A Northwoods Almanac for 8/17/18

A Northwoods Almanac for August 17 – 30, 2018  by John Bates

Aspen Blotch Miner

Several people have contacted me regarding diseased aspen trees (“popples”) in our area, something I’ve noticed as well. I’m not well-versed on tree diseases, so I usually refer folks to Linda Williams, the forest health specialist for the WDNR in Woodruff. Here is Linda’s response to one of the individuals who had contacted me: “The issue that you’re seeing is the defoliation from a tiny caterpillar called Aspen Blotch Miner. This tiny caterpillar lives inside the leaf (between the top and bottom layers of the leaf).

photo by Wendi Home

            “The damage that they do looks significant, [but] it is not cause for alarm because the damage doesn’t seem to have an impact on tree health overall. The reasons for this are 1) the trees have had all spring and early summer to produce food, so damage to the leaf now isn’t as bad as something that defoliates the trees early in the spring, and 2) aspen will often send out a new flush of leaves mid-way through the growing season and those leaves will typically not be infested by Aspen Blotch Miner. Since they don’t have any major health impacts on the tree I don’t usually recommend any control. 

            “We saw damage from this insect last year in Vilas and Oneida Counties as well as a number of counties to our east (for some counties like Marinette, this is the 4^th year of damage). Since the adult is a moth, it can fly to new areas and lay eggs, so you may not have had much defoliation last year.”  

            

Migration  

            Our insect-eating songbirds are migrating south, and our ruby-throated hummingbirds are tanking up for their flights, too. We like to think of these birds as “our” birds, but really, they spend only a few months here and far more time in their wintering habitats. I’m always saddened to see them going. I already miss song-filled dawns and their colorful flitting in the trees.

            Even though our local hummers may be leaving soon, keep your feeders up into October for other hummers migrating through.

Monarchs Soon to Migrate

“The monarch is . . . one of the few butterflies in the world that is able to explode out of the tropics into the temperate zone which is the most complex migration of any insect, of any invertebrate in the whole world. It’s so birdlike” (Dr. Lincoln Brower, considered the leading authority on the biology of monarchs).

Here’s my best shot at a quick summary of the remarkable life cycle of monarchs (adapted from the University of Minnesota Monarch Lab):

1-    The monarchs that spend the winter in the mountains of central Mexico migrate north beginning in March. These are the same monarchs that migrated last autumn to Mexico from regions throughout much of the U.S.

2-    They stop and lay eggs in northern Mexico and the southern US from late March through April. Farther north, the last eggs are laid in late April or early May. These new monarchs become Generation 1. Since it is often cool when Generation 1 larvae are developing, it may take them up to 50 days or more to develop from eggs to adults.

3-    Generation 1 adults emerge from late April to early June. They quickly mate and begin to lay eggs about four days after emerging! Still, they continue the journey north that their parents began, laying eggs along the way and begin to arrive in the northern US and southern Canada in late May. Eggs that become generation 2 may be laid as late as July in the north.

4-    Monarchs that emerge from those eggs become Generation 2 and are the grandchildren of the previous overwintering monarchs. Those laid in the southern part of their range continue to migrate north. Generation 2 adults emerge in June and July, mate, and also lay eggs soon after emerging. Most of those that begin their lives in the south still move further north as adults to avoid the hot and dry weather. Those that emerge farther north may not move far.

5-    Some of these newly emerged Generation 3 monarchs may appear early enough to produce yet another summer generation – Generation 4 – but many don’t. Generations 3 and 4 monarch eggs are laid throughout the northern part of their range in July and August. However, Generation 3 individuals that emerge late in August will undergo diapause (a period of suspended development) and migrate to Mexico. Monarchs in Generations 3 and 4 are the great- and great-great grandchildren of the overwintering monarchs.

6-   These late emerging monarch will not reproduce right after they emerge. In response to decreasing temperatures and shortening daylengths at the end of the summer, their reproductive organs remain immature. Instead of mating and laying eggs, they spend their time drinking nectar and clustering together in nighttime roosts in preparation for their long journey south. This delayed maturity is called diapause. During September, October, and early November, migratory adults fly to overwintering sites in central Mexico, where they remain from November to March. In March, they will begin to journey north again.

