A Northwoods Almanac for 10/23/26

 A Northwoods Almanac for 10/23 - 11/5/26   

 

Monarchs Have Reached Mexico!

            Three monarchs carrying BlūMorpho transmitters were detected in the state of Coahuila, Mexico, late on the afternoon of Monday, Oct. 5, between 1,400 and 1,640 miles from their release sites in Manitoba, Minnesota, and Ontario. All three were detected within 48 minutes of each other through Blū+, the tracking network that lets everyday phones, tablets and computers, along with Motus-compatible receiver stations, pick up a tagged monarch as it passes.

            These monarchs were fitted with solar-powered tags that weigh just 60 milligrams (about as much as a grain of rice), with a transmitter that operates at 2.4 GHz (Bluetooth frequency), allowing them to be detected passively by everyday smartphones as monarchs pass within range. Each time a monarch is detected by a phone, it gives additional data about that monarch’s migration path.

            This incredible technology was first employed in 2025, when after years of development, over 400 monarchs were tagged by more than 30 organizations, allowing researchers to pinpoint monarchs’ individual movements along their migration paths. 

            In 2026, 1,069 monarchs were fitted with BlūMorpho solar transmitters during the fall migration in Canada and the United States. In Nebraska, Monarch Joint Venture worked with Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission to bring radio-tracking technology to a statewide scale, deploying 95 radio transmitters across eastern, central, and western Nebraska.

            In Wisconsin, 73 transmitters were deployed by the following organizations: Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance at Goose Pond Sanctuary (30), by Beaver Creek Reserve near Eau Claire (20), by Urban Ecology Center in Milwaukee (14), by Xerces Society in the Madison area (5), and by the University of Wisconsin–Madison Biocore program (4).

            You can follow all the current tagged monarchs as they fly thousands of miles across North America. Go to the Project Monarch web app, or download the app for iPhone or Android (https://projectmonarch.org/app). 

            Once you open the app, hundreds of monarchs will appear on your screen, but don’t get overwhelmed. You can filter the monarchs by tagging year, monarchs that have been active in the last day, week, or month, and by tagging organization, like the Monarch Joint Venture, or by selecting “Wisconsin” for those tagged here.

            It was not until 1975 or 1976 that monarch researchers located the monarchs’ wintering areas in the oyamel fir forests west of Mexico City. Beginning in the early 1990s, over 3 million monarchs were then tagged with sticker tags to try and determine their routes. Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance and their partners tagged more than 11,000 monarchs with sticker tags. Over the years, however, only 60 of their tags were recovered on monarchs on their wintering grounds in Mexico. 

            Given the very low percentage of recoveries of the tags, the transmitter technology was deemed necessary if researchers were going to truly learn the routes taken by monarchs.

            Monarchs usually begin reaching the overwintering sites as October turns to November, so it won't be long before reports come in of the first monarchs arriving in the oyamel fir forests.

 

Transforming Golf Courses into Nature Preserves

            I love this: Worldwide, closed golf courses are being transformed into nature preserves. 

            A former golf course on England’s coast was recently transformed into a wetland nature reserve that’s already drawing rare birds. The National Trust bought the Lincolnshire course in 2020, planted over 35,000 shrubs, and dug out a new wetland the size of about 45 football fields. Now called National Trust Sandiland, even before the project was finished, avocets and oystercatchers began nesting and breeding there, little ringed plover chicks were spotted for a second straight year, and other endangered and/or rare species now rest, feed, and breed there. 

            In Australia, the Elsternwick Park golf course was rewilded and transformed into a comprehensive wetland system with the reintroduction of 100 indigenous plant species.

            In Colorado, the Common Ground Golf Course swapped in native wildflowers and recycled wastewater, resulting in 40 bird species recorded on its grounds in a single day. Importantly, it remains a golf course, so it’s an example of dual use.

            In Wisconsin, the Glacial Lakes Land Trust hold an easement on the 65-acre former Emerald Hills Golf Course, now established as the Van Der Brohe Arboretum in 2018. The existing conservation easement ensures the property will forever remain a place for nature, wildlife, and the community to coexist. This permanent protection helps preserve forests, wetlands, grasslands, and hardwood bogs within the East Twin River watershed and along the important Lake Michigan migratory flyway, providing vital habitat for more than 130 bird species and many native plants and animals. 

            An additional 45-acre easement was donated in February to bring the arboretum to 110 acres.

            Along Lake Michigan in the town of Belgium, the 116-acre Forest Beach Migratory Preserve was once a golf course slated for development. Today, the preserve is protected by the Restoring Lands Land Trust, and is in the process of being rewilded for migratory birds along the Lake Michigan coast. The preserve hosts a “patchwork quilt” of habitats that support birds, reptiles, amphibians, mammals, and other wildlife. A viewing platform offers views of Lake Michigan and a chance to spot birds moving north and south along the coast, and a mowed 2.71-mile trail system invites visitors to meander through the preserve.    

