A Northwoods Almanac for April 29,2022

 A Northwoods Almanac for April 29 – May 12, 2022  

 

            (Please note that my deadline for sending this column is now one week prior to the paper’s publication, so, whatever I’m writing is a week behind – my apologies.)

 

Ice-Off – Still Waiting

            As of Friday, 4/22, nearly all the lakes in our area were still iced-up, though this may have changed in the ensuing week with our warming temperatures and high winds. According to Woody Hagge’s 49 years of data (1973-2021) on Foster Lake in Hazelhurst, most of our smaller lakes similar to Foster open on average around April 16. So, ice-off is definitely “behind schedule.”

            Late ice-off delays spawning for those fish species that lay eggs shortly after the ice departs (for instance, walleye, yellow perch and northern pike). It also delays the first chorusing of frogs, like spring peepers, wood frogs, and chorus frogs, though these early singers mate and lay their eggs mostly in ephemeral woodland ponds which open up more quickly. And it delays the return of various birds that utilize open water, like waterfowl and osprey. So, there are impacts, but none are serious to overall wildlife populations, at least that I’m aware of.

 

Sightings - Harriers

            We saw our first male harrier (marsh hawk) on 4/15 careening in a stiff wind across the marsh below our house in Manitowish. Harriers forage on the wing, and they are masters of the nuanced tilt of a wing to adjust direction and height in a strong wind. They course low and buoyantly over the ground, relying heavily on auditory and visual cues to capture prey. They’re an opportunistic predator, taking what’s available at the time and season, but they really put the fear of God into rodents like meadow voles and mice. They will also eat frogs, snakes, some smaller mammals like rabbits, and some birds, particularly recently fledged or in the nest. And they’ll even scavenge carcasses – one harrier was caught in a mammal trap baited with dead duck. But voles are their soup du jour. 

            Harriers have “sexually dimorphic” plumage, a rarity among birds of prey, which simply means the two genders look very different. The male is often called “the gray ghost.” It’s gray above, mostly white below, with black wing-tips, while the adult female is brown above, but buffy with brown streaks below. Typical of birds of prey, the females average about 50% heavier and are 12% larger than males.  

            Harriers are slim birds with long wings and tail, and long, slender legs. Their distinctive white rump patch helps make them quickly identifiable, as does their flight behavior over a marsh. If you can get a close enough look, their face appears owlish owing to a facial ruff (disc) similar in structure and function to that found in most owls.

 

Other Sightings – Bald Eagles, Sandhill Cranes, Waterfowl Galore, Sparrows

            We’ve been watching two eagles carrying branches and marsh grasses to two different nests just across the Manitowish River from our house. Ordinarily, eagles are incubating eggs by around April 1, so to still be repairing nests as late as 4/21 indicates these two eagles aren’t going to be reproducing this year. We’ve been watching one of these nests for decades, and the eagles have nearly always successfully raised chicks, so we’re speculating that the former pair are no longer with us, and this is a new pair.

            Sandhill cranes have been back for week. A hike out onto Powell Marsh on Earth Day, 4/22, yielded at least nine cranes. And for the first time in the 38 years we’ve lived in Manitowish, a pair of cranes walked up to some of our feeders and spent a half hour poking in the exposed duff. We’ve heard cranes every year, observed them in the nearby marshes, and watched them flying down the river, but never had them right next to the house.

sandhill cranes below our house in Manitowish

            Numerous species of sparrows have returned. In Manitowish, we saw song sparrows on 4/8, fox sparrows on 4/12, and a chipping sparrow on 4/21. Tree sparrows and white-throated sparrows should also have returned by the time you read this.

fox sparrow photo by Bev Engstrom

            As of 4/22, waterfowl are concentrated everywhere on what little open water exists. Bob Kovar in Manitowish Waters watched a flock of male common goldeneyes perform part of their complex courting display called a “head-throw,” with variations called the “slow head-throw-kick” and the “fast head-throw-kick” where the male thrusts his head straight upward, then lowers it backward to his rump with his bill pointed back way past vertical, at which point he utters a single, grating call, and thrusts his head rapidly forward (sometimes flicking it from one side to the other) while kicking water out with his feet.

goldeneye photo by Bob Kovar

            Well, men will do just about anything to attract females, but why a female goldeneye would be impressed by this is anyone’s guess. Still, the females also engage in a display called a “head-forward” display where she lowers and swings her neck and head forward in response to a leading male performing his head-throws. So, I guess everyone just has their own dance moves.

