A Northwoods Almanac for June 19 - July 2, 2026

 A Northwoods Almanac for June 19 - July 2, 2026  

The First Ripe Berries of the Summer

            We picked our first wild strawberries on 6/9. And so begins the delicious summer berry season, with Juneberries next to follow.

            I’ve quoted this before about strawberries, but it always bears repeating: “Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless, God never did.” - 17th-century English physician Dr. William Butler and popularized by Izaak Walton

            Many birds believe this as well. Strawberries are relished by a long list: ruffed grouse, wild turkey, red-bellied and red-headed woodpeckers, yellow-bellied sapsucker, northern flicker, eastern kingbird, blue jay, gray catbird, cedar waxwings, veeries, wood thrushes, brown thrashers, eastern towhees, northern cardinals, swamp and white-throated sparrows, and rose-breasted grosbeaks. 

            Then there are all the mammals, from mice to chipmunks to squirrels to snowshoe hares, and it’s lucky that any are left for the rest of us.

            

Dragonfly ID

            I find it difficult to identify many dragonfly species because of their very nuanced markings coupled with the occasional distinct differences between males and females and juveniles. 

            Two easy ones to identify are the adult male whitetail dragonfly and the chalk-fronted corporal dragonfly. The mature male whitetails have a strikingly all-white abdomen, while the chalk-fronted corporal has two broad, white “corporal” stripes on its thorax.

common whitetail dragonfly

            The whitetail is particularly territorial. Males display their white abdomens to establish dominance over intruding males, who lower their tails to signal their submission. Meanwhile, the female lays up to 1,000 eggs a day, and may mate every day or every other day. She strikes the water when she lays each egg while the male hovers above her to prevent intruders.

            The chalk-fronted corporals, on the other hand, are highly social and are often seen in large numbers along trails. I love seeing them out on Powell Marsh when the deer flies are doing laps around my head. They’ll pick them off one by one and eat them, and for that, I’m eternally grateful.

chalk-fronted corporal dragonfly

 

Turtles Laying Eggs, and Mammals Digging Them Up

            We saw our first painted turtles laying eggs on June 6^th, and snappers were not far behind. Snappers deposit on average 20 to 50 eggs into a 4 to 7-inch-deep hole, while painted turtles drop 4 to 8 eggs on average into a 3-inch-deep hole.

            Both females then tamp the dirt down over the nest and try to conceal the nest, but usually to no avail. Nearly all are dug up by raccoons, foxes, minks, or skunks, even thirteen-lined ground squirrels and moles, before the sun rises the next day, the scattered, wrinkled eggs looking like squished ping-pong balls. Nine out of 10 eggs never get a chance to incubate into a baby turtle and then hatch and run the gauntlet of survival to the nearest lake where they are met by yet more predators. Predation is more pronounced wherever more people live, because raccoons, in particular, do best around human habitation.

            I’m surprised any make it to adulthood. If a baby snapper does survive, it will be six years before he or she mates. Female painted turtles may take seven years until maturity.

 

Best Flower Fragrances of the Year

            Our three most fragrant wildflowers will all be in bloom in this period - wild rose, spreading dogbane, and common milkweed. 

 

Trumpeter Swan Cygnets Hatched

            Trumpeter swan eggs hatched in two locations we observed during the first week of June.  One clutch had six young, the other four. Turns out four to six is average, so these two pairs hit the median.

            Incubation takes around five weeks, so these trumpeters likely laid their eggs at the beginning of May. The chicks grow quickly, but won’t fledge for at least 3 months - so, first flights should be around the first or second week of September.

photo by Bev Engstrom

Goat’s Beard (Tragopogon pratensis)

            I like the name of this lovely yellow flower that we first saw come into bloom this year on 6/11. Tragos means “goat” and pogon means “beard.” “Beard” references the fuzzy seedhead that is produced after flowering, but the goat reference escapes me - maybe goats like eating it?

            The species name pratensis means “of the meadows.”

photo by John Bates 

            The foliage contains a bitter white latex that deters the consumption by mammalian herbivores.

            Another common name is “Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon.” The flower heads only open in the morning sunshine, and usually close by early afternoon, hence the name.

            The flower produces a fluffy ball that’s like a dandelion’s, only much larger. Each plant produces 100 to 850 one-seeded tiny fruits, each with a feathery umbrella to catch the wind.

            It’s a non-native, found across Europe (British Isles in particular) in fields and on roadsides. It’s not invasive around here to my knowledge, but other references say it can be aggressive and hard to remove.

