Be a Part of the Tradition!

Citizen Science in Action
The count period for the 112th Christmas Bird Count will begin on December 14, 2011. 
From December 14 through January 5 tens of thousands of volunteers throughout the Americas take part in an adventure that has become a family tradition among generations. Families and students, birders and scientists, armed with binoculars, bird guides and checklists go out on an annual mission - often before dawn. For over one hundred years, the desire to both make a difference and to experience the beauty of nature has driven dedicated people to leave the comfort of a warm house during the Holiday season.

Each of the citizen scientists who annually braves snow, wind, or rain, to take part in the Christmas Bird Count makes an enormous contribution to conservation. Audubon and other organizations use data collected in this longest-running wildlife census to assess the health of bird populations - and to help guide conservation action.
From feeder-watchers and field observers to count compilers and regional editors, everyone who takes part in the Christmas Bird Count does it for love of birds and the excitement of friendly competition -- and with the knowledge that their efforts are making a difference for science and bird conservation.
(From the Audubon website:http://birds.audubon.org/christmas-bird-count#)
You can visit Audubon's website for the history of the bird count, bird lists, and more!

How to Get Involved Locally

Manitowish Waters- December 17th
Minocqua- December 29th

We are looking for volunteers to count birds at feeders and field observers to count birds within each of the established survey blocks.  If you live within the area you don’t even have to leave the comfort of your warm home.   It's fun and easy. If you would like to participant in this annual tradition please contact the North Lakeland Discovery at 1-715-543-2085.

Hawk Ridge Adventure

Photo Credit: Sarah Johnson

Sometimes places are cool, without having to try.  Such is the case with Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory (HRBO)in Duluth, MN.

Hawk Ridge is an outdoor overlook space, along the northern side of Duluth’s Lake Superior shoreline.  The views of the woods and Lake Superior are outstanding, and the birds fascinating.  Every year, thousands of birds concentrate in this spot during the fall migration, and thousands of people gather to view the action.  The banding, counting, and education that happen are due to the efforts of the non-profit HRBO, along with the Town and other NP partners.

Photo Credit: John Aldridge

The big, visible birds migrating through are hawks, vultures, eagle, osprey and harriers.  The HRBO crew count the birds, and band as many as they can.  The data gathered is sent to a centralized database, allowing monitoring figures to be used by professionals such as wildlife researchers and forest habitat managers.  So, not only is this place cool, but it’s valuable for future habitat management and can be an indicator of when something is going wrong, or right, in our natural world.

Photo Credit: John Aldridge

This past October weekend, the Discovery Center led a field trip to Hawk Ridge.  In September, you’ll see a greater number of smaller birds.  These birds – Broad-winged Hawks, Merlins, Kestrels, and Sharp-shinned Hawks – need to migrate earlier.  They have longer to go (Broad-winged Hawks fly to South America), and their food sources (snakes, frogs, dragonflies) are often warm-temperature dependent.

In October, the Ridge sees greater numbers of Bald and Golden Eagles, Red-tailed and Rough-legged Hawks, Turkey Vultures and Northern Goshawks.  During our visit, we were fortunate to see most of these species, and in good numbers.  The final counts for some of the key species were:

Turkey Vultures	Bald Eagles	Red-tailed Hawks	Northern Goshawk	Sharp-shinned Hawks	Northern Harriers
45	111	355	13	351	8

We did see some other species, too – bringing the total birds counted to 896, a great count for a mid-October day.  

One other really fascinating thing to witness is the post-banding release of these magnificent birds.

Photo Credit: John Aldridge

 HRBO has 3 banding stations where certified banders lure birds in.  Our group participated in a behind-the-scenes tour to see how this process is carried out (think pigeons, bow traps and mist nests).  Once the birds are caught, data gathered, and bands placed, they are then transported to the overlook.  The birds are handled by volunteers and staff, and information about the species is shared with the audience.  All the while, staff and volunteers encourage HRBO’s “Adopt A Raptor” program.  For a donation, people can “adopt” a banded bird.  What this means is that if the bird is found anywhere, you receive follow-up info on that bird.  What it really means is that you get to handle & release your adopted bird back to the wild.  I was the lucky adopter of an immature Red-tailed Hawk, and got to toss this bird up with everyone cheering the bird’s release and the re-start of its migration journey.  

Green Fire: Aldo Leopold's Legacy in Film

This Friday the North Lakeland Discovery Center is proud to host a special screening for the first full-length movie on the life and legacy of Aldo Leopold, "Green Fire".

