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

This is the headline that appears on the back page of this month's Audubon Magazine and an explanation of its meaning:

Demand for low carbon transport fuel is growing. Fortunately, so are crops such as sugar beet, corn and wheat. At Beyond Petroleum, we're partnering with DuPont to develop an advanced generation of biofuels made with local homegrown crops. The first of these, biobutanol, can be blended in gasoline or coblended with ethanol and gasoline. This new fuel has the potential to lower overall greenhouse gas emissions while reducing dependence on oil and expanding agriculture markets.

It's a start.

November

Welcome to November! Before the month is over, we generally have experienced a gun hunting season for deer, ice skating on the lakes, cross country and downhill skiing, snowmobiling and ice fishing. That's a good record for the beginning of a winter season! And to top it all off - there's Thanksgiving. Just think what our winter “snowbirds” are missing!

Yes, there are many interesting things about deer. They have no gall bladders, no teeth in their upper front jaws, and four-chambered stomachs. The bucks lose their antlers in December and January and start growing a new set in May.

The height of the rutting season for deer is November 19. During the rutting season the male deer become aggressive and mean. A buck will attempt to dominate any other buck that they meet in the woods.

One sign of an active buck is its swollen neck. Currently, his blood vessels are becoming enlarged and gorged with blood, A 160-pound buck's neck may be as much as 22 inches in circumference.

Bears are denned up

Female bears are denned up for winter - many are pregnant - many are with their 10-month old cubs. Deer hunters may still see males roaming through the woodlands.

Few bears choose large dens or large entrances. The bear dens that I have seen in the Northwoods were burrows dug by bears themselves. Most of the den entrances were open, resulting in the den temperature being the same as the outside air which may be many degrees below zero. Bears survive the low temperature very well - few, if any, ever freeze to death. Bear beds or nests are lined with leaf litter, hardwood branches, conifer branches, or rotting wood.

Eagles winter here

The eagles that remain in the Northwoods during the winter, especially when we experience a mild one, feed on fish in the open waters, deer carrion along the roadsides or a gut pile left by hunters. They also are hungry for the minnows and fish left on the ice by fishermen.

Many of the eagles that frequent the Northwoods leave to spend the winter along the lower Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers. This is considered by naturalists to be one of the prime North American habitat for wintering eagles.

Turkey vocabulary

- Full grown male turkey - tom, over 20 pounds

- Full grown female turkey - hen, 8-10 pounds

- Young females - jennies

- Young males - jakes, chicks - poults

- Domestic turkeys - all white feathers, weighs 12 pounds

- Wild turkeys - shiny black with streaks of gold and orange

- Domestic turkeys can't fly. Wild turkeys can fly up to 40 miles per hour.

- Domestic turkeys aren't smart enough to avoid predators.

Deer have snow winter coats

Deer are hardy and well adapted to living in the Northwoods during winter. Nature has provided them with an excellent fur coat. If they can find sufficient food they have little problem of keeping warm.

A whitetail's winter coat is longer and more brittle than the summer's. The winter coat has excellent insulation qualities, and it continues to grow in length and larger hair diameter as the winter progresses. Toward spring the hairs become more brittle and break off.

A deer can lie in the snow without causing any of the snow to melt - so well is it insulated.

In January the deer don't move about the countryside. They slow down to conserve energy. In many ways they are experiencing a period of semi-hibernation.

Much of the November material in this column appeared in my column in Northbound Magazine, a Trees for Tomorrow publication, Rob Weiner, editor.

Hi hoopsters!

A note from this week's Time Magazine:

New Ball? A Brick

NBA game ball creates hoopla. A new microfiber basketball replaces the old leather model this NBA season, which starts next week. Players are crying foul. Shaq says it's “terrible.” Others gripe that it's slippery when wet.

Finch forecast

November 1, I received a General Finch Forecast for 2006-2007 from Bob Martini of the DNR. I would like to share a few statements with our readers, especially those who are feeding winter birds.

This is one of those rare years when most conifers (softwoods) and broad-leaved deciduous trees (hardwoods) have synchronized bumper seed crops across much of Eastern Canada and the bordering United States. It will be an excellent winter to see winter finches in northern Ontario and central Ontario (e.g., Algonquin Park). Very few boreal finches will move south of Ontario this fall and winter. Most finches likely will be scarce even in southern Ontario south of the Canadian Shield this winter, despite bumper seed crops on native and ornamental species.

In addition to individual finch forecasts, I also comment on other irruptive species, such as the Red-breasted Nuthatch, whose movements are linked to winter finches.

Pine Grosbeak: Most Pine Grosbeaks will stay in northern Ontario because the berry crop on mountain-ash (rowan berries) is excellent to bumper this year. A few Pine Grosbeaks may drift as far south as Algonquin Park where they are seen most winters.

Purple Finch: The excellent tree seed crops on most coniferous and deciduous trees suggest that most (not all) Purple Finches will spend this winter in northern and central Ontario. Some may drift south in late winter and show up at feeders, which is typical of this species in big seed years as seed supplies diminish in late winter.

Common Redpoll: This is not a flight year for redpolls in southern Ontario. Most Common and Hoary Redpolls will be in northern Ontario this winter because seed crops on white birch and alder are excellent to bumper there.

Pine Siskin: Most Pine Siskins will winter in northern and probably central Ontario this winter because cones crops are bumper on spruces, balsam fir, tamarack (larch), cedar and hemlock.

Evening Grosbeak: Evening Grosbeaks will stay in the boreal forest this winter because tree seed crops are excellent on conifers and hardwoods such as black ash. The eastern population of Evening Grosbeaks started declining in 1980 as large outbreaks of spruce budworm subsided. The population is probably stable now, but much reduced from the 1970s when Evening Grosbeaks were common at bird feeders.

Blue Jay: A small to moderate flight is expected. The good to excellent crop of beechnuts on American beech in most areas of central and southern Ontario should keep most Blue Jays from migrating south this September and October along the shorelines of Lake Ontario and Erie. Also, there are excellent crops of hazelnuts which will add to the nonmigratory tendency of Blue Jays this fall. The red oak acorn crop is poor in most areas of central Ontario, but the lack of acorns should be compensated for by the large mast crops on other deciduous trees and shrubs.

Bohemian Waxwing: The excellent to bumper crop of mountain-ash (rowan berries) will keep most Bohemian Waxwings close to the boreal forest this winter.

Red oak had abundant flowers in May but produced few acorns this year because the weather turned cool and wet just when its flowers were ready to pollinate.

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Deborah Jodarski/ Door County Wisconsin wrote on Nov 10, 2006 11:01 AM:

" I feel really blessed to have Ced Vig as a grandfather. I really enjoy his articles. I remember as a young child napping in my grandfathers room and the sound of the typewriter going for hours as he was preparing an article for the next newspaper. It's wonderful to have his columns right here at my fingertips now to view at any time on this site. Thank You. "

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