Red Wing Nature Notes

As I have mentioned in my last two posts, we have been fortunate this spring to have exciting wood duck activity right in our backyard.  On May 16th, I had reported that egg laying had started in both of the artificial nesting boxes adjacent to our pond.  In the early stages of egg laying, it is quite easy to monitor the activity.  Early in the morning both the drake and hen arrive at the pond.  The female enters the box for twenty to thirty minutes and lays one egg each day while the male stands guard on the pond or nearby nesting box.  As soon as they fly away, I can go down and open the box to get an egg count.

Once incubation starts which is usually the day the last egg is laid, nest monitoring becomes more of a challenge.  To avoid disturbing the hen and making her abandon the nest, it is imperative to only check the box while she is off feeding and getting water to drink.  This happens for very short periods of time early in the morning or in the evening just before dark.  If a person gets an egg count some morning and knows the final clutch size, it is relatively easy to determine the hatching date.  The normal incubation period for wood ducks is 29 to 30 days.

After hatching, the hen will keep the ducklings in the box overnight giving them the opportunity to prepare for their maiden voyage.  Actually their first adventure is quite remarkable.  They must jump from the height of ten feet with no ability to fly and then follow the hen cross country.  These treks can be for quite some distance and traverse a variety of cover and terrain eventually ending at the water’s edge.  All this must be accomplished without the detection of dogs, cats, a variety of predators and even automobile tires.

I have watched numerous nature documentaries feature the hatching of wood ducks and their subsequent departure from the nesting box, but have never experienced this for real.  On the late afternoon of May 17th, I heard the faint chirping of newly hatched ducklings.  So early in the morning of the 18th, I was in my nearby blind with camera in hand.  At 6:45 am., I could hear considerable commotion coming from inside the box.  Then at 7:00 am., the hen stuck her head out of the box for the first of three times.  She does this to make sure the coast is clear of any danger before bringing her brood out to face the real world.  At the conclusion of her third reconnaissance, she dropped straight to the ground below and immediately the young ducklings started coming out like popcorn.

With her entire brood at her side, she marched them into the pond.  Amazingly the ducklings instinctively started feeding on the plethora of insects at the surface of the water.  Most young birds sit at the edge of the nest with mouths wide open waiting to be fed.  Following twenty minutes of swimming and feeding on the pond, the hen gathered her ducklings and cautiously began their epic march to the river.

I would like to conclude this post with two additional observations that might be of interest.  First, this spring will be remembered for the cold wet weather that persisted for days on end as well as having Baltimore orioles at our feeders in numbers seldom observed before.  We saw our first orioles on April 30th with their numbers steadily increasing until Friday May13th.  On that day, we counted as many as 21 orioles at or near our feeders at one time.  The photo I have included in this post was taken through our sunroom window and featured six simultaneously at our jelly feeders.  With the abundance of activity that day, an entire 32 ounce jar of grape jelly was consumed!  I have been asked by others who witnessed this unusual spectacle for an explanation.  My best guess is that a strong cold front was moving in from the north at the peak of their migration stalling further travel.  In any event, it was observed and was the center of discussion for several days.

Second, an outdoor activity I look forward to every Memorial Day weekend the past several years is to spend with my youngest daughter Angie fishing local waters.  This year our fishing adventure was on a popular trout stream.

As we were working our way up the stream, we flushed a yellow warbler off it’s neatly woven nest in the crotch of a cow parsnip plant.  Upon closer examination of the nest, we discovered four small speckled warbler eggs and one additional egg the same color but twice the size.

I immediately thought of a parasitic nesting bird the cowbird.  This bird has the unkindly reputation of laying one egg in the nest of other birds. The host bird then ends up incubating the young oversized cowbird.  Evidently yellow warbler nests are prime targets for cowbird trickery.  This behavior evolved over years of living among herds of bison.  The cowbirds would feast on the insects that the bison disturbed while grazing.  Because the bison were always on the move, it wasn’t possible for cowbirds to establish and maintain their own nest.

