Around the Circle This Week: September 11, 2015

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Northern lights illuminate the summer skies

Shawn Malone, a regular Lake Superior Magazine contributor, has dubbed this the summer of aurora.

Typically a tough time of year to photograph the northern lights (because of the very long days), July and August each brought multiple aurora displays on clear nights. This month, the trend has continued. The lights appeared again this week and could continue to dance across the sky tonight. (Read our tips for tracking and photographing the aurora.)

“We’ve been experiencing an extended period of auroral activity this month that still shows no sign of letting up,” writes Duluthian Bob King on his Astro Bob blog.

Keweenaw photographer Mark Upton sent us this shot last week. (That's a laker on the horizon.)

Minnesota DNR completes roadside survey

Minnesota’s northern white-tailed deer population benefitted from last year’s milder winter, but it hasn’t rebounded to former high levels, according to the leader for the DNR’s farmland wildlife research group.

The Minnesota DNR’s August Roadside Survey (PDF link) in the state’s farmlands, intended as a seasonal snapshot of game species, especially pheasants, turned up white-tailed deer numbers about 98 percent above the long-term survey average in the southern and western portions of the state. That does not reflect deer population in the northeast, which was not covered in the survey, Marrett Grund told Lake Superior Magazine. “In the forested region of Minnesota, deer are vulnerable to higher winter mortality rates. Last winter was mild, but the previous two were severe, longer winters.”

Northern deer also contend with predators that do not exist in the southern portions of the state. A surprising note is the top predator danger to fawns – not wolves, as one might suspect, but bears, Marrett says, followed by bobcats. Wolves are a major predator of adult deer, but lack of food and cold winters also take a toll. In southern Minnesota, coyotes are the main predators.

Marrett estimated that this year’s allowable deer harvest will be in the range of 150,000 to 160,000, just slightly above the 140,000 or so allowed last year. The low number reflects the stressed population.

This spring, too, people frequently saw does with twin fawns. Twins are the norm for adult does; 90 percent of those two years and older have twins. In harsh winters and springs, though, does may not be able to provide enough nourishment for two.

While the deer numbers are of interest up north, the DNR’s August Roadside Survey traditionally indicates ringed-neck pheasant numbers, though numbers are also taken for gray partridge, white-tailed jackrabbits, sandhill cranes and deer. The survey is done in farmland areas, including northwestern Minnesota to Lake of the Woods, but does not cover the North Woods region closer to Lake Superior.

Compared to the 2014 survey, gray partridges were up 150 percent, cottontail rabbits were up 36 percent, pheasants up 33 percent from last year and mourning doves up 14 percent. All of these, though, remain below the 10-year and long-term averages.

White-tailed jackrabbits and white-tailed deer logged about the same as last year. Jackrabbits, though, are at a historic low. White-tailed deer, according to the survey, are 33 percent above the 10-year average and 98 percent above the long-term average in the farm areas of the state. These numbers are considered an “index of relative abundance” rather than a true population count, according to Nicole Davros, the Upland Game Project leader.

The survey, which has been taken since 1955, is done two weeks in August on cool, clear mornings with heavy dew when birds and rabbits come to the roadside to dry off and to take sand baths. “Pheasant is a really hard species to count otherwise,” says Nicole Davros, a wildlife research scientist with the DNR survey. “This really is the best time of year. It is an index, not a true population count.”

The pheasant count can indicate the likely success of the year’s hunt, though it is not used to create a harvest limit. Only male pheasants are hunted, making the population less vulnerable.

A news release about the survey talks about habitat loss for pheasants.

– Konnie LeMay​

Monitoring system keeps Apostle Islands kayakers safe

Karen Herzog, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Kayakers drawn to the legendary sea caves along the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore can explore them without being caught off-guard by potentially deadly waves, thanks to a real-time wave observation system developed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The system includes the popular webcam at the sea caves. It has proved useful even in the winter, for monitoring ice conditions at the caves.

+ In other Apostle Islands news: Two legislators who facilitated the transfer of the Ashland Breakwater Light to the National Park Service were honored at a community celebration. Rick Olivo of the Ashland Daily Press has the story.

Lake level update

How did Lake Superior's water level fare last month? According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, "The monthly mean water level of Lake Superior in August was 183.68 m (602.63 ft). This is 15 cm (6 in) above the long-term (1918-2014) August average and the highest August level since 1997."

+ "What can you do for the Big Lake?" asks the Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal in an editorial about the Great Lakes Guardian Community Fund. Now in its fourth year, the program for Ontario non-profits and First Nation and Métis communities provides grants of up to $25,000 for environmental projects like habitat restoration and beach cleanups. Groups must apply by October 23.

+ Minnesota Public Radio reported this week on the possible effects of small invasives like the spiny water flea, and how the small invader may have contributed to the crash of the walleye population in Lake Mille Lacs this year. The water flea and zebra mussels likely were transferred from Lake Superior via recreational fishing. Spiny water fleas were recorded in Lake Superior in 1987 after being first detected in Lake Ontario in 1982. Zebra mussels were first detected in the Great Lakes in 1988 and the first Lake Superior location was in the Twin Ports of Duluth and Superior in 1989.

+ U.P. Second Wave: "Michigan farms keep eye on demand for natural maple syrup."

+ Paul Sundberg photographed a colorful sunrise and evocative sunset in Grand Marais, Minnesota.

+ Detroit Free Press: "Push for new Soo lock continues in Washington."

+ Duluth News Tribune: "Well-known Twin Ports tug L.L. Smith begins new chapter."