Crane Lake Nature Blog

This morning it was 0 degrees as I went out to feed the birds. It’s a good thing that the temps are low as it has slowed the melting of the snow and the run off that is going into our streams, rivers, and lakes.

The wind was completely calm so sound carried quite well. I could hear the water flowing over the rapids on Camp 40 Creek, the normally small creek that runs through the village of Crane Lake. I could also hear the rapids roaring at the Vermilion River Gorge.

The ice pack on the lake was making noise as well, contracting in the cold temperature. At times the lake would make a sound that almost sounded like it was burping.

Crane Lake has two rivers and two creeks that empty into it. The Vermilion River and the Echo Rivers are fair sized rivers. Camp 40 Creek and Snake Creek are smaller flowages, but in the spring their waters can swell rapidly with snow melt.

It looks like we will have high water to start off the season in the lake this year.

 
Herring Gulls by Rob Scott

Another Spring migrant that will be moving into the Crane Lake area is the Seagull. Oops!, did I just say Seagull? Actually there is no such bird by that name - they are really just Gulls - and there are many different species of Gull.

Gulls, Jaegers, and Terns are in the family Laridae, and there are about 80 species throughout the world; nearly half of these occur in North America. In Minnesota, 29 species in this family have been recorded, with 15 species considered regular, 8 as casual, and 6 accidental.

In our part of the state the 2 Gull species; Herring and Ring-billed are the most common. Herring Gulls are the big Gulls that have the red spot on their bill. Ring-billed Gulls have a broad black ring on their bill - finally a bird that has been appropriately named!

1st summer Ring-billed Gull, photo by Dee Kuder

Gulls are one of the most challenging birds to identify. The adults are pretty easy to pick out, but juvenile birds can vary in their plumage. Herring Gulls don’t get their adult plumage until they are 4 years old and Ring-bills get their adult coloring by the 3rd summer. In the between years their feathering varies to a great degree depending on their age and the time of year. 

In the Crane Lake area, we can also see two other Gulls, the Bonaparte’s and the Franklin’s. These two species of Gull are smaller than the Herring and Ring-billed Gulls. In their spring/summer breeding plumage the males will have a black hood. Their size is almost more like a Tern than a Gull. The Bonaparte’s Gull moves through the area in the spring to nest up north in Canada by Hudson Bay. They will build their stick nest in small evergreen trees and on stumps, often in places far from water.

The Franklin’s Gull breeds in the prairie sloughs and reedy lakes of the interior. There is a huge colony of Franklin’s Gulls that breed in western Minnesota at the Agassiz WMA. In late summer flocks of hundreds of birds can be seen soaring over Warroad and Lake of the Woods as they hawk for insects. Last summer I saw a flock hovering over Crane Lake catching insects on the fly as there had just been a big hatch of dragonflys.  

Herring Gulls nest in colonies on remote, rocky islands. On Namakan Lake there is Gull Island which used to host a big colony of Herring Gulls. Their habit of whitewashing the rocks with their excrement is a landmark of a Gull colony.

The other species that are considered regulars in Minnesota are:
Little Gull 
Thayer’s Gull
Iceland Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Glaucous Gull
Great Black-backed Gull

Most times the above, less common Gulls, will be seen at the Duluth harbor in the fall and winter. Picking out one of the species among hundreds of Gulls is a challenge indeed! One of the popular spots to go Gull watching is at the Superior Landfill.

There are 4 species of Tern and 1 species of Jaeger which are regulars in Minnesota. An interesting way to distinguish between Gulls and Terns is the way they fly. Gulls when flying usually carry their bill pointed forward, while terns will carry it pointed downward. When feeding over water Gulls commonly alight on the surface and pick up floating objects, while terns dive from a height.

Gulls play an important part in nature, they are the scavengers and will clean up garbage, rotting fish, and almost anything that they deem edible. It’s for this reason, that some people I know, have affectionally called Gulls “skyrats”.

These Redpolls and Pine Siskins found an “unfrozen” patch of water the other day and proceeded to take baths. The water was dripping off the roof and the entire flock waited their turn to take a bath.