As Jason Jech mentioned recently in his outdoor column in the Republican Eagle, the spring high water does have a few positive benefits for those of us who like to explore the great outdoors.  This past Monday morning, I decided to take my portable camouflaged blind down and set it up near the edge of some nearby flooded lowland forest.  As I have walked through this area the last couple weeks, I have observed and heard numerous wood ducks in their splendid spring plumage.  My intentions on Monday were to observe their behavior and hopefully capture a few digital images of this most amazing waterfowl.

Of all the ducks  that live in Minnesota, the male wood duck is by far the most colorful.  They inhabit wooded areas adjacent to streams and lakes.  Particularly in the late summer and early fall, their main source of food includes berries and nuts.  On many occasions over the years, I have observed them in and below oak trees feasting on acorns.

When available, wood ducks prefer to nest in cavities  of hollow trees.  Avid conservationists  such as members of the Red Wing Wildlife League and Izaak Walton League increase nesting success in an area by building and putting up artificial nesting boxes.  Many years ago, we excavated a small pond in our backyard for the purpose of attracting nesting wood ducks.  The first three years following pond construction we had nesting success in both nesting boxes.  Shortly thereafter gray squirrels discovered the boxes and it has been a constant battle since.  This spring I removed the boxes from the trees and placed them on poles covered by slippery pvc.  As of today, wood ducks have been checking out the new accommodations, but no takers yet.  I will keep you posted on any success that the new location might provide.

Monday morning I observed at least six pairs of wood ducks, but none swam in real close to my blind.  After two hours upon entering my blind, I observed a pair of wood ducks in flight with the hen calling out it’s distinctive wee-e-e-ek whistle.  It appeared that they were headed directly for my blind.  However at the last second they wildly swerved and landed on the limb of a large basswood tree just outside the blind.  They were checking out a cavity in the tree to see if it was suitable for nesting.  How exciting it was to have them in so close.

An added bonus for the morning was having the opportunity to observe Canada geese, coot, muskrats and even a woodchuck near my location.

Prior to the Tuesday evening fire on Barn bluff, I had received numerous reports of people observing hundreds of pasque flowers on the south side prairie of the bluff. 

Other spring flora that I have observed the past few days have included snowy trilliums, bloodroots, the leaves of wild leeks and skunk cabbage.  Skunk cabbages are found in and near springs at the head of small streams and will many times send up their flowers through the snow.  They have the distinction of being our very first flowering wildflower in the Red Wing area.

For those Red Wind Nature Notes readers who might be interested in bald eagles. the Friends of Wacouta will be sponsoring a free educational presentation at the Wacouta town hall on April 26th.  The program will be given by Scott Mehus the educational director for the National Eagle Center in Wabasha and will start at 7:00 pm.  Scott has agreed to bring along a captive eagle to use as a part of his talk.  Please feel free to attend.

This past Sunday afternoon was the last of a fairly disappointing Red Wing Eagle Watch 2011 at Colvill park.  The number of eagles observed in that area was surprisingly low compared to several past winters.  The same was true for the Wabasha area as well.  Evidently the eagles have found more abundant winter food supplies further downriver.  I had one eagle watch visitor who reported observing up to 900 eagles one day this winter in southern Iowa near the Quad Cities.  Another factor playing into the low number of eagles observed at Colvill was the fact that the XCEL steam plant was shut down for nearly a month allowing ice to cover the entire bay.

However this past Sunday, the bay was wide open and 13 eagles were observed perching, flying and feeding in the Colvill area.  In addition a pair of eagles is nesting for the third year in a row just across from the viewing area.  Incubation started on March 7th with an expected hatching date for the first eaglet on or about April 10th.

For anyone interested in following a bald eagle nesting season, I highly recommend logging on to Decorah Iowa Eagle Cam.  This web cam was set up by Bob Anderson a highly respected raptor biologist with considerable experience working with peregrine falcons as well as bald eagles.

As the temperatures start to approach 50 degrees the next few days, the backwaters will begin to break up.  This will usher in the major thrust of the northward eagle migration.  It will not be uncommon to observe hundreds of eagles around Red Wing the next couple weeks.

