Loon update

Looks as if our loons are still here. Sorry this picture isn't clearer but they were a little far away. I could hear other loons calling from further north on the lake.

Smoke and Loons

Some of you may have noticed the news articles about the wildfire smoke last night or, if you've signed up for all the options on Code Red, you may have received a call early this morning. We had some really strong winds come through last night and they brought the smoke from the wildfires in MN into the Northwoods. This was the second wildfire phenomenon of the week. The full moon looked orange on Sunday night. According to the Rhinelander TV station that's because the smoke filtered out every color except red.

In an earlier post, I listed this link to the Common Loon Migration site. They have started doing updates for this year's loon migration. They don't have the Manitowish Lake loon listed this year but the one on Island Lake -- listed as "IS" -- is probably the closest to us. We can still hear loons calling on the lake but John and Hal indicate that they think a few have moved on. It appears from the migration site that the loons move from lake to lake in their area before actually migrating.

UPDATE -- At least some of our loons are still around. There were three in front of the dock yesterday (September 17). By the time I got this picture, there was only one adult and one young.  Looks like the little one is getting instructions.

From the loon migration site tracking information from last year, all of the loons had started migrating by mid-September so our loons should be going south pretty soon.

2011 Annual Picnic

More than 60 people braved the weather yesterday to attend the Birch Lake picnic. Even with the occasional shower, it was a great picnic with lots of good food and a chance to talk with and meet new neighbors.

Thanks to Louise and Cindy for getting everything organized, to Marty for providing the music and to all the Association members who pitched in to work the event.

If anyone has pictures from yesterday, you can email them to me and I'll post them on the blog.

Birch Lake on Facebook

An earlier post featured some great pictures of Birch Lake that were sent to me. Thanks to Dianne, Birch Lake now has a Facebook presence and you can see even more of her great photography from around the lake.

Here's another picture she took of the loons in August. To see all of Dianne's pictures, just follow the Birch Lake Photo link on the right or click here.