Notice there is still snow on the ground. The temperature was about 37 degrees at the time.

or maybe this is what happened to the 3-legged Deer

http://www.howardsview.com/Jetty/Jetty.html

Experience Your America
The National Park Service cares for special places saved by the American people so that all may experience our heritage.
Voyageurs National Park News Release

March 19, 2009
For Immediate Release
Park Headquarters (218) 283~6600

VOYAGEURS NATIONAL PARK
WINTER ICE AND TRAIL CONDITIONS REPORT

All snowmobile trails are open and staked, but trail grooming operations are at a minimum.  Due to extreme fluctuations in temperatures throughout the region in recent days, snowmobiling conditions in Voyageurs National Park would best be described as rough with a majority of the frozen lake surfaces a combination of patchy snow and ice.  Should these conditions remain, park staff will begin to remove trail markers next week.  Travel will not be recommended after the removal of trail stakes.  The Rainy Lake Ice Road is closed for the season.

Please remember that the snowmobile speed limit within Voyageurs National Park is 45 mph on frozen lake surfaces and 25 mph on all overland portages.
Speed limit signs are posted at trailheads and overland portages.  Regular weekly updates are available on our website at www.nps.gov/voya.

Snowmobile Trails
International Falls to Kettle Falls (Purple Trail) – open & staked Black Bay to Kabetogama Lake to Ash River (Green Trail) – open & staked Ash River to Crane Lake (Green Trail) – open & staked Chain of Lakes (Dashed Black Trail) – open & staked Ash River to Kettle Falls (Yellow Trail) – open & staked East Namakan Lake to Sand Point Lake (Blue Trail) – open & staked

Rainy Lake Ice Road – CLOSED

Ski Trails
Echo Bay Ski Trail – open
Black Bay Ski Trail – open
Tilson Connector Trail – open

Snowshoe Trails
Blind Ash Bay Trail – open
Sullivan Bay Trail – open
Oberholtzer Trail – open
                               ~ REMEMBER ~
                     “STAKED TRAILS MAKE SAFETY SENSE”
                         ORANGE IDENTIFIES HAZARD

 
Bald Eagle photo by Dee Kuder

Spring migration brings numerous Bald Eagles into the area. Many are migrating to their northern breeding grounds while others are searching for suitable nesting habitat around here. The Bald Eagles that have nested here in the past are busy defending their territory.

Some Bald Eagles stay around the northland year round and now they can be seen in every month of the year. That wasn’t the case up until about 10 years ago. With the increasing number of Eagles, some birds will stick around through the winter if they can find enough food. And if they can’t find food, they do have wings and they don’t have to fly too far to find warmer temperatures and open water!

Another Eagle species that is a possibility to see, during migration in Minnesota, is the Golden Eagle. Their numbers also seem to be increasing. There is a population of Golden Eagles that winter in southeastern Minnesota along the Mississippi River. That area has become quite the wintering grounds for both species of Eagle. At the annual spring count held this past February, 70 Golden Eagles and 390 Bald Eagles were counted along the Mississippi River Valley in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

immature Bald Eagle by Dee Kuder 

Bald Eagles do not get their distinctive adult plumage until they are at least 3 years old. The above bird is probably a first or second year Bald Eagle. Notice the large dark bill.

Adult and 3rd year Bald Eagles by Dee Kuder

Immature Bald Eagles go through quite a change as they acquire their adult plumage. This Bald Eagle is probably a 3rd or 4th year bird. They acquire a dark eyestripe before molting into their adult plumage. This bird is starting to get the yellow bill of an adult bird.

Juvenile Bald Eagles can sometimes be mistaken for Golden Eagles. Goldens have a golden color to the back of their neck which can be easily seen when they are perched. But when they are flying overhead, the golden won’t be visible. The adults just look like very big black birds as they soar overhead. Golden Eagles are pretty much the same size as a Bald Eagle.

Juvenile Goldens are easier to identify. They will have a distinct white patch on the outer front part of the wing and their tail will be white with a wide dark band on the end. They’ll also have feathering on their legs that extends to the toes. The lower part of the shank is bare in the Bald Eagle.

