

            We have ten days in a row of our earliest sunrises of the year beginning on 6/11 and ending on 6/20 – the sun comes up on those days at 5:08 a.m. 

Thought for the Week

“The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction.” ―Rachel Carson