White-lined Sphinx Moth

            Numerous people have recently sent me photos of white-lined sphinx moths (Hyles lineata) nectaring on flowers in their gardens. Some folks understandably mistake these moths for hummingbirds as they hover at tubular flowers, sipping nectar with their long proboscis that unrolls like a party favor. They beat their wings very fast like a hummingbird, which makes them a blur to photograph, and they’re also able to hover in mid-air, again like a hummingbird. They’ve been clocked flying at speeds as high as 30 miles an hour. 

photo by Howard Peitsch

They’re especially attracted to scented and brightly colored flowers, and have been feeding in our flower gardens on our bright red Oswego tea (Monarda didyma) and its close relative, bee balm or wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa). They’re also known to prefer cardinal flower, columbine, evening primrose, lilac, penstemon, petunia,and phlox. In the evening, they prefer white or pale-colored flowers which are easier to see in the dark because of their contrast with green foliage. The adults are primarily early evening to nocturnal fliers, but we’ve been seeing them frequently during the day.  

The adult females lay their eggs on plants in the spring – host plants in the Midwest include apple, evening primrose, grape, purslane, tomato, and willow-weed. The caterpillars that hatch out are quite variable in color, though the typical Midwestern color morph is green (dark to lime green) with a series of black lengthwise stripes, along with yellow and orange or pink dots. All have a pointed horn at their back end that may be yellow or orange. The horn is harmless, so don’t be concerned that it’s a stinger. The caterpillars develop through 5 instars (molts), growing up to 3½ inches long, then burrow 1 to 4 inches into the ground to pupate, eventually emerging as adult sphinx moths.

The adults serve a role in pollination, and at all stages of growth they provide food for predators. These relatively common moths occur throughout most of North America, from southern Canada down to Central America, as well as in Eurasia and Africa. 

American Cancer-root or Squawroot

On one of our old-growth hikes last week, we found a plant that can best be described as resembling a pine cone or cob of corn. Called American cancer-root or squawroot(Conopholis Americana – conos means ‘cone’ andpholos means ‘scale’), this very odd flowering plant has no chlorophyll, and thus doesn’t photosynthesize. Instead, itgrows on the roots of oak trees in our area and derives its nutrients from the tree. 

photo by Mary Burns

There’s no scientific evidence that it either prevents cancer or causes cancer. Instead, the parasitic roots cause the formation of large rounded knobs on the roots of the host tree, which is most likely the origin of name “cancer-root.” I can find nothing, however, on why it was once called “squawroot”.

It is not clear in the literature if the plant compromises the health of its host tree. It may instead exist in a stable parasite/host symbiosis with its much larger and longer lived host oak. 

The plant is eaten by bear and deer, which then disperse the seeds in their scat.

Fungi Time

            August and September are the peak months for mushrooms. During these months, one can walk a path without seeing a mushroom, and two days later walk the path again, and it will be loaded with mushrooms.

            Mary and I continue to slowly learn our mushroom IDs. It’s an intellectual struggle, but such a fun one! Mary has an excellent eye for spotting them, and last week she found a comb tooth mushroom (Hericium ramosum or coralloides), a pure white fungi with myriad branches that look like snowflakes.

photo by Mary Burns

            It’s saprophytic, usually living off the decay of downed hardwoods, especially birch and maple. Apparently, it’s a delicious edible, but Mary and I rarely eat the mushrooms we find – we just don’t have enough confidence in our ID skills. Plus, some things are so pretty that they should just be left alone.

Celestial Events

            Four planets are visible after dark this month. From west to east, they are Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars.

            Today, 8/17, look for Jupiter five degrees below the waxing crescent moon. On 8/21, look for Saturn two degrees below the waxing gibbous moon. 

            August’s full moon occurs on 8/25 and 26. Called the “Corn” or the “Rice” moon among many names, the moon will be 100% illuminated on both 8/25 and 8/26.

            We’re losing our evening light at a rapid pace – by 8/28, we’ll be down to 13.5 hours of daylight, with autumn equinox just over three weeks away.

Thought for the Week

“One of the greatest peculiarities of the past is that it shapes so very much of who we are – and yet in a very real sense it no longer exists save for the traces of it we carry in our memories. Without us to remember and reconstruct it, there would be no past. Much of growing up has to do with the expansion of our capacity to remember.” – William Cronen

            

Please share your outdoor sightings and thoughts: call 715-476-2828, e-mail at manitowish@centurytel.net, snail-mail at 4245N State Highway 47, Mercer, WI, or see my blog at www.manitowishriver.blogspot.com. 