 

Pine branches as Habitat and Food

            I’ve seen lots of folks working hard to clear all the branches that fell from our early April ice storm. However, just a reminder – those branches can serve as cover for ground-nesting birds and small mammals. You might consider stacking some of the branches together to make a brush pile, which is good habitat for rabbits and hares.

            You many also have noticed how many deer are browsing these branches. So, for browsers hungry for the first greens of spring to appear, the branches are manna from heaven.

 

Yellow-rumped Warblers (Myrtles)

            It pays to be flexible in this world, and yellow-rumped warblers have taken that advice to heart. They’re the first wood warbler to return in the spring, and I’ve had four people now tell me that they’ve seen yellow-rumps on their property, and each one is eating something different. At Mitch Meyer’s home in Mercer, the yellow-rumps have been eating small pieces of peanuts. At Bob Kovar’s home in Manitowish Waters, they’re eating suet. And at two other homes, they’re licking sap dripping down the side of sugar maple trees or eating nyjer seeds.

            Yellow-rumps are thus one of the most ecologically generalized bird species in North America, and that’s a requirement if you’re going to migrate north in mid-April when there are very few insects and little else to eat. 

            Yellow-rumps were formerly considered two species, the myrtle warbler in the East and Audubon's warbler in the West, but now are fused into one species. Throw in their ability to digest the waxes in bayberries (Myrica spp.), and they become unique among warblers, allowing populations to winter in coastal areas as far north as Nova Scotia.

yellow-rumped warbler photo by Bev Engstrom

 

Mother’s Day Birds

            Right around Mother’s Day is the usual time for ruby-throated hummingbirds, Baltimore orioles, rose-breasted grosbeaks, and indigo buntings to first appear in our area. Get those hummingbird feeders ready and the oranges out for the orioles, because they’re coming!

 

World’s Oldest Known Common Loons 

            The world’s two oldest-known common loons once again have returned to Michigan, and if they choose each other as mates, it will mark a record 26 consecutive summers together for the pair.

            The male and female loons, named ABJ (“adult banded juvenile”) and Fe (pronounced “fay”), were seen on April 17 at Seney National Wildlife Refuge, the pair’s long-time breeding grounds in the Upper Peninsula. 

            The two birds are the world’s oldest documented common loons. ABJ was banded as a chick at the refuge in 1987, so researchers know his precise age: He will turn 35 this June. Fe was first banded at the refuge in 1990 as a mother, and because the youngest age of verified common loon reproduction is four, researchers can say she will be turning at least 36 this year.

            The pair’s species record-setting 32 hatched offspring might somewhat explain their remarkable fidelity to each other: Common loons don’t mate for life, but researchers have found that if two loons successfully hatch chicks together, they’re more likely to pair up again the following year.

            

Avian Flu

            The H5N1 strain of the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus, which is widespread in Europe, was first reported in North America in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Millions of chickens on commercial poultry farms have sickened and/or died from this highly virulent strain in recent months. The virus has also taken an unusual toll on raptors or birds of prey, including more than three dozen bald eagles. Waterfowl, which are natural hosts of avian flu, have been especially hard hit. The 763 reported wild bird infections, according to the U.S.D.A., include snow geese, northern shovelers, brown pelicans, and mallards.

            Avian flu poses little threat to people, but we all should still avoid direct contact with wild birds and their feces. 

            Some experts have advised people to take down bird feeders to reduce the spread of H5N1 in wild birds. But very few birds that use feeders, such as songbirds, have become infected with the virus – they’re considered at low risk for infection. So, it appears we can keep our feeders up, at least for now.

            Still, bird feeders can spread other pathogens and parasites, so it’s important to regularly clean the feeders with a 10% bleach solution, remove waste under the feeders, and move feeders around to different locations if you can.

 

Celestial Events

            In the hours before dawn on April 30, look in the southeast for Jupiter rising within 0.2 degrees of Venus.

            The new moon occurs on April 30.

