NWA 6/27/14

A Northwoods Almanac for June 27 – July 10, 2014

Deer with Quills

On June 13, Jim Swartout sent me this email: “I encountered an interesting sight yesterday at our property in Minocqua – a doe with a nose full of porcupine quills. She seemed unfazed as she grazed in our meadow. I wonder how long the quills will last, and if there is any way she can get rid of these herself?”

I wrote to Mark Naniot, a very experienced wildlife rehabilitator at Wild Instincts near Rhinelander, and he replied: “A few possibilities on the deer. The quills will keep working their way in and may or may not cause problems. They can abscess and cause further problems or pass all the way through into the mouth. After a few days they do start to soften up in the body and are often just walled off and will stay there. We had one of our dogs that we were still pulling quills out of three months after it happened. Quills do have kind of an antibiotic material so infection is less common but does still happen. We can't say for sure but it will probably be okay in time, but you never know the path the quills will travel.”

On 6/18, Jim dropped me another note, as well as several more photos of the deer, saying the quills were still protruding, but the deer looked unperturbed.

            I’ve often wondered what happens to animals in the wild that have encounters with porcupines. One researcher spent seven years studying porcupines in the Catskill Mountains of New York and discovered that quills are antibiotic as Mark Naniot noted. He was led to this discovery when, attempting to capture a porcupine, a quill was driven deep into his upper forearm and completely beneath the skin. Two days later, after some intense pain, it emerged from his lower forearm completely intact without leaving a trail of infection behind it. He made an extract of the quills, tested it against bacteria, and found it slowed bacterial growth. Interestingly, the researcher believed the antibiotic quality protects the porcupine against itself, in case its own quills are driven into its body from a fall. Porkies do fall from trees when branches break or they slip.

            I’m not sure what will happen with the doe that Jim has been observing, but one certainly hopes she’ll be okay – I’ll keep you informed as I hear more from Jim.

Loon Kills Mallard Chicks

            Mitch Meyer was kayaking on the Turtle Flambeau Flowage last week when he was surprised to witness a loon attack and kill two mallard chicks. The hen mallard and her brood had been swimming calmly in the same area with a pair of loons when suddenly one of the loons dove, came up under one of the chicks, and grabbed it. It proceeded to shake it and kill it, then dove again, grabbed another chick, and killed it. In the meantime, the hen and the other chicks had scattered widely to get away.

            Mitch then watched as one of the chicks that had been separated from the family brood swam as fast as it could right past the loons, apparently thinking its mother had fled in that direction. Mitch figured the chick was a dead duck, as it were, but the loon ignored it. The chick climbed up on a stump and seemed to scan around for the rest of its clan without luck.

            I called Mike Meyer, a DNR research scientist and toxicologist who has conducted extensive decades-long research on loons throughout the Northwoods, for his take, He said that loons commonly “clear out their breeding territory.” He has personally observed loons killing other waterfowl, as have others he’s spoken to, but the frequency with which they do it has never been studied and is thus unknown.

            Mike also noted that loon “floaters” – adult loons seeking to usurp a territory – will kill the young of other loons if they’re vulnerable.

            So, while there’s this “darker” side to loons, it is the nature of all animals to protect their home territory, even if the perceived “protection” seems to us to be excessive.

Turtles Laying Eggs

Since mid-June, Mary and I have observed numerous snapping and painted turtles laying eggs. And we’ve observed numerous turtles smashed as they were crossing roads, a transgression that makes us fume because it’s so easy to avoid hitting the turtles. This quote from David Carroll in his book The Year of the Turtle: A Natural History reflects that lack of respect from humans: “Snapping turtles, the embodiment of turtles who shared the earth with the dinosaurs for a time and are now obliged to share it with the human species, might well report that the former companions were far less stressful.”

Part of the reason for my distress is that snapping turtles, as we know them today, evolved about 40 million years ago. They are the ancestors of about 80% of all the turtles today. That’s pretty astonishing. They represent something extraordinarily old that we ought to venerate, not purposely kill.

