Spectacular views from a fire lookout

Waking up on top of a mountain as the horizon turns orange with nothing blocking the view is an amazing sight--especially from the comfort of a bed within four walls. With windows across all four walls, a 360 degree view of the mountains and Kootenai Valley could be seen from Shorty Peak Lookout.

As the sun rose above the Purcell Mountains in Canada, the peaks in the Selkirks turned pink and shadows slowly descended down the mountainsides. 

Staying in Shorty Peak Lookout for two days provided time to sit with binoculars and look at the surrounding peaks. Shorty Peak offered a good view of where the Baker’s Camp fire burned. If only we had been there a week or two sooner and then we could have seen the helicopters in action. 

The current Shorty Peak lookout was built in 1964 and replaced the original structure built in 1927.

Lightning position best choice when unable to seek shelter

Being inside a substantial building or inside a vehicle is best when caught in a thunderstorm. But if you happen to be outside and unable to seek a safe shelter, there are ways to reduce the risk of being struck by lightning. 

The National Weather Service advises to: 1) immediately get off elevated areas such as hills, mountain ridges and peaks, 2) never lie flat on the ground, 3) never shelter under an isolated tree, 4) never use a cliff or rocky overhang for shelter, 5) immediately get out and away from ponds, lakes and other bodies of water and 6) stay away from objects that conduct electricity like barbed wire fences and power lines. 

Where should you go then? 

Lightning can illuminate clouds during an approaching storm. Don't wait to see the lightning bolt or hear thunder until you seek shelter. If the storm cloud is within six miles, you are in a high danger zone. 

Five ways lightning can strike a person

The impressive lightning and thunderstorm at the end of June hammered Boundary County with dozens of lightning strikes. The next morning I found a ponderosa pine near my house with a spiraling crack around the trunk and pieces of bark scattered around on the ground. 

When the storm was overhead I could hear thunder immediately after the flash and I hunkered down inside wondering if I was safe. What if I had been camping or hiking when the lightning storm ensued? 

Lightning bolts may strike in one location or they may split and simultaneously strike multiple locations up to five miles apart. Each bolt can contain up to one billion volts of electricity. 

Knowing what to do and where to go during a thunderstorm can definitely save your life. The approximately 25 million lightning strikes each year in the United Sates result in nearly 50 deaths and several hundred injuries. 

Be prepared for a bear encounter or attack

Seeing bear tracks in the trail provides a heads-up that a bear is in the area. However, surprise encounters can happen if the bear can’t smell you because of the wind or its attracted to food or garbage odors. Most surprise encounters do not result in physical attacks, especially if the group has more than three hikers. Bears usually only attack if they feel threatened or provoked. 

The most dangerous type of encounter is a sow with cubs. Never position yourself between a sow and her cubs or approach them.

To minimize the chance of an attack, stay calm and don’t run. Running encourages a bear to chase and grizzly bears can run fast--50 yards in three seconds or 40 mph. 

Learn to recognize bear sign

Seeing grizzly bear tracks in the snow on the trail always heightens my awareness, especially relatively fresh tracks where the claw marks can still be seen.  The scenarios of what could happen start rolling through my head as I begin to make more noise.

This spring I realized I needed to learn more about bear behavior to best avoid a conflict and review what to do if an encounter occurs. 

Grizzly bears can weigh 200 to 600 pounds, be 3.5 to 4 feet tall at the shoulders and six to seven feet tall when standing on their hind feet. I sure didn't want to meet this grizzly bear whose tracks were slightly melted in the snow.

Grizzly bears typically are active at night, dawn and dusk. However, if food is scarce or abundant they will be active day or night. 

In the summer grizzly bears eat forbs, roots, tubers, insects, berries, moths, thistle, fireweed, ground squirrels and newly born elk and deer. Come fall, their diet switches to whitebark pine nuts, insect nests, starchy tubers and roots, and berries. 

After grizzly bears emerge from their dens in the spring they eat young green vegetation, winter-killed animals, ants, grasses, sedges, clover, dandelion, cow parsnip and other plants. 

Signs that grizzly bears are foraging in the area include stumps turned over, logs ripped open or rocks flipped over where the bear was looking for insects. Bears also cache large animals by covering them with dirt, branches and grass. 

These signs are often found in the grizzly’s favorite habitat--forests with meadows and grasslands. These areas often are the same areas we seek out for hiking. Frequently grizzly bears follow the same routes we do--roads and trails--and that is why we often see their scat or tracks. 

