Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1900-04-02

1t may surprise some to know the
number and variety of our winter
birds. Besides the crows, blue-jays
and chickadees, we have had many
other residents and some rare visit
ors. The white breasted nuthatch, the
.golden-crowned knight, the fairy wood
pecker, the downy woodpecker and the
brown creeper have all been with US
and have hunted for a living up and
down our trees and among our ever
greens all the past winter. Everyone
of these but the nuthatch is an insect
eater. The two woodpeckers bore into
the bark or wood for their food while
the brown creeper and the golden
crowned knight CLEAN theirs from the
ecrevices Of bark or from the foliage OF
the evergreens. The nuthatch has a
wider range in his bill of fare. He eats
seeds Of all kinds, nuts and acorns,
along with such insects as he can find
while he creeps spirally up and down
the tree trunks or out along the
Branches During the coolest weather
the brown creeperS seem to leave US,
for they are common only in late fall
and early spring or during some unus-
uaIly mild weather in winter.
Besides these eight common resi-
dents we have the little screech owl,
the great horned owl and the barred
owl. If we add to this the quail, which
is becoming common again, and the
partridge, we shall have bakers dozen
of winter residents in our vicinity.
Our visitors are almost as numerous
and quite as interesting. First to ar
rive with the cold weather were the
White-winged crossbills, November 4th.
They were seen at about the same time
in Chicago and many focks were re-
ported in the eastern states. The red
scrossbill came later and only few
were seen. The evening grosbeak was
seen first in November and they were
about the university woods all winter.
The pine grosbeak, in his plain gray
and brilliant rose and vermillion, is
newcomer this past winter The sin
gle bird seen the year before was not
in full male plumage. Three of these
birds were seen in January and, like
their cousins, they have remained most
of the time.
Both the crossbills and the gros-
beaks are birds OF the great northern
pine forests and while here they found
our larches and evergreens with their
hundreds of cones very good feeding
grounds. A large flock Of red-poll
linnets or crimson-headed snowbirds
have been about the university "hill,"
coming and going at intervals all Win
ter Of these five northern species, all
seem to have gone now but the linnets,
though last year the red crossbills
staid on till June 18th.
A common summer resident, the
shore lark, came early in February and
ne probably has a nest built by this
time. This is the first year that red
headed woodpeckers have been OBJ
served by the university specialist to
stay here all winter. They provided
for winter by storing acorns in the
creyices of the bark of oaks and in this
way have been able to live in plenty
all through the season of scarcity and
cold weather. At University Heights
Prof. L. S. Cheney discovered a number
of trees with their bark crammed with
acorns. Some specimens of the bark
have been photographed and lantern
slide made showing the acorns in the
bark
Juneos and tree sparrows were seen
in February but the cold weather of
March probably drove them south
again. The cedar birds, or Caroline
waxwings, have been noticed every
month this winter in the mountain ash
tree opposite the lower campus on
State street.
This makes a total of twenty-three
kinds of birds that may be claimed as
our winter residents A flock of wild
geese passed over the city northward
at midnight last night, thus heraldlng
the near approach of spring.