A Northwoods Almanac for 8/3/18

A Northwoods Almanac for 8/3 – 16, 2018  by John Bates

Spotted Coralroot (Corallorhiza maculate) 

I led numerous trips in July into old-growth stands and two plants received the most oohs and aahs – spotted coralroot and Indian pipe. Spotted coralroot is an orchid, which is remarkable enough, but it’s also a “myco-heterotroph,” which means it lacks chlorophyll and gets its food by parasitizing the mycelium of fungi in the Russula family. The mycelium are the white thread-like perennial part of mushrooms that grow into a tree or into the ground – the mushrooms that we see above ground or on the bark of a tree are the fruits of the mycelium. 

These fungi are mycorrhizal with trees, meaning their energy comes from photosynthesis of the tree passing through their mycelium. They in turn provide increased water uptake and soil nutrients to the tree. Then the coralroot latches on to the mycelium to get a free lunch. 

All orchids are myco-heterotrophic at some point in their life cycle, so all orchid mycorrhizaehave a symbiotic relationship between their roots and various fungi. Orchid mycorrhizae are critically important during orchid germination, as an orchid seed has virtually no energy reserve and obtains its sugars and carbon from the fungus.

The rhizome and lower stem of coralroot are often knotted into branched coral-likeshapes, hence the name. Identifying a spotted coralroot is easy because the stem is usually red or brown in color and bears no leaves, while the intricate orchid flowers are white and spotted with purple dots.

Indian Pipe

I had thought for many years that Indian pipe lived on decaying leaves, and thus I called it a saprophyte. But this flowering plants turns out to be a myco-heterotroph as well, deriving its energy from the photosynthesis of a tree that passes through a mycorrhizal fungus on the way to the Indian pipe. Thus, like the spotted coralroot, this is a three-way relationship between a photosynthetic tree, a mycorrhizal fungus, and a parasitic plant!Indian pipe(Monotropa uniflora) forms its parasitic relationship with Russula and Lactarius (milky) mushroomspecies.

Indian pipes produce seeds like all flowering plants. As they age, the plants turn black and the “pipes” turn upwards.

Bird Migration Already in Motion

            Mary and I usually wake up around dawn, and what a pleasure that is in late May and June when the air is filled with bird song. But by the end of July, it’s another story altogether as the birds’ quests for a mate and the defense of a territory no longer require full-throttled singing. In early August, some songbirds are still feeding young, but most have accomplished their mission of fledging their chicks and now have good reason to leave before the first frosts occur. 

For nearly a month already, numerous shorebird species far north of us have been migrating through our area on their journey to Central and South America from their nesting grounds in northern Canada and the Arctic. It’s hard to call this “fall” migration when it’s only July or early August, but to these species of shorebirds, an Arctic autumn represents great hardship, so they need to stay ahead of the cold. 

            These shorebirds also migrate early because the far North offers only a brief window to successfully nest. If their first nest attempt fails, there likely isn’t time for a second attempt, so they give up and head south. 

And then we can’t forget their lack of family values. One member of the pair, usually the male, leaves before the young are full-grown, or sometimes even before the chicks hatch. The other adult, usually the female, stays as long as necessary to successfully fledge the chick, then it, too, will head south, often a full month before the peak passage of the juveniles. 

Some warblers, like yellow warblers, were also moving south as of the last week of July. And soon nearly all insect-eating songbirds will be leaving, all again needing to stay ahead of the first killing frosts. 

Fledglings

Sarah Krembs sent me a photo of a male redstart feeding insects to two of its chicks. In redstarts, both sexes feed the chicks while they’re on the nest, evenly dividing up the task and making around six feeding trips per hour. After the chicks have left the nest, they usually divide their brood in half with each parent feeding only particular fledglings. Each adult then continues to feed his/her chicks for up to 3 weeks. If a chick continues begging, apparently refusing to become independent, one observer watched an older male attack a begging fledgling in order to force it to go out on its own.

From hatching to fledging only takes an average of nine days, which is amazing to consider given that a chick is born blind and helpless, opens its eyes to narrow slits at 3 days, has its first flight feathers begin to come in at 6 days, and is in full juvenile plumage by 8 days.                Redstarts leave their breeding areas beginning in July and arrive on the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico as early as late July, so these chicks are under the clock to get going. Most individuals, however, move south later than this. Peak movements occur from late August to mid-September in the upper Midwest, so perhaps these youngsters have a little time to learn to be adults.

Redstarts overwinter from the western coast of northern Baja in Mexico, to Bermuda and the Bahama Islands, and throughout the Caribbean to northern South America, including Venezuela, Colombia, eastern Ecuador, and northwestern Brazil.