Bear scat is quite dark in color and contains partially digested vegetation, berries insects or hair. Grizzly bear scat is about two inches in diameter but that isn’t a reliable way to distinguish grizzly bears from black bears. 

Grizzly bear tracks

Tracks are a better way to distinguish grizzly bears from black bears. Bear tracks are identified by their large pad with five toes. To tell the difference between a grizzly bear and black bear track look at the toes on the front track. If you draw a straight line between the pad and the toes, all of the toes of a grizzly bear will be above the line while one of the black bear’s toes will be below the line. 

Notice how one toe is set back farther than the others in a black bear track 

If the tracks are fresh, help alert the bear to your presence by talking, singing or clapping. Bear bells are less effective and whistling is not recommended because it may sound like an animal (pika or ground squirrel) and attract the bear. 

Grizzly bears are naturally shy and typically avoid humans. They most likely will smell people first because their nose is 1,000 times more developed than a person’s nose. They use their nose to remember where food sources are located (which is why some bears become problem bears at campgrounds). 

However, bear encounters do happen whether on the trail or on the road. Knowing the difference between a grizzly bear and a black bear is crucial in knowing how to respond to an attack. 

Color is not a good indicator as black bears can be brown and vice versa. Grizzly bears have a shoulder hump, short rounded ears and a dished-shaped face profile. Black bears have no shoulder hump, taller ears, and a straight face profile. 

Seeing a bear in the wild can be a thrilling experience if at a distance. If the encounter is close range, being prepared is the best way to avoid an attack. Look in next week’s column for how to handle bear encounters and attacks. 

Wild edible fruits beginning to ripen

Summer is here and so are the wild fruits beginning with serviceberries and thimbleberries. 

The blue to purple fruit of the serviceberry ripens on six to 30-foot tall shrubs in late June or early July. Serviceberries are also known as saskatoons, juneberries, and shadbushes. 

Ripening saskatoons (also called serviceberries)

While serviceberries look like blueberries in size and shape they aren’t a berry. The plant belongs to the rose family and the fruit resembles the pomes of apples and pears. Unlike berries, saskatoons have two to five seeds like pear and apple cores with flesh around the core. 

Saskatoons can be substituted for blueberries in recipes because the flavor is likened to blueberries, apples, crabapples and almonds. The fruit is an excellent source of fiber, manganese, magnesium, iron, calcium, potassium, copper and vitamin C. Dried saskatoons have more iron and copper than raisins. 

Spit bugs most powerful jumping insect

Spit bugs, spittlebugs, froghoppers. They’re all the same insect that produces the globs of spit-like froth on the stems of grasses, flowers and shrubs this time of year.

While the spittlebug may be well-known for its spit, it isn’t as well known for its jumping capabilities. The name froghopper is well-suited for the most powerful jumping insect, though the frog part comes from its head resembling a frog.

As spit bug nymphs progress through five stages they become more developed and transition from green to brown

Froghoppers can accelerate in less than one millisecond to velocities of 10.5 mph which is ten times faster than a flea. Adult froghoppers can jump up to 27 inches vertically and up to 100 times their body length (which is approximately 1/8 to 1/4 inches). The human equivalent would be jumping over the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. 

Sun halos and sun dogs possible year-round

On a hike over Memorial Day weekend I happened to look skyward and see a colorful ring around the sun. The ring didn’t last long enough for me to reach the ridgeline above the trees. The rainbow-colored circle turned out to be a sun halo, more specifically a 22 degree halo. 

Sun halos can either be white or rainbow-colored 

Like rainbows, sun halos are unique to the observer because they depend on light refracting through an object and entering the eye of the observer. Each observer sees light being refracted from different objects or different angles from the same object. 

Identifying orchids in North Idaho

The orchids in North Idaho aren’t as spectacular as tropical orchids but they have their own attractiveness. Some of the orchid flowers are so small they may not be recognized as orchids at first. 

Orchids are among the most specialized flowers. They have three sepals and three petals but the lower petal (called a lip) is highly modified. The lip is larger than the other petals and sepals and may have lobes, forks, pouches, spurs or a different color. 

A few of the orchids found in North Idaho include spotted coralroot, mountain lady slipper, fairyslipper, Alaska rein-orchid and rattlesnake plantain. All of these orchids are perennials, so you can return to the same location every year to find them. 

Spotted coralroot

Bushy-tailed woodrats more commonly known as packrats

After crossing one of the bridges on the Copper Creek Falls trail this spring, I came across a  small dead animal that I didn’t recognize. I guessed it was a rat because of its size and long tail. 