            Beats me. I just know I see solitary flowers here and there, and I find them beautiful. 

 

Froghoppers - AKA Spittle Bugs

            Common names given to insects (and birds and fish and . . . ) can be, shall we say, creative, but right near the top of the list are the froghoppers.

pine spittlebug

            “Froghoppers” (family Cercopidae) got their name because of their wide, frog-like heads and bodies (you have to use your imagination), and their ability to make massive, powerful jumps to escape danger - they are said to jump hundreds of times their own body length!

            In their nymph stage, however, they are referred to as spittle bugs, an apt name given that the nymphs dwell within a foamy mass of aerated plant sap that could easily be construed as spit. The spit keeps them moist and insulated, and also conceals them from predators. Few predators would even think to wade through the glob of spittle in search of an easy meal!

            I know of two species in our area: the pine spittlebug, which is found in spittle masses above ground; and the Saratoga spittlebug, found in spittle masses below ground, on the roots of plants like sweet fern and blueberry and red pine.

            The spittlebug manufactures its spit by sucking juices from the host plant and mixing them with an ingredient from its abdomen. A clear mixture is then excreted, and air is blown through the liquid by a pump-like structure beneath the abdomen, producing bubbles one at a time until the liquid becomes a froth. 

            If you gently probe through the spit with your fingers, you will find the spittlebugs enjoying another day in a controlled environment. It's an unusual but apparently effective adaptation, though it doesn't offer the nymphs much of a view.

            Pine spittlebugs are not a significant problem, but the Saratoga adults feed on new shoots of red pines in particular, damaging the tissue with a toxic injection of saliva. Characteristically these pines look "flagged" with dead foliage, and may ultimately be killed.

            What to do about them? Well . . . nothing really. They’re harmless to people, and unless you’re growing a red pine plantation, you can just be entertained by yet another very odd evolutionary adaptation employed by insects to up their chances of survival.

 

The Iron County Bird Count

            Four years ago, a small group of birders in Iron County began conducting an annual spring bird count for the purpose of establishing a baseline for what birds breed in the county. The intent is to be able to compare future counts to these baselines to determine species that may be declining, remaining stable, or increasing. 

            This spring we counted birds on May 27 and 28 in a number of specific areas throughout the county that tend to be “hotspots.” These included a section of the Manitowish River, the Little Turtle Flowage, Gile Flowage, Saxon Harbor and Falls, the Saxon Sewage Treatment Ponds (yes, sewage treatment ponds are often hotspots for birds), Interstate Falls, and various backroads and backyards in varying habitats. 

            We observed 123 species, an excellent number, though our high was 137 in 2024, with our low last year of 114.

            Highlights included 22 species of warblers, our 7 common species of woodpeckers, and our 7 most likely nesting species of sparrows (white-throated, clay-colored, swamp, song, Savannah, house, and chipping - we missed Lincoln’s). Perhaps our most unusual songbird was a gray-cheeked thrush, which almost certainly was still in migration since none are known to nest in Wisconsin.

            We missed some relatively common birds like red-tailed hawk, American kestrel, black tern, brown creeper and golden-crowned kinglet, along with a number of duck species, but that’s pretty normal - it’s hit or miss on any given day.

            

Celestial Events

            The most important celestial event of this period is, of course, summer solstice, which occurs on 6/20. We’ll be the recipients of 15 hours and 44 minutes of possible sunshine. 

            The sunrise and sunset occur today (and yesterday actually) at their furthest north of the year. Today is also the year’s latest sunset, occurring at 8:53, which is 3 hours and 39 minutes later than the earliest sunset around winter solstice. The sun will continue to set at 8:53 until July 1, and then slowly begin setting earlier.

            Meanwhile, our sun will start rising later on 6/21, and our days officially begin growing shorter.

            The full moon - the “Strawberry/Rose Moon” - rises on 6/29, and is the southernmost and lowest full moon of the year.

 

Thought for the Week

            “If you stand still long enough to observe carefully the things around you, you will find beauty, and you will know wonder.” - N. Scott Momaday

 

 

A Northwoods Almanac for June 5-18, 2026

 A Northwoods Almanac for June 5-18, 2026  

 

A Very Birdy Late May!

            Each year, the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin hosts the state’s largest bird conservation fundraiser, the Great Wisconsin Birdathon. A birdathon is like a walk-a-thon fundraiser, but instead of logging miles walked, each competing team logs species of birds seen in one day and receives donations based on how many species they see.