They’ll be back again in mid-May, and be on a nest usually by late May or early June. They are known to frequently re-nest if their earlier nesting attempt was unsuccessful, and females have been observed to build up to 6 different nests in a season in effort to fledge a brood. That’s perseverance!

Kingbirds

Sarah Krembs also sent me a photo of an adult kingbird feeding two chicks. The Latin name for eastern kingbirds, Tyrannus tyrannus, means “tyrant or despot,” amply describing their aggressive defense of their nests and mates, and their domination of other birds. 

Unusually for songbirds, if a pair survives to the following breeding season, they’ll very often reform their pair bonds and reuse their former territories. Having said that, the males are known to roam a little – a majority of nests contain young from multiple males.

The eastern kingbird migrates to western South America, returning to North America to begin laying eggs between late May and mid-June. Females raise only a single brood per season, so the fact that Sarah photographed a pair still feeding young could indicate poor initial nest success. The female may lay up to 4 clutches in a single season if successive replacement nests fail. 

However, once the chicks fledge, the parents continue feeding the chicks for 3 to 5 weeks, an unusually long time for a songbird.

Don’t try getting too close to the nest or you’ll get attacked. The male in one study spent 50% of each hour perched either in the nest tree or a neighboring tree watching the nest during the nestling period. Apparently nest depredation is a major cause of nest failure, so vigilance is the name of the game. The parents will defend their young against predators for up to 7 to 8 weeks of age. 

Their southward migration generally begins in mid to late August.

And Then There’s The American Goldfinch

While most songbirds are migrating or preparing to leave, goldfinches may yet be incubating eggs. They’re one of the latest breeders of all our songbirds, normally waiting to nest until late June or early July, and sometimes into mid-August. As a result, most pairs have time to produce only one brood in a season. However, some experienced adults produce two broods. Here the female abandons the first brood to her mate, and then leaves to find another mate.

The American goldfinch eats seeds almost exclusively, consuming very few insects, even when feeding nestlings. Thus, they can stay later into the autumn without the worry of the first insect-killing frost.

Celestial Events

In August, four planets are visible after dusk: Venus is brilliant (-4.5 magnitude) and low in the west, Mars is bright (-2.6) in the southeast, Jupiter is bright (-2.0) and low in the southwest, and Saturn is the dimmest (0.3) of the four, but still relatively bright in the south.

August 6^thmarks the average midway point between ice-out and ice-up on Foster Lake in Hazelhurst (thanks as always to Woody Hagge for this data). A day later, August 7^thmarks the midway between summer solstice and autumn equinox.

The Perseid meteor shower occurs between 8/8 and 8/13, but the peak occurs on the night of the 12^ththrough the early morning of the 13^th. The Perseids average one meteor per minute, but can number 3 to 4 per minute in an “outburst” year. This year the moon will be in its crescent phase and will set before the show gets underway after midnight, which will make for ideal meteor viewing.

The Earth passes through the dust and debris of Comet Swift-Tuttle every year, creating the annual Perseid meteor shower. The comet last passed near Earth in 1992, and the next time will be in 2126. Most of the meteors we see are about the size of a grain of sand, which seems impossibly small to flare with that much light, but so it is.

Thought for the Week

August brings into sharp focus and a furious boil everything I've been listening to in the late spring and summer – Henry Rollins

A Northwoods Almanac for July 20, 2018

A Northwoods Almanac for 7/20 – 8/2/18  by John Bates

Sightings – Bull Moose, Eastern Gray Treefrog, Hooded Merganser with Hitchhikers, Mystery Fledgling 

On 7/6, Bill Draves was paddling upstream on an area river at 8:30 in the morning when he heard water rustling and thought it might be otters. He came around a bend in the river and instead found a bull moose standing in the middle of the stream about 100 feet away. He noted, “So immense. First time seeing a moose for me in 40 years . . . Got 4 photos in 5 seconds and turned around and paddled back downstream. Definitely a 20-year canoe highlight in my life!” 

photo by Bill Draves

On 7/5, Sally von Zirngibl on Papoose Lake was sitting on her pier in the late afternoon when a hen merganser swam past with 6 chicks on her back. Sally wrote, “She was fording the choppy waters into the wind quite valiantly. Occasionally she would dip briefly under the water leaving the chicks to fend for themselves. Upon her momentary return, they would scramble back onto her back. I marveled at her wise approach to scaffolding them into swimmers.” I wish Sally had gotten a picture of the hen, because that’s the most chicks I’ve ever heard of hitchhiking a ride on their mother’s back!                                                   
            Kay Rhyner on Yawkey Lake in Hazelhurst went out to water her window box flowers and found an eastern gray tree frog perched on the box. She noted, “We were just talking a few nights ago and wondering why we haven't heard their voices in the evening. This tree frog did not seem to mind me getting up close and personal.”

