Summer Newsletter

Be sure to check the email address that you've provided the lake association. The summer edition of the newsletter was sent out this week. If you've asked to have the newsletter mailed, you should have a copy in your mailbox very shortly.

Summer Pics

On a recent pontoon ride I was able to get a couple of pictures of our young loons. We have three "babies" this year. Here is a picture of two with an adult. From the last communication that Hal received, it looks like our loons will not get banded this year. If there is a change, we may be able to publish pictures again.

We also have a large group of geese on the lake this year. We usually have a string across the front shoreline to keep them out. One day we took the string down and came home to find this . . .

Birch Lake Picnic

Birch Lake Association Picnic

Sunday, September 2nd, 2012

1-4 pm  Winchester Town Park

(eating around 1:30)

Please call or email by Monday, August 20th,

if you are planning to attend and how many adults and children

will be in your group.  Guests are welcome.

RSVP: 

Email:  dittz.geo(at)gmail.com

or by phone

Meat (hamburgers and hot dogs) will be provided.  Bring a

dish to pass, table service and whatever you like to drink.

We hope you can make it.

2012 Membership Renewal

Just a quick reminder that you can mail your dues or bring them to the Annual Meeting. Last year the Association ended the year with the highest total involvement ever with 83 members. So far this year we already have 25 paid memberships. If you have neighbors who haven't joined or if we've missed new lake owners, please encourage them to come to the meeting. We'll have brochures and sign up sheets available.

2012 Annual Meeting

Birch Lake Association Annual Meeting

Date:  Saturday, May 26, 2012
Winchester Town Hall
Coffee and Treats at 9:30
Program and Meeting at 10:00

"Wisconsin's Wolves -- Tracks of the Future"

Rad Watkins, Timber Wolf Alliance Communications Specialist

Addition information from Discovery Center on
new directions and initiative

Timber Wolf Alliance website

The Loons Are Back!

Went into the grocery store today and heard that Jan has seen a loon on Birch. Since the dock went in today, I'll try to get a picture.

Wednesday -- Heard from Jan today that she had not seen the loon. A neighbor, Julie, had heard a loon. Before the Friends of the Library meeting convened, a member indicated that a Birch Lake resident, Harriet, had seen a large flock of loons right in front of their house. I do seem to remember that the loons "group up" on a lake while waiting to move on.

Common Loon Migration Here's the link that was published last year. If you click on "migrations", you'll see the Star Lake (ST) loon has returned. It appears that there have been transmission problems with the other loons from our area.

Wildlife Day

This is turning into wildlife day. Here's a trail cam picture that Jan and Leo dropped off this morning. They had seen this bobcat hanging around the house and it finally walked in front of the camera.

Wolf Pics

I hope these pictures are clear enough. Couldn't believe this guy was walking down the driveway and I managed to get some pictures. It's a little scary to look out your kitchen window and see a wolf.

UPDATE: I've sent an email to the Timber Wolf  Alliance in Manitowish Waters to see if someone will look at the pictures. In some pictures, it looks like a coyote. In others, it looks like a wolf. I'll let you know what I find out.

Thursday -- The wolf biologists from the TWA would only say the animal is "wolf like". My pictures weren't quite clear enough so they would need additional information to be more concise. The sighting is being reported to the DNR.

 

Birch Lake Sweatshirts

The Birch Lake T-shirt sale went over so well the Association decided to do sweatshirts with the same logo.  Samples were available at the fall picnic. Colors are red with white logo or a black logo, navy with a white logo and grey with a black logo.  Logos on the sweatshirts will be on the front and back (like the T-shirts).

Hoodies are also available in navy or grey with a small logo on the left side.   Both sweatshirts and hoodies are $30.00 each. (2xl or larger are $32.00).  You may order all sizes in any color.  The deadline for orders to be delivered at the annual meeting (May 26) is April 1, 2012. Payment is due when you pick up your sweatshirts.  