Friday, September 23, 7:00pm - 8:30pm.
$5 Members, $7 General Public
Click here to reserve your spot for this epic film!

View the Trailer...

The Green Fire Story

(from the Green Fire website: http://www.aldoleopold.org/greenfire/about.shtml)

“We reached the old wolf in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes. I realized then, and have known ever since, that there was something new to me in those eyes—something known only to her and to the mountain. I was young then, and full of trigger-itch; I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, that no wolves would mean hunters’ paradise. But after seeing the green fire die, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view.”- Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac, 1949

The impact of his own gunshot from a rimrock in Arizona changed Aldo Leopold’s own thinking, leading to the key insight that was the culmination of his life’s work: a responsibility for its health. Join us as we trace Leopold’s personal journey and follow the threads that connect to his legacy today.

The Green Fire Film Project

Green Fire was produced in partnership between the Aldo Leopold Foundation, the Center for Humans and Nature, and the US Forest Service. The film provocatively examines Leopold’s thinking, renewing his idea of a land ethic for a population facing 21st century ecological challenges. Leopold's biographer, conservation biologist Dr. Curt Meine, serves as the film's on-screen guide.

Green Fire describes the formation of Leopold’s idea, exploring how it changed one man and later permeated through all arenas of conservation. The film draws on Leopold’s life and experiences to provide context and validity, then explores the deep impact of his thinking on conservation projects around the world today. Through these examples, the film challenges viewers to contemplate their own relationship with the land community.

The high-definition film will utilize photographs, correspondence, manuscripts and other archival documents from the voluminous Aldo Leopold Archives as well as historical film and contemporary full-color footage on location, including landscapes that influenced Leopold and that he in turn influenced.

The film also features commentary and insight from some of today’s most recognized and credible scholars and conservation leaders, including: three of Aldo Leopold’s children—Nina, Carl, and Estella, Leopold scholars, noted environmental writers, scientists, humanities experts, public policy leaders, business leaders,; and leaders of non-profit groups inspired by Leopold.

 

“Chella” beetles ATTACK! (We hope)…

Our ACE team of naturalists were out releasing Purple Loosestrife bio-control "Chella" beetles at Wild Rice Lake on July 21, 2011.  Bio-control is using one living organism to control another - most often a pest species.  The pest in this case is the non-native, invasive plant species Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria).  The organism used to control loosestrife in this case is an aphid (Galerucella spp), affectionately referred to as "Chella" beetles as it is much easier to say than the full Genus name!


 Anne Kretschmann and Zach Wilson (pictured) were hard at work in the midst of the heat to get these beetles out on site so they could get to work (the beetles, not the naturalists... they are always working hard!)


These highly effective beetles only eat loosestrife, weakening the plant and suppressing flowering; essential to controlling the spread of loosestrife which threaten our native plant species.

View Full Album

To read more about Purple Loosestrife, an other aquatic invasive species, you can check out the link to our webpage: http://www.discoverycenter.net/aquaticinvasivespecies3.html.

Beam Me Up Scotty!

The Discovery Center's Adventure Club (ages 9-14) has done some amazing things so far this summer- paddled a 26 ft war canoe on the Turtle-Flambeau Flowage, climbed the world's largest ski jump, explored the Porcupine Mountains- but next week's trip is sure to be the most unique.
In Monico, Wisconsin, a man named Frank Kovac dedicated ten years of his life to building a planetarium in his backyard. Not just any planetarium, but the world's only mechanically rotating planetarium.
He hand-painted all of the northern hemisphere stars visible to the unaided eye within his 22 foot diameter globe!
I'm incredibly excited to visit the Kovac Planetarium and meet this dedicated man. www.kovacplanetarium.com has the full story.

We still have spots available for this Adventure Club trip! Other activities planned for the day include swimming and geocaching.
Contact the Discovery Center (715-543-2085, or www.DiscoveryCenter.net) to reserve a place!
-Caitlin

Cattail Fail

A recent cooking incident with some wild foraged cattails inspired me to write this phenology update.

Phenology is the study of the timing of plant and animal life cycle events. Scientists study phenology during the seasons as a means to track change. Wild-foragers, those who gather wild edibles, track phenology to learn when their favorites plants are ready to eat. In this case, I wasn't paying close enough attention to phenology!

