A Northwoods Almanac for 12/11-24, 2020

 A Northwoods Almanac for 12/11-24, 2020 

 

Crabapples - A Winter Treat for Birds

Bohemian waxwing photo by Bev Engstrom

A flock of seven pine grosbeaks have been feasting on crabapples in our yard since mid-November, and the male’s lovely song frequently greets us when we walk outside. We planted five crabapple trees several decades ago specifically to attract winter birds, and when ravenous migrating robins don’t eat all of the crabapples in October, we are often treated to both pine grosbeaks and bohemian waxwings enjoying the fruits.

Pine grosbeak male, photo by John Bates

Near the same time, we planted six apple trees as well, but they aren’t useful whatsoever in attracting wintering birds, because the apples all fall onto the ground by November. We are able to can many quarts of great applesauce, however, so that’s a trade-off we are happy to make. 

I thought for years that apples were native to the U.S., but crab apples are really the only apples native to North America. The apples we all enjoy today originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor Malus sieversii, is still found. 

As with so much of our U.S. diet, apples were brought over and cultivated as early as 1607 in Jamestown, Virginia, because that was what Europeans knew how to grow. Settlers came with seeds, cuttings and small plants from the best European stock and by the end of the 19^th century, a rather mind-boggling 14,000 apple varieties were being grown.  Many fell out of favor and are lost, so that today “only” around 2,500 varieties of apples are grown in the U.S.

 

Celestial Events - The Geminid Meteor Shower 

The Geminid meteor shower is considered one of the best of the year and is expected to peak on the night of Dec.13 into the early morning of the 14^th (Sunday evening until dawn Monday. During its peak, 120 Geminid meteors may be seen per hour under perfect conditions. These are bright, fast (79,000 mph) meteors, famous for producing colorful fireballs brighter than magnitude -4.

This year will be particularly good for watching the Geminids as it peaks on a moonless night, starting as early as 9 p.m, but peaking around 2 a.m.

The Geminids are named for the constellation Gemini, the point from which the meteors seem to radiate, but they can appear all across the sky. For best results, look slightly away from Gemini so that you can see meteors with longer "tails" as they streak by.

The meteors occur when Earth passes through a massive trail of dusty debris shed by a rocky object named 3200 Phaethon. Interestingly, Phaethon’s nature is debated - it may be a asteroid or an extinct comet.

 

More Celestial Events - Jupiter and Saturn Conjunction

December 21 not only marks the winter solstice, but that same evening Jupiter and Saturn, the two largest planets in our solar system, will come so close to each other that they will appear to overlap, creating a kind of “double planet” that has not been visible since March, 1226.

This once-in-a-lifetime sight is the product of an astronomical event known as a “conjunction,” where two objects line up with each other in the sky. And while the two planets will be 0.1 degrees apart, less than a third of the moon’s width, they will nonetheless be separated by about 450 million miles in space.

If you think about planetary orbits like a racing track with the sun in the middle, Jupiter is running on an inside lane while Saturn is walking at a slower pace on an outside lane, and during the conjunction, Jupiter will be lapping Saturn.

Jupiter takes about 12 Earth years to circle the sun compared to Saturn’s 30 years, and while the two actually align in their paths roughly every two decades, given that each track has a slightly different tilt, very close conjunctions like this one are rare. 

So, after dusk, look for two dots low in the southwestern sky that, unlike stars, do not twinkle.

 

And More Celestial Events

Look before dawn on 12/12 for Venus just below the waning crescent moon. 

The waxing crescent moon passes close by Jupiter and Saturn on the evenings of 12/16 and 17 - look after dusk low in the southwest.

On 12/23, the first quarter moon will appear to swing by Mars - look after dusk in the southeast.

And perhaps most important of all celestial events, the winter solstice occurs on 12/21, providing us with the year’s shortest days (8 hours and 39 minutes) and longest nights. It also marks the slow return northward of the sun. On 12/23, our days begin to grow longer for the first time since 6/20, and by 12/30, our days will be growing longer by a minute per day.

 

Three Success Stories: Peregrine Falcons, Piping Plovers, Trumpeter Swans

The WDNR, along with many partners, has worked hard over the years to re-establish populations of a number of endangered birds. Here are three success stories culled from the most recent “Badger Birder,” a publication of the Wisconsin Society of Ornithology.

 Peregrine Falcons: “This year there was a known total of 116 young produced at 38 successful nest sites. Thirteen nests were located along the Lake Michigan shoreline, 5 along the Fox River system, 2 along the Wisconsin River system, 3 on the shores of Lake Superior,12 along the Mississippi River (9 on cliffs), 1 on the Door Peninsula and 2 inland at Madison and Jefferson. 

