Red Wing Nature Notes

It’s a nice night. A little cold for the end of February. A low of around zero is expected tonight. At first glance I might have been fooled that two bright objects were about to colide in the sky. Venus appears right next to the moon which is waxing in the west.

Yesterday morning at 9 am it was clear and in the high twenties. There were storm warnings posted for the whole day. It was hard to believe anything was going to happen. By 1:15 pm it was cloudy and seeming a little dark, a few flakes started to fall. I was in the bank parking lot when it all began. 45 minutes later heading up Pioneer Road cars were barely moving because you couldn’t see the curbs.

I pulled on to Highway 58 and saw the flash of lightening. I travelled one very slow mile on highway 58 to our road in white-out conditions. After that I followed someone elses tire tracks hoping they hadn’t strayed into the ditch.

When I got home just after three o’clock, there was about three inches of snow piled up in our driveway. By the end of it, the storm total was not amazing, but the wind and the speed of change was stunning.

Another winter adventure to be remembered.

I was in my shed this morning. I picked up two paint cans to find a mass of asian lady beetles under each can. I looked at them and wondered how they could survive through the winter in such extreme low temperatures. They were kind of pretty. It was hard to believe they would come to life with warm weather.

I scooped up a handful and brought them home. I set them on a piece of plastic in the sun so they could get warm.

I’ve determined these beetles are dead. I’m thinking there are millions of beetles out there that take shelter in any crack they can find with the coming of winter. The ones that find a place that stays a little warm must be the ones that make it. Millions must die each winter. I wonder if this large die-off selects for any particular trait in Beetles. The ones that hide under paint cans all die.

These past two weeks, Kathy and I have been away from Red Wing exploring the desert country of southwest New Mexico. Because I am still a novice on the computer, I didn’t feel capable of entering my weekly post on the fly. So I will attempt to share a couple experiences that might be of interest.

We spent most of our time in and around Silver City, N.M. located at an elevation of 6,000 ft. and just south of the Gila National Forest. The Gila Wilderness was designated the world’s first wilderness area on June 3, 1924 at the urging and hard work of renowned conservationist Aldo Leopold. It is also one of our country’s largest wilderness areas and comprises 558,000 acres.

This area holds some sentimental value for me because it was where I conducted the first Environmental Learning Center instructor expedition in late March of 1975 and my last expedition in April of 2000. This area is extremely rugged and both backpacking adventures featured ten days of travel without much or any other human contact.

In 1975, we began our expedition at the start of what became the worst blizzard that area had seen in 50 years.In fact, our shuttle driver responsible for dropping us off at the trailhead, took up bets back in town that we would have to be rescued.

It was to our surprise that ten days and 42 miles later, we were escorted directly to the Silver City Enterprise newspaper for a thorough interview and group photo. The instructors proudly shared their account of hiking for two days through thigh deep snow followed by nearly 30 knee deep frigid crossings of the west fork of the Gila river. The title of the newspaper article was -”Rough and Rowdy Ways- No Saturday Night Picnicers”.

Last week we found the temperatures in the high sixties in Silver City, but our arrival was too early to see any new growth in the desert flora. However, colorful fruits were easily observed on the cholla and barrel cactus from last season. By far,the most common birds we observed were western bluebirds, Oregon juncos and common ravens.

Whenever we travel, I find it most interesting to visit with local folks. One such visit was with a fellow who had recently moved to the Silver City area from Steamboat Springs, Colorado. It seamed as though he had become very discouraged by the nearly complete devastation of the mountain forests in northern Colorado due to the mountain pine beetle invasion. It is estimated that in 2006 alone, nearly 4.8 million lodgepole pines died in Colorado from this beetle infestation. Forestry experts in the state attribute the situation to a trend of warmer winters that no longer kill off the beetles. Sounds like this is one more example of global climate change.

Coincidentally, the following day in the Silver City Sun-News an article appeared off the AP out of Grants Pass, Oregon reporting that U.S. Forest Service scientists have discovered a remarkable success in battling pine bark beetles. Their secret compound is a non-toxic brew of rosemary and ground walnut husks that resembles a pheromone which disrupts beetle reproduction.

Interestingly enough, sometime ago Dan Dietrich reported in his post that he had observed an absence of the invasive shrub buckthorn in his black walnut plantation. Dan, maybe you are on to something big!

