Spring in the Northland – Part I

Even though there’s still snow on the ground and ice on the pond there’s been lots of action around here.  On Sunday morning we saw an eagle land on the ice and watched it try to grab something that was frozen in..  I took pictures from inside the cabin.  From past experience I know if I want a picture, take it now, don’t go outside because it just scares the birds or animals away.At the time I didn’t know what the eagle was trying to get, but now that the ice has melted some, we can see this is the head of a duck decoy we left out there last fall. 

Out on a drive on Sunday we saw this proud grouse strutting across the road.  And of course the deer come by here a couple times each day to see if there’s any corn or sunflowers for them to snack on.  This was from rainy Sunday.In the past we’ve seen an occasional otter swimming around in the pond.  This is the first year we’ve seen three of them and were able to watch them play around on the ice.  Otters know how to have fun and they seem to be goofing off most of the time…except if other critters are around.  These two were keeping an eye on me while I was keeping an eye on them. This one wasn’t happy to see a pair of great blue herons land on the ice near their open water. (Also taken from inside the cabin.  Herons have eyesight as good as eagles.)
Jim got this picture of the otters (we’re calling them “The Three Amigos”) and one of the three beavers.  We have the trail cam running and so far only deer and a raccoon have gotten their pictures taken.  Stay tuned, spring has just started up here.

First Cabin Trip of the Year

We arrived around 3:00 last Friday afternoon.  The driveway was clear and the snow wasn’t too deep.  There was a serious layer of ice on the path down to the outhouse, but that was the only problem we had.When we left last November, we knew we were going to buy a new shower shelter because the zipper on the front broke beyond repair.  We left it standing, just to see if it could survive a northern Wisconsin winter.  As you can see, it came through with flying colors.  Considering how much snow, wind, rain and ice there was, this is very impressive.
On Saturday morning we loaded up our water jugs and went to the little park to fill them up.  As we pulled in, I could see two white things out on the ice.  At first I thought it was snow and then I realized there were two swans sitting on the ice. 
As I was standing on the shore taking their pictures, a couple of ice fisherman started walking out to their favorite fishing hole (literally!). 
The swans didn’t like this at all!  They started walking around, flapping their wings and making all kinds of noise.
Eventually the fishermen got to their fishing holes and the swans quieted down.
  We filled up our jugs and headed back to the cabin with a trunk load of water.
Saturday was a beautiful day, somewhat warm with lots of sun.  We filled up the birdfeeders and put a little corn down for the squirrels and deer.  It was really nice to see these two appear during the day.
Things looked good out by the beaver lodge.  We saw 2 beavers out on the ice on Saturday night.  They’re going to have some major repairs to do on the dam when the ice melts.  The water is going through in a new spot.  Just hope the dam holds.  Fingers crossed for our sake and the beavers.

Sunday was an icky, cloudy, drizzly, hang around the cabin kind of day.  On Monday morning  I turned on the TV and this is what the weather guy was showing.  Are you kidding me?  Okay, so now they’re talking blizzard warnings starting on Tuesday morning.  No way!  The snow was bad enough, but the cold weather following it was the clincher.  We decided to come back home.But it was a nice weekend and as soon as the weather straightens out, we’ll be back.  We left the trail cam up so we’ll be able to see what comes by and how much snow fell and all that good stuff. 

Lodge Cam Update – The Finale

Today Jim rowed out and brought back the Lodge Cam.  We got a few more pictures of the busy beavers, but that’s enough for this year.  Next year we’ll put it back out there but first we’ll need to do some modifications so it doesn’t get too much bird poop on it.  Since last Friday there were only a few pictures worth keeping.  (Again, ignore the time and date on these pictures.)

These busy beavers do most of their work at night and sleep during the day.  We see them cruising around just before dark and for about an hour in the morning. 

MissBeth asked me what happens when the water freezes.  I’ll try to explain how these beavers will survive during the winter.  They build the lodge in fairly shallow water and build a food bank of sticks around the outside.  The ends of the sticks will hang below the ice so they’ll be able to munch on them during the long winter.  The lodge sits above the ice and they’re able to swim around under it and cuddle up inside so they’re not always in the water.  I think they also move around outside the lodge if the snow isn’t too deep.  This is the first year since we’ve had the cabin that beavers will be living out there all winter.   