Juvenile Bald Eagles will also be a brown color, but usually their color is much more mottled. One way to tell the difference is if the bird has white armpits. If that is the case then it is an immature Bald Eagle. I have yet to count a Golden Eagle on my Minnesota life list. I think that I may have seen a pair of adult Goldens migrating over Crane Lake late in the fall a few years ago, but it wasn’t a difinitive i.d., so I have not counted it.

The Eagle has made an incredible comeback. It wasn’t too long ago that an Eagle was a rare sight. Here is an excerpt from an old bird book that was written in the 30’s: “Once upon a time” the Bald Eagle was common enough in the northern US so that its immense aerie was to be seen high up in a tall tree beside most of the larger bodies of water and principal streams. As late as seventy-five years ago the sight of one of these great white-headed, white-tailed birds flying over high in the air in spring and fall-for they retreated to the south when the waters froze over-was a not infrequent sight. But today the aeries are few in number and the big birds are objects of special interest. (Bird Portraits in Color with text written by Thomas Sadler Roberts)

Now the Bald Eagle’s comeback has been phenomenal and it has even been removed from the endangered species list. The pesticide DDT, which was banned in the U.S. in 1972, has been blamed for the almost demise of the Eagle and many other bird species as well. Back in the 70’s and 80’s Voyageurs National Park made special efforts to manage and protect Eagle habitat in the Park and thanks to the efforts of park biologist Lee Grim, Bald Eagles are once again thriving in the area. 

Wow, Spring sometimes has a tendency to sneak up on a person. But, the animals are rejoicing in the warm temperatures and some are in full migration mode. To look at the MOU listserve, spring has sprung in southern Minnesota. They are seeing so many FOY (first of year) birds down there that I can’t help but get a little jealous. But, if you look closely we are seeing many signs of Spring up here too in northern Minnesota.

Yesterday on my way to town I saw a Peregrine Falcon and a pretty good size flock of Snow Buntings heading north. Snow Buntings are now sporting their black and white breeding plumage if they’d sit still long enough to see it!

Canada Geese were making their way north looking for any open water to settle down on. The Pelican River by the Dam Supper Club held a couple Geese. The part of Pelican Lake, where the Pelican River flows out, will be open soon. That portion of open water will attract lots of waterfowl and other migrants anxiously waiting for the ice to go out.

Today a Chipmunk has come out to see what’s going on in the outside world. They’ve been holed up underground since last November.

Bald Eagles are showing up in increasing numbers and pretty soon we’ll see the first Gulls of the year.

Another sign of Spring up north here is when the Spring road restrictions go into effect. According to MNDOT that will be March 18th. The frost is coming out of the ground and some roads get extremely bumpy. Heavy trucks would damage the road while this is happening. Logging trucks can not operate on certain roads until later in the season. It is known locally as “break-up”, and it is a time to celebrate! Many people venture out on area lakes to go ice fishing and enjoy the long anticipated break in the cold weather. It’s also a good time for birders to explore the back roads in the forest as one doesn’t have to worry about running into a logging truck.

It breaks my heart to see something like this. The doe seemed healthy otherwise and she had a fawn in tow.

This deer doesn’t want to share…

More snow than you can shake a stick at! I haven’t heard the official snowfall amount yet, but we got somewhere around a foot and a half of white fluffy snow. It’s really quite beautiful. It’s hard to believe that the spring equinox is only 10 days from now.

Here’s the latest trail report from Voyageurs National Park:
Trail riding conditions are expected to be excellent this coming weekend within Voyageurs National Park. The foot and a half of snowfall that was received over the past two days and the planned grooming of trails are expected to provide outstanding traveling and scenery to view. Grooming will occur over the next several days by park and area snowmobile clubs on the snowmobile trails between Black Bay on Rainy Lake and Crane Lake.
Fishing success is reportedly picking up along this route and the freshly fallen snow will provide unique opportunities to view wildlife signs and activity.  Although the Rainy Lake snowmobile trail is not groomed, the fresh powder like snow resting on the smooth frozen lake surface will provide vigorous and stimulating riding conditions to the Kettle Falls area.

Due to the recent winter storm, significant snow drifts along the Rainy Lake ice road  have occurred and may delay or prevent clearing of the ice road prior to the weekend.

James Hummel
Operations Chief
Phone:  218-283-6650
Cell  218-324-3292