A Northwoods Almanac for April 3, 2020

A Northwoods Almanac for April 3 – 16, 2020  

Such Singing

            Birdsong is in the air again! Robins and red-winged blackbirds are chorusing every morning in Manitowish, along with the creaks and squawks of grackles, the chattering of pine siskins, the blaring of trumpeter swans, the lively musical arrangements of purple finches, the “hey-sweetie” come-on from black-capped chickadees, the clamorous honking of Canada geese, the French taxi horn beeping of red-breasted nuthatches, even the sweet slurred whistles of a cardinal, and as of yesterday, 3/28, the clangor of sandhill cranes that Aldo Leopold so eloquently eulogized: “The quality of cranes lies . . . as yet beyond the reach of words . . . When we hear his call we hear no mere bird. He is the symbol of our untamable past, of that incredible sweep of millennia which underlies and conditions the daily affairs of birds and men.”

            The migration is dribbling in for now, individuals and small flocks the trailblazers, but soon the migratory storm will be upon us, and upon everyone in North America. Already, the sightings of songbirds are lighting up the birder hotlines, with waterfowl leading the way as rivers open, then marshes, and finally our lakes. Hermit thrushes and catbirds were in Milwaukee on 3/24, with fox sparrows, tree sparrows, killdeer, and phoebes appearing on 3/26, while another birder on 3/29 in the Milwaukee area recorded 13 species of raptors floating overhead. 

            “The game is afoot,” as Sherlock Holmes said of other investigations. Our detective work requires much the same – direct close observation and insightful interpretation. So, step outside, listen, watch, record in words and tape, and piece together this most momentous of natural events. Over four billion birds (that’s billion with a “b”) will be returning and/or moving through North America in the next two months, and we owe it to them to honor their reunion.

Sightings – First-of-Years (FOY) and Others

            3/18 – FOY common grackle in Manitowish

            3/21 – FOY dark-eyed junco in Manitowish

            3/28 – FOY sandhill crane in Manitowish

            3/30 – FOY European starling in Manitowish
            On 3/21, Judy Lucas in Lac du Flambeau emailed saying she “has three fairly young maple trees that are being ‘debarked’ by (I believe) grey squirrels. See pic with pile of wood chips at bottom.” She wondered, of course, why they were doing this, and guessed correctly, or so I think, that it had to do with the maple sap. It’s always been my assumption that grey squirrels are after the sap. This is how Native Americans say they first got the idea to boil down sap for syrup. The sap would evaporate on the exposed tree, leaving behind a dried sugar. 

            On 3/27, Joan Galloway on Clear Lake in Manitowish Waters reported a varied thrush among a flock of juncos under her feeder, but it disappeared the same day. That’s the first varied thrush I’ve heard of in our area the entire winter. 

            David and Amy Schmoller in Minocqua made many jars of jelly a few weeks ago, mostly black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa) and chokecherry (Prunus virginiana). David noted the following: “We had a pile of leftover pulp. Simultaneously, we have about seven roughed grouse hanging out in our woods that feed on the crabapples and black chokeberry trees in our yard. I got an idea: Leave the mass of pulp on a piece of cardboard under the crabapple trees and see what happens.
            “We were gone for a couple of weeks to the Black Hills. We got back last night. The pulp was gone. There were hundreds of footprints in the snow - grey squirrel, red squirrel, mouse, and roughed grouse. Scat all over the cardboard. And one more set of tracks: fox. And a pile of roughed grouse feathers. So, I guess I fed the food chain.”

Trumpeters and Cranes

            Mark Westphal shared an excellent photo he took on 3/22 of a sandhill crane and a trumpeter swan standing in the Manitowish River. Note the collar on the swan – 68J. 

Mark had seen the same swan last spring several miles away on another section of the river. Mark wanted to find out the hatching date of this swan, so he contacted Sumner Matteson, an avian ecologist for the Natural Heritage Conservation of the DNR who keeps the records on the historical banding of trumpeters. Here’s Sumner’s response: “This bird was banded and collared as a cygnet on 29 August 2005 at the Upper Nine Mile Lake Flowage in Vilas County. So, this bird will be 15 years old this summer.” If you see a trumpeter swan with a yellow collar and can identify the letter and number, contact Sumner at Sumner.Matteson@wisconsin.gov for more information – it helps shape the trumpeters’ story as a reintroduced species, and helps you gain a greater appreciation for each individual. 

            Banding of trumpeters began in the late 1980s and was discontinued in 2012. The oldest swan in North America, at least as of its recapture in 2016 – #82K – was one of the first eggs brought from Alaska to Milwaukee in 1989 during the reintroduction efforts. If still alive this summer, he/she would be 31 years old. 

