A Northwoods Almanac for 11/26/21

 A Northwoods Almanac for 11/26 – 12/9 /21   

Sightings – First Pine Grosbeaks and Common Redpolls

            November usually ushers in the first winter finch visitors from Canada, and this year has been no different. We saw our first pine grosbeaks feeding in one of our highbush cranberries on 11/18, and then saw our first common redpolls on 11/20 at our seed feeders.

female pine grosbeak feeding on crabapples, photo by John Bates

            For those of us who feed birds throughout the winter, these birds are eagerly awaited and deeply appreciated, because they are not a guaranteed thing every winter. A “Winter Finch Forecast” is put out annually by Tyler Hoar, from the Finch Research Network in Ontario, Canada, and his bottom line is that this should not be an irruption year though some southerly movement of most of the finches will occur. Along the southern edge of the boreal forest, a belt of good to bumper food crops are reported from Lake Superior eastward through Central Ontario, southern Quebec Atlantic Canada to Newfoundland, southward to Northern New England, and New York state.

            West of the Great Lakes, however, extreme drought and record-setting high temperatures this summer have played a significant part in their winter forecast. With over 2000 forest fires stretching from Northwestern Ontario to British Columbia, and severe droughts in wide areas westward from Lake Superior, food sources have been significantly impacted. 

             So, further west, many northern birds are going to have to move south to find food. But here in the Midwest and further east, most can stay put. For instance, with the excellent spruce, hemlock and eastern white cedar crop across southeastern Canada and Northeastern border states, most pine siskins in the east should remain in this area for the winter. Likewise, given that the seed crops on birches, alders and spruce are average to good,  most redpolls will likely stay north. 

common redpoll, photo by Bev Engstrom

And since there is a widespread good to excellent crop of mountain ash berries from Lake Superior eastward, most pine grosbeaks and bohemian waxwings will likely stay closer to home. 

bohemian waxwing, photo by Bev Engstrom

            Still, I bet we’ll get a smattering of all these species this winter, just not dozens at everyone’s feeders. When they do appear, their relative rarity will make their presence all the sweeter.

 

Snowy Owls – A Non-Irruption Year So Far

            Every few years, large numbers of snowy owls move into the state, an event known as an “irruption.” One of the largest irruptions in recent history was the winter of 2017-18, when 280 snowy owls were documented in Wisconsin. This winter the numbers look slimmer, according to Ryan Brady, Conservation Biologist for the WDNR’s Bureau of Natural Heritage Conservation: “As of November 15, only three snowy owls have been documented in Wisconsin this season, including the first in Burnett County on October 23, another in Sawyer on November 9, and the latest in Kewaunee on November 13. These low numbers are reflected elsewhere as eBird only shows three reports from Michigan, two in North Dakota, and none in Minnesota, as well as only a handful in New England and none in the western United States.

            “Such low totals by this date suggest an irruption is unlikely this year. For example, in the irruptions of 2014, 2015, and 2017, our statewide totals were already 28, 79, and 41, respectively. Meanwhile, in non-irruption years like 2016, 2018, 2019, and 2020, our totals were 2, 14, 3 and 2. The outlier, for those still hopeful of a big year, was 2013, which featured a huge irruption across Wisconsin and the eastern U.S., was also late to unfold and had only one owl in the state as of this date.”

             

snowy owl, photo by Bob Kovar

            If you want to see a snowy owl, you’ll almost certainly have to depart our forested lands for treeless places and wide-open landscapes that mimic the snowy owls’ nesting areas in the Arctic tundra. Airports, shorelines, and farm fields are typically the best areas. To track sightings around the state, visit the eBird website at ebird.org/wi and click on “Explore” to search a customizable map for sightings in Wisconsin.  

 

November Subtleties

            I wrote this 15 years ago, but I think it bears repeating:

            Appreciating the post-fall colors of November is for the most part an exercise in developing appreciation for the multiple shades of yellow and brown. The burgundy of red oak leaves and the deep greens of conifers offer some background contrast, but they play second fiddle during this brief snowless period to these yellow-browns that take on dozens of muted hues. 

            Sounds grow muted as well. The wind interprets what is left on the landscape, raspily singing in a brittle voice. It rushes through dry stems that no longer allow the summer wind to almost purr in its passage through green leaves.

            It’s easy to feel a deep melancholy in the threadbare skeleton that November presents. The decreasing daylight, the chill that comes through your coat, the heavy frosts, the gray skies—all of these carry some emotional weight for those of us who think about mortality. I think some of us run south for the winter not just to escape the cold, but to escape the feeling of loss that November exhales. 