photo  by Kay Rhyner

Donna Rifken spotted a large fledgling bird near Blue Lake in Minocqua. When her dog Gertie went to sniff the odd bundle of fluff, Dona said, “The little creature rolled onto its back and snapped at Gertie with its little, yellow talons . . . It had some flight feathers but wore a downy shirt.”

photo by Donna Rifken

Fledgling birds are often hard to identify, and that’s the case with this bird. So far the best thoughts from several experts are that it could be a merlin or a sharp-shinned hawk – take a look at the picture and see what you think! 

Ravens Bombing Sled Dogs with Rocks

Sandra Brown Gellis and Mark Gellis sent me this fascinating email last week: “When we visited Denali National Park, we went to the sled dog kennels (this park being the only one using sled dogs). The ranger there told us about a resident raven family with what is apparently learned behavior, as this has gone on for years . . . the parent ravens fly over the kennels and drop small rocks; whichever dogs react the most are the ones who continue to get rocks dropped on them all summer long. He told us to watch for this behavior and, sure enough, during the sledding demonstration, what should happen but ravens are dropping rocks on dogs left in their kennels. 

“I would think that in a place with short summers the ravens would be real busy making nests, making babies, protecting babies, feeding babies, etc., and that this would leave little time for dropping rocks on dogs to see them bark and jump, but apparently that is not the case. I realize that this is not a Northwoods story; nevertheless, they were just amazing, especially because we do have ravens in the Northwoods.”

So, dear readers, while you’re trying to figure out the identity of the fledgling bird, figure this story out, too, because I have no explanation other than apparently ravens have an unusual sense of humor.

Balsam Fir Mortality

I’ve received several emails about balsam fir dying off, so if you have some of these trees on your property turning brown, here’s the explanation from Paul Cigan, Forest Health Specialist for WDNR. “We have seen and received tens of reports of widespread balsam fir mortality across the entire upper Great Lakes region this spring due to a phenomenon called winter drying. The Cable area was hit especially hard from my observations. Severe winter drying occurred this spring due to extreme weather conditions. It was caused when the deep snow kept the soil frozen so that water could not be absorbed by tree root systems, while at the same time trees were losing water through their needles due to the presence of warm, dry air. Then, after the snow melted, we received little precipitation until late May. This was a recipe for mortality for many balsam firs.”  

Deer Flies

            Tis the season not only for mosquitoes, but deer flies. As part of the Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas, Mary and I joined our friends Jeff Wilson, Terry Daulton, and Bruce Bacon last week to count birds in the block they were assigned on the Turtle Flambeau Flowage. Bruce is a master bird bander, so he spent the morning setting up nets and banding birds while Jeff, Terry, Mary and I had the far easier job of boating very slowly around the Flowage and trying to identify and ultimately confirm nesting birds.

            The deer flies were abundant on land, so I gave Bruce a commercial deer fly strip that I place on my hat which acts like a fly paper to capture the endlessly circling little beasts. When we returned, Bruce had 74 stuck on his hat, covering every square millimeter possible on the strip. I noted with some pride that he didn’t equal my record of 75 from a hike I did several years ago, but Bruce also claimed he had killed at least another 100 that hadn’t landed on his hat, so he’s got me beat.

            I’ve written about this in previous July columns, but it’s worth repeating. If deer flies are making you crazy, run, don’t walk, to various outdoor supply shops or hardware stores, and buy a pack of these strips. If you want to go direct to the ingenious fellow in Michigan that invented them, go to www.deerflypatches.com. These strips really do work, and they can make all the difference between a great hike and one that leaves you slapping ceaselessly at the very nimble and very quick deer flies. 

Loon Parenting

Jim Phelps on Mermaid Lake in Presque Isle sent this note last week: “We had the first successful loon chick in years. It was first spotted swimming around June 22. While my wife and I were sitting on the dock watching mom and the chick swim by, another loon flew by and landed. The two adults then swam away and went around a point and out of site. For an hour, the chick kept swimming by and then back out in the lake. Finally, we lost sight of it. It headed the opposite direction of the adults. A half hour later three adults came around that same point. No chick. To us this seems like very early for the chick to be on its own.” Jim was curious if I could provide an explanation for what appeared to be some seriously poor parenting by the adults. 