            With golf courses covering 2.24 million acres in the US alone, an area larger than Delaware, changes like these could make a big difference for wildlife. Wisconsin has 528 golf courses covering approximately 73,000 acres, depending on what source you read. 

            I have nothing against golf - my father loved to golf - but if any courses become economically unsustainable, it’s heartening to know there are many models existing today for how the courses can be rewilded.

 

Leaves Are Coming Down, So Mulch Them!

            It remains a mystery to me why so many people rake or blow leaves into piles, then bag and haul them away when you can so easily chop them into pieces with a lawnmower and mulch them into your lawn. We’ve done this for decades on our property, and while no one will accuse us of having a picture-perfect lavish lawn, the nutrients stay put and the grass grows just fine.

            The only caveat is that in some yards, you can have too many leaves to mulch, and you can end up with a thick mat of leaves that can suffocate the grass. So, just use common sense. Rake some off if the confetti layer seems too thick. Otherwise, let nature do what is has always done, which is decompose the leaves back into the soil. The leaves also help retain moisture in the soil, which given our current drought makes a ton of sense.

            Less work, less time, greater benefits for your property - simple.

 

Clubmosses Spreading Golden Spores

            Many clubmosses (Lycopodiums) throughout northern Wisconsin are currently shedding their dust-like spores via October winds. 

            Clubmosses like princess pine (Dendrolycopodium obscurum) superficially resemble a conifer seedling to a casual observer, but clubmosses seldom grow taller than 6 inches and they produce spores - not cones with seeds. Those who think clubmosses are tiny pine trees must wonder why they never grow up.

            In late summer and early fall, little club-shaped structures grow from the tips of the shoots. Each of these “clubs” packs thousands of spores, and if you just tap one of them when they're ripe, a yellow powder billows out, catches any wind present, and the spores float to their new homestead site in the woods. Some of the clubs arise on slender stalks that look like a candelabra setting for a romantic vole's dinner.

            Clubmosses are perennials, and also vegetatively reproduce by sending out “runners” along or just below the ground surface that root down at intervals. New shoots may pop up at the roots, or the stem just continues to elongate further, walking itself slowly through the woods while the tail end dies off.

            Deer don’t eat clubmosses, so they can end up playing a relatively important ecological role on the forest floor. Mats of clubmoss hold soil in place and prevent erosion, especially on slopes. They maintain soil moisture and reduce temperature fluctuations, creating a stable, sheltered microhabitat for fungi, microorganisms, invertebrates, and small animals. Thus, clubmosses can improve the soil and facilitate the growth of other plants.

            The clubmoss reproductive cycle takes 17 or so years for the spores to grow through their alternate life stage and into the next generation spore-bearing plant. So, please think twice before picking them.

            

American Beech Trees

            Last week, Mary and I were over in Petoskey, Michigan, and we hiked a trail where hundreds of American beech trees were dying. Hundreds more were already dead but still standing, while many more had fallen and were laying on the forest floor and decomposing. Beech Bark Disease (BBD), an invasive scale insect followed by a canker-causing fungus, appeared to be the cause. 

            BBD has scarred and reduced mature beech populations since the 1930s, leaving behind dense, low-value thickets of root sprouts. Millions of beech trees across Michigan - particularly in the eastern Upper Peninsula and parts of the Lower Peninsula - have been killed by BBD. At present, there is no large-scale treatment for beech bark disease.

            But the destruction could also have been from beech leaf disease (BLD), which is caused by an invasive foliar nematode (Litylenchus crenatae ssp. mccannii), first discovered in Ohio in 2012. The nematodes burrow into winter buds and feed on leaves, causing dark green or black striping/banding between the leaf veins, shriveling the leaves, and blocking photosynthesis. It has spread across 15 U.S. states and parts of Canada, and is nearly 100% fatal, killing saplings in 1 to 3 years and mature trees in 4 to 10 years.

            In Wisconsin, American beech trees are primarily confined to the eastern part of the state, representing a minor component of northern hardwood forests with an estimated 18 million trees across 4 million acres. Beech are found almost exclusively in eastern Wisconsin and counties bordering Lake Michigan and Green Bay extending up to 75 miles west. 

            BBD was first found in Door County in 2009, where it has caused extensive beech decline and mortality. As of 2025, it has also been confirmed in Menominee County, which is the furthest west that beech is found in Wisconsin. 

            The only good news is that as of 2026, no confirmed discoveries of BLD have been made in Wisconsin. However, when it does arrive, like BBD, there also is no large-scale treatment for beech leaf disease.

            It’s truly sad to see so many of these beautiful trees dying. The forest understory, however, is loaded with young beech trees, so if a “cure” can be found for the diseases, there are millions of young trees waiting in the shadows to prosper.