But there’s cause for celebration, too—it’s just not as easy to find as it was in the overindulgence of summer. Buds have formed and are alive in every perennial plant, bristling from the tips of every branch, and embedded with all the life created in the biological storm of summer. Most mammals have put on fat, glossed up and thickened out their fur, while some, like male moose and deer, stumble exhaustedly into winter after a month-long hormonal rut that would make the writers of grocery store tabloids go faint. Arctic owls and songbirds glide in and take up residence in what to them must appear mild weather. Sunsets and sunrises seem more intense, the last blue on lakes more startling. Billions of seeds lie under leaves, awaiting the cycle of freezing and thawing to break open into new life. 

You can walk with regret or with gratitude in the brilliant leaves lining every trail; watch with sullenness or appreciation as the squirrels and chipmunks steal your bird food; hear the rattle of dry seeds as the death of the year or the promise of a new one; scowl at the cold or enjoy the warmth of the woodstove and the smell of oak fires.

Despite November’s somber tone, remember we’re alive, still part of it all, and hopefully, still wide open to the grace of every new day. 

 

Recommended Books for Christmas

            Here are my annual unsolicited, but at least free, thoughts on five great books to give for Christmas:

            Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest. Suzanne Simard is a pioneer on the frontier of plant communication and intelligence and has written a wonderful book on her path of discovering that trees actually communicate between one another.

            The Democracy of Species by Robin Wall Kimmerer. This slim 88-page book is part of the Penguin series “Green Ideas,” a collection of 20 short books on the environment. This series also includes similarly short books by Terry Tempest Williams, Wendell Berry, Jared Diamond, Edward O. Wilson, and others. I just learned about the series, so – full disclosure – I haven’t read any yet. But I’m betting the series is exceptional given the all-star team they’ve assembled.

            Earth’s Wild Music: Celebrating and Defending the Songs of the Natural World by Kathleen Dean Moore. One reviewer said this, “Every essay is a sortie into deep engagement with the natural world . . . Earth’s Wild Music is a lamentation, an exaltation, an impassioned indictment and most definitely a call to action.” I love the writing of Kathleen Dean Moore, so I recommend any of her earlier books as well.

            The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees by Douglas Tallamy. I’m always drawn to any writer who can tell the deep and complex stories of the lives of trees. Read Tallamy’s 2009 book Bringing Nature Home, too.  

            And Wisconsin’s Wild Lakes: A Guide to the Last Undeveloped Natural Lakes by John Bates. I rarely indulge in self-promotion in this column, but I’ve just released this book, today as a matter of fact, and I’m genuinely proud of both its quality and its exceptional color illustrations by Manitowoc artist Rebecca Jabs. If you enjoy paddling or sitting by a peaceful, wild lake, I think you’ll find this guide truly useful.   

 

Celestial Events

            We missed the lunar eclipse on the early morning of 11/19 due to complete cloud cover, which was unfortunate given the next two nights were crystal clear. Hopefully wherever you were the skies were clear and you got up to watch it.

            Marshes and lake shoreline edges are icing up now. According to Woody Hagge’s 45-year average ice-up date for Foster Lake in Hazelhurst, 11/27 should be the magic date. But lots depends on the size of the lake, wind speeds, the shape of the lake, and of course, the severity of our temperatures. Foster Lake now averages 140 days, or about 20 weeks, of ice-cover annually.

            We’re down to nine hours of daylight as of 11/29 as we continue our journey toward winter solstice on 12/21 when we will bottom-out at 8 hours and 39 minutes.

            The moon will be at perigee, its closest to the earth in 2021, on 12/4. If you live on an ocean coastline, this means bigger tides.

            Planet watching in December is mostly all about what’s visible after dusk. Look for Venus low in the southwest and setting after 7 p.m., Jupiter in the south-southwest and setting by 10p.m., and Saturn in the southwest and setting after 8 p.m.

            Mars can be seen before dawn very low in the southeast. Look for Mars just below the waning crescent moon on the morning of 12/2.

            The new moon occurs on 12/4. 

            Look for Venus nearly 2 degrees above the waxing crescent moon on 12/6.

 

Thought for the Week

            I love science and it pains me to think that so many are terrified of the subject or feel that choosing science means you cannot also choose compassion, or the arts, or be awed by nature. Science is not meant to cure us of mystery, but to reinvent and reinvigorate it. – Robert M. Sapolsky

 

Please share your outdoor sightings and thoughts: e-mail me 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.