            Look to the east in the hour or two before dawn on 5/5 for the peak Eta Aquarid meteor shower. You can expect about 20 per hour. You may also catch some meteors near dawn on 5/4 and 5/6. These meteors are one of two showers that occur with Earth passes through the trail of debris left behind by Halley’s Comet.

 

Thought for the Week

            Imagine that a flock of fifty swans are sporting before you, as they have more than once been in my sight, and you will feel, as I have felt, more happy and void of care than I can describe. —John James Audubon (1843) 

 

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 April 15 – 28, 2022

 A Northwoods Almanac for April 15 – 28, 2022   

The Necessity and Beauty of Death in Nature

            March and April are the starvation months for many species of wildlife that have barely hung on through a long winter, and now face death if the winter doesn’t retreat. Tim Van Deelen, professor in the Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, and the Beers-Bascom professor in Conservation at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, recently wrote beautifully about the impact of seemingly endless winter on whitetail deer. But importantly, he reminds us that for every loss, there’s gain; for every closed door, there’s opportunity:

            “Deer don’t so much as die during the depths of winter. They die during wan spring when nights are still cold and patchy scratchy corn snow lingers in the shadow parts. Some simply run out of energy before green-up. By April, spring has already tried for a bit, but winter is making a last heroic rally. Sufficient new growth has not yet arrived – and the late spring storms disproportionately, for many, sap a northern a deer’s depleted reserves beyond recovery. 

            “Starvation has a posture and a smell. They settle in on their own legs, covering with thick belly hair the thin limbs where their body heat leaks away. They crawl under a balsam thicket or the lee of a big tree or a patch of south-facing sunshine. They die with their heads reflected back on their elegant necks, rolled over to the uphill side. You can imagine the last-breath sacrifice gassing itself out like a ghost dissolving in the lonely dawn. At necropsy, their marrow looks like cranberry jelly, their livers are dark and thin, and their skin peels free from wasted bare muscle. It smells sweet and your hands are cold.

            “. . . Don’t look away though. This is how it works. Bear cubs are emerging with their mothers from winter dens, born during their mother’s hibernation and nursed on her fatty milk while she fasted. The deer carrion restores the mother bear to wean and feed the cubs. Wolf pups are on the way. Bobcat kittens. Crows and ravens find the starvation carcasses first, and then the coyotes and bears. Eagles peel away the drying hide with surgical precision. Songbirds pick at the bones and glean the insects that are attracted. Insects and microbes dismantle the leavings. Mineral-stressed rodents gnaw on the bones that then get brittle and dry – returning elementally to the soil. In the end its remnant hair and the deer’s last supper – acid-soaked rumen contents, that weather away in the rain.

            “The soil, that spot, then flushes with soft green plants in May and June. And a weanling fawn learns to graze…

            “Deer are at the hub of an economy of sunlight energy. Plants capture it and make it available. Deer aggregate it for a time and then, in death, they disperse it to fuel thousands of others’ lives – creeping, crawling, fluttering, flying, singing, surging, birthing, and growing.”

            To see Tim’s full essay, go to https://blog.reformedjournal.com/2022/03/31/cruelest-month/?fbclid=IwAR1KKsC8EBNkJGXsOTfSpmosTQBfS7Aw5Fj9TmfZaLNGvtz96njv1YPGD2U, or find it on Tim’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/tim.vandeelen.7

 

Redpolls!

            This winter, master bird bander Bruce Bacon banded 580 common redpolls at his home north of Mercer, and could have banded hundreds more, but he ended his banding in late March because he was running out of bands! Bruce told me that when he was banding earlier in the winter, around half of those he caught would be recaptures. But in the last few weeks of March, none were recaptures, indicating that redpolls were migrating north and only stopping briefly at feeders. Thus, it’s likely that the redpolls you see still congregating en masse at your feeders are new birds every day, just stopping in to refuel and then move on.

            Bruce certainly could have banded hundreds more, but 580 is a stunning number given that his home isn’t on any specific migratory path – it’s no different than the backyards of any of our homes in this area. So, if his home was attracting that many, how many more were passing through our area this winter?

             Common redpolls “irrupt” and come south for the winter in a marked pattern every two years, corresponding with low seed-availability in their breeding range or the more northern parts of their wintering range. Since 1960, with only one exception (1969), irruptions in most locations have been in even-numbered years. So, if this cycle continues, next year we should see few if any redpolls, but should again be inundated in 2024.