A large American beech still healthy

Celestial Events

            The full moon - the Falling Leaves or Hunter’s moon - occurs on 10/25. 

            On 11/2, look before dawn for Jupiter just north of the waning crescent moon, while Mars will be just below the moon.

 

Thought for the Week

            “I sometimes think that the other months were constituted mainly as a fitting interlude between Octobers . . .” - Aldo Leopold, “Red Lanterns,” A Sand County Almanac

 

Please share your outdoor sightings and thoughts: e-mail me at johnbates2828@gmail.com, call 715-892-9697, snail-mail at 4245N State Highway 47, Mercer, WI, or see my blog at www.manitowishriver.blogspot.com

 

A Northwoods Almanac for 10/9 - 22/26

 A Northwoods Almanac for 10/9 - 22/26  

 

Bird Migration - Thousands of Robins 

            Every late September, a large flock of robins descends upon our property and gobbles down every berry on every tree and shrub we have (except for highbush cranberries, which they disdain for some reason). We’ve planted an array of fruits trees and shrubs (crabapples, mountain ashes, winterberries, elderberries, juneberries, chokecherries, nannyberries, and three species of dogwoods) to provide food for wintering birds, but the robins are like marauders who take what they want, and when there’s nothing left, leave town. 

            It’s frustrating, but who am I to tell the robins that don’t need the fruits as much as the wintering birds to come? 

            And prior to the robins appearing, a flock of cedar waxwings came through, as they do every mid -September preceding the robins, and took their fill.

            I’ve planted another eight mountain ash trees in hopes of having so many berries that the robins and waxwings eventually leave too full to eat the entire crop.      

            Meanwhile over Hawk Ridge in Duluth on 9/28, 11,104 American robins crossed, as well as 6,537 yellow-rumped warblers.

 

Blue Jays Migrating

            And then there are the blue jays. The counters tallied 65,000+ flapping over the ridge in August and September, with a daily high of 13,427. 

            Where are the blue jays going, and how far do they go? Well, surprisingly, it’s poorly understood. The distance traveled by the migrants varies, and, in many areas, most of the jays appear to be resident year-round. One researcher concluded that the proportion that migrates is probably not more than 20% of the population even in northern parts of the range, which is the Northwoods of Wisconsin and a little ways into Canada.

 

Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii)

            Mary, Callie, and I hiked in an area of the Powell Marsh which was planted years ago with prairie plants. Big bluestem has really taken over, and it’s gorgeous! Big bluestem turns a golden yellow in late September, and when the flat light of a sunset hits it just right, it lights up in a blaze.

in the big bluestem

            If you’re not familiar with big bluestem, it’s a very tall native perennial prairie grass that reaches up to ten feet. Many of the stems at Powell were around seven feet - well over my head. 

            Big Bluestem is the star component of the “Big Four” native grass species that characterize the tallgrass prairies of central North America (the other three are Indiangrass, switchgrass, and little bluestem.) It used to be abundant in native prairies, but cattle love it so much that some ranchers refer to it as “ice cream for cows.” It did best on lands where the seasonal grazing of migratory bison moved the animals around enough that it didn’t get overgrazed. 

            The main roots go 6 to 10 feet deep, and the plants send out strong, tough rhizomes, so it forms a very strong sod. It blooms in the summer and seeds into the fall with the inflorescence somewhat resembling a wild turkey's foot. 

            Big bluestem offers habitat for a host of insects, including many butterflies, all of which adds up to good habitat for birds, too.

 

Milkweed Seeds

            Milkweed pods are breaking open around this time, sending hundreds of seeds out, each arranged on a silky filament so if the wind comes up, they can carry a long ways. 

            If you want to plant some seeds, this is the time. Most species of milkweed require their seeds to endure a period of cool weather, followed by the warm weather of spring before they will germinate (a process known as cold stratification). For this reason, milkweed seed is best sown in fall, and then all you can do is wait until spring for the magic to happen.

 

Popping Jewelweed Pods and Using the Stem Juice for Skin Rashes

            Jewelweed seeds grow in an elongated capsule, which when ripe, bursts open at the slightest touch, delighting the child in all of us. The seed pods have five valves which coil back rapidly to eject the seeds in a process called explosive dehiscence, a fancy term for the splitting or bursting open of a closed structure. This reaction is where the name “touch-me-not” comes from; in mature seed pods, the seeds pop out easily, triggered by a light touch.

            The juice of the leaves and stems is a traditional Native American remedy for skin rashes from poison ivy, a use supported by a peer-reviewed study showing that its effectiveness is likely due to the plant containing saponins (see the Journal of Ethnopharmacology, August 30, 2012, “The effectiveness of jewelweed, Impatiens capensis, the related cultivar I. balsamina and the component, lawsone in preventing post poison ivy exposure contact dermatitis”). 

