Vilas & Winchester Lake Groups

Today at the Board meeting we had a lengthy discussion about lake surveys and invasives. Two of the groups,  the Vilas County Lakes and Rivers Association and the Winchester Town Lakes Committee, have a lot of information online. You can find the Vilas County site at http://www.vclra.us/ and the Town Lakes Committee site can be found by clicking their header on the Town of Winchester website at
http://www.winchesterwi.com/

It was pointed out that Birch Lake has been very fortunate as far as invasives. A few years ago rusty crayfish were identified in the lake but it actually seems as if the numbers are going down. Looks like the bass are doing their job.

If you notice anything that you think may be an invasive species or that you need help with identification, you can take the sample to the Discovery Center for identification.

2013 Birch Lake Picnic

Birch Lake Association Picnic

Sunday, September 1st, 2013

12-3 pm  Winchester Town Park

(eating around 12:30)

Please call or email by Monday, August 19th,

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.

Fourth of July Weekend Up North

Just a quick note to those who may not be aware of the Winchester celebrations over the weekend of the 4th. The Chamber of Commerce for Winchester closed down this year and various town volunteer groups have taken over the annual events.

On Saturday evening, July 6, there is the Winchester Town Boat Parade held at the North/South Turtle Lake divide from 6 to 8 pm. There will be food, beverages and music.

On Sunday, July 7, the Winchester Town Picnic in the Park will be held from 12-5pm. There's food, music, raffles and games.

Every year the Friends of the Library sponsor a Cake Walk for those at the Picnic. It's basically a game of musical chairs with a donated baked good as a prize for each round. Below is a picture of a group of people enjoying the game. You'll see two Birch Lakers there this year so stop by and say "Hi".

2013 Birch Lake Directory

Just a quick reminder . . . We'll be doing a new Birch Lake directory this summer. If you'd like to be included in the directory, please remember to renew your membership if you haven't already done so.

Annual Meeting

Just a quick reminder -- The Birch Lake Annual Meeting is this Saturday, May 25, at the Winchester Town Hall. We'll have coffee and sign in starting at 9:30 am. Hope to see you there.

Melting Ice!

What a difference warm days and nights make. There is a large area of the lake that has open water. Should only be only a couple of days before it's gone completely.

May 16, 1997

That's the latest "ice out" date since Jan has been keeping track. The west side of the lake is really dark today but it still looks like it's ice.

Spring pictures???

Here are a couple of pictures of the ice that's still on the lake. Hopefully the next week of warmer weather will start clearing it out.

Birch Lake Association Annual Meeting

Birch Lake Association 2013 Annual Meeting

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Winchester Town Hall

Coffee and Treats at 9:30

Program and Meeting at 10:00

Speaker: Carolyn Scholl, Vilas County Conservationist,
presentation on shoreline preservation.

"How YOU can be a lake steward."

Welcome 2013!

Fall has come and gone. Now that we've hit the quiet season, I'll be posting some pictures that people on the lake have sent. I've been trying (mostly unsuccessfully) to reformat the blog. Maybe it's just easier to stick with the familiar.

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.