Pandemic Response? Backyard Bird Listing!

            Given the constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s a perfect time to start a backyard bird list. We live in Mary’s grandparents’ home, which they purchased in 1922, now 98 years ago. The house itself was built in 1907 by the Stones. Wouldn’t it have been a treat, and a piece of scientific data, if the Stones and Mary’s grandparents had kept a bird list all the years they lived here? Even better than just a bird list, wouldn’t it have been a gift if they’d kept a general journal of all they were seeing and experiencing? Likewise, wouldn’t you have loved to have received a house journal when you purchased your home? 

            So, why not gift the future owners of your home with your journal, your lists, so that they know what to look for and when to expect things to happen? You could include an array of weather data and all sorts of firsts – first flowerings, first fruitings, first calling of particular frogs, first sightings of birds, et al. Garden data would be great to include, too – when the tomatoes were ripe, the apples ready to pick, etc. And you could include all sorts of lasts as well – the last time you saw a sandhill crane (or any bird species), the last frost-free day, the last day the river was open, etc.

            Keep the journal in the middle of your dining room table or someplace where you will see it every day, and jot down whatever you have observed. However unimportant it may seem to you, it likely will be very important to someone many years from now. 

Clean Those Bird Feeders!

            So far this year, we haven’t seen any birds that are exhibiting symptoms of salmonella poisoning. Still, it’s early yet. Salmonella bacteria are shed in the feces of infected animals and transmitted by direct contact with the infected birds or by ingestion of food or water contaminated with the feces. The symptoms I usually see are a very lethargic and weak bird, usually puffed up like it’s cold, often shivering, and often with swollen eyelids – it’s pretty heart breaking to see.

            So, to avoid poisoning the very birds you are hoping to feed and enjoy watching, be sure to clean your feeders with a bleach solution – 10 parts water to 1 part bleach. Scrub the feeders with a brush, then let them them soak in the bleach solution for 10 minutes, rinse and let air dry. Also, rake up or scatter as best you can all the rotting bird seed that has been exposed under your feeders.

If you see dead or sick birds, you should keep your cats and dogs indoors, since with certain strains of salmonella, the animals can become infected through eating the affected birds. 

Though rare, people can get salmonella from direct contact with infected birds. If you find a dead bird under your feeders, pick the bird up by using a plastic bag to avoid direct contact it, and also avoid contact with the bird feeder until after you’ve washed it.

Celestial Events

            Look tonight after dusk (April 3) for Venus shining just to the left of the Pleiades, the “seven sisters” star cluster that appears like a faint mist. “Just to the left,” of course, fails to take into account that the Pleiades are 150 million times farther away from us than Venus. To put that in perspective, says Sky and Telescope magazine: “If Venus was a mark on your eyeglasses, the Pleiades would be 1,200 miles away − and 30 miles from side to side.”

            On April 7, the moon will be at perigee, making its closest approach to Earth for the entire year: a mere 221,773 miles away. And lucky for us, this occurs on a full moon night, variously known as the “Awakening Moon” or “Grass Appearing Moon” or “Maple Sugar Moon.” This will be our largest and brightest full moon of the year.

            As for planet-watching in April, the only planet visible at dusk is Venus, but it’s absolutely brilliant at -4.6 magnitude in the west, setting by around midnight. 

            Before dawn, however, is the time to observe planetary action. Look for Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn all in the southeast. Jupiter is by far the brightest at -2.2 magnitude, with Mars and Saturn quite a bit duller at 0.7 and 0.6 magnitude respectively. 

Red-winged Blackbirds

            Male red-winged blackbirds return two to three weeks earlier than the females, all with the intent of staking out their claims to the best territories. Despite our cold mornings, they’re singing already, and as the females return, they’ll eventually ramp up their singing to a rate of 10 songs a minute. 

            The males are philanderers. One study in Washington state showed 33 females nesting in a single male’s territory. Lest you just blame the males, the females, too, get caught up in spring flings. The females often mate both with the male in their nesting territory and with those in neighboring territories. In one study area in Wisconsin, about one third of the young were sired by males other than the territory owner.

Thought for the Week

            “Rained gently last night, just enough to wash the town clean, and then today a clean crisp fat spring day, the air redolent, the kind of green minty succulent air you'd bottle if you could and snort greedily on bleak, wet January evenings when the streetlights hzzzt on at four in the afternoon and all existence seems hopeless and sad.” – Brian Doyle, Mink River

Please share your outdoor sightings and thoughts: e-mail at manitowish@centurytel.net, call 715-476-2828, snail-mail at 4245N State Highway 47, Mercer, WI, or see my blog at www.manitowishriver.blogspot.com.