 

A Northwoods Almanac for 11/12/21

A Northwoods Almanac for 11/12 – 25, 2021  by John Bates

 

Moose and Wolves on Isle Royale

            You may recall the controversy from 2015 regarding whether wolves should be reintroduced to Isle Royale National Park  in Lake Superior. After three years of evaluating various alternatives, wolves were finally reintroduced beginning in 2018. Recently, I was able to tune into a talk given by Dr. Rolf Peterson, who has studied Isle Royale’s wolves for 40 years, that summarized the current status of the reintroduction effort. If you want the official story from the NPS, check:

https://www.nps.gov/isro/learn/nature/upload/NPS-SUNY-ISRO_Web_Accessible_Isle-Royale-Wolf-Summary-Report-2018-2020_Compressed.pdf

            But here’s a much shorter synopsis. Wolves used to be able to cross the winter ice bridge from mainland Minnesota to populate Isle Royale. But an ice bridge now only occurs one year out of ten compared to eight years out of ten historically. The lack of mainland wolves to continually repopulate, and thus bring genetic variability, to the island led to genetic inbreeding, which led to the nearly complete demise of the wolf population on the island. The long-term average number of wolves was 22, and by 2015 there were just two, both related and unable to successfully breed new young. 

            The loss of the apex predator, the wolves, on the island led to an astronomical increase in moose. In 2005, moose numbered less than 500, but by 2015, their population had soared to over 2,000, or about 2 per square mile. The moose quickly began to overharvest balsam fir, their favorite browse, and decimated the fir, creating what was termed a “moose savannah” for its lack of fir trees. Ecologists estimate that the island can only support 500 moose before the island’s trees are negatively affected.

            Concurrently, beavers, another prey item of wolves, also began a population spurt, and increased fivefold between 2010 and 2020. The moose, meanwhile, proceeded to also decimate populations of watershield, a high protein aquatic plant, which created a host of problems in and around the ponds and lakes on the island by reducing shorelines to muddy pulps. By 2018, the ever-increasing beavers, who love watershield, too, began to run out of food, which resulted in a dramatic decline. Their numbers plummeted, causing the dams they usually maintain on ponds and lakes to fail, which led to water levels falling. The resultant mud pits left behind led to four moose getting stuck in the mud and dying. 

            All of this shows the need for an apex predator on the landscape to maintain population balances among prey species. Prey species need predators, just as predators need prey.

            So, what about the wolves? Nineteen wolves were eventually introduced: four from the Grand Portage Ojibwe Reservation in Minnesota, three from mainland Ontario, four from the U.P. of Michigan, and eight from Michipicoten Island in Lake Superior which had an overabundance of wolves (another fascinating story altogether). All the wolves were ear-tagged and radio-collared, and then released.

            The first female from Michipicoten had two pups in 2019, and in 2020, two other packs produced an unknown number of pups, because now Covid entered the picture, and research on the island ground to a halt. Likewise, Covid prevented adequate research to take place in 2021, but it’s believed another two or three litters were produced.

NPS photo

NPS photo

            And what of the 19 adults that were introduced to the island? Half have died – the average lifespan of an adult wolf is after all only four years.

            Fast forward to the present now that the wolves have arrived, and moose numbers are declining, and balsam fir is regrowing. How quickly the beaver population will rebound, however, is still unfolding.

            The primary lesson in all this, said Peterson, was that animal populations are self-regulating. The density of a population is regulated by its food supply, both for prey and predator species. It all comes down to an ever-fluctuating balance.

            Peterson also was asked about the wolf harvest in Wisconsin. He noted that wolf depredation on farm animals is real, but that the broad harvest of wolves doesn’t address the actual problems.

            

Camp Mercer CCC Interpretive Trail

            On 11/5, an event was held to celebrate the opening of the Camp Mercer CCC (Civilian Conservation Corp) Interpretive Trail, a collaborative project of the Northern Highlands American Legion (NHAL) State Forest, the Wisconsin Historical Society and state archaeologists, the Manitowish Waters Historical Society, and ICORE (Iron County Outdoor Recreation Enthusiasts). The new trail includes 23 interpretive signs along a 2.5 mile trail loop, which can be accessed from the Mercer Bike Trail near the Highway 51 wayside or from the west side of Manitowish River Access Road.