On all things loony, I consult either Dr. Mike Meyer or Dr. Walter Piper who have banded and researched loons in our area for decades. Here was Mike’s response: 

“A loon pair will hide their chick or lure an ‘intruding’ loon away from their chick as the intruding loon will often attempt to kill the chick in an attempt to destabilize the pair bond and usurp the territory. The parents will reconnect with the chick once the intruder is driven off the lake, which can take quite some time. They will often relocate the chick using vocalizations. Of course, other bad things could happen to a young chick off on its own regardless of the intruder - think bald eagles, large pike, jet skis, etc. However, many young loons are killed by intruding loons every year, so it is adaptive for the parents to leave the chick alone while driving the intruders from the territory.”

Mike then suggested we watch a short video of a loon battle that Walter Piper had observed: https://loonproject.org/loon-research/loon-territories/

Paddle on Cedar Lake – Loon Battle

Not long after this email exchange, I joined a program through ICORE (Iron County Outdoor Recreation Enthusiasts) that brought Susan Knight, interim director of the Trout Lake Limnology Station and an exceptional aquatic botanist, to Cedar Lake in Iron County to help folks learn to identify aquatic plants. We had a wonderful morning poking around looking at submerged and shoreline plants and were just heading back to the boat landing when we noticed two loons racing across the water, one chasing the other. The loon doing the chasing would invariably catch up to the loon in front, forcing the front one to dive and come up in another direction at full speed flapping its wings and rowing itself across the water. This went on for several minutes until the chase was directed right by our canoes and kayaks so we had a “ringside” seat. 

It was unnerving to watch. The chasing loon was clearly beating up the other loon, and we couldn’t understand why the front loon wouldn’t try to fly away because it was losing badly. Eventually the beaten loon swam into some shoreline shrubs, and perhaps crawled up on to the bank – we couldn’t see it clearly to know. Meanwhile, the other loon “stood guard” 15 feet out from the shrubs, waiting for the other loon to emerge. 

It never did. We paddled over to see if it was injured, but it concealed itself beautifully, and we couldn’t find it. Meanwhile, the guarding loon took off.

So, we were left wondering who was who. Intruding loons often force combat from territorial loons on our area lakes – they want the territory and the male or female from the mated pair have to defend their site or lose it.  

 Walter Piper wrote about these conflicts in his last blog post, “The Forgotten Ones” (see https://loonproject.org/recent-events/): “Many loons live on the margins. These are ‘floaters’ –  mostly 2 to 7-year olds who spend the entire summer without a fixed home. Floaters are the individuals that forage alone on small lakes or skulk along the outskirts of defended territories, occasionally socializing with or accosting territory holders. Unlike territorial loons, they drift about.

“Although their lives might seem simpler and less stressful than those of territorial loons, floaters – even young ones – face challenges of their own. Our work has shown that 2- to 4-year olds are much lighter than 5- to 7-year olds, are more submissive to territory holders during territorial intrusions, and almost never initiate battles for territorial ownership. Yet these youngsters do intrude into breeding territories . . . Our data show that young floaters intrude strategically into territories within a focused area (usually about 10km in diameter) so as to meet and interact with owners of their own sex that they might evict down the road.

“Having reached optimal adult condition, floaters of 5+ years of age begin to size up owners with greater urgency, choosing to battle those that appear weak or are noticeably weaker than they were on a previous visit.”

I had read this prior to our paddle, so our group talked about these battles, but we still didn’t know what to make of the battle until we quickly came around an island across from the boat landing and saw an adult pair swimming with a chick. Given their appearance of calm, we speculated that it was the territorial adult that had driven off an intruder, and was back with his/her mate. There was no way to know for sure, however. But intruders that defeat the territorial male or female often harass or outright kill the chick from the previous pair. And while the winning intruder will then be accepted by the formerly mated individual, I don’t know if this happens instantaneously.

One way or another, it sure isn’t Disneyland out there for loons.

Celestial Events

            On 7/20, look after dusk for Jupiter about 4 degrees below the waxing gibbous moon. Neil Armstrong walked on the moon on this date in 1969.

            On 7/25, look all night for Saturn about 2 degrees below the moon. The full moon, the year’s most distant and smallest full moon, occurs on 7/27.

            Look for the peak Delta Aquarid meteor shower in the early morning hours of 7/28. This is a modest shower, averaging 15 to 20 per hour.