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The nice sunny weather last week brought out some not so nice critters.  This is a deer tick…the kind that can cause Lyme’s Disease.  They really are small and easy to overlook. 
This is just a harmless garter snake, but still, snakes make me stop in my tracks. 

Last night while watching the Badgers play Ohio State we saw a real badger cross the lawn.  Too bad the trail cam didn’t get a picture of it and really too bad my camera was sitting out in the truck!  Darn it all anyway!

Lodge Cam Update Pt. 3

Today we decided to go down by the dam and prune the alder branches that block our view of the pond.  I stacked them in the path and Jim decided to load them up in the boat and take them out for the beavers.  It also gave him a chance to see if we got any good pictures yesterday.   We were optimistic because last night,  just before dark we saw 2 beavers cruising around and then get up on the little bog.   

After checking the pictures, we could tell we had some minor technical problems.  So please ignore the time and date on these.  It’s hard enough changing the SD card while in a boat and it would be darn near impossible to reprogram  it. 

Here we are going back to shore after repositioning it yesterday.  We would’ve waved if we knew we were getting our pictures taken.If you click on this to enlarge it you’ll see 3 beavers out on the little island.   Cool huh? 

There were other pictures of the beavers chewing on the branch and swimming around, but this one was by far the best.

Lodge Cam Update Pt. 2

Well, we went out and checked on the cam today and confirmed what we thought…it’s not going to work.  Here’s a picture it took of the lodge in the daytime.Here’s what we got at night.  Well, this isn’t good at all!  The cam is too far away, the beaver moves too fast to get a clear picture and well, this just isn’t going to work out.So we decided to move it again.  There’s a small floating  bog out there that we call Goose Island.  At first we thought it was an island and the geese really liked sitting on it, hence the original name.  This summer with all the rain, it started to break up and move around.  Anyway, we see the beavers get up on this every evening and morning and it’s right next to the T-bar perch.  So that’s where we put the cam this time. Jim even went back and got a fresh limb to entice the beavers up onto to the bog.   This should work.   It may be a few days before we go back out for the card, but I've got my fingers crossed that we will get a couple good pictures.

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When I loaded up the cam pictures this morning, I was surprised to see this big ol’ tom turkey pecking around in the field yesterday.    We haven’t seen the nice buck since Saturday night, but we haven’t given up on him yet.  He may be out running around looking for ladies.  

Lodge Cam Update

In order to check the cam that’s pointed at the beaver lodge, we have to go out in the boat and that’s what we did yesterday.See all the branches out there in the water?  That’s what the beavers will feed on this winter.  I’m sure they’ll keep adding to it, but so far they have a pretty good supply.We pulled up to the cam and were disappointed to see only 3 sets of pictures had been taken.  One was when Jim first set it and one was from when we just arrived.  I carefully removed the card…sure didn’t want to drop it in the water and checked to see what we got on the other set of pictures.  All we could see were ripples in the water.  So I put the card back in and we decided to wait a few days before we check it again.  We’re thinking this may not work out at all.  We know the beavers have been working on the lodge, but every morning and night, there’s lots of steam rising from the pond.  Most likely the lens gets fogged up and it just can’t work.  But, how do you know if you don’t try?

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With most of the leaves down, it’s easy to notice the ones that are left.  Yesterday we walked through an area that was logged this spring.  The poplar trees shot up straight and tall and some of them have leaves as big as a dinner plate.  Just look at the size and colors of these leaves….
                                               …that came from one of these trees. Why are the leaves so big on such young trees?  Another mystery of nature. 

Busy Barney the Beaver

This is the reason Jim put wire fencing around our trees down by the pond.  Look at the size of that stump!  And there’s not a branch left on it either.   This tree was growing on our neighbor’s property, but now it’s being used as food for the beavers and material to build up the dam.  Darn that Barney!

The other morning I saw him swimming across the pond with a leafy branch dragging behind him.  It was a really pretty time of day…steam rising off the pond and the sun shining on the trees in the background.  I liked the picture of it so much I sent it into the local TV station and they used it on their weather segment the next morning.  Now I’ve had my 15 seconds of fame to go along with the 15 minutes I had this summer.Sure glad to see so many Space friends coming over to Blogger.  I really don’t trust Windows Live anymore.  I moved all my stuff over to Wordpress, but it’s just so I have it in storage somewhere.  I don’t plan on using that blog at all.   I like Blogger and so many other apps that Google provides.   Picasa for photo editing and online albums, I use Google Docs so I can access certain documents no matter where I am, Google Reader for all my RSS feeds and I love Gmail and all of it’s features.  MSN has some nice things, like Live Writer, but that’s about the only app of theirs I use anymore.