            Camp Mercer was established in 1933 along the banks of the Manitowish River as the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) 660th Company. At its peak, the camp housed over 200 men, and over its nine years represented individuals from 190 different Wisconsin communities. The camp served as one of 14 Wisconsin forestry camps that fought forest fires, planted trees, worked on soil erosion and conservation, improved lake and stream habitats, built bridges and roads, and much more. 

            President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) launched the CCC in the New Deal’s famous “First 100 Days” where he proposed to recruit thousands of unemployed young men into a peacetime army and send them into battle against the destruction of our natural resources. At its peak in 1935, the CCC enrolled 500,000 men at 2,600 camps across the country. 

         By the time the CCC program ended at the start of World War II, Roosevelt’s “Tree Army” had planted more than 3.5 billion trees on land made barren from fires, natural erosion, intensive agriculture or lumbering. In fact, the CCC was responsible for over half the reforestation, public and private, done in the nation’s history. They also constructed trails and shelters in more than 800 parks nationwide, helping to shape the modern national and state park systems we enjoy today. In total, there were 194 CCC work camps in 94 national parks and 697 camps in 881 state and local parks across the US.

         They also fought fires. The total number of hours logged by CCC firefighters from 1933 to 1942 was the equivalent of 6.5 million days. During the nine years that the CCC was operational, the annual acreage of U.S. forest lost to fire sunk to its lowest point ever, because tens of thousands of young CCC enrollees were employed as either full-time or emergency firefighters. Plus, CCC workers constructed more than 3,000 fire towers, many of which are still in use today. 

         Their work not only improved the land and water, it helped the men become more employable once they finished their service. Many corpsmen received supplemental basic and vocational education, and it’s estimated that some 57,000 illiterate men learned to read and write in CCC camps.

            As for the Mercer Camp, only one intact structure remains on the site – a dynamite shack – but visitors to the trail will see remnants of Camp Mercer’s roads and foundations as well as evidence of earlier logging camps and other activity. The superb interpretive signage helps visitors learn about the history of the site with photos and narratives describing life at Camp Mercer and the people who lived and worked there. 

            ICORE has entered into a land use agreement with the NHAL, and with help of  the Mercer Cross Country Ski Association (MECCA), will maintain the new Camp Mercer trail.

            The closest CCC camp to Camp Mercer was the Lac Du Flambeau CCC Indian Division Camp on Pokegama Lake. Wisconsin had six Ojibwa and one Ho Chunk Indian Division CCC camps during the New Deal.

 

Black Bear Dens

            Most black bears are denned-up by mid-November with only a few males still occasionally wandering around. Black bears’ favorite denning sites are in standing hollow trees, but few trees are allowed to reach the mature stage at which the center rots and becomes hollow. Such trees can be found in portions of the Boundary Waters Wilderness Canoe Area in northeastern Minnesota, especially where they were fire-scarred a half century or more ago.

            Rock crevices and caves are also used as dens, and can remain useable for centuries. Interestingly, they’re usually not used again by the same bear and usually not in successive years by any bears. The den that researchers in one study found being used the most during four decades of research was used three times, each time by a different bear, and each time after an interval of six years.

            Dens are also dug into hillsides or under the root system of a tree. The problem with dug dens is that they often collapse after use and therefore are seldom reused.

            Bears also may den under the crown of downed trees or in brushy slash piles, while some bears just rake up a bed on the ground near a windbreak. And a few males occasionally just lay on top of the snow and get covered by new snows.

            Lynn Rogers, well-known bear researcher, says that bears often make insulating beds by raking leaves, grass, moss, and other ground vegetation into the dens and arranging it to their liking. When those materials are unavailable, they may bite small branches off trees, strip the bark off cedar trees, or chew rotten wood into chips.

 

Celestial Events

            The peak Leonid Meteor Shower occurs during the predawn of 11/17 – expect around 15 meteors per hour. 

            The full moon – the “Ice is Forming” moon – occurs on 11/19. That same morning, a nearly total lunar eclipse – 97% covered by the earth’s shadow – takes place, with only a sliver of the moon outside the Earth’s shadow. Most of the moon is expected to turn a ruddy color. The partial eclipse begins at 1:18 a.m., and achieves its greatest eclipse just after 3 a.m. The show will end at 4:47, and will be the longest of this century at 3 hours and 28 minutes.

 

Thought for the Week

Knowing what I do, there would be no future peace for me if I kept silent. To sin by silence, when we should protest, makes cowards out of men. –  Rachel Carson in a letter to her closest friend Dorothy Freeman ninety days before the release of her 1962 book Silent Spring. 

 

Please share your outdoor sightings and thoughts: e-mail me 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.