            Partners in Flight estimates the global breeding population of redpolls at 160 million, with 22% wintering in the U.S.

            

Salmonella

Given the enormous numbers of redpolls still present at our feeders, I’m concerned that salmonella infections could become a major issue. I’ve written about this before, but as a reminder, a bird infected by salmonella typically becomes very lethargic and puffs its feathers up like it’s very cold, eventually dying in a few days.                 

Birds contract salmonella through direct contact with infected birds or by consuming food or water contaminated by the feces of infected birds. So, all of us need to clean up the seed hulls under our feeders, change the water in our birdbaths frequently, and clean our bird feeders with a 10 percent bleach solution.

If you observe dead or sick birds at your feeders, take the feeders down, clean them, and then wait a week before starting to feed again. If you see dead or sick redpolls, keep your cats and dogs indoors, since with certain strains of salmonella, your animals could become infected through eating the affected birds. 

And if you see a dead bird, remove it immediately from your feeder areas. You can pick the bird up by using a plastic bag to avoid direct contact with the bird.

 

Pine Branches!

            Oh man, did an enormous number of pine branches break off during the last ice storm! Branches are still strewn all over the area awaiting a decent thaw so we can remove them from the deep snow.

            An ice storm like this amply demonstrates the differences between trees that have evolved with supple branches and those that haven’t. Spruces and balsam fir trees have adapted to bend but seldom break with the immense weight of ice, but red and white pines are more brittle and easily snap off, which is part of the reason that red and white pines are limited in their northern range to barely reach above the Canadian border.

            Hardwood trees didn’t lose near as many branches during the storm for the simple reason that most hardwoods drop all their leaves in the fall, and thus have less surface area upon which the ice can adhere. The exceptions within the hardwood family are the oaks and ironwoods which hang on to many of their leaves throughout the winter, a process called marcescence.” The term comes from the Latin, marcescere, and means “to fade,” the consequence of which is that the oaks and ironwoods were more prone to losing their branches during the ice storm.

 

Conservation Congress County Meetings

            At the 2022 DNR Spring Hearings and Wisconsin Conservation Congress (WCC) County Meetings that occurred on April 1, the public was presented with 63 questions ranging from walleye limits to wolf management. For the third consecutive year, the input was collected only online. 

            Questions that were/are of particular interest to me include whether people supported additional testing for PFAS levels in drinking water across Wisconsin? Whether we supported a wolf population goal of 350 or less wolves? Whether we favored the DNR and the NRB working with the Legislature to create a registration system and fee for canoes and kayaks? Whether we supported banning dogs from hunting wolves in Wisconsin, and for that matter, whether we supported the Conservation Congress working with the WDNR to develop and support a ban on all wildlife killing contests? 

            All answers to these questions are advisory only and help inform the DNR, Natural Resources Board and elected officials of public sentiment on topics. Unfortunately, this year's questionnaire was only open from April 11 through April 14, so I’m a day late in informing you of the meetings. However, you can submit your opinions anytime on these matters to the DNR Board – see https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/about/NRB/public.html.  I’d encourage you to do so, because the number of responses is often used to justify a particular policy.

 

Snow Fleas

            Billions, and I mean billions, of snow fleas have been covering the snow over the last few weeks. There can be 250 million in a square acre, so these number aren’t exaggerations. I’ve written about them before, but just for your recall, they’re not fleas, but rather “springtails,” so named because of the spring-like tail appendage called a furcula that can launch them many feet through the air.

            They’re “good guys (and gals),” feeding on decaying matter in the soil, and thus playing an important part in natural decomposition.

            Snow fleas can withstand winter temperatures thanks to a glycine-rich antifreeze protein, which binds to ice crystals as they start to form, preventing the crystals from growing larger.

            They’re tiny black flecks on the snow, looking like bits of dirt or sprinkled pepper. Why they rise through the decaying snowpack in late March and April is likely due to the need to reproduce and diversify the gene pool, and they certainly have plenty of mates to choose from.

 

Sightings

            4/1: The Manitowish River finally opened, several weeks later than average.

            4/3: We saw our first woodcock of the year. Rosie Richter in Mercer reported seeing the first-of-the year merlin in our area, and she heard a sandhill crane.

