Red Wing Nature Notes

As we celebrate the winter solstice today and the shortest day of the year, my first outdoor observations each morning of recent days have been well before sunrise.  Almost like clockwork, numerous pairs of northern cardinals arrive thirty minutes before the official sunrise.  They also happen to be the last birds to visit our feeders each evening.  They feed throughout the day, but are present in much bigger numbers early and late in the day.

I recall an incident a number of years ago that demonstrates how vulnerable these birds are to the forces of nature.  That particular winter, we were observing upwards of twenty cardinals at our feeders at one time in early December.  As the winter season progressed, their  numbers seemed to dwindle with each passing week.  By the end of winter, we were lucky to see even a couple birds.

In the meantime, our next door neighbor noticed on a mid-winter stroll through his backyard  a screech owl looking out from the entrance of a wood duck nesting box.  Thinking that it was still sometime until the return of the wood ducks, the sighting of the owl was of no big concern.  By early March,  it was time to clean out and ready the nesting box for the next occupants.  Upon opening the box, he discovered the bottom was lined with nearly an inch of cardinal feathers.  Apparently the large white spruce trees in our backyard not only were providing an excellent roosting site for the cardinals, but easy picking for these little owls.

For those of you who read my post from last week, our chipmunk is still alive and very active.  I am beginning to wonder if this guy will ever decide to hibernate.

In a recent email, Scott Mehus the Education Director for the National Eagle Center reported that on Wednesday December 16 and Thursday December 17 they observed over 400 bald eagles between Reads Landing and Wabasha.  The fall migration of eagles that we have been waiting for is definitely in full swing.

Late this afternoon, I decided to try out a ski trail in Frontenac State Park that I haven’t visited yet this winter.  The trail out to Sand Point had a nice amount of snow and was beautifully groomed.   Once out to Lake Pepin, I decided to ski along the shore up to the mouth of  Wells creek just downstream of old Frontenac. 

This is a fairly remote section of the park and is comprised of interesting wetlands and willow thickets.  Along the edge of the lake, there was an abundance of fresh coyote tracks in the fresh snow from last night.

 There was evidence that even a sure footed coyote can slip on the ice.  I also happened upon a fresh deer skull and neck vertebrae, probably a result of a wounded deer during the recent hunting season.  It was reported in tonight’s Rochester Post-Bulletin that two dogs in the Wabasha area were poisoned by someone intending to kill coyotes using a road killed deer carcass. 

This reminded me of an incident that took place in the spring of 1993 on Fish Lake between Siren and Spooner, Wisconsin.  A couple years ago, the late Ann Tincher  whose family has a cabin on Fish Lake, told me about someone putting out meat laced with poison with the intention of killing bald eagles.  This travesty resulted in the death of 19 bald eagles.  It is hard for me to imagine how someone can be so cruel and heartless to fellow creatures of our natural world.

All fall we have been observing a very energetic chipmunk gathering seeds from under our bird feeders.  Once the duel pouches near it’s mouth were stuffed to the max, it would head for one of two miniature junipers to stash the booty for the coming months.  No doubt there is a complex underground burrow system with food storage chambers where these seeds are cached.  Chipmunks usually hibernate from October thru March as their body temperature decreases and they fall into a deep sleep.

Since mid-November, we have expected that any day the chipmunk would disappear for the winter.  Finally with the ten inch snowfall on Tuesday and Wednesday, it’s feeding activity ceased.  With no sign of the chipmunk on Thursday, we were sure hibernation had commenced.  Lo and behold it was back today scurrying around gathering available forage.  I would be curious to know if any of our Nature Notes readers have ever observed chipmunk activity this late?

Speaking of seed gathering activity, I recently received a phone call from Tom Danielson  a friend who lives on Devils Track Lake just outside Grand Marais, Minnesota.  He wanted to share a most unusual observation.  It seems that Tom has a long narrow birdfeeder which is situated on a deck railing within full view of their dining room window.  While enjoying his morning coffee recently, he observed a single blue jay gather at one time 42 sunflower seeds before flying away.  He was amazed and intrigued by this bird’s capacity.  Blue jays are like chipmunks in that they possess duel pouches for storing food.  Once the pouches are full, they fly away and stash these seeds under bark or in various hiding spots for later winter sustenance.  Canada jays which are much more common in the canoe country are also very adept at stashing food for later use.

The ten inch snowfall was most welcome and much needed for winter time outdoor activities.  After spending most of Wednesday digging out, I was more than ready to take my cross country skis out of storage and put them to good use.  Thursday morning I decided to bushwhack ski my own trail out to the summit of Rattlesnake bluff overlooking Lake Pepin, Wacouta and highway 61.  Bushwhack skiing is much more work than skiing groomed trails, but opens up unlimited places to explore.

Friday found me down at Frontenac State Park trying out the wonderful trails that are available to any skier carrying a state of Minnesota ski pass. 

Their various trails are all packed and many are nicely groomed.  A most pleasant surprise was the new Pine loop section that travels through a beautiful stand of Norway and white pines which is a part of the recent 37 acre donation to the park from the Millicent Lange family.  It is a great addition to what is already a wonderful cross country skiing resource for this area.  Be sure to check it out this winter.

As frequent Nature Notes followers might recall, this past spring and early summer featured reports of eagle nest activity near mile marker 14 along the Cannon Valley Trail.  Then before the three eaglets had fledged, a severe windstorm on June 28th, brought down the entire nest.  There was great concern for several days that the eaglets might not have survived this traumatic event.  However, numerous reports over the next couple weeks confirmed that all three eaglets were alive and seemed to be no worse for wear.

Throughout the rest of the summer and fall, I was asked many times if I thought the parent eagles would rebuild their nest in the same large cottonwood tree?  If that were to happen, they more than likely would start in late fall or early winter.  In recent weeks, I have made two canoe trips down the Cannon river with the primary purpose to see if that activity had begun.  On both trips, no evidence was observed of this taking place.  On the first trip, I was very curious to see how much debris existed at the base of the tree from the old nest that had been used and added to for at least ten years.  As you can see from the photo included, the sticks making up the nest were quickly returning to the earth from which they came.

This morning the big question concerning reconstruction was partly answered.  I received an email from Scott Roepke the trail manager for the Cannon Valley Trail in which he reported and included two photos confirming that nest rebuilding had commenced.  I will keep you updated in the days and weeks ahead as to their progress.  We will just have to keep our fingers crossed.