The only woodrat that lives in North Idaho is the bushy-tailed woodrat and this animal fit the description. Large round ears, long whiskers, gray fur, white-topped feet and a bushy tail with white below characterize the bushy-tailed woodrat. Unlike house rats, bushy-tailed woodrats have a well-haired, bicolor tail. The woodrats are also more closely related to deer mice than the rats inhabiting big city sewers. 

The 14- to 18-inch bushy-tailed woodrat is prey for owls, bobcats, coyotes, foxes, badgers, raccoons, hawks and long-tailed weasels but the cause of death is unknown for this wet woodrat.

A more common name for the bushy-tailed woodrat is packrat. They are well-known for their urge to collect anything from sticks and stones to tinfoil and rifle shells. The bushy-tailed woodrat adds the collected items to its shelter. 

Polyphemus moth: One of our largest moths

Fluttering at the base of a bush caught my attention. I thought it was a butterfly but the antennae indicated it was a moth--a moth with a hairy body that resembled a tarantula. The moth was huge with a wingspan of nearly 5.5 inches. 

Male polyphemus moths have large, feathery, comb-like antennae to detect the female's pheromones

The polyphemus moth is unlikely to be confused with any other moth in the Pacific Northwest because of its size, tan color and translucent eyespots. I’ve never heard of the polyphemus moth before but I have heard of (but not seen) other giant silk moths--Luna and Cecropia (the largest moth in North America).

Not all eggs created equal

Many birds are dutifully sitting on a nest right now keeping eggs warm. Eggs come in all shapes, sizes and even the contents inside vary. 

An egg shell has thousands of pores to allow for air exchange but they are small enough to prevent bacteria from entering

Both the shape and size of the egg are determined by the internal structure of the female. Large birds lay large eggs and tiny birds lay tiny eggs. But when the size of the egg is compared to the size of the adult bird, small birds lay proportionally larger eggs.

For example, it would take 60 ostrich eggs to equal the weight of one ostrich but it would only take nine hummingbird eggs to equal the weight of one calliope hummingbird. Looking at percentages, an ostrich egg weighs 1.8 percent of the adult’s body weight, a robin egg eight percent and a wren egg 14 percent. 

More to ferns than fronds

Thalli. Sporangia. Sori. Pinnae. Frond. As foreign as these words may seem, they refer to a plant we see all the time--ferns. You won’t find a flower, seed or stem on a fern because they aren’t a flowering plant. 

Curled up young fronds are called fiddleheads and most are edible and taste like asparagus

Ferns are quite different from the plants and trees around them because they are a seedless vascular plant (vascular means they have circulatory system to move water and nutrients). Fern are larger than non-vascular mosses and don’t have the seeds of flowering vascular plants. Other seedless vascular plants are horsetails and club mosses. 

Swarm of earthquakes one for the history books

When the dishes and windows rattled and the house shook for 10 to 15 seconds my first thought was a major train derailment. But then I realized it might have been an earthquake. 

An earthquake in North Idaho! Sure enough, the USGS reported a quake within a few minutes on their website. A 4.1 magnitude earthquake 22 km southeast of Sandpoint (vicinity of the Green Monarchs) at 7:32 p.m. on Thursday, April 23. 

Then a swarm of five earthquakes happened over the next 17 hours, all in the vicinity of Lake Pend Oreille. The USGS revised the data by Saturday to reflect new magnitudes, including reducing the initial earthquake to magnitude 3.7. Revisions often are made as more data is gathered from seismograph stations around the world. 

Six earthquakes happened within 17 hours (dots south to north): Thursday, April 23 at 7:46 p.m.; Thursday at 7:32 p.m.; Thursday at 8:22 p.m.; Thursday at 10:43 p.m.; Friday, April 24 at 1:28 a.m.; and Friday at 11:39 p.m. (Source: USGS)

The second and third earthquakes were smaller and less likely to be felt. The second earthquake was magnitude 1.9 at 7:46 p.m. and the third was a magnitude 1.8 at 8:22 p.m.

The fourth quake at 10:43 p.m. was originally classified as a magnitude 4.2 but later downgraded to magnitude 3.9. The fifth quake registered a magnitude of 3.3 at 1:28 a.m. on April 24 and the sixth quake registered a magnitude of 2.7 at 11:39 a.m. The larger earthquakes were felt by people across North Idaho and into northeastern Washington and northwest Montana. 

Did you feel the earthquake?

Earthquakes are uncommon in North Idaho so when the windows rattled and the house shook, it took a minute register what happened. I hadn't felt an earthquake since living in Anchorage, Alaska.

