The Rhinelander Daily News - Online news and information for the Rhinelander, Wisconsin region

I pretend that winter's gone (My window revealing an icicle) And imagine spring has come As I pedal my exercise bicycle - Rosemary Williamson

Several fat gray squirrels are munching the sunflower seeds from our small feeding pans. It appears that they shuck the seeds and fill their bellies with the shucked kernels. Then they jump from the pans with their cheeks loaded with seeds to be hidden in the snow for future use, if they can find them. This caching of seeds continues until the pans are empty.

When it comes to storing food, squirrels are the largest hoarders. The red squirrels, for example, store their favorite delicacy, white spruce cones, in piles known as middens. A single midden may contain two to four bushels of cones, anywhere from 13,000 to 30,000 cones. Flying squirrels, however, don't skimp when they fill their food bank. Biologists estimate that a single “flyer” may sock away 15,000 nuts during a harvest season.

Chipmunks take food storage to even greater lengths. Like Silas Marner, the miser, chipmunks stuff their mattresses with food, piling up nuts and grains so high they nearly touch the ceiling of their basketball-sized sleeping chamber. One may see a chipmunk's cheek pouches bulging with two acorns as it goes to its burrow, where it may store up to two quarts of them for winter food.

Rodents sometimes store food as well. Foxes and wolves bury mice and other prey in shallow caches. Saw whet, horned and boreal owls have discovered a unique method to change their winter prey into frozen dinners. They drape their freshly caught rodents over tree limbs to freeze, and when the owls get hungry they simply thaw out the frozen meals by sitting on them like they were incubating eggs.

Black squirrels at our feeders

We are fortunate to have three glossy black squirrels in our backyard this winter. We appreciate them.

Black squirrels are found throughout the province of Ontario, Canada. However, pockets of black squirrels can be seen in Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin. Black squirrels are thought to be color phases of the gray squirrel and are not considered a separate species. Both black and gray squirrels can be born in the same litter, but the black strain is dominant when they interbreed. Neither hibernates, even during the harshest winters. The black squirrel's coat is unusually think and glossy, which helps in repelling water. The dark fur also helps in absorbing sunlight, keeping them warm throughout the winter. In Wisconsin, these squirrels can be found throughout the year but are more prevalent in the autumn and winter months.

Meet a predator

Barred owls are the most common owls in the Northwoods. During the daytime they are frequently seen around the backyard bird feeders where they prey on the mice, shrews and voles that feed at the base of the feeders.

Barred owls have brown eyes and a roundish head. They lack the ear tufts and yellow eyes found on a horned owl's head. When they hoot or call, barred owls seem to be saying, “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you all?”

Weather notes

Four inches of snow frequently disrupts automobile travel. Railroads have problems with 6 inches. Cattle will nuzzle through 6 inches of snow, but not 12 inches. Deer have trouble moving in the woods when there is more than 18 inches.

Sheep can survive for several weeks if covered by snow because their coats insulate them so well. When the sheep are covered, the snow melts near their bodies and forms caves in which the lambs are sometimes born and survive until they are rescued. Bears sometimes hibernate in the open air, their bodies covered with snow.

No snowflakes alike

In the late 1800s, Snowflake Bentley photographed 6,000 snowflakes and had no duplicates. The chances of two snowflakes being exactly alike are approximately one in one million trillion.

A bit of history?

Do you remember when the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was organized back in 1933? It was during the depression. Unemployed men were paid $30 a month, of which $22 was sent back to their dependents. There were at least six camps in the Rhinelander area. In addition to conservation work, they planted millions of trees.

Eagle viewing

“With hundreds of bald eagles congregating along open water areas of the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers, Wisconsin offers some of the best eagle viewing in the lower 48 states.

Wisconsin now has approximately 1,150 territorial pairs of eagles, according to the Department of Natural Resources. For more information on bald eagles, contact Randy Jurewicz, DNR endangered resources biologist at (608) 267-7507.

How bears give birth

“Most Michigan black bears begin life in the normally dark to semi-dark interior of a den during January. Cubs average about 12 ounces in weight when born, but large ones may weigh as much as a pound. The newborns are basically hairless, with their eyes closed. The tiny bears' hair grows quickly after birth and their eyes open after about six weeks.

“Winter may seem an odd time for such helpless creatures to be born, and it is, compared to other mammals in the state, but it is something the animals are well adapted for. In spite of the harsh weather common during Michigan winters, most cubs manage to stay warm and thrive on a rich diet of milk provided by their mothers. The temperature inside maternal bear dens might be a little warmer than outside, but the mother bear is the real heater. Cubs stay warm by clinging to their mothers during the first weeks of life. As their hair grows, it provides enough insulation to help keep them warm, too. Quote from “Understanding Michigan Black Bear,” by Richard P. Smith.

Misconception

The greatest misconception about black bears is that they are likely to attack people in defense of their cubs. They are highly unlikely to do this. Black bear researchers often capture screaming cubs in the presence of bluff-charging mothers with no attacks. Defense of cubs is a grizzly bear trait. About 70 percent of human deaths from grizzly bears are from mothers defending cubs, but black bears mothers have not been known to kill anyone in defense of cubs.

Tell us what you think...

Comments »

B.J. wrote on Jan 21, 2008 11:12 AM:

" We have a lot of black walnut trees in our backyard that produce so many nuts that the squirrels are constantly out looking and burying(forgotten nuts have become trees inthe summer!). Sometimes the squirrel will bring the nuts up to my back deck to investigate what I have out for them to eat(usually a cob of field corn). They must pit the nuts down, feast on the corn and leave the nut...either because they forgot the nut or a thank you for the food. They're super to watch and feed. "

As a regular reader..... wrote on Jan 20, 2008 12:47 PM:

" of your articles, I found out so many interesting items!
Here in Northeastern Kansas we have black squirrels and nesting bald eagles. Along the Kansas River across from my home on the bluff are a pair of eagles that have raised young for the last 8 years.
We have barred owls but no black bears, we have bobcats and cougars.
Thank you for sharing your outdoors stories! "

The comments above are from readers. In no way do they represent the views of the Rhinelander Daily News.