They can live a long time, too. The oldest observed age for snapping turtles that I can find in a literature search is over 75 years, while the oldest age based on ring counts is 79 (it’s possible to determine how old a snapping turtle is from the rings on the shell). The older snapping turtles get, the slower they grow, so the biggest individuals could be over 100 years old.                                                                                                                And like most reptiles, snapping turtles lay eggs. Some females have been known to migrate over 8 miles one-way through lakes and rivers to find ideal spots. The mean speed of travel can be up to 1 mile per day, which can mean a long time of exposure out of the water. A strong nesting site fidelity exists, too, so once a female has found a good nesting site, she often remains faithful to it throughout her life.                                                     Not all females nest every year – somewhere between 50 to 75% of the female population returns to a given nesting site in any given year. The embryos in the eggs stop growing soon after fertilization until the eggs are laid, giving the female time to find the ideal spot. The female takes about 1.5 hours to dig the nest chamber and then lays from 22 to 62 one-inch eggs. After laying the eggs, the female will fill the nest hole with sand and leave, but up to 90% of the nests will be destroyed by predators such as raccoons, skunks, foxes, and mink, often that same night.                                                           

On a related note regarding folks capturing turtles, then putting them into pools, using them for races, etc: These are wild animals – they deserve better.

Celestial Events: International Space Station Viewing

Sky maps showing the exact path of the ISS as it crosses the sky are available on the Heavens Above website. www.heavens-above.com.

Sightings – Lark Bunting and Moose Calf                                                                                               Mary, Callie, and I spotted a lark bunting on 6/15 on one of the dikes in Powell Marsh. This is a remarkably lucky sighting given that lark buntings breed in the high plains – the grasslands from southern Alberta down through the Texas Panhandle. Only 31 records of lark buntings have been confirmed in Wisconsin since 1922 – we’re number 32!                                                                                                          

On a much sadder note, a yearling bull moose was killed on 6/13 less than a mile from our home in Manitowish on Hwy. 47. It was hit by vehicle at 10:45 the previous night. The good news is that a pair of moose is breeding in our area! The bad news – they just lost their calf from last year. The silver lining – the cow could be pregnant with a new calf or calves. New calves are typically born from late May to late June, so perhaps there’s another young one or two on the way. If anyone sees an adult moose in our area, please report it to Sam Jonas, the wildlife manager at the Mercer DNR.

Firecrackers and Bird Nesting

            It’s time for my annual admonition regarding firecrackers and bird nesting. The aging curmudgeon in me continues to wonder what joy there is in making the Northwoods sound like a military firing range around July 4^th. But separate from that, I simply wish to remind folks that many song birds are either still completing their first nesting, or they are still feeding the nestlings who have fledged, or they’re in the midst of their second nesting. Loud explosions can easily frighten them off their nests or inhibit the feeding of their young.

Role Reversal – Eagles Feeding Humans

Mark Pitman wrote this note to me back in early May: “Symbiotic relationship . . . ‘the relationship between two different kinds of living things that live together and depend on each other.’

“For the past two very difficult winters we have enjoyed feeding eagles on our shoreline of Lake Minocqua.  Each morning at least one and sometimes several are perched in pines along our beach waiting to see what I might deliver onto the ice for their breakfast. I hunt, and my wife, friends and I enjoy the bounty of our harvest. Squirrels, venison and turkey all make great meals for our family and the entrails and trimmings that result from cleaning the game are saved and frozen, then thawed daily for our feathered friends. A successful muskrat trapper has frequently delivered carcasses, which the eagles also enjoy. I frequently pick up a fresh road-kill squirrel or other small critter, which never goes to waste.    

            “The ice has now receded to about 50’ from shore but the ritual continues. The birds sit patiently overhead and allow me to walk directly below them and place the daily rations on a couple of old stumps on the water line. Within seconds they swoop down, grab their ‘prey’ and fly to a nearby perch to enjoy an easy meal. Ornithologists may find fault in this, but the eagles seem to enjoy it, then they are off to do whatever they do for the rest of their days.

            “Like many, I didn’t fish the opener, but thought about a nice meal of fresh walleye. This evening at 7:50, I happened to glance out the window and saw an eagle about 20 feet from shore flapping and struggling to get to one of the ‘feeding stumps’. As I watched through binocs, he made the stump and hoisted out a really nice walleye. My first thought was, ‘how is he successful catching nice fish on the shoreline and not me?’ He began eating near the lower jaw and proceeded to eat all the entrails out of the fish, then proceeded to eat the head, gills and pectoral fins. About 30 minutes later, with darkness approaching he hopped into the water and dunked his head a few times, then flew off to roost across the lake.

“Not wanting to leave those nice filets, and now reversing our roles, I ran right over to the feeding log, picked up the remains, and brought to the cutting board the perfect 19” be-headed walleye. I filleted it out, then returned the spine and tail (and some meat since I’m not a very good fish cleaner) to the stump, along with a muskrat carcass. Tomorrow night my wife and I will dine on fresh walleye, overlooking Lake Minocqua and be grateful for the bounty around us. Symbiotic relationship? Perhaps.”