            4/8: Mitch Meyer in Mercer reported an exceptionally early yellow-rumped warbler eating tiny peanut pieces at his feeders.

            And waterfowl are returning as rivers and creeks have opened. In the first week of April, we saw hooded mergansers, pied-billed grebes, common goldeneyes, and buffleheads, along with many Canada geese and trumpeter swans.

 

Celestial Events

            The full moon occurs on 4/16. This day also marks the average ice-out date for Foster Lake in Hazelhurst, according to Woody Hagge’s 49 years of ice data. Most smaller lakes in our area would fall within this same average date.

            The peak Lyrid meteor shower occurs during the predawn hours of 4/22.

            Our days are growing longer now by three minutes every day – we hit 14 hours of daylight as of 4/24.

            On 4/25, look before dawn for Mars 4° above the waning crescent moon. And on 4/26, look for Venus to have changed places with Mars at 4° above the moon.

 

Thought for the Week

            “What we are hearing beyond the promise of April, is the exuberance of life itself.” – 

Hal Borland, Twelve Moons of the Year

            

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 April 1 – 14, 2022

 A Northwoods Almanac for April 1 – 14, 2022  

 

First-of-the-Years

            One of the many pleasures of spring arriving is the concurrent arrival of the first-of-the-year (FOY) migrant birds. We hit 52° on 3/16, and along with that warmth came our FOY red-winged blackbirds, followed the next day, 3/17, by our FOY common grackle. Our FOY robins and Canada geese appeared on 3/20. A chipmunk poked up out of the snow on 3/21, and our FOY dark-eyed junco arrived on 3/23. 

            Nancy Burns in Manitowish Waters reported her FOY hooded mergansers on the Manitowish River on 3/22.

            All of them were likely rueful of their haste when a heavy blanket of wet snow descended upon us on 3/23 and 3/24, but such are the risks of those who want to secure the best territories. 

            As for birds that are continuing at our feeders, we remain inundated with common redpolls, as does just about anyone we know that feeds birds. Many people are reporting one hundred or more at their feeders! When a far northern Canadian bird like the common redpoll descends upon us in these numbers during the winter, birders call it an “irruption” year. You could also describe it as an “eruption” year, because like a volcano, they just keep on coming.    

 

Eagle Migration

            On 3/17/22, bird counters at Hawk Ridge in Duluth tallied 1,206 bald eagles, a new daily migration count record This broke their previous record from 3/21/19 with 1,076 Bald Eagles counted in one day. The lead counter reported it as a remarkable flight with huge kettles of birds coursing through all day. 

            Bald eagles are early breeders. Ron Eckstein, retired DNR wildlife manager and the eagle expert for our area, always told me that on average eagles are incubating eggs by April 1, the eggs hatch around May 1, and young have fledged by August 1. BTW, bald eagles now nest in all 72 counties of Wisconsin – quite the success story!

            The Hawk Ridge spring count starts March 1 and continues daily (weather pending) through May 31. The timing of species arrival is the reverse of what it is in the fall with the first arrivals in spring being the larger raptors like eagles and rough-legged hawks. Red-tailed hawks arrive soon after, and then broad-winged and sharp-shinned hawks begin showing up in April.

             

Golden Eagle Survey

            The counters at Hawk Ridge also tallied 41 golden eagles on 3/17. In a previous column I had mentioned that the Wintering Golden Eagle Count survey takes place in mid-January in the western part of the state. The final tally for this year’s survey was 99 golden eagles found by 195 surveyors, a bit below the average number for the survey. The number of bald eagles, however, was the second highest in the 18-year history of the survey, and the numbers for red-tailed hawks at 866 and rough-legged hawks at 199 were the highest in the survey's history.

 

Widespread Lead Poisoning in Eagles

            A first-of-its-kind, eight-year study led by scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, Conservation Science Global, Inc., and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, evaluated lead exposure in bald and golden eagles from 2010 to 2018, and found widespread and frequent lead poisoning impacting both species’ populations. Using samples from 1,210 eagles over 38 U.S. states including Alaska, the researchers found almost 50 percent of the birds sampled showed evidence of repeated exposure to lead. 

