Winter Severity and White-tailed Deer

This winter is the 8th snowiest on record (so far) in west-central Wisconsin.   The snow, ice and sub-zero temperatures have certainly limited my outdoor activity - and kept my bird feeding station busy.   When I'm out driving my Prius - equipped with an electric seat warmer - I feel empathy for the deer along the roadside.

 

This winter, they've had to contend with deep crusty snow and bitter cold winds.   Sure, they had a great summer and fall to pack on the fat, but they're way more visible these days.  It looks like winter has taken a toll on them.

I spotted a bedraggled and thirsty yearling, alone on the side of Semple Road in Arkansaw.   I came across a half-dozen does and yearlings sitting in the snow, hidden among rows of stubby little evergreens in a roadside Christmas tree farm.  I've spotted herds of them digging through the snow in the cornfields by the tree lines in the coulees.

And the numbers of road-kill deer are mounting - more than a half dozen on State Road 25 near my house.  It's always disconcerting to see dead deer along the road.  But if you look - you might be surprised to see who joins the list of scavengers at the carcass - chickadees, eagles and woodpeckers.

Red-tailed Hawk at a roadside deer carcass

So, is our local deer population suffering from a severe winter this year?

According to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources - no, not yet.

The Wisconsin Winter Severity Index ranks this winter as relatively mild - so far - for deer.  “What stands out this winter is that it started early," says Mike Zeckmeister, DNR northern region wildlife biologist.

That it did.  And we're in for more snow tomorrow.

The December Blizzard

The National Weather Service defines a blizzard as large amounts of falling or blowing snow with winds in excess of 35 mph and visibilities of less than 1/4 of a mile for an extended period of time (greater than 3 hours).

WCCO's weathercaster Mike Augustnyiak said it was coming - and he was right.  This is the third storm we've had this fall and this one's on its way to becoming the 5th biggest blizzard ever in our region.

I'm sitting right in the middle of it - in the purple circle by Mike's left elbow.

Snow is falling at a rate of 1.5 inches per hour.  I've got a foot of snow right outside my door already.
 Winds are around 20 mph with gusts up to 35 mph.  White out!

Roads are treacherous - icy under the snow.  Only the snowplows and a couple of farm pickups have been out on State Rd 25 this morning.  According to Mike - we're going to get 15-20 inches.  

I've put out some extra feeders with sunflower chips - to make it easier for the goldfinches and chickadees - and millet for the tree sparrows and juncos.  But I'm surprised by the absence of cardinals, purple finches and house finches that have been visiting the feeders all fall.

Tree Sparrows are Back!

The big storm that blew through earlier this week set a new record - the strongest non-coastal Low pressure system in the Continental US (CONUS).  The city of Bigfork, Minnesota recorded a barometric pressure of 28.20 inches or 955 MB, a reading normally associated with category III hurricanes (115 mph winds). 

About 250 miles south of Big Fork, here in the Chippewa River Valley, the front brought high winds and rain, but no floods and no tornadoes.  The wind knocked down some trees and whipped the leaves around.  And it brought the first Tree Sparrows I've seen this fall.

They were everywhere in the bushes along the Chippewa River State Trail today, hanging out with the chickadees and juncos.

American Tree Sparrow - Christmas Bird Count data                     

These little brown birds are complete migrants, their breeding and wintering grounds do not overlap.  They breed in the tundra and winter further primarily in the lower 48 states.

Despite its name, this sparrow nests on the ground in the sub-arctic, a region that's not known for trees.  They're attracted by the availability of insect protein up north - and in the winter, they switch over to seeds.  Fill a plastic tray with white proso millet, and they'll come to your backyard to feed along with the juncos and White-throated Sparrows.

So how'd it get the "tree" moniker?   European settlers called it a "tree" sparrow because it reminded them of their rusty orange-capped Eurasian Tree Sparrow.

Look for their white wing bars, the back stick pin in their chest and their yellow mandible.

Record Breaking Temperature: 84ºF

What a difference a day makes.

Acer rubrum flower buds

Buds are a poppin.'

 Rana sylvatica

All that was left of Wednesday's chorus were the gelatinous globs of eggs and a handful of wood frogs.  They were joined by a few western chorus frogs with their distinctive trill (the sound of running your fingernail over the teeth of a comb).  I tried and tried, but the tiny chorus frogs are nearly impossible to "see."  I'll be giving it another try tomorrow.

Algae is blooming.
Whirligig beetles are spinning around on the water surface.
Bees, heavy with pollen sacks, are all over the willow flowers.

Eastern Phoebes are back.
Song Sparrows are singing.  Fox Sparrows are flitting around in the shrubs along the Chippewa River State Trail.  Ruby and Golden-crowned Kinglets are feasting on the insects in the crowns of trees.

My car windshield is dotted with the remains of nearly invisible insects.

And my least favorite creatures showed up today:  TICKS!!!! 

It's just a matter of time before I'll be complaining about the mosquitoes.

