July 7, 2011
Well, summer is finally here! It started July 1st, June was unseasonably cold with many nights reaching into the 30’s and 40’s. Good sleeping weather, but not too good for the tomatoes. We are now having great weather with adequate rain fall and temps reaching into the lower 80’s. The water is now swimable and quite refreshing.
The Triangle lake Loons have young now. We have seen one set of parent with 2 chicks and another with one. The Lark lake loons have also hatched, but I have not been there lately to see how they are doing……….lots of preditors around. The Osprey nest on Ojibway lake blew down during a storm, unfortunately the adults were on eggs. A good sigh is that I saw an adult carrying nest material 2 days later.
The blueberries are coming along nicely, but will be later this year due the cool weather during June. So far, it doesn’t appear to be as good of crop as last year. Every location can be different though, so it pays to get out and check out new spots.
Ely has been hopping now that July is here! If you get up here, you need to take in Tuesday Night Live! It starts at 5 PM with our farmer’s market and at 7 PM the music starts. There is live music through out the city , but mosly on the main drag. So bring your lawn chairs and come enjoy some of Ely’s most talented musicians.
Sundew cabin Orchids: Again, due to the cool June the Orchids are still in bloom at the Sunew Pond cabin. We have had many people, tourists and locals, come to see the many different kind of Orchids in the bog just in front of the cabin. One naturalist also spotted a very unusual dragonfly called a “black bog hunter.” I guess they are very unusual, especially this far North.
The Wolves seemed to have denned some where around the Glippi Road again this year. The people staying at Sundew have seen them on numerous occassion and are starting to hear them occassionally now that the pups are getting bigger. One of our guest surprised a wolf on the road as he was mountain biking. In his effort to run, the wolf dropped something, that something turned out to be the head of a fawn! Fawn predation is quite high during June, shortly after they are born. The main predator is the Black Bear, but wolves, coyotes and eagles also contribute to fawn predation.