             

Please share your outdoor sightings and thoughts: call me at 715-476-2828, drop me an e-mail at manitowish@centurytel.net, or snail-mail me at 4245N Hwy. 47, Mercer, WI 54547.

NWA 7/11/14

A Northwoods Almanac for July 11 – 24, 2014 

Bird Song Diminishing                                                                                                       

            In mid-July, many people wonder why the woods become so quiet. It’s relatively simple – male birds sing loudest and longest during their initial breeding and territory establishment, and then to maintain their pair bonding and their territories. But once nesting has been successfully completed, most birds will only occasionally sing, if at all, and the woods become oddly silent. The birds are still present, though. In fact, there are far more birds in mid-July due to all the fledged juveniles than during early June when singing was at its peak. But for all but a few species, the necessity to sing is now gone, and thus quiet descends from the treetops rather than song.

A Bear Story With a Message

Jim Frandy has lived all his life in the Northwoods, but he never thought he’d be wrestling a bear. Two weeks ago, he did, albeit just a cub.

Here’s the story: Jim was sitting in a chair at 5:30 A.M. looking out a window at his home when something ran by so quickly he couldn’t tell what it was. He went out into his yard and heard some banging and smashing in the woods. Soon the source appeared – a bear cub with a peanut butter can stuck on his head. The bear was running fast and banging into anything that got in its way. It even ran into an ice shack.

Jim’s wife, Jayne, called Mark Naniot, the wildlife rehabilitator at Wild Instincts near Rhinelander, to see if he would come out to handle the situation, but Mark couldn’t get there until later that morning. His advice was this: get a blanket, throw it over the bear, and see if he could get it into a cage.

Jim got a packing blanket from his garage, stepped out onto the driveway, and the bear cub ran across the gravel road about 50 feet ahead of him. Jim had no idea what to do, but instinctively made a “bahhing” noise, a bit like a sheep. And the cub stopped running. Jim made the noise again, and the little cub started walking towards him. He continued making the sound until the cub walked right up to him, and he was able to toss the blanket over its head. He then fell on the cub and held it down, though the cub was none too happy about this. Jim grabbed the can and tried to wrestle it off, but the can had a metal ring around the top, and it was stuck hard.

Meanwhile, Jayne called Mark Naniot again. Mark suggested they get the bear into their dog kennel, which they did, and they took it into their garage.

Soon after, the cub figured out how to work the can off its head. But before they could haul the kennel outside to release the bear, the cub had thrust its head into the can again, and the can was stuck once more.

They hauled the kennel outside, opened it, and as the cub started to come out, Jim straddled it. With welding gloves on, he managed to jerk the can off. He stepped aside, and the cub sprinted out of the kennel and ran up the nearest tree.

All this time they were aware that the sow might be near and might be taking a keen interest in what they were doing. However, she never appeared.

Jayne was able to get a short video of the cub racing out of the kennel. I’ve uploaded it onto my blog if you’d like to see it (manitowishriver.blogspot.com).  

The can was a six-pound container of Peter Pan Creamy Peanut Butter. It’s a good reminder that our trash can cause an unintended array of problems for wildlife.

Mosquito Impact on Nesting Songbirds?

            With the mosquito population at such a zenith, I’ve wondered what their impact is on nesting songbirds. I wouldn’t be caught dead out at dusk, but the birds have to sit calmly on their nests all night and withstand whatever the mosquitoes bring to bear.

            It turns out that there’s very little data on the impact of mosquitoes on songbirds, but lots on whether mosquitoes are infecting songbirds with West Nile Virus.

            However, I did find one study in particular (“Mosquito Landing Rates on Nesting American Robins (Turdus migratorius),” 2007, Sean M. Griffing, et al, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Edgewater, Maryland) that provided some insight, at least into robins. The researchers were able to film nesting robins for 24-hour periods with infrared cameras over the course of 14 days, beginning with the day when all their eggs had hatched. They found that some female robins receive 2,000-6,000 mosquito landings during this period. They were, however, unable to determine the fraction of those landings that led to successful bites.

            The adult robins were able to protect themselves on the nest by tucking their heads under their feathers and sealing their feet in the nest material. Thus, bare areas were protected from exposure.

            The birds only occasionally exhibited anti-mosquito behavior in the form of feather preening and the attempted ingestion of the mosquitoes.