Back to Normal Weather

After an unseasonably warm week, March temperatures are back (30-degrees cooler).  But we haven't had any precipitation all month.  In fact, if the dry weather continues, this could set a record for the driest March ever.

It was chilly, but the sun was shining.

Saturday is our day to shop in Eau Claire, and on the way, take a spin through one of the most species-diverse locations in Wisconsin -  the little dot on the map along the Lower Chippewa River known as Meridean (no, they didn't mis-spell me-rid-i-an, it's pronounced merry-dean).

 

We didn't get very far on State Road 25 before I spotted another early migrant, our first-of-the-year Killdeers.

A pair of them was foraging along the road, next to a recently plowed potato field.   I cringe when I think of all the chemical-laden food these birds eat.

It won't be long before these fields will be marked with little red  "peligro - poison" signs when they start laying down this year's pesticide layers.  A neighbor explained the reason for the signs, and said:  I only eat organic vegetables.   I think about that conversation every time I drive by.

I continued north on State Rd 25 and turned on to County M.   Because of the change in temperature, I had to drive with the windows up and the seat heater "on."  Heated seats were not on my "gotta have it" list when I was shopping for a new car.  But that and the leather seats came with only Prius left on the lot.  My choice was buy it or miss-out on the "cash for clunkers" rebate.

I want to believe that I bought a safe car, and all the to-do about the run-away Priuses and Toyota "quality control issues" will dissipate with time.   I still worry about my "investment," but for the most part, I really like my Prius.  Every time I drive to Eau Claire, I get ~60 MPGs.  Amazing.

But unlike our outings earlier this week, we didn't spot any insects, and only a couple of squirrels, crows and bald eagles along the flooded river bottoms. 

When we pulled in to Meridean, I spotted a small flock of Black-capped Chickadees flitting from tree to tree.  I stopped and pulled out my iPod.  I tuned it in to the Chickadee song on Bird Jam and turned up the volume on the car radio.  It was as if my big black Prius had been transformed into a giant chickadee - and the little flock united in an effort  to drive us away.

I snapped a few photos, then let them go back to looking for food.

We took in a movie - the new Jude Law flick - Repo Men.  To say it is violent - is an understatement.  Interesting premise.  The twist at the end caught both of us off guard.  Rent it.

We picked up groceries then headed back through Meridean around 5:30.    Along the way, we spotted two pairs of Canada Geese establishing territories at opposite sides of our favorite oxbow, a pair of mallards and our first Wood Ducks of the year.

Our biggest surprise came further down the road.  We stopped to look at Eastern Bluebirds - and a Barred Owl flew right in front of the car, landing in a nearby tree!  

 "Who-cooks-for-you?  Who-Cooks-for-you-all?"

Contrails and Weather

With all the warm weather lately, I've been noticing all the jets in the sky and their contrails.  

While I've used the term "contrails" before and I know what they look like, I didn't know the etymology.  So I went to my trusty Webster's to find the definition:  "white trail of condensed water vapor that sometimes forms in the wake of an aircraft."

When warm and humid jet exhaust hits cold air, water condenses.   Think of breathing on a cold winter day when your breath forms a visible cloud.

Why I don't notice contrails all the time?  (Am I not paying attention?) 

I went to "google" and hit the first link which took me to the Weather Service.  Hmmm.  There must be a "weather" connection here.  Sure enough, I found the connection towards the bottom of the page:

"... sailors have known for some time to look specifically at the patterns and persistence of jet contrails for weather forecasting. On days where the contrails disappear quickly or don't even form, they can expect continuing good weather, while on days where they persist, a change in the weather pattern may be expected."

If this is true, our weather is due to change.

What's the forecast?  Rain, slush and colder weather over the weekend.

Check out this website for more information.

Hoar Frost Again

 Hoar frost on the coulee outside my front door in Nelson, Wisconsin

The forecasters predicted hoar frost this morning.  I got up early (for a Saturday) just in case they got it right.  They did.

Unlike January 19 - this time I was ready with my camera.

I headed north on my favorite "scenic" byway (known in Wisconsin as a "rural road") through the farm and bottom lands of the Lower Chippewa River to Eau Claire.  I thought I was in a race with the sun (melting the hoar frost).  It wasn't the sun, it was the wind.  The roadside was littered with piles ice crystals, sparkling in the sun. 

Other than a Rough-legged Hawk on County Road M and a Red-tailed Hawk at the edge of a snow covered cornfield, not too many birds.

But the hoar frost - wow!

Frozen Fog and Hoar Frost

Hoar frost after the frozen fog 

I started my day with a look out the kitchen window.   The view was a uniform white, a "white out."  No, it wasn't a blinding snowstorm.   It was what meteorologists call "frozen fog," also known as ice-crystal fog, frost fog, frost flakes, air hoar, rime fog and pogonip.

According to the AMA (American Meteorology Association) glossary of meteorology, "frozen fog is composed of suspended particles of ice, partly ice crystals 20 to 100 μm in diameter, but chiefly, especially when dense, droxtals 12–20 μm in diameter."  Got it?