Within minutes, the USGS reported a magnitude 4.1 earthquake centered 22 km southeast of Sandpoint, Idaho in the vicinity of the Green Monarchs at 7:32 p.m.

To view the shake map (the intensity of where the earthquake was felt), go to http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us200028q3#impact_shakemap

I'm excited to have felt an earthquake in North Idaho!

Mink: the semiaquatic weasel

When I see a small mammal swimming in the water, there are only a few choices-- at least I thought. One animal had me stumped. 

The animal wasn’t a beaver because only a beaver’s wedge-shaped head shows when swimming. The tail wasn’t narrow and snaking behind like that of a muskrat. The animal didn’t have the sleek fur coat of a river otter and otters swim with very little of their back exposed. 

Mink have silky brown to black fur with a white chin patch. They average two feet in length but one-third of that is their tail

What was left in the mammal book for an animal that size? An American mink. 

Spring time means tick time

No longer do I squeal “Get it off me!” when I find a tick crawling on me. I’ve come to terms with ticks and can flick them off with my fingers--a milestone I never thought would happen. On one spring hike, I picked off two dozen ticks by the time I returned to the trailhead and felt as if more were crawling all over me. 

Rocky Mountain wood ticks (male on left, female on right)

In North Idaho, the Rocky Mountain wood tick is the main tick you’ll find on yourself. Females have a gray colored dorsal shield (area behind their head) and a brown body while males are mottled brown and gray.

Millipedes don’t really have 1,000 legs

While sweeping the garage last fall, I came across small carcasses that were c-shaped, hollow, white and smaller than a dime. I hadn’t seen any creature around that could have made them until last week when I moved the compost barrel. 

Beneath the barrel were several small (one to two inches) black creatures with lots of legs that I had never seen before--millipedes. I probably hadn’t seen them before because they prefer moist, dark places like under compost.

Millipedes move by coordinating their legs so their body moves in a wave-like motion. All the legs on one body segment move forward together.

Some were curled up in the exact shape of the carcasses that were in the garage. I found out they tend to curl up when threatened to protect themselves. If I had touched one it may have released a toxic chemical thinking I was a predator. 

Pondering Lake Pend Oreille

There is something about large bodies of water that I cannot describe. I found myself gazing in wonder out over Lake Pend Oreille on a recent hike at Mineral Point. Is it the vastness? The unknown?

Mineral Point only offered a glimpse of the 111 miles of shoreline that twist between the Cabinet, Selkirk and Coeur d’Alene Mountains.

The U.S. Navy tested submarines in Lake Pend Oreille and established Farragut Naval Training Station during WWII at the south end of the lake

Lake Pend Oreille is huge compared to the mountain lakes I’m familiar with such as Roman Nose Lakes. At 65 miles long and a surface area of 148 square miles, Lake Pend Oreille is the largest lake in Idaho. 

Duration of mates varies among waterfowl

Since the ponds have become ice free, pairs of mallards, Canada geese and other waterfowl have been swimming and preparing to nest. A pair of mallards and a pair of Canada geese have been swimming in a little pond I walk by daily. Are they the same pairs as last year? 

Both mallards and Canada geese usually arrive at their breeding grounds paired

The duration of relationships is not the same for all waterfowl or even all bird species. There are two main types of mating in waterfowl: monogamy and polygamy. 

Skunk cabbage true to its name

Whether the winter is short or long, the first flower is a joyful sight--even if its name is skunk cabbage. The bright yellow flowers emerge before the leaves, so spotting them is easy if you look in the right places.

Swamps, bog edges, sloughs, moist forests, along streams and other wet areas are apt places to look for skunk cabbage. The plant grows in both sun and shade but it grows larger when in shady locations.

Skunk cabbage flowers emerge before the leaves

Whiskers a sixth sense for mammals

How do seals hunt in murky water? How do cats prowl on moonless nights without bumping into everything? They can’t extend their legs like we do our arms to keep from bumping into objects in the dark. They need their legs to swim or walk so instead they have whiskers.

Each vibrissa on a dog's face can be linked to a specific location in his brain

While typically noticed on cats and dogs, all mammals have whiskers except for humans and monotremes (duck-billed platypus and echidnas). A man’s whiskers aren’t the same as a cat’s whiskers.

Can you imagine having more than two eyes?

Most familiar to us are animals with two eyes. But some animals have more than two eyes--a spider has eight eyes, a lizard three eyes and sea stars have one eye on each arm.

A grasshopper has two compound eyes on the sides of its head, an eye behind each antenna and one eye in the middle of its forehead. What do grasshoppers see?