            In the study, poison ivy was brushed onto forearms of volunteers in six locations (who would volunteer for this?) and exposed areas were treated with jewelweed extracts, fresh plant mashes, soaps made of plant extracts, water, even Dawn dish soap. Rash development was scored on a scale of 0–14, and jewelweed was found to be effective in reducing poison ivy dermatitis.

            On the other hand, these studies also found that some individuals have a sensitivity to jewelweed which can cause a more severe rash.

            The last time I had poison ivy, and/or touched stinging nettle, I applied jewelweed and while it had some effect, it was nothing dramatic. 

            But everyone’s different. Give it a try and see if it works for you.

 

Acorns!

            Like last year, hiking along any trail this fall that’s lined by red oaks is like walking on a bunch of marbles - there are thousands of acorns littering the trails.

            These heavy “mast” years typically occur every four years, but the trees apparently didn’t get the memo.

            The deer, bears, squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons, turkeys, blue jays, grouse, wood ducks, woodpeckers, you name it, don’t mind at all.

Severe Drought Impacting Rivers and Lakes

            The Manitowish River has been little more than a creek this summer due to the extreme drought in our area, but now it’s in flood as the Manitowish Waters chain of ten lakes is drawn down three feet six inches and emptied into the Manitowish. Comprising some 4,200 acres of surface water, that’s a lot of water from the chain of lakes to dump into a small river over the course of a few weeks. Thus the flooding.

            This happens every fall to protect people’s piers. From an ecological standpoint, this is the exact opposite of when natural flooding occurs, which is in the spring as the snow melts and the ice goes off the lakes. 

            This year, however, the release may be more positive than negative given the extreme dearth of water in the main channel and the wetlands. 

            But given the super El Niño forecast to take place, it may bode poorly for next spring when the lakes have to be refilled again. A warmer winter means less ice cover for a shorter duration, as well as less snow, all of which adds up to greater early spring evaporation and less available snowmelt to flow into the rivers and streams to fill the lakes.

            Now, no one knows what will actually happen this winter or spring - forecasts obviously aren’t absolutes -  but I worry that this will be the way the spring goes.

            I mention this as a warning to folks that given the drawdown, the likelihood of marginal snowmelt, and the continuation of our drought, there may not be enough water to refill the chain and, equally importantly, still maintain minimum water levels downstream.

            This inability to fill the chain has happened several times over the last few decades, and the blame has been mistakenly assigned to the DNR and even the Tribes. Both have nothing to do with it. This is news to most folks, but the DNR does not really manage the Rest Lake dam. That authority was taken from the DNR in 2015 when the state’s budget-writing committee took control of the dam’s operating rules from the DNR and gave it to the legislature. That effectively ensured no major changes would be made to its management. Sen. Tom Tiffany inserted the item into a last-minute budget provision.

            A MOU (Memorandum of Understanding, which is not legally binding) between the DNR and Xcel Energy, the dam’s owner, now governs its flow. MOUs are nearly nonexistent elsewhere in Wisconsin dam operations. The problem with the MOU is that it allows Xcel to only release 20 cubic feet per second (it used to be 50 cfs) over the dam in drought conditions while maintaining as close as possible full pools in the lakes. 

            The larger issue is that if the drawdown is inflexible - if it always has to be three and a half feet no matter the year - it creates for the chain, and the river, a constraint that can’t be overcome in a severe drought, and now in a super El Niño. 

            All to protect docks.

            We’ll see how it goes and hope for spring rains.

 

Celestial Events

            The new moon occurs on 10/10.

            After dusk on 10/22, look for Venus three degrees below the waxing sliver moon.

            The Orionid meteor shower will peak overnight from October 21 to 22 and shoot up to 20 meteors per hour under dark skies. The event is known for its bright, fast meteors, which can create vivid trains as they collide with Earth’s atmosphere. 

            The show appears to originate from the Orion constellation. While this year’s Orionids peak coincides with a luminous waxing gibbous moon, the orb will set a few hours before dawn, the perfect time for spotting the shower at its height.

 

 “And Now it’s October”

the golden hour of the clock of the year. Everything that can run

to fruit has already done so: round apples, oval plums, bottom-heavy

pears, black walnuts and hickory nuts annealed in their shells,

the woodchuck with his overcoat of fat. Flowers that were once bright

as a box of crayons are now seed heads and thistle down. All the feathery

grasses shine in the slanted light. It’s time to bring in the lawn chairs

and wind chimes, time to draw the drapes against the wind, time to hunker

down. Summer’s fruits are preserved in syrup, but nothing can stopper time.

No way to seal it in wax or amber; it slides though our hands like a rope

of silk. At night, the moon’s restless searchlight sweeps across the sky.

            - Barbara Crooker from Small Rain