In my family, the ripening of cattails is a major phenology event.This week, I heard from my Minnesota-dwelling cousins that they were harvesting the young flower heads for eating. I though that this week's Adventure Club, a canoe trip down the Manitowish River, was the perfect excuse for some foraging.

As our intrepid group of canoers paddled around a bend, we noticed a large stand of cattails accessible from the water. Rylie, Jon, and I set out to gather what I thought were perfect male flower spikes- covered in floppy stamens holding the yellow pollen.  I placed the flower spikes into a spent granola bar box to capture the pollen -it makes a great addition to pancake mix- with plans to boil them back at the Discovery Center.

To make a long story short, the boiled flower spikes looked pitiful and tasted horrible. Here's why it failed:

Cattail species are monoecious, having both male (pollen-producing) and female (seed-producing) flowers. The male flowers grow together in a dense cluster called a spike at the top of the stem, and the female flowers are clustered below the males in a fatter spike that looks like a hot-dog. As the male flowers mature, they grow stamens that produce mustard-yellow pollen. Eating the male flowers at this point gives an unpleasant mouthful, which is exactly what we experienced.

The key is to harvest the /young/ male spike just as it is emergering from the leaves, when it is yellow on the inside and green on the outside. Boiled and covered in butter like corn in the cob is a simple preparation.

This week's phenology update literally comes from my mouth. It appears that it is too late to eat the much-beloved male flower spikes, but cattail pollen season is here! Shake the pollen into a paper or plastic bag, sift, and add to any recipe that uses flour with a 1 part pollen to 3 part flour ratio. It adds a nutty flavor and a golden color.

Always make sure you forage from a clean environment, as polluntants can accumulate in plants. Also, be sure you have correctly identified your target species. If you are not sure, don't eat it!

Enjoy!

  -Caitlin

What tree is this?

Despite the cooler weather today, the North Lakeland Discovery Center’s staff is beginning the construction of their 4^th of July float! The theme this year for the Manitowish Waters parade-“Manitowish Waters Goes Green on the Red, White, and Blue”- is a perfect complement for the Discovery Center’s mission to promote stewardship of Wisconsin’s Northwoods. Our float will promote stewardship though environmentally friendly forms of transportation including biking, hiking, swimming, paddling, and skiing. The only debate left to settle is who will become the swimmer…

Construction began with Ryan, our exceptionally creative facilities coordinator.  Can you ID this tree species? It should begin to leaf out by the end of the day.

Other happenings today include the 2^nd outing in the Adventure Club series! Today, it’s all about fishing. I just stopped down to the docks on Statehouse Lake to check out their haul. It looked like a bunch of small perch and bass so far, so they’ll head to other fishing holes around Vilas county in hopes of catching the fish that’ll win them the prize for Biggest Fish. 

--Caitlin

Weekly Adventure Club Gets Started!

Have a summer adventure with the Discovery Center! On Tuesday June 21^st, the weekly “Adventure Club” for youth ages 9-14 kicks off with a mountain-top adventure to the Porcupine Mountains.  We’ll be exploring multiple destinations within the Michigan State Park, including hiking trails along the waterfalls and rapids of the Presque Isle River, the sand beaches of Lake Superior, and the stunning Lake of the Clouds.  For this trip, please bring a backpack to hold your gear, a water bottle, closed-toe hiking shoes, a pack lunch, and swimming gear. Snacks and extra water will be provided.

This summer’s Adventure Club excursions are led by Caitlin and Emily, who both possess First Aid & CPR training. Emily holds lifeguard certifications.

Trips depart from the Discovery Center every Tuesday at 9 am  and return to the Discovery Center at 4:30 pm. In the event of bad weather, trips will be moved to Thursday. This program is $30 for members and $35 for non-members. To register, visit DiscoveryCenter.net or call (877)543-2085.

This summer, don’t see the same things twice…

June 28^th- Fishing Tournament

July 5^th- Paddle and Snorkel the Mighty Manitowish

July 14^th- Climb the World’s Largest Ski Jump

July 19^th- War Canoe Warriors

See our Program Guide or DiscoveryCenter.net for more Adventure Club trips!

The Big Event Slide Show

Thanks again to our many members and guests who made this year's Big Event one for the record books!
The Big Event Slide Show

Phenology Notes June 1-7

Here's what we're seeing in the area.
       Plants:
dogwood,       blueberries,       columbine,       wild ginger,       strawberry,       venus looking glass,       wood anenome,       choke cherry,       false solomon seal,       solomon seal,       meadow rue,       starflower,       Maianthemum,       dandelion,       wood betony,       wood violets,       rock clematis,       gaywings,       barren strawberry,  bog laurel,  cotton grass,       pitcher plant,       lady slippers,       bog rosemary,       labrador tea
  

 Wildlife:       

swallowtails,       monarchs,       veery,       chipping sparrow hatched,       baby snapper,  fireflies  

What are you seeing?