Can you find the grasshopper's five eyes? The obvious eyes are the two large compound eyes. The three other eyes are simple eyes--the small circles between each compound eye and antenna, and between the antennae and mouth.

Even more unusual is the horseshoe crab which has five small eyes on the top of its shell, two compound eyes on the sides of the shell, two eyes in the middle of its body and one eye spot under its tail. What does it see? 

When camouflage doesn't work

While out hiking last week, we spotted this snowshoe hare. With a lack of snow at lower elevations, the snowshoe hare's white pelage didn't provide any camouflage.

Do animals see what we see?

We often assume the world looks the same to everybody, including animals, but it doesn’t. A red tulip isn’t red for everyone. The details on a flower petal cannot be seen by every animal either.

Despite the showiness of flowers, bees find nectar by seeing ultraviolet light patterns on the petals

There are many types of eyes and ways in which eyes “see”. The standard to base other animal’s eyesight against is the human eye because that is what we know and can see. 

Feathers don't last forever

American goldfinches dart to and from the bird feeder in their drab yellow plumage this time of year. Their vivid yellow plumage won’t come until they are ready to start breeding. 

Basic plumage of an American goldfinch in North American winter

The change from drab to bright plumage is a yearly occurrence for many birds, especially males. The colors and markings on a male bird often determine its attractiveness to females and ultimately its mating success. But males don’t need to stay in their colorful plumage year-round, so they molt. 

Many types of feathers make a bird

A single feather lying in the grass. The straight shaft surrounded by colorful vanes, some askew with dampness. Singly a feather doesn’t accomplish much but collectively feathers enable birds to fly--and much more. 

Contour feathers are arranged much like shingles on a roof in order to shed rain and keep the body dry.

Feathers help birds stay warm or cool, camouflage them from predators, help attract a mate, keep eggs and chicks warm, and help the bird defend themselves. Not every feather supports all these roles, instead there are several different types of feathers.

Roots do more than anchor a tree

Remember the incredible wind storms last summer? Tall ponderosa pines were bent over under the forty mile an hour winds. Some trees came crashing down roots and all while others snapped at weaker points along the trunk. Most trees survived--minus a few limbs-- thanks to their extensive root systems. 

We tend not to think about tree roots until big wind storms, tilling a new garden or pulling a stump. Without roots there wouldn’t be trees. 

Roots grow in whatever direction nutrients, water and oxygen can be found

Often all you see are tracks

Snowshoeing near McArthur Lake, I crossed the usual coyote, snowshoe hare and small rodent tracks in the fresh snow. Then as I slowed to navigate around a fallen tree I noticed a different track. 

With only an inch or so of new snow on top of a crust, the tracks were crisp. I could see where the fur around the paws touched the snow. 

Larger than a coyote track, I knew the animal had to be a cat because the tracks were round compared to oval canine tracks. I had seen cougar tracks before and these were smaller which narrowed the mystery animal to either a bobcat or lynx. 

Bobcat tracks

Tracking the year with full moons

A full moon rising over the eastern horizon is a magnificent sight especially on a clear winter night. For millennia, humans have watched the full moon rise and have used it as a way to track time and plan harvests, hunting and planting. 

Every 29.5 days, the moon returns to the same position on the far side of the Earth opposing the sun. Even though the moon is in the same relative location the seasons on Earth have changed.

Ancient cultures, especially Native Americans in eastern and northern North America, named full moons to keep track of the seasons. Following Native American customs, Europeans created some of their own names.

January's Wolf Moon

Nuthatches: The upside-down bird

While woodpeckers search for insects by spiraling up a tree, the nuthatch zig-zags down the trunk head-first. Foraging upside-down may seem unnatural to us but nuthatches have a knack for it. 

Nuthatches don’t rely on their tail feathers like woodpeckers to prop themselves against the trunk while foraging for insects. Instead nuthatches have a large claw on their one backward-pointing toe that helps them keep a grip. 

Large claws on all toes allow nuthatches to grip bark on a vertical plane

Ice: A truly unique substance

Ice skating. Ice fishing. Skiing. Sledding. What would winter be like without snow and ice? 

When the temperature drops below 32 degrees Fahrenheit the landscape turns into a winter wonderland of snow and ice. Most of our winter activities involve some form of ice. 

The ice of Copper Falls looks white because the high concentration of air bubbles within the ice scatters all wavelengths of light

Ice, the solid state of water, is truly unique. All other solids sink in their liquid counterpart but ice floats. Can you imagine if ice sank? Lakes, oceans and rivers might have year-round ice on the bottom which would reduce the number of organisms living within those bodies of water.