A Northwoods Almanac for June 12, 2020

A Northwoods Almanac for June 12 – 25, 2020  

Black Flies Causing Loon Nest Abandonment

Walter Piper of Chapman University in California has been studying loons in Oneida County since 1993. One species of black fly, Simulium annulus, has evolved to feed only on common loons. Dr. Piper noted the effect of these black flies on loons in his blog on 6/2: “It has been a dreadful first round of nests for most breeding pairs. Typical pairs in the study area abandoned their first nesting attempt three to four weeks ago because of the clouds of [black] flies that descended upon them and have only just begun to re-nest or think about doing so. Based on what we have seen, it appears that 70 to 80% of all pairs could not stand to incubate the first clutch of eggs they laid in early to mid-May, making 2020 even slightly more devastating of a black fly year than 2014, the previous worst year on record.” 

In an earlier post on 5/26, Dr. Piper discussed how these black flies make research more difficult as well: “Quick dives and endless foraging bouts [by the loons], such as I saw today, are the rule during 2- to 3-week-long black fly outbreaks. That is, loons dispense with resting and preening during peak fly season; instead, they spend as much time as possible under the water to avoid the flies . . . 

“The black flies that so pester loons have no taste for human blood, but even we human observers dislike them. Abundant flies complicate our efforts to ID loons from leg bands, which is easiest during preening and resting. Indeed, it took me almost 40 minutes to even locate the mate of the unbanded loon I first saw foraging near the shore this afternoon. This second bird, too, was dodging the relentless dipterans, diving constantly and spending only a few seconds on the surface between bouts.” 

In Flower Now

Wildflowers (a sampling of those in bloom): nodding trillium, gaywing, wood betony, columbine, wild sarsaparilla, cotton grass, white baneberry, calla lily, starflower, Canada mayflower, bluebead lily, Solomon’s plume, Solomon’s seal, jack-in-the-pulpit, early meadow rue.

wild blueberry flowers, photo by John Bates

Shrubs: bunchberry (bunchberry is our smallest species of dogwood), various larger species of dogwoods (red-osier, gray, pagoda, round-leaved), nannyberry, highbush cranberry, various species of blueberries, black chokeberry, Labrador tea, hawthorn, wild rose.

Finally leafed-out: black ash and big-tooth aspen. The green-up is complete!

Lightning Strikes 

This is thunderstorm season, so what happens when lightning strikes a tree? Along the path of the strike, the sap instantly boils and turns to superheated steam, exploding the cells in the wood and leading to strips of wood and bark being blown off the tree. Often the bolt spirals down the trunk and blows out a long splinters of wood like shrapnel. If only one side of the tree shows evidence of a lightning strike, the chances of the tree surviving and eventually closing the wound are good. However, when the strike completely passes through the tree trunk, with splintered bark and exploded wood on each side, trees are usually killed.

Since water and sap are better conductors than wood, lightning damage is related to the concentration of moisture in the tree. If the outer layer of bark is soaked from rain, lightning may travel through the wet bark into the ground, sparing the tree from most of the damage, though major root damage can occur and cause the tree to decline and die. If the moisture is concentrated in the phloem between the bark and the wood, then the lightning strike will follow this path and explode the bark. If there is more moisture in the center of the tree, the explosion from within will often blow the entire tree apart (this is why you don’t want to stand under a large tree during a lightning storm)!

Dave Anderson, a naturalist and writer in New Hampshire, writes, “Seared pine pitch [from lightning] seals the heartwood, like varnish, against moisture and beetles that specialize in boring holes in wood. Unlike pines that die, then fall and rot due to insects and moisture, heat-killed snag trees can remain standing for decades. Snags provide durable wooden apartments  for a variety of wildlife.  Cavities inside these smooth gray ghosts are used by woodpeckers, flycatchers and owls for nesting, and by bats as nursery colonies  and day roosts. Squirrels, racoons, porcupines and fishers use the lightning killed durable snags for dens. In the woods, every ending is a new beginning. Standing dead trees are considered  a biological legacy – an integral part of a healthy forest. Even in death, these lightning-killed trees live on.”

            

Sightings

5/24: The first fawn born this spring that I’m aware of was observed by Ron Eckstein in Rhinelander.

5/27: Wes Jahns photographed a Blanding’s turtle on Lake Tomahawk ½ mile from the boat landing, a rare sighting in Oneida County. In our 36 years here, we’ve never seen one! They’re a “species of special concern” in Wisconsin, and long-lived – they take 17 to 20 years or more to reach maturity. If you live on Lake Tomahawk, keep an eye out for one of these.

Blanding's turtle photo by Wes Jahns

5/27: We saw our first gaywings in flower.

5/29: The flowers on our crabapple trees and lilac bushes came into full glory – wow!

5/29: Cedar waxwings arrived the same day as the crabapples flowering, which is remarkable timing given that they feed extensively on the petals of the crabapples. They also ate our apple tree blossoms, which came into bloom three days later.