            The bottom line for me – the researchers did not note any birds driven from their nests during this portion of their nesting cycle. Does this hold true for all birds? I’ve no idea, but it suggests that songbirds likely have effective means to handle swarms of mosquitoes during the breeding season.

Eagle Nesting Success Down

            The pair of eagle chicks in the nest across the river from our house apparently died in the last few weeks for reasons unknown. I’d heard that eagle reproduction was down in general this year, so to find out more, I emailed Ron Eckstein, retired DNR wildlife biologist who has been involved in the banding of thousands of Wisconsin eagles over the last 30 years. Ron still volunteers to do the eagle flight counts every June, and while he hasn’t summarized all his flight notes yet, he says, “the preliminary look is reduced nest success and late, small young. Productivity was particularly bad on the Apostle Islands and on large inland lakes. It seems that the very late ice out on these bodies of water caused some pairs of eagles to abandon nests to search for food.”

Ron is scheduled to complete his report by the end of July, so I’ll relay his data when I get it.

Sightings – Osprey, Porcupine, Common Grackle, Update on Doe with Quills in Its Nose, Great Blue Heron, Baby Snappers, Fawns Nursing, and Trumpeter Swan Cygnets

            Sharon and David Lintereur sent me a photo from 7/6 of an osprey perched on its platform nest along Hwy. 8. Over 80% of ospreys in Wisconsin nest on artificial platforms.

Mary Rodman took a walk in early July in Powell Marsh and was greeted by a baby porcupine that had no fear of her and allowed her to spend some time observing it.

Mary also sent me a photo of a partial albino common grackle, a bird she said she had stalked it for two days before finally getting a few photos. She spotted it on Mamie Lake on the Cisco chain.

Jim Swartout sent me an update and photo on 7/3 of the doe he’s been observing that had seven porcupine quills in its nose on 6/13. I’m happy to report that he noted, “The doe still has one quill remaining three weeks after her encounter with a porcupine.” The question remains as to whether the others broke off and could still cause her problems, or whether they somehow worked their way out.

Angie Fox sent me three photos of a great blue heron eating a chipmunk in her front yard. Herons are opportunistic feeders, and apparently chipmunks are as tasty as fish.

Finally, a pair of trumpeter swans nesting at Powell Marsh successfully hatched four cygnets sometime in the last week of June. This is the first pair of trumpeters that we have seen nesting on the main flowage in the 30 years we’ve been birding at Powell.

Larch Casebearers

Robin Franks sent me a note on 6/22 saying she had just paddled down Lost Creek and had seen many, many tamaracks that appeared to be dead. She noted, “The river banks are just brown the entire trip from Hwy 155 to just before Big St. Germain Drive.” She, of course, wondered what was going on.

I recommended she contact a forester in the area, and Linda Williams from the DNR responded. It turns out the likely culprit is the larch casebearer, a non-native small caterpillar originating in Europe that was accidentally introduced to the US in 1886. Their natural history cycle begins with the adult moth mating and laying eggs in June and early July. Tiny caterpillars emerge about two weeks later, bore into the tamarack needles, and feed within the needle. Though tamaracks drop their needles in late October, the caterpillar is able to overwinter and resume feeding on the new needle growth in the spring. The caterpillars hollow out the inside of the needles, and then carry the needles around as a makeshift home, hence the name “casebearer.” The needles turn brown, giving the trees a tan/brown appearance. The caterpillars then pupate in May, emerge soon as adults, and start their life cycle over again.

            The good news is that tamaracks can withstand multiple years of defoliation, so the tamaracks often survive. However, some also succumb if they are weakened enough to make them susceptible to attack by the native Eastern larch beetle. Trees being killed by
Eastern larch beetle turn bright yellow
starting in August and often have lots of sap flowing down the trunk from
multiple beetle attacks. In the winter,
woodpeckers often seek out the infested
trees and remove much of the bark as they search for the beetles, leaving the main stem of the tree a rich red color.

Celestial Events

Three planets are currently visible in the night sky: Mars glows in the southwest, shining at a magnitude around 0.0. On 7/13, it will pass very close to the star Spica, just to its north. Saturn is also still visible in the early evening sky. It shines at magnitude +0.3, and remains a good telescopic object, its ring system tilted towards us at an angle of approximately 20 degrees. Venus continues as a morning star, rising about two hours before the sun in the northeast.

July’s full moon occurs on the 12^th. It’s known variously as the “Full Buck Moon” for when the new antlers of buck deer appear, the “Full Thunder Moon” because of the frequency of thunderstorms in July, and the “Hay Moon” for the first cutting of hay in farming localities. The Ojibwe called it aabita-niibino-giizis, or the “Raspberry Moon.”