            Short-term exposure was more frequent in winter months, largely because both eagle species scavenge more during the winter months when live prey is harder to find. Lead poisoning typically occurs when an eagle eats lead ammunition fragments lodged inside an animal carcass or in gut piles left behind by hunters. The frequency of chronic lead poisoning found in both species increased with age because lead bioaccumulates in bone as eagles are repeatedly exposed to the heavy metal throughout their lives.

 

Landmark Study on How Migrating Birds Use Magnetic Fields as a Map

            Migrating birds use many navigational cues in precisely returning to their home grounds, among them sight, the location of the sun, landscape formations, and even the stars. Most remarkably, however, they are endowed with a biological compass that helps them follow Earth’s magnetic field.

            But how? 

            This is so complicated that the researchers say “This is about as close to magic as possible.” Scientists already know there are three components of our planet’s magnetic field that play a role in helping birds navigate during their migrations: 

·      Intensity, which is the magnetic field’s strength 

·      Declination, or the angle between the Earth’s magnetic North (which varies with the magnetic field, and is what compass needles point to) and true North (a fixed point)

·      Inclination, which is the angle between the Earth’s magnetic field and its surface. 

            However, here’s what a new study recently published in the journal Science found. The researchers discovered that a specific aspect of our magnetic field, the magnetic inclination, is what informs a bird most during migration. It serves as the magnetic address, or stop sign, for for birds as to when and where to come down to breed.

            But how do birds sense magnetic inclination? 

            “The answer is almost unbelievable,” says the lead researcher. “It’s not unreasonable to suggest birds can see the Earth’s magnetic field.” 

            As best as is understood currently, it works this way: In birds’ eyes, a light-dependent reaction yields a chemical that’s proportional to the environment’s active magnetic fields. As the birds move their heads through the field, the chemical reaction fluctuates. The chemical reaction in the eyes sends a signal to the brain to interpret it, and the sensor is located in the visual system of the birds’ brains. 

            The researchers figured this out by considering how the planet’s magnetic field isn’t fixed – it moves. In fact, since 1831, the magnetic north pole has shifted more than 600 miles. So, they reasoned, if birds use the planet’s magnetic field to return to their breeding sites, then it stands to reason a shifting field should mean that breeding sites shift, too.

            The researchers studied 80 years of breeding data for Eurasian reed warblers and discovered that while the birds usually arrive at the same site year after year, sometimes they’re slightly off. And when they are, it’s typically in the same direction that the inclination angle has moved, which strongly suggests that the Eurasian warbler are tracking magnetic inclination to navigate.

             Since the magnetic field moves, it’s not the most precise map, but it’s detectable around the world and guides migratory birds most of the way, often within feet of where they were raised or where they now breed. Once they’re in the vicinity, they likely use the sight of a familiar lake or tree to find the right spot. 

            There’s more to it than just inclination, however. Previous research suggests that birds can pinpoint their location at any point within a magnetic map of the world, what’s called “true navigation,” even if they’re displaced thousands of miles, whereas inclination only signals when birds should stop.

            One way or another, I concur with the researcher’s summary statement – it’s as close to magic as anything we know.

 

Celestial Events

            The new moon occurs on April 1. Look before dawn on 4/4 for Saturn and Mars, separated by just half a degree (the width of a full moon), with Venus just to their east.

            We are blessed with 13 hours of sunlight as of 4/5.

            For planet watching in April, look before dawn for Venus, Mars, and Saturn all rising low in the east southeast. Jupiter will also be rising, but more to the East.

            For planet-watching after dusk, only Mercury makes an appearance. Look in the northwest, but not until mid-April.

 

Artic Sea Ice

            During the 2020-2021 winter, the Arctic likely had its thinnest sea ice on record, with old ice in the Arctic Ocean plummeting to a tiny fraction of what it once was.

 

Thought for the Week – On the Metaphor of Wintering

            “When you start tuning in to winter, you realize that we live through a thousand winters in our lives –  some big, some small … Some winters creep up on us so slowly that they have infiltrated every part of our lives before we truly feel them.

            “We are in the habit of imagining our lives to be linear, a long march from birth to death in which we mass our powers, only to surrender them again, all the while slowly losing our youthful beauty. This is a brutal untruth. Life meanders like a path through the woods. We have seasons when we flourish and seasons when the leaves fall from us, revealing our bare bones. Given time, they grow again.” – Katherine May (Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times)                

 

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.