Orders placed at the picnic or in the fall will be ready and available at the upcoming Ice Party. Contact Sherry ahead of time or at the party to arrange delivery. You can contact Sherry by e-mail at bswerch(at)centurylink(dot)net or at the address in the directory. And thanks to Kathy for making the orders forms for this project. 

Looking forward to more orders! 

Newsletter Editor Needed

The Birch Lake Association is looking for a new newsletter editor. We are seeking someone who is interested in what is happening on our lake and in our association. Anyone who uses a simple word processing program can put together the newsletter; no fancy publishing skills are required.

The Association sends out three or four newsletters each year with news of association business and activities, and often includes items of interest to the members and information on how we can preserve and improve the health of our precious lake resource.

One or two of the newsletters are sent in hard copy format to all property owners and the other copies are sent only to members, either in electronic format or as a paper copy.

If you have any interest in helping the association with this task, please contact Dorla at dittz.geo(at)gmail.com and she'll forward your name to me for more information.

Carolyn 

2nd Annual Birch Lake Ice Party

Once again the George and Long families are inviting lake residents to an Ice Party. Here are the details:

2nd Annual

"Birch Lake Ice Party"

 

Date:  February 25, 2012

Chili Dump: 3-7 pm

Location: South Bay (George Bay)

Bring: Chili to share, hors d'oeuvre or snack & your own chair

Provided: Bowls, spoons, sour cream, cheese, breads, S'mores . . .

AND A WARM FIRE

Please rsvp by February 14th:

George's -- sueg0107 (at) gmail.com

Long's -- llong.613 (at) gmail.com

Birch Lake wolf sighting

Hope you all had a great holiday season. I didn't think my first post of 2012 was going to be a wildlife post. A wolf was spotted on E. Birch Lake Rd by our driveway. Just wanted to make you aware of it.

There been quite a bit of information about the grey wolf added to the DNR site -- Grey Wolf in WI

Birch Lake Swans

Here are some pictures from Jerry and Kay of the swans that were on Birch this week.

It took me a little while to get these posted as I tried to determine if they were trumpeter or tundra swans. I'd always assumed that the trumpeters were more common. I found this page, Endangered Resources Program Species Information, at the DNR site and was more confused when I found the EEK! Critter Corner site with information for kids on trumpeter "lookalikes". They have a separate page for Tundras.



Kay mentioned that we only see them in the spring and fall so that means they could be tundra swans. However, she also mentioned that there are lakes in the area that have swans all summer so they could be trumpeters just moving from another area lake.

I've posted a picture below that I took in the spring of 2010 that gives a closeup of the head.

Any bird watchers out there??? Please chime in.

Hwy W Eagle

Thought I'd post this picture of an eagle that was taken on Hwy W near W. Birch Lake Road. Thanks, Steve, for forwarding Julie's great picture.

Birch Lake Fall

If you haven't been lucky enough to be up north this fall, I thought I'd post a picture of the lake on one of the peak days. This picture was taken on September 30.

At least some of our loons are still around. They were calling last night. The common loon migration site has tracked the Island Lake loon to Lake Michigan but the other loons in our area are still here.

You may have noticed a list of community events on the blog so you'll have a better chance of finding something to do when you're up north.

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.

Picnic Reminder

Just a quick reminder that the Association Picnic is coming up. Reservation contact information can be found on the most recent newsletter or on the postcard you received. Hope to see you there!

Loon Banding Pictures

Here are some pictures of our loon family. Hal and John met the folks at the boat landing and were able to watch the banding and test processes. In doing some research on migration, I found the USGS site on the Common Loon Migration Study. If you go to the Migratory Flight Data, you can see the satellite tracking of a loon from Manitowish Lake for 2010-2011. If I can get more information on our loons, I'll post it here. Thanks to John and Hal for providing these pictures.

Bands in place -- Notice plastic box on right with loon waiting

Clipping feather for testing

Taking blood sample

One of the young ones

Looks like it's time to go back into the box

John holding loon