As you probably have noticed in the past week, February 12th was the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin. While in Silver City, we took advantage of a public presentation on the life of Darwin given by a retired botany professor. At the conclusion of his very informative talk, the professor was asked if the over-harvesting of trophy elk in New Mexico could be an example of reverse natural selection resulting in smaller and less robust animals. He answered the question in the affirmative.

I wonder if the intense harvest of large bucks and increased use of hunting technology such as trail cameras might be leading to the depletion of the gene pool for the deer herd in Minnesota and in particular locally?

Without a doubt, the highlight of our trip was spending a day and evening in the Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge just south of Socorro, New Mexico. This internationally renowned refuge is located along the Rio Grande river and in home to thousands of wintering waterfowl. At the time of our visit, upwards of 28,000 snow geese and 16,000 sandhill cranes were utilizing the refuge.

During the day, the geese and cranes feed in the adjacent grain and alfalfa fields and return at sunset to roost in the shallow waters for the night. By roosting in or on the water, these birds find safety from the numerous coyotes that reside in the refuge.Hearing and observing this daily ritual unfold before your eyes and ears is an experience to be cherished and long remembered.

Last week I was thinking it was past time for a post on this blog. I started on that and some thoughts about our new president came out instead. Here they are in this link.

Later, I went on a walk to a pretty spot overlooking the Haycreek Valley. I didn’t think the view was as pretty as usual. Perhaps I’ve been immunized. The view looks out over a southern slope. Between the wind and the sun , patches of bare ground manage to show through even when it’s cold with deep snow.

Deer like the place. It was a strange thing. It seemed like the deer had stomach problems. On the hillside there were “deer pies” smaller versions of the cow pies you’d find in a pasture. As I stood there I thought, ” I can’t write about deer with diarea”.

As I headed for home I concentrated on not thinking about the deer. I walked along a deer path in the woods at the edge of a field and came upon an apple tree still full of apples up high, but none down low and none on the ground. I stopped to consider the tree and I stood for a long time. I experienced a wave of emotion and no real thought to go with it.

When I got home I decided I’d just write a nature note post even though I couldn’t think of anything better than the deer with digestion problems. Well, the emotion came out again but very little writing. I saved it though. I’m not sure what it means, but you’ll find my second aborted nature note by following this link.

Last week I had the opportunity to head north to Duluth with a group of young people to work on the “dog crew” for the John Beargrease Sled Dog Race. The temperature was twenty five below, but we had loads of fun. For some reason I found nothing legitimate there to put into nature notes.

So we are approaching three weeks without putting a post in Nature Notes. This morning at three am my post finally came to me.

We have two dogs, a husky mutt and a rat terrier mutt. The little dog has amazing hearing and is constantly alerting us to things we miss. When we first moved out here to the country the little dog would sleep under our bed. Sometimes when the coyotes howled she would howl with them. This didn’t make for very good sleeping conditions. We banished her from our room and she took up sleeping downstairs in our son’s room.

Even though his room is downstairs, it is below ours and when she barks I can still hear it. This morning at three am I woke to her going crazy, barking downstairs. As is custom, I went to the window to see why she was so excited. There was nothing out there except for the shadow of the house which was growing as the moon sunk lower in the western sky. The little dog stopped barking and I padded into the living room at the center of the house. I could hear another frantic dog barking outside in the distance. It was not the coyotes I had heard earlier. I went to the laundry room to find the door to the outside wide open with moonlight and barking sounds streaminging into the house.

My Husky dog was just out of sight behind some spruce trees. I called and she didn’t come. Then she yelped and barked some more. It sounded like a fight. I was standing at the door in my underwear and couldn’t lay my hands on a flashlight, but the moon was bright and I could see. I threw on a coat and slipped my bare feet into some boots and ran out towards the barking. I sank up to my knees and snow packed into my boots. I stopped, wondering what I thought I was going to do standing in my underwear and sorels knee deep in snow.

I could see the dog and a coon were in a fight. I yelled at the dog and she looked up. The coon took the opportunity and went up a walnut sappling. The dog tried to jump into the tree and the coon came down on her head snarling and then ran up another small tree.

I yelled at the dog again and amazingly she backed off and the coon escaped into the trees. I wasn’t able to fall back to sleep after that, but I realize I finally have my nature note — Here it is: With the warm weather the coons are awake and roaming. Watch your bird feeders and make sure you close your doors tightly.

Also the Great horned owls were very active/loud about a week ago at three am– and lately I hear the coyotes on almost any night. They were actually howling during the day a few days ago.