Thought for the Week

“In July, the blue pontederia or pickerelweed blooms in large beds in the shallow parts of our pleasant river, and swarms with yellow butterflies in continual motion. Art cannot rival this pomp of purple and gold. Indeed, the river is a perpetual gala, and boasts each month a new ornament.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Please share your outdoor sightings and thoughts: call 715-476-2828, e-mail at manitowish@centurytel.net, snail-mail at 4245N State Highway 47, Mercer, WI, or see my blog at www.manitowishriver.blogspot.com. 

A Northwoods Almanac for 7/6/18

A Northwoods Almanac for July 6 – 19, 2018  by John Bates

Loon Update

From Walter Piper’s blog (https://loonproject.org/recent-events/): “As of today [6/30], 32 of our territorial pairs have hatched chicks [Piper is monitoring 123 pairs overall]. We are on pace with last year, despite the three-week delay in nesting resulting from the cold winter . . . 2018 looks to be at least an average year for chick production.”

Piper notes that in the past two weeks, four pairs lost their chicks. He adds, however, that “loss of chicks in the first two weeks of life is not terribly surprising. Young chicks must confront a great many challenges, including simply keeping themselves warm and avoiding physical injury as they learn to swim and move about. But the greatest hazards to hatchlings, we have learned, are strictly biological. Being tiny, having limited mobility, and with only a vague sense of the dangers posed by much larger organisms in their habitat, young chicks can be attacked and killed by a wide variety of animals — intruding loons, snapping turtles, muskies, and eagles, to name a few.”

photo by Bev Engstrom

Isle Royale Update

The National Park Service gave final approval of a plan to capture 20 to 30 mainland wolves over three to five years and transport them to Isle Royale to fill the role of the apex predator. 

Wolves made their way to the island in the late 1940s. Their numbers reached as high as 50, but only two remain. Inbreeding and disease are believed responsible for their recent drop-off. 

Without this action, the extirpation of wolves was expected, which raised concerns about possible effects to the current Isle Royale ecosystem, including impacts of an unchecked moose population on forest vegetation communities. 

Sightings - Eastern Spiny Softshell Turtle, Wood Turtle, Polyphemus Moth, Downy Woodpecker Save 

Darlene Kaminski sent me a photo of an eastern spiny softshell turtle laying eggs near the Manitowish River. This is a notable sighting given that these turtles are very uncommon in the Northwoods, preferring warmer waters found further south.

photo by Darlene Kaminski

Equally uncommon are wood turtles, a threatened species in Wisconsin. But on 6/1, Mary and I spotted one across the road from our home in Manitowish. We’ve lived in Manitowish for 34 years, and this is the first one we’ve seen close to our home.

Howard P. sent a photo of a Polyphemus moth that was visiting his yard in Minocqua. These moths can have up to a 6-inch wingspan, and are noted for their single oval transparent spot ringed with yellow, black, and blue on each wing. In Greek mythology, Polyphemus refers to the one-eyed giant son of Poseidon; hence the connection. 

photo by Howard P

The top of a tree snapped off in a windstorm and came down in the Rhinelander backyard of Sharon Gobert. This is not unusual, but the tree had a nest of downy woodpeckers inside a cavity, and Sharon and her daughter Kristen could hear the chicks calling. They thought that if they could prop the tree back up against some other trees, the mother could get back to her babies. But they couldn’t budge the tree.    

The next morning, they could hear the parents call in distress because they couldn’t get to their chicks. So, Sharon and Kristen called a few friends to come over and help them lift the tree and prop it up. Kristen said the adults sat on a branch and watched this transpire, and as soon as the tree was up, the female flew in to check the chicks. Not only that, Kristen said, but the male came and perched on the wood pile next to her, looked at her and cheeped a few times as if to say “thanks so much for the help and saving our kids,” and then flew off to the nest.

Tapetum Lucidum - Eyeshine

Sarah Krembs from Manitowish Waters went out last week at dusk to listen for whip-poor-wills, and while she didn’t hear any, she instead saw one sitting on the road, its eyes glowing red in her headlights. I’ve seen this before, too, and my question has always been, “Why red?”

Whip-poor-wills, like many animals, have a mirror-like structure called a tapetum lucidumimmediately behind the retina which reflects visiblelightback through the retina. This increases the light available to thephotoreceptorsand contributes to the superior night visionof many animals.

Since whip-poor-wills hunt for insects in the poor light of dusk and pre-dawn, as well as during full moons, they need night-adapted vision. I haven’t been able to find anything in the literature which explicitly explains why their eyes reflect orange or red, but I suspect it has to do with their need to be less visible when sitting on a nest or to prevent being seen by predators at night.   