Please share your outdoor sightings and thoughts: call me at 715-476-2828, drop me an e-mail at manitowish@centurytel.net, or snail-mail me at 4245N Hwy. 47, Mercer, WI 54547.

NWA 5/30/14

A Northwoods Almanac for May 30 – June 12, 2014  by John Bates

Nesting Time

            While some songbirds are still migrating though, many have begun nesting, including Baltimore orioles. For several weeks, we’ve had three pairs of Baltimore orioles consuming oranges that we put out every day on our deck railing, and we’ve wondered if any of them might stay around to nest. Well, I have some evidence that at least one female has nesting in mind. On 5/25, I watched her pulling and pulling at a long string that was caught in a dogwood shrub by our house, presumably with the intent of using it in weaving her nest. The females weave their hanging, gourd-shaped nests out of various plant fibers like milkweed, grape bark and grasses, but they’re also known to use animal hair, string, yarn, and other fibers. So, our hope is that she was scrounging string from our garden for her nest. To help her out further, we’ve put out a basket full of Mary’s woolen yarns along with lots of dog hair to ease her search for nesting materials.

The next question is where she is building the nest. With Baltimore orioles, after the female has been courted and has chosen her mate, she then selects her nest site within the male’s defended territory. The problem with figuring out where the nest may be is that orioles nest in a wide array of habitats, nearly all of which are hardwoods – they don’t seem to like conifers.

In Wisconsin, Baltimore orioles formerly preferred to nest in American elms, but with the widespread loss of elms, they now generally nest in large American sycamores and cottonwoods in the central and southern parts of the state. In more northerly areas, the most commonly selected trees for nesting are still elms, when they can find them, then maple, aspens, willow, birch, and oak. One study in Ontario of the heights of 400 nests determined that they ranged from 2 – 65 feet off the ground, but most were found between 17 and 32 feet up.

This is a beautiful and complicated nest to construct. The females commonly build near the tip of the outer branches of a tree and they build fast – most nests are completed within about 1 week. The female weaves her nest in three stages, using three general types of fibers. The outer bowl is built first of flexible plant, animal, or human-made fibers to provide support. Then “springy” fibers are woven into the inner bowl to maintain shape. And finally, downy fibers are used to line the nest.

Three to seven eggs are laid, then incubated for 11 to 14 days. Only the female incubates, although the male closely protects the nest and at least some males occasionally feed the incubating female.

The chicks hatch nearly naked, eyes closed, and helpless. And like most songbirds, they’ll grow incredibly fast, and fledge in another 11 to 14 days. From helpless to flying in less than two weeks – amazing!

Black-capped chickadees

            Orioles aren’t the only birds nesting on our property. Black-capped chickadees nest in tree cavities, but we have a pair nesting in a little bird house that our neighbor, Don Gray, gave to us. Just a few days ago, Callie watched as a chickadee carried some of the dog fur that we had combed from our dog into one of the birdhouses. And on 5/26, I watched as one of the chickadees panted from the opening, then hopped out on the perched and continued panting in our 80° heat (recall that birds don’t sweat – they pant to cool off). I took pictures of it from less than five feet away, and it didn’t care one whit – I think it was too hot to care!

Most chickadees nest in trees, of course, and many studies have shown that their nesting cavities are found most often in birch and aspen. When these trees die, the wood is soft enough for the chickadees to excavate.

Both sexes participate in excavation, using their beaks to remove the usually rotten wood. Since the female builds the nest inside the cavity, she most often selects the site, and then lines the nest with moss or finer material like rabbit fur and deer hair.

She will then typically lay one egg per day, usually early in the morning, and she exclusively does the incubation. The male isn’t a complete loser – he regularly brings food to the incubating female. Often upon his arrival at the nest, the pair leaves the nest together to forage, before the female returns to continue incubation.

The chicks are “altricial,” meaning they hatch out helpless, unfeathered, and with their eyes closed. The female now broods the chicks, and the male brings most of the food for the brooding female and for the nestlings.

Chickadee young usually leave their nests when they’re about 16 days old and do not return. However, the young still give frequent begging “dee” calls and are fed by both parents for another two to four weeks until they become fully independent.

Sora

The most unusual bird we have around our house is a sora rail. We’ve only seen it once, but we hear it very day and very frequently. Soras give one of the most distinctive calls of any marsh bird – a loud, descending whinny call: whee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee. Soras also give a 2-note, plaintive ker-wee (also described as per-weep or ter-ee). And they often vocalize at night. This one, or pair, woke Mary and I up twice early this week with their loud whinny call.