            A local team named the Up North Hammerheads, consisting of members of the North Lakeland Discovery Bird Club, participates yearly, and this May 18, the Hammerheads benefitted from good spring weather, which, to say the least, isn’t always a given. They began at the tribal entrance to Powell Marsh at 5:50 AM, and then zipped around the Lakeland area’s top birding hotspots throughout the day, primarily in Vilas and Oneida Counties, finding birds wherever they went, and ending in downtown Minocqua at 5:35p.m.  You would think the team would have been exhausted by then, but they were excited and triumphant when they realized they’d smashed their previous Birdathon records with a total of 114 species for the day! 

            Some Birdathon highlights from Elizabeth Stone, a member of the team, included: At Pipke Park in Presque Isle, three green herons flew as a trio over the ponds. On Vandercook Road in Arbor Vitae/Woodruff, a Tennessee warbler was found taking a bath in a puddle in the middle of the road. And, further down Vandercook Road, when the team stopped in a young aspen stand to look for “young forest birds”, they were amazed to spot a squadron of nine American white pelicans flying overhead! As the day drew to a close, the team realized they still hadn’t seen an indigo bunting, a relatively common Northwoods bird, and then, lo and behold, they found one on a lawn in downtown Minocqua.  

            Two additional sightings made the Vilas County Rare Bird Alert that day: A LeConte’s sparrow and a pair of Wilson’s phalaropes, both identified at Powell Marsh Wildlife Area. 

Wilson's phalarope

            Sarah Besadny, the team leader for the Hammerheads, added these highlights: 

- We saw all seven of the “Wisconsin” woodpecker species except the two rarer species - black-backed and American three-toed.

- We saw 19 species of warblers

- We spotted three shorebirds with long bills and worked as a group to determine if they were long-billed dowitchers or short-billed dowitchers … and landed on short-billed.

- While walking down to the bridge at Chewelah Lake to look for barn swallows (a reliable spot for them on our Birdathon route), we saw not only the swallows but a bobolink perched at the top of some grasses near the lake edge.  

            Sarah noted that perhaps the greatest highlight was simply “getting outside on a perfect birding day - not too hot, not too windy, not too buggy, the leaves hadn’t really popped yet, and no rain! The variety of birds you can see in one day, the flash of color from Baltimore orioles/indigo buntings/northern yellow warblers/American redstarts, the surprise “finds”, the joy of seeing the same species in the same spots year after year - what a treat!!”

            If you would like to reward the Up North Hammerheads for their conservation efforts, you may do so through June 30 at the link: https://charity.pledgeit.org/WIBirdathon2026.   

            Funds raised go to bird protection efforts in the Lakeland area, to important bird areas throughout Wisconsin, and to vital winter habitat for our Wisconsin birds in Central and South America. 

 

Calla Lily

            Calla lilies came into flower on 5/26 in Powell Marsh. The unique brilliant white "petal" (actually a spathe) acts as a silky hood for the real flower, which is a golden club of tiny clustered flowers. If you pick a calla lily, you’re picking a bouquet of flowers. 

            Wild calla grows low to the ground with smooth, long stemmed, parallel veined leaves. The glossy heart-shaped leaves arise from long creeping stems which can also float, and which help calla to form large clonal colonies. The often pure stands of wild calla grace a dark-soiled wetland with a candle flame of white. 

            Wild calla usually flowers in June in bogs and shallow water margins - you're in good habitat if the mosquitoes run you out before you can even look for the callas. 

            The fruit forms a clustered head of brilliant red berries like Jack-in-the-pulpit. It’s said that the seeds and rootstocks, when dried, can be ground into an "unpalatable" but nutritious flour. Eaten raw, however, the tubers are acrid, causing an intense burning sensation in the mouth. One source (Lyons and Jordan) says the rootstalk must be “roasted for several hours, and then dried for six months before being ground into flour.” Seems like a rather long wait! Better to enjoy the brief beauty of the flower than destroy it for such a questionable culinary return.

            While the origin of “Calla” is uncertain, it is believed to come from the Greek kalos, meaning “beautiful.”  

            

Pink Lady’s Slippers  

            We saw our first pink lady’s slippers (Cypripedium acaule) in flower on 5/28 in a bog along the bike trail in Manitowish Waters. They’re relatively common in bogs and mossy hummocks, but also in sandy pine woods throughout much of the Northwoods. The seemingly dissimilar habitats have two things in common - both are acidic and both lack nitrogen. In fact, nitrogen appears to be toxic to some orchids.