Beetle Collectors Wanted!

The North Lakeland Discovery Center is gong out to collect purple loosestrife beetles Wednesday, June 8. We are looking for volunteers!

We will meet at the Discovery Center at 9am to carpool to the collection site. Anyone who is interested, please bring water and waders if you have them, although the discovery center has extras if you need them!

Thanks for your interest in aquatic invasive species!

~Anne Kretschmann

AIS Co-Coordinator

North Lakeland Discovery Center

Manitowish Waters, WI

This Week at the Discovery Center

National Trails Day, June 4

This Saturday, June 4, is National Trails Day! 

We have a great system of trails here at the Discovery Center. On Saturday Licia will be taking a tour through the bog on our awesome bog trail!

 Here is what a few members of our staff have to say about the trails:


From Licia Johnson, one of our naturalists:

The River Trail provides a quiet trek along the Manitowish River.  Swans and many other migrating birds tend to frequent the area.  It’s my favorite trail!

From Anne K. our water education intern: 

The Discovery Center put a gauge in at the dock by the fork in the trail to monitor the water level in Statehouse Lake as part of the citizen science lake level monitoring program in the county. We started the summer season at 53 cm, stop along the trail and see what is it today!

And from Katie, our assistant director:
I've really enjoyed wandering around the trails. So many plants that I haven't seen in years! And yesterday the dragonflies were emerging. It's always a great day for a hike!

Click below for PDF of our Trail Map; head out and enjoy!
Trail Map

Lake Captain Training and AIS Tour

Become a part of the Citizen Lake Monitoring Network!
Lake Captain Training and AIS Tour
June 10, 9- 11:30 am

Are you interested in monitoring what’s happening to the health of your lake? We are looking for volunteer ‘lake captains and deck hands’ to monitor water clarity, water chemistry, aquatic plants, and aquatic invasive species in area waters. Since 1986, volunteers statewide have provided data to biologists on what is happening on their lakes, providing essential data that is necessary to make decisions to protect the health of lakes.

Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) are invading northwoods waters and costs of controlling these species are increasing every year. In 2010, Vilas County spent over $600,000 to control invasive species. Early detection is essential to preventing invasives from spreading throughout your lake system as it is much more cost effective and easier to target new infestations before the species become established. We need your help in identifying where infestations occur in the area so that we can ‘nip them in the bud’!

On June 10, you can learn how to become a ‘lake captain or ship hand’, monitor the health of your lake, and conduct aquatic invasive species surveys. As part of this training, we will travel by boat to purple loosestrife and curly leafed pondweed infestations. We will provide an array of tools and resources for free or loan to interested volunteers.

Today at the center May 26

Today at the center- (test)

Flowers come to the Discovery Center

Here is the crew responsible for bringing some color to our facility!

7th Annual Birding Festival

This weekend, May 20 and 21, we will be hosting our 7th Annual Birding Festival here at the Discovery Center.  We are excited to offer a variety of activities and events, including Laura Erickson as our keynote speaker on Saturday.

KEYNOTE~ Laura Erickson is back with her presentation entitled "Migration from the Gulf to Wisconsin." From loons to hummingbirds, a host of migrating birds spend time in or over the Gulf of Mexico.  How has this BP oil spill affected them?

FRIDAY SPEAKER~ Local author and naturalist John Bates will be presenting "Spring Bird Migration in Wisconsin's Northwoods- A Phenology and Guide to Attracting Migrants."

Schedule of Events:

https://www.z2systems.com/np/clients/nldc/event.jsp?event=29241

Thanks to our partner sponsors!

• Butternut Creek, LLC
• Conserve School
• LaPorte's Market
• Manitowish Waters
• Trees for Tomorrow
• UpNorth MotorSports Rentals

And all our sponsors!

• Birdwatching Magazing
• Boulder Junction
• Citizen's Bank
• Eagle Optics
• Headwaters Insurance
• Loonland Trading
• Mercer
• Michael's Parlor
• Northwoods Home Rentals
• Presque Isle
• Sayner-St. Germain Fish and Wildlife Club
• Timberline Inn
• The Winebarn