Soras live primarily in shallow, freshwater wetlands dominated by emergent vegetation like cattails, various sedges, bur-reeds, and bulrushes. I suspect we are blessed with a sora this year because the Manitowish River remains in full flood and the wetland right below our house continues to be flooded.

As uncommon and difficult to see as soras are, I was very surprised to learn that the sora is legally hunted in 31 states and 2 Canadian provinces. Apparently little information is available on their total harvest, their population trends, or the effect of the harvests on populations. We see them most often in September in wild rice marshes when they are feeding heavily prior to migration.

Sightings: White Pelicans

On 5/25, Diane Steele saw 3 white pelicans at the Powell Marsh. She also noted that “while we're happy to see the new leaves appearing, we're sorry it will bring an end to out clear view of the warblers.”

Sightings: Bobwhite

Since 5/15, Mary Madsen on Twin Island Lake in Presque Isle has had a bobwhite wandering around in her yard. She has sent me numerous photos of it, and she writes, “My husband seems to have a knack of calling him in, and he ends up quite close in our back yard, answering back.” Bobwhites don’t nest here, but hunters raise and release them to train their hunting dogs, and an occasional one gets away.

Other Sightings

On 5/14, Joan Galloway on Clear Lake in Manitowish Waters reported she had four male and two female scarlet tanagers, and they were treated to the wonderful song of a whip-poor-will in their yard the previous night.

Also on 5/14, Sharon Lintereur in Lake Tomahawk sent me a photo of a weasel that her dogs had run up a tree. It appears to me to be a long-tailed weasel given that its tail is about one-half the length of its body. The other species of weasels in our area have tails that are 1/5 to 1/3 the length of the body.

On 5/16, Mike and Marcia Hittle observed a huge raft of Bonaparte’s gulls on the Turtle Flambeau Flowage right in front of their house. They noted, “Black heads and bills, pinkish/orange legs, and some wing markings matched up with book descriptions. But it was the behavior of the birds that caught our fancy. They would suddenly rise as one, flutter about, and then land almost in the exact spot from which they had lifted off. Other times, they would rise, make dazzling circling flights, and then settle into a new tightly packed raft. No air controllers were present, but amazingly, there were no collisions either!”

On 5/21, Joan Galloway in Manitowish Waters wrote, “I can't believe the birds we have seen and heard this past week. We've had evening grosbeaks, numerous orioles, red-bellied woodpecker, red-headed woodpecker, female cardinal, rose-breasted grosbeaks, scarlet tanagers, belted kingfisher, green heron and heard a barred owl, whip-poor-will and woodcock.”

On 5/21, toads began calling, and on 5/26, we heard our first Eastern gray tree frogs calling.

Spring Ephemerals and Green-up

            Mary and I had to cancel a spring wildflower hike for 5/11 because the flowers just weren’t up yet. But they’re up now! One of our favorite places to go is off Sheep Ranch Road (FR132), which runs south from Hwy. 70. I took a group of folks there from Land O’Lakes on 5/22, and we found a bounty of nodding trilliums and large-flowered trilliums, wild leeks, spring beauties, wild ginger, and toothwort among others. Most of the bloodroot had already gone by, but there were a lot of flowers just budding out, too, like blue cohosh and Virginia waterleaf.

            With the trees leafing out so quickly, the spring ephemerals will be gone in no time. Most only last a few days to a week.

            Speaking of green-up, can anyone possibly estimate the number of leaves that will appear over the next two weeks? It depends on the size and species of tree, of course, but estimates range from 200,000 to about 1 million leaves in the crown of one large tree. It’s an absolutely incredible amount of life coming into being, and all in multiple shades of green.

Celestial Events

The Arietids meteor shower peaks on June 7, the result of the Earth’s orbit passing through debris from either the asteroid 1566 Icarus or the comet 96P/Macholz. The radient will be located between the constellations Aries and Perseus. The best time to see this shower is an hour before sunrise – most of the meteor shower actually occurs during daylight hours. The typical hourly rate of visible meteors is about 60 per hour. If the meteor shower fails to materialize, look for dazzling Venus in the east, the most brilliant starlike object in the morning sky. Full moon occurs on June 13.

Please share your outdoor sightings and thoughts: call me at 715-476-2828, drop me an e-mail at manitowish@centurytel.net, or snail-mail me at 4245N Hwy. 47, Mercer, WI 54547.