In related spring activities and observations, here are a few:

Early morning spring cross country skiing on the crusty snow has been fantastic the last couple weeks.  It might be coming to a screeching halt if we received an inch of rain next Monday.

Maple syrup tapping has started as I tapped my trees on Tuesday March 8th.  There have been modest runs of sap on March 8, 10 and 14th.  Hopefully by tomorrow March 16th, I will have collected enough sap to start cooking.

In previous years, the maple syrup season coincides with the spring migration of tundra swans.  Last year the first swans were observed on March 12th.  No sign of the swans yet in the spring of 2011.

My first observation of returning turkey vultures was March 12th compared with the 13th in 2010.  It was circling over a road killed deer along highway 61.  For many people in rural areas, the sighting of the first vulture marks the start of spring.

Last evening March 14th as I was collecting sap from my maple syrup buckets, I heard the first calls of local sand hill cranes.  That compares with the same date in 2010.

SPRING IS DEFINITELY ON THE HORIZON!!

As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts on Red Wing Nature Notes from January 19, 2009, a truly amazing conservation success story in Minnesota has been the re-introduction of trumpeter swans.  For those readers who would like to get an up close and personal experience with the swans, I would suggest travelling to either Monticello, Minnesota or Hudson, Wisconsin to observe literally hundreds of trumpeters residing on open water during the winter months.  In the case of Monticello, the open water is on the Mississippi river just downstream of the nuclear power plant.  In Hudson, the swans congregate at the confluence of the Willow and St. Croix rivers.  In both cases, artificial feeding of corn attracts the birds and allows observers to stand amongst the feeding sights and sounds.

Once very common in the wetlands of Minnesota, the trumpeter swans were heavily hunted for meat, skins and their feathers.  By 1880, they were extirpated from Minnesota.  In the 1960’s, the Hennepin County Park Reserve District began a restoration project.  Fast forward to January 5-8, 2011 to an aerial survey that estimated the population in 14 Minnesota counties was 5500.

Because the trumpeter population continues to expand, there are more reports in recent years of winter sightings along the river near Red Wing and Wabasha.  These birds feed on natural food and most observations are best accomplished with a spotting scope or binoculars.  Unlike the situation at Monticello and Hudson, these swans are quite wary and do not allow one to get very close.

Last Thursday, January 27th, was an exception to the rule as I took a late afternoon ski tour out on Wacouta bay at the head of Lake Pepin.  The weather was cloudy with a few snow flurries coming down.  On the south side of the bay, there is a small area of open water in the marsh the result of Bullard’s creek entering the bay.  At a distance of about 100 yards from the open water, I noticed some movement ahead.  With assistance from my binoculars, I observed a small flock of mallards walking around on top of the snow.  Upon further observation, I discovered the heads of two swans sticking up above the snow.  As it turned out, the two swans were feeding under the water searching for aquatic plants and tubers.

I recognized that with no cover between the swans and me, getting close was going to be a difficult assignment.  This challenge was further complicated by the fact that I was wearing a bright red anorak.  My only option was to ski directly towards the birds and moving only when their heads were down feeding.  The mallards spotted me almost immediately and flew away leaving the swans behind.  With considerable patience and nearly 30 minutes of skiing, I was able to approach within ten yards of Minnesota’s largest bird possessing a seven foot wingspan and weighing 25 pounds.

When the swans detected my presence, they started communicating with a very low volume trumpet call.  They were not very alarmed, but slowly began to retreat.  It was at least ten minutes before they decided to fly away which provided me plenty of time to give my camera a good workout.  Unfortunately white on white does not contribute much to a desirable photo.  However, I can’t complain with the most unusual experience that I was treated to.

At this time of year as we prepare our Minnesota state income tax, we are reminded of the fact we can make a contribution to the non-game wildlife program.  The astounding recovery of this truly amazing bird to our state’s landscape is reason enough to support this program.  To conclude this post, I will mention that for the past couple weeks I have observed a lone trumpeter swan taking up company with mallards, mergansers and eagles at Colvill park.