These definitions may help:

Fog is a cloud (a visible aggregate of minute water droplets) - at the surface of the earth - that reduces visibility below one kilometer.

Frozen fog occurs when these minute water droplets freeze (and reduce visibility below one kilometer). 

 Close up of "hoar frost" on the spruce in my front yard

Frost is the solid deposit of water vapor from saturated air.   

Hoarfrost is the deposit of ice crystals (formed in the same manner as dew - except the temperature of the objects on which it forms must be below 32º F, and the dew point temperature of the air must also be below freezing) on cold objects - trees, branches, poles, fence wire, etc.


It was the ice crystals that got my attention. It was as if all the outdoors had been dusted with a couple of sprays from that "instant snow in a can" stuff used to add a dusting to holiday wreaths and model train sets. 


I didn't realize how difficult it would be to photograph.  It was such a bright morning and everything in my neighborhood was white.

I hope we get the fog again tomorrow so I can give it another try.

Here's a link to an amazing photo of those ice crystals in Washington State.

 

The Blizzard & The Birds

It was "gray" and unusually quiet when I woke up this morning.  No noise from the state highway outside my bedroom window.  Then I heard it - the wind whistling through the branches in the trees.

I looked out the window.  It didn't look like much of a storm - at first.

It wasn't until I put on my boots, jacket, gloves and hat and headed outside to fill the bird feeders that I realized just how much of a storm it was.

The wind bit through my jacket and gloves.  I could feel the burn on my face.  One of my feeders, blown off its pole, sat upside down in a snow drift by my garage door. 

My outdoor thermometer read 15-degrees.  The morning TV weathercaster reported wind gusts to 30mph.  According to the chart on the internet, that creates a windchill of  -5 degrees F.

How do those little feathered creatures survive?

It's amazing to see the American Goldfinches and Black-capped Chickadees come in for a landing at the feeders, get blown off course in mid-air, flap like crazy, land on the perch and hunker down as they try to hold on and grab a seed, before they get blown away.

From the west, there's nothing to block the wind from my feeding station.  No trees, no buildings.

I went out and shoveled a north-south path through the snow,  an attempt to create a little "feeding tunnel," creating piles of snow to protect the birds from the wind.   I dusted the path with millet and black-oil sunflower - and ran back into the house.

First to arrive?

The most intelligent, the Blue Jays.  Four of them, crests flat against their heads.

As I watched them fill their faces with sunflower seed (they literally vacuum up as many seeds as they can hold in their mouths and fly off to cache them), I tried to recall the "word" for a group of jays.  I had to look it up.  Turns out there's more than one:  a 'band,' a 'cast,' a 'party,' and a 'scold' of jays. 

Today they behaved more like "cold" of jays.  They were all business.  And the business today was finding food and conserving energy.

I turned to look out the window just now and spotted an unexpected visitor - a Northern Shrike!   The 2nd sighting of this predatory songbird at our feeding station in a decade.   The other songbirds took off (how do they "know" this one is a predator?   It looks like a mockingbird on steroids.)

Weather like this makes me marvel at how tough these little critters are - finding food and avoiding becoming dinner for accipiters and shrikes.

Snow!

 

 

Snow before Halloween.  Just a dusting is magical. 

When I look past this early reminder of what's ahead, I cringe.   It's not the cold and wet I dread, it's the impact snow has on getting around.  The shoveling, the salt and sand, the black ice.

Yah gotta have a car out here in dairy land.  The closest grocery store is 8 miles north in the city of Durand, the "seat" of Wisconsin's smallest county.  The closest box store is further north in Memomonie (25 miles away). 

What can I say about Durand.

It's one of those rural cities that hasn't taken advantage of its natural capital.  Instead, it looks to the kind of economic development of the past - light industry and chain stores.

Durand has something most small towns would give their eye teeth for:  an awesome  location. 

The city sits in the middle of the largest intact floodplain forest in the upper mid-west:  the Lower Chippewa River.   The 40 miles of "natural" river to the north and south of the city are a treasure trove, a living museum of Wisconsin's natural heritage containing:

  1.  more rare species (125) than any area of comparable size in Wisconsin

  2.  more native prairie (25% of the state total) than any area of comparable size in Wisconsin

  3.  50% of Wisconsin's plant species

  4.  70% of Wisconsin's fish species

  5.  75% of Wisconsin's nesting bird species

  6.  the largest and best remaining floodplain savannas in Wisconsin

And it's all easily accessible -

  by foot and bike - from the Chippewa River State Trail

  by rail - Tiffany nature train

  by car - Rustic Road 107

  by boat - canoe and kayak

The river and nature tourism are the future for the Durand area.

There's plenty of opportunity for investors:  empty store fronts, an historic downtown (quaint, if only they'd remove the ugly 1960's aluminum siding), a new "small" chain motel, a McDonalds (a sign that someone recognizes the retail potential - not an endorsement) and a great reputation for quality deer and turkey hunting.

Durand is a diamond in the rough for nature-based businesses:  a campground, bike shop, canoe livery, nature and birding tour company, art gallery, bed and breakfasts and signature restaurants.