July 21, 2019: The Dogs Come Early

Wow, what a weekend!  The dog days of summer started early this year in the Lakes Region.  Usually this kind of weather doesn't hit until August, but this week we had dew points into the 70s and temps well into the 90s.  The peak temperature was 95.7 on Saturday with a dew point of 72.

Hot summer nights

On a cooler morning at the boat ramp a few weeks ago I had a neat experience which got superseded by all the loon activity the past few weeks:  I got to observe the courting behavior of a pair of downy woodpeckers.

Mr. and Mrs. Downy

The pair was searching for insects on the trees right around the boat launch, probing into all the potential places for insects to hide out.

Where are you ants?

This looks like a good spot.

The male (with the bright red spot on the back of its head) seemed to be leading the way with the female following along a bit behind.

"Where are you going!" she asks.

When the male found a potential spot it worked it for a while until it pulled an insect out.

But rather than eat it, it did something rather kind.

Trying to win her over!

It brought it right to its mate and gave it to her!

This is a known behavior as part of courtship for several species of birds; perhaps the feeding helps to convince the female that he will be a good provider for a future family.  For downy woodpeckers an interesting aspect of mating is that both male and female will search for a nesting site and must agree on a suitable tree.  [Ref:  Stokes, Donald and Lillian, "A Guide to Bird Behavior" Vol II, Little, Brown and Compay, 1983.]  If they can come to terms they will both excavate a nest, but if they can't agree on a tree they most likely will not mate.  I witnessed a few more feedings before they moved beyond my line of sight, but probably not far.

If they have agreed on a nesting tree they tend to stay close by to guard their site.

A quick update on Harley and Davidson - both chicks continue to advance in size and skill.  Although they mostly stick their heads underwater and watch as their parents dive for fish, they do occasionally dive themselves.  They seem to like going in very close to shore at a shallow beach, and the parents watch them very closely there, calling them back out to deeper water at the slightest concern.  It will be interesting to see when they are able to catch their own fish.

Harley and Davidson like to go right up the shore here.  (Some will recognize that canoe!)

We also had a scare this week.  One morning the family came by with only one chick in tow.  They fished for 20 minutes without a sign of the second and they didn't show a hint of distress.  Half an hour later we had a report from someone else that they also had seen only one chick.  But then in another hour the report came in that both chicks were back with the parents.  What are those parents thinking, leaving their kids unsupervised all that time!

As expected, the second pair of loons finally gave up and abandoned their nest.  It looks like Harley and Davidson will have to carry the torch for Wicwas this summer.

The Annual Loon Census took place yesterday and though we didn't have the loon overload of last week, there were eight loons that appeared for the census.  Citizenship questions were not asked.  😉

Mom (?) and the kids during the census

Dad was probably off keeping the other loons far away.

I'll end this week with a pretty butterfly that was sucking nectar out of the black-eyed susans (which are having a banner year).

American Painted Lady (Vanessa virginiensis)

This is an American Painted Lady.  In these next two you can see its proboscis inserted deep into the flower.

The susan's must be loving all the heat this summer.  Keep cool!

August 28, 2012

Although the Osprey captured the headlines last weekend and is still at the lake, there is a lot of other activity taking place around Lake Wicwas as the days get shorter, the weather cooler, and the animals become a bit more active.   The cooler nights and warm water are creating misty mornings already.

After seeing very little fox activity this summer - almost no scat on the trails - I captured this Gray Fox one night last week as he prowled for dinner around the mini-cooper.

Gray Fox

I  identified a new butterfly this week - an American Painted Lady.  What I found fascinating about this butterfly is how completely different the two sides of its wings are.   The dorsal side of the wings are orange with black and white spots,

American Painted Lady (Vanessa virginiensis)

while the ventral side has some pink coloring and two large eye spots.

If I didn't follow it and see the two poses, I wouldn't have know it was the same insect.


Then there was a pretty little lady bug playing hide and seek with me on Linda's flowers.

On a morning kayak I found three ducks in a marsh  - either mallards or black ducks, I believe.

On the same trip I also found two herons scouting for fish close together;  usually I see only one at a time in a given area.  The bird sitting in the middle of a white pine has quite a set of feathers on its neck!

Back to the larger animals, I came upon a small herd of deer on Saturday.  There were at least four adults - they heard me and one started snorting as I froze still.  They all moved off in different directions and soon I was surrounded by them, as I watched them moving through the trees.  But the fawn that was with them was not so careful.  It also played pee-a-boo with me

before it slowly walked off to join the elders.

Always curious - perhaps even more so when they are young. Although it is good size, it still has its spots.

Finally, an update on our loon chick - it continues to grow quickly, but is still well behind last year's chick due to the second nesting and subsequent late hatching

Here is this year's chick, compared to last year's chick as it looked on about the same date last year.  Quite a difference.

August 25, 2012

August 21, 2011

But as long as this beautiful weather keeps up, it will have enough time to be ready for flight by ice-in.