Pond Stars

Over the last week, we’ve been on all the regular dirt roads and have seen a deer here and there, but that’s about all.  The main wildlife action is right out our front window.  All that water out there has been very inviting for many birds and ducks.  There’s one duck that  hangs around and I’ve yet to identify it, but it seems to get along okay with the beaver.

This morning I saw a great blue heron out on the little island.  I grabbed my camera, went outside, zoomed in all the way and got this picture.  Man, they really have great eyesight.  I tried to get closer and like always, I scared it away.  But I did get it’s picture and when I was editing it, I noticed another bird in the background.  I have no idea what it is.
Yesterday, to my surprise a pair of swans landed on the pond.  There’s no way of knowing if they’re the same two that were here this spring.  It doesn’t matter, it’s just nice to see them stop by.

This morning while I was watching the beaver and the mystery duck, I noticed a kingfisher perched on his favorite fishing spot.  I’m always trying to get a good picture of one of them (and I’ll keep trying).  I caught this one just before he slammed into the water to catch a minnow or something.

And finally…I love all the cool spider webs that appear at this time of the year. 

So there you have last week’s wildlife moments from around the pond.

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

The last time the pond was as high as it is now was in 2000.  Back then if Jim was going to use his hunting stand behind the cabin, he had to row, row, row to get out there.  The other day, he decided it was time to get the little boat and oars out again.  So he fires up the ATV, ties the boat rope onto it and drags it down to the pond.   Unconventional?  Nah, anything goes around here.

Good old Barney and the other 2 beavers have continued working overtime and are doing a good job of keeping the water on their side of the dam.  We had lots of rain again last week and now it’s impossible for Jim to walk along the side of the pond without the water going over his boots.    Here he is on his 2010 maiden voyage to the other side of the pond.

Here’s a picture I took the day after the big rain.  Usually at this time of the year, the Moose River is so low, you can walk across the rocks and the flow is only on the left side.  The water is still high, but nothing like this.  Anyone got a kayak?

Badger!

Yesterday we took our morning walk in the Bird Sanctuary.  This is a really cool place.   It’s a 4000 acre wildlife area with lots of hiking trails, birds and wildlife.  This is the same place where we had the badger encounter earlier this summer.We were driving back home and there on the edge of the road I could see a badger sticking it’s head out of a hole.  Like always, Jim stopped and backed up so I could get a picture.  I was so glad it was on my side of the road.  This time I had the security of the truck, so there was no danger, no hissing or snarling.  

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I’m starting to notice lots of changes around here.  The hummingbirds are  still here, but most of the pretty summer birds have moved on.  More of the winter birds are coming to the feeders now.   There’s still a goose family hanging around the pond and a couple ducks with them.    The beavers are repairing the old lodge which makes me think they’re moving back in after years of being empty.

Here’s a young hairy woodpecker trying to figure out the finch feeder. 

Fall is just around the corner.  I feel like we’re getting a slight preview today.  Much cooler temps, wind from the north and very low humidity.    I wish I could send you all a package full of it to enjoy along with me.  It’s perfect!

Overtime for the Beavers

After hearing and seeing the rushing water last week, yesterday Jim went out to see what the heck caused it.   When we look out at the pond in front of our cabin, there’s another one…or I should say there used to be another one… to the northeast.  We always figured that’s where the beavers lived, but apparently they didn’t take very good care of the dam by that pond.  This is what that pond looks like now.  Be happy you can’t smell it…P U !

It also explains why they’re working ferociously on maintaining the other dam.  One of them tried to gnaw down this tree, but gave up.  Hopefully they’ll be happy with all the little alder brush growing on this side of the dam.

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They’re really amazing animals.  I’d love to have seen how they got this big ol’ water soaked log up from the bottom of the pond and on top of the dam.  It’s got to be 5 or 6 feet long and I can’t even guess how much it weighs.

He’s such a busy beaver and Mother Nature’s  engineer.