5/31: What good are dandelions? One reason they’re good is this: Canadian tiger swallowtails drink their nectar, as proven by a photo Ed Marshall sent to me from Lac du Flambeau. In Manitowish, swallowtails appeared first in our yard a few days later on 6/2.

swallowtail on dandelions, photo by Ed Marshall

6/1: I’ve been watching our male hummingbirds do their pendulum display where they swing back and forth in a wide “U-shaped” arc, whirring all the while in an apparent attempt to impress other territorial males in the yard and perhaps a watching female (who likely is muttering to herself, “Whatever.”)

6/2: We saw our first monarch butterflies in our perennial flower garden in Manitowish. This is early!

6/4: Fireflies were lighting up the wetlands below our house for the first time this year.

6/5: Judith Ruch sent a photograph of a great-crested flycatcher pair building a nest in her owl box! Great-crested flycatchers are obligatory secondary cavity-nesters, meaning they utilize existing holes made by other means than their own excavation.  They use a wide array of nesting cavities, including naturally occurring hollows in live trees created by branch scars and knotholes, cavities in dead trees excavated by woodpeckers, and a variety of human-made structures. Arthur Bent wrote in 1942 that great-cresteds don’t “seem to fear the presence of man and have learned to nest in variety of man-made structures – nesting boxes . . . hollow posts . . . a stove pipe or open gutter pipe, or any old tin can or box of proper size . . .”

6/5: Mary and I spotted a beautiful cryptic greenish moth we’d never seen before that was gazing in the window of our bee house. Mary looked it up and found it was called “the green marvel,” a fabulous and fitting name for a remarkable-looking moth.

The Green Marvel moth, photo by John Bates

6/6: Two hummingbird clearwing moths were nectaring in our azalia bush. These moths are the size of a bumblebee, and unless you observe them closely, you’re likely to dismiss them as just a large bee. 

hummingbird clearwing moth, photo by John Bates

6/6: Bob Von Holdt sent me a lovely photo of five trumpeter swan cygnets in the Presque Isle area. We saw two cygnets on Powell Marsh on 6/8.

photo by Bob Von Holdt

6/7: Wild roses are now in flower, and if you can stand just downwind of them, what an aroma they dispense!

Wisconsin Birdathon – Results from The “Up North Hammerheads”

The Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin sponsors a “birdathon” every spring to raise funds for bird conservation projects. The way it works is that individuals or organizations form teams of birdwatchers and select a date between April 15th and June 15th. The team then commits to counting as many unique bird species as possible in that 24-hour period. Next, the team sets a fundraising goal as well as a goal for how many species of bird they hope to see, and then collects pledges and donations from friends, family, and community members. 

Teams can bird anywhere—a backyard, local park, or venture into the field anywhere they like. Some teams choose to split up to cover more area in the hopes of seeing more birds, while others stick together to enjoy the shared experience.

In past years, our team, the “Up North Hammerheads,” have stayed together as a large group. But this year due to the coronavirus and the need to do social distancing, we all birded individually, and this turned out to be a great idea. Individuals can cover a lot more ground and therefore tally more species than a group that stays together.  

Our leader, Sarah Besadny, tallied everyone’s lists from our count on 5/19, and we ended up with 135 species, a record for us! By comparison, we had 94 species in 2018 and 2019, 107 species in 2016 and 112 species in 2017.

Sixteen individuals or small teams participated, and Sarah noted that no species was reported by everyone. Most commonly reported were American robin, American goldfinch, chipping sparrow and rose-breasted grosbeak. Also of note were 37 species that only one person reported.

            

“River Raptors” Birdathon Count

            Mary and I also participated in a birdathon count coordinated by Sumner Matteson, an avian ecologist for the DNR in Madison. For several years, he has coordinated a count that takes place along specific rivers or creeks. He wanted a count that was self-propelled and not using tanks of gas while cruising all over the state. This year, Mary and I paddled the Manitowish River on 6/3 from the Hwy. 51 bridge down to the Hwy. 47 bridge, and we tallied 62 species, a respectable total for four hours of slow paddling. The highlight for me was not along the river, but at the very end of the trip when a ruby-crowned kinglet was singing loudly in our driveway as we carried our kayaks up from the take-out. Ruby-crowns are quite uncommon nesters in our area, and a species we rarely see in the summer.

Celestial Events

            Tonight, June 12, look before dawn for Mars three degrees north of the waning gibbous moon. June 18^th marks the 37^th anniversary of Sally Ride’s lift-off as the first American woman in space. On 6/19, look before dawn for Venus less than one degree below the waning crescent moon. The summer solstice occurs on 6/20 – we receive 15 hours and 45 minutes of sunlight! Sunrise is at 5:08 a.m. and sunset at 8:53 p.m. Then the next day, the sun begins rising one minute later, and the days begin growing shorter for the first time since 12/24/19.

Thought for the Week

            Now in the spring I kneel, I put my face into the packets of violets, the dampness, the freshness, the sense of ever-ness. Something is wrong, I know it, if I don’t keep my attention on eternity. May I be the tiniest nail in the house of the universe – tiny, but useful. May I look down upon the windflower and the bull thistle and the coreopsis with the greatest respect. – Mary Oliver

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.