Night eyeshine occurs in a wide variety of colors– white eyeshine occurs in many fish, like walleye; blue eyeshine occurs in some mammals such as horses; green eyeshine occurs in cats, dogs, and raccoons among others; while red eyeshine occurs in coyote, rodents, opossums, and birds.

Sarah would likely never have seen the whip-poor-will that night if its eyes didn’t reflect her headlights. But whip-poor-wills are also almost impossible to see during daylight, too, due to their cryptic coloration. A ground-nesting species, the eastern whip-poor-will lays its 2-egg clutch directly on the leaf litter of the forest floor. During the day, adults remain motionless on the nest or on a roost site, and you literally have to nearly step on one to see it. If you were to see one, the adults usually perform a broken-wing display like a killdeer to try to lead you away from the nest.

I find it interesting that the hatching of chicks seems to be closely tied to periods of the full moon. Eastern whip-poor-wills usually forage at dawn and dusk, but on bright moonlit nights they also catch moths and other insects throughout the night. This greater availability of food helps them meet the energy demands of their rapidly growing chicks. 

According to the North American Breeding Bird Survey, eastern whip-poor-will populations have declined by almost 3% per year between 1966 and 2015, resulting in a cumulative decline of 75% during that time.The reasons for their decline include the loss of habitat to agricultural crops and grazing, the maturation of forests, better fire control, and collisions with cars while they’re feeding on or near roads at night. 

I love hearing whip-poor-wills, but I also love being able to roll up my windows and leave because they call so loudly and incessantly. In one study, the birds sang approximately 59 songs per minute, or one per second, and for 15 minutes or more without pause. Some researchers have recorded them singing continuously for over 1,000 calls, and that can drive a person a little crazy. 

More on the Interior Decorating Skills (or Lack Thereof) of Male House Wrens 

A friend and I have been enjoyably bantering back and forth about whether male house wrens are good examples of how males in general completely lack interior decorating skills. She’s right, of course, but I feel compelled to at least partially defend my gender. Her latest shot across my bow, however, quoted this: “At times when the female bird [a house wren] disapproves of the material used by the male bird, it dismantles the nest by throwing out the sticks used by the male bird one at a time. After choosing a nesting site the female wren then takes over the construction and makes a nest cup over the pile of sticks made by the male bird. Materials used by the female wren to line the nest are soft material like feather, hair, wool, spider cocoons, strips of bark, rootlets, moss, and trash.”

Perhaps I should just concede defeat.

Flowers Currently in Bloom

            Mary and I took a short walk down old Hwy. 51 in Manitowish on 7/1, and the flowers along the roadside and in the wetlands were prolific. We saw the following: joe pye weed, marsh milkweed, common bladderwort, blue flag iris, and marsh cinquefoil in the wetter areas, and in the drier areas, common St. John’s wort, daisy fleabane, daisy, bush clover, wood sorrel, common milkweed, tall buttercup, brown-eyed Susan, tall meadow rue, heal all, marsh hedge-nettle, wild mint, everlasting pea, bird’s foot trefoil, orange and yellow hawkweed, fireweed, and large white-flowered anemone, among others.

May – Warmest Ever

Almost every tract of land in the contiguous United States was warmer than normal in May, helping to break a Dust Bowl-era record. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the month’s average temperature of 65.4 degrees eclipsed the previous high mark of 64.7 degrees set in 1934. The pattern presented a major contrast from April, which ranked the 13^thcoldest on record. However, thanks to May’s record-setting warmth, the nation overall posted its 22nd-warmest spring (March through May) in records that date back to 1895, more than offsetting the cold April. 

Celestial Events

            Today, 7/6, the earth is at aphelion, or the farthest from the sun that it will be in 2018 – 94.5 million miles.

The next three weeks or so mark the average warmest days for our area, with an average high of 79°, and an average low of 55°. 

On 7/10, we’ll be blessed with 15 hours and 30 minutes of daylight, down from our high of 15 hours and 45 minutes on summer solstice.

New moon occurs on 7/12. On 7/15, look for Venus after dusk 1.6° below the waxing crescent moon.

Thought for the Week

What makes a place special is the way it buries itself inside the heart, not whether it's flat or rugged, rich or austere, wet or arid, gentle or harsh, warm or cold, wild or tame. Every place, like every person, is elevated by the love and respect shown toward it, and by the way in which its bounty is received.”
― Richard Nelson, The Island Within