            

photo by Rod Sharka

Pink lady's slipper is the only species of the five lady's-slippers whose pouch opens by a lengthwise slit - the other lady's-slippers openings are circular. A pollinating bee enters the one-way slit and tries to obtain nectar near the bottom of the slipper (there isn’t any - it’s false advertising!). But to return the way it came in is difficult because of the incurved edges of the pouch. So, the pink lady's-slipper has devised two small “windows” high up in the back of the pouch which let light in. The bee is thus “encouraged” to move through a passage to the lighted opening. On its way, it deposits pollen on the stigma, and then picks up new pollen from the anthers, all before it can exit through the “window.”

            Cypridpedium means “slipper of Venus” - Venus was the mythic goddess who was born on Cyprus, inspiring the Latin name for a flower of beauty equal to Venus herself. 

            The pink lady's-slipper has the honor of being the state flower of Minnesota. 

 

FOY (First-of-Year) Canadian Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly

            Mourning cloak butterflies are typically our first butterfly of the spring, but I always look forward to seeing the emergence of the first Canadian tiger swallowtail. This year we saw our first one on 5/25.

            With a wingspan of three to four inches and their broad black stripes on a yellow background, they are a beauty to behold. 

photo by John Bates

            The males emerge first and often congregate in large numbers to replenish fluids lost during their time in a chrysalis over the winter. This may be on wet sand or soil, or on fresh scat. 

            

Noise

            “Noise proves nothing. Often a hen who has merely laid an egg cackles as if she had laid an asteroid.” - Mark Twain

            As the peak of summer season rolls in, so does all manner of noise, usually from machines purposely designed to maximize their bellowing  - Harleys come to mind, as well as souped-up pickups or ATVs. 

            Firecrackers can be the worst of noises because they’re so startling - there’s no incoming roar to prepare you like from an oncoming motorcycle. It’s just a sudden explosion that scares the wits out of you. 

            I was young once - I do vaguely remember! I, too, thought it cool then to peel out from stop signs and race around in motor boats making big wakes. 

            I was thoughtless. If it even occurred to me that my noise and boat wakes might distress others, I apparently didn’t care or thought it was no big deal. 

            The older I’ve become, the more I appreciate quiet - the silence of a lakeshore, a forest, a paddle on a river. There’s certainly sound, but it’s not noise. It’s wind in the pines, water lapping on sand, the spiraling song of a hermit thrush, the call of a barred owl at night. It’s the natural world speaking its myriad voices. 

            One of the most beautiful writings on the sound of wind comes from John Eastman in a piece titled “The Ghost Forest”: 

            “Pine is the larynx of the wind. No other trees unravel, comb, and disperse moving air so thoroughly. Yet they also seem to concentrate the winds, wringing mosaics of sound from gale weather - voice echos, cries, sobs, conversations, maniacal calls. With the help of only slight imagination, they are the receiving stations to which all winds check in, filtering out their loads of B-flats, and F minors, processing auditory debris swept from all corners of the sound-bearing world.”

            Sigurd Olson in his book Listening Point wrote, “As I sat there on the rock, I realized that, in spite of the closeness of civilization and the changes that hemmed it in, this remnant of the old wilderness would speak to me of silence and solitude, of belonging and wonder and beauty. . . I named this place Listening Point because only when one comes to listen, only when one is aware and still, can things be seen and heard. Everyone has a listening point somewhere. It does not have to be in the north or close to the wilderness, but some place of quiet where the universe can be contemplated with awe.

            Olson writes in his book The Singing Wilderness, “The wilderness sings because it contains so much silence.”

            Paul Gruchow in his essay “The Healing Values of Wilderness” says, “We feel things when we are silent, and what we haven’t felt, we haven’t known.”

            Noise drowns the world. Silence amplifies it. May we appreciate the quiet moments and learn to be listeners.

            

Celestial Events

            On 6/9, look low in the west after dusk for Venus right above Jupiter.

            Though summer solstice occurs on 6/20, the year’s earliest sunrises begin on 6/10, rising at 5:08 in the morning. This is 3 hours and 32 minutes earlier than our latest sunrises that occur around winter solstice. Note that without daylight savings time, the sun would be rising at 4:08 AM.

            The new moon occurs on 6/14 - the next full moon will be on 6/29.            

 

Thought for the Week

            Yes, we still need fossil fuels. But “renewables offer something fossil fuels never did: stability and sovereignty. There are no embargoes, price shocks, or tariffs.” - Selwin Hart, UN envoy.