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

“I count my blessings with flowers, never with the leaves that fall.”

– Ladybird Johnson

August moved into the Northwoods on Friday — the last summer month in Wisconsin. August brings with it a riot of colorful phlox in the garden, yellow jackets and white-faced hornets at the hummingbird feeders, and the summer’s first goldenrods along the roadsides.

By the end of the month the wild rice will be ripe, and we may have a nip or two of frost. August’s most exciting moment is when we see the first red leaf on a maple tree.

August is generally our warmest month with little wind. It’s the dewy time of summer when the spider webs glisten like diamonds in the early morning sunshine. There are no national holidays during August, and Americans travel more in August than any other month.

August’s full moon is Saturday, Aug. 16. Native Americans had three names for this month’s moon: The Green Corn Moon (growing corn), the Sturgeon Moon (the fish), and the Red Moon (signifying the heat and haze of this month).

Eaglets begin flying

Toward the end of July the eaglets are preparing to leave the nest. There is lots of activity at the nesting site. Paul Strong, a noted eagle researcher, writes: “Eaglets jump up and down in the nests, flap their wings, grab sticks and other nest items with their bills and talons and drag things around the nest. They also seem to play specific games including tug-of-war with sticks and mock battles. Eaglets have been observed broad-jumping across the nest.”

In the “lower 48” United States, eagle populations are monitored closely by wildlife managers. Production checks are conducted in mid-summer, usually from light aircraft.

In some areas, intrepid biologists scale large, tall pines used for nests to place numbered aluminum bands on young eagles’ legs. Anxious and chagrined parents scream from nearby perches, sometimes dive-bombing the intruders. The adults rarely strike the intruders, but when it occurs, the force is likened to being hit by a moderate swing of a baseball bat.

Purple martins and skeeters

According to George Harrison, Wisconsin writer, researchers have found that of every 10 insects that the purple martins capture, none of them are mosquitoes, but flies — house flies, robber flies, crane flies and dragon flies. The martins also catch flying ants, beetles, grasshoppers and butterflies. What about mosquitoes? Martins do all of their insect catching during daylight hours — mosquitoes generally come out during the evening when the martins are resting. As a result, the purple martins aren’t the mosquito catchers that many backyard birders think.

August spells wild flowers

This is a wonderful time to be in the North Country. The air is fragrant with the perfume of clover, milkweed and basswood flowers. The abandoned fields and roadsides are carpeted with black-eyed Susan’s, purplish-pink fireweed and orange or yellow hawkweed.

Indian Pipes

Back in the conifer forests, where little sunlight reaches the forest floor, clumps of Indian pipes are in blossom. The Indians named the all-white plants Indian pipes because they resembled clay pipes. They were used by the early Americans to brew a medicine that was used to improve the Indian’s vision. It was also believed that the white plants grew only on an Indian burial ground.

Bird bits

Try feeding orioles grape jelly in an orange’s half-shell. Oriole nestlings will cry vigorously for the sweets. The nestlings have the reputation of being the cry babies of the bird world.

Chickadees snatch and flee. This allows them to eat without having to cope with more aggressive birds. Because they are so small, a morsel of food represents a higher percentage of their calorie needs than the same morsel for a larger bird. So the strategy is energy cost-effective.

A bird’s food might try to defend itself or might try to escape. It might attract competitors that will try to steal it. Thus for a lot of birds, finding food is only half the battle.

Wow — what wonderful eating

We’ve been enjoying the local strawberries several times a day. They’re delicious. Here’s a little information about them:

•There are 200 seeds in a strawberry.

•The average consumption of strawberries is 4.85 pounds.

•One cup of strawberries is only 55 calories.

Junebearers are the most productive type of strawberry and the best for home gardens. They will produce fruit before the dry part of the summer. Everbearers will produce two crops of strawberries—one in the summer and one in the fall. The fall crop is usually better than the summer crop.

Molt’s on

There’s little singing and fighting in the bird world these days. It’s August and most of them are losing their feathers! Growing new feathers takes all the energy that birds can muster. By September, they will have their winter plumage.

Molting is an amazing process. Every feather is shed and replaced in a definite order. It usually begins with the inner-most primary wing feather. A second feather is not molted until the first one is partially mature. This enables the birds to maintain their flying and steering abilities.

Birds which do not depend upon their flying to keep away from their predators, such as the ducks and diving birds, lose many of their feathers at the same time, making them flightless for weeks at a time. This is especially true of the mallard drake — the greenhead. The body feathers are replaced a few at a time but in definite order.

Some bird species grow additional feathers for their winter garb.

Yes, the summer birds are quiet, secretive and wary during August, but they’re in the woods as they were in July.

Late nesters

The last of the summer birds are nesting! The goldfinches! Why so late? It is thought that they may wait until the thistles are ripe, using the down to line their deep-cupped nests. Others think the nesting is delayed until the seeds, such as those of the dandelions, are ripe.

The goldfinch nests are usually found in the open woodlands in the crotch of a bush tree. Since the birds do not keep their nest tidy toward the end of the fun days of nesting, a dirty white crust is formed on the rim of the nest, serving to identify the nest as that of a goldfinch.

It’s the male that feeds the nesting female and the young birds, frequently dandelion seeds that are regurgitated from the crop of the adult bird.

Bounding through the summer skies, like a kite at the end of a string, goldfinches are a delight to observe at this season of the year. As they bounce they sing a most tuneful and chattering warble.

After the nesting season, the goldfinches, sometimes called “thistle birds,” will molt. The male will lose his black cap and lemon-yellow coloration, becoming a dull olive yellow like his mate.

During the winter the goldfinches form large flocks and move about the countryside — here today and gone tomorrow. During this time we usually find them in the tops of the white birch trees where seeds are available.

Tell us what you think...

Comments »

Sandy wrote on Feb 10, 2009 12:54 PM:

" I have a question..........I hope that is okay. During August we find jelly type formations on logs, docks and sticks in Solberg Lake in Phillips , WI. Can you tell me what these are? Thanks alot, Sandy "

Lisa B in Oregon wrote on Aug 8, 2008 1:05 PM:

" Thank you for allowing me to visit Wisconsin every week! I enjoy your column more than you'll know. I'm counting the days until our next trip to Tomahawk.

Lisa B in Oregon "

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