“Overall total production was up 5% over last year (110 young in 2019 vs. 116 young in 2020). Average production per successful nest was also up this year from 2.97 per successful nest in 2019 to 3.05 in 2020. These numbers once again reflect known/verified production, but the actual numbers may be higher . . . There were also at least three nests that were known to have failed this year due to various reasons.” 

Beginning in the late 1940s, organochlorine pesticide poisoning largely from DDT decimated the eastern population of peregrines. The eyries along the Wisconsin River were abandoned by 1957, those along Niagara Escarpment in Door County by 1958, and the 14 eyries along the Mississippi River by 1964. The Peregrine Falcon was listed as a federally endangered species in 1970 and a Wisconsin endangered species in 1975. Wisconsin banned the use of DDT in 1971, followed by the federal government ban in 1972, and consequently, reproductive rates began to improve. A recovery program was instituted to reestablish peregrines by releasing offspring from parents, with the first release in 1987 in Wisconsin of 14 captive-produced young peregrines in Milwaukee followed by releases in Madison, La Crosse, Racine, and Pleasant Prairie.

Peregrine falcon range map

Piping Plovers: “Piping plovers experienced mixed nesting success in 2020. Nine breeding pairs occurred in the state, five at the Cat Island restoration chain in lower Green Bay and four in the Apostle Islands on Lake Superior. Taken together, nine Piping Plover pairs fledged 16 chicks (1.8 young per pair) in Wisconsin —a fairly productive year despite the different lake outcomes.” 

Piping plovers used to nest on the shores of all of the Great Lakes, but by 1948, only one pair of piping plovers was known to still nest in Wisconsin. Piping plovers require large, sparsely vegetated, isolated, cobble beach and dunes to nest. In Wisconsin, human disturbance compromised many of the beaches historically used by nesting Piping Plovers, including Sheboygan, Kenosha, Oconto, and Sturgeon bays along the Lake Michigan shoreline. Piping Plovers have not successfully nested at these historic locations since the 1940s, and today nest only at Long Island in Chequamegon Bay and on Outer Island in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. Once nesting habitat was restored near Green Bay on Cat Island, the piping plovers also re-appeared on their own in 2016 after a 75-year absence. 

            Since a1991 census, the Great Lakes population of piping plovers has doubled in size and now includes 110 individuals, but the Great Lakes population remains critically endangered. In Wisconsin, only 12 nests have successfully fledged young since 1982. The Great Lakes recovery goal is 300 individuals maintained for 5 years, so there’s a long way yet to go.

Piping plover photo by Joe Bodensteiner at Whitefish Point, MI

Trumpeter Swans: Wisconsin’s population was estimated at 5,000 Trumpeter Swans in 2015 and is now upwards of 6,000 birds, excluding cygnets (young-of-the-year), a far cry from the late 1980s, when DNRs Natural Heritage Conservation program began its recovery efforts by taking eggs from Alaskan nest sites, incubating the eggs in Milwaukee, and then releasing the chicks up north at one week of age. 

Trumpeter swans are a phenomenal success story, at zero in the Midwest for over a century, and now with the most recent population estimates at over 30,000 adults across Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Iowa, Ohio and Ontario.

Given that “our” trumpeters were brought here from an Alaskan population, their DNA was wired to migrate there and not from Wisconsin lakes. Thus, they scatter hither and yon in the winter, some remaining on their breeding areas, but others sometimes dispersing long distances. Thus, this summer WDNR, along with partners in other western Great Lakes states and the Canadian province of Ontario, corralled trumpeters and outfitted dozens of them with GPS transmitters that record the birds’ locations every 15 minutes. The ensuing data should show where they stop to rest during their migration, the duration of their daily flights, and where they spend the winter. 

Trumpeter swans photo by John Bates

 

Audubon’s 121st Christmas Bird Count 

Audubon’s Annual Christmas Bird Count, the longest-running citizen science project in our nation, has provided bird researchers with vast amounts of data that has been used to analyze population trends and changing distribution information. Some 110 sites in Wisconsin are now included in the Christmas Bird Count, including the Three Lakes count on 12/15, the Minocqua count on 12/17, the Manitowish Waters count on 12/18, the Fifield count on 12/19, the Rhinelander count on 12/19, and the Phelps count on 12/20. 

Anyone can contribute as an individual, as a part of a field party, or by counting the birds at your feeders providing you live within one of the count circles. The important thing is to find out where CBC count circles are located near you, and then get in contact with the compiler for that area to let them know of your interest in participating. 

The Audubon CBC website can be found at: https://www.audubon.org/conservation/join-christmas-bird-count.  

 

Thought For The Week

“Love is a powerful tool, and maybe, just maybe, before the last little town is corrupted and the last of the unroaded and undeveloped wildness is given over to dreams of profit, maybe it will be love, finally, love for the land for its own sake and for what it holds of beauty and joy and spiritual redemption, that will make [wildness] not a battlefield, but a revelation.” - T.H. Watkins