Lake Vermilion Resort Association

Courtesy Duluth News Tribune, Author John Myers

Harley the motorcycle-riding bald eagle has flown north to the western bays of Lake Vermilion after spending part of his summer along the St. Louis River and in the Sax-Zim bog area.

Harley — sans motorcycle — had spent much of the spring along the South Fork of the Nemadji River on the Minnesota-Wisconsin border. That was only about

30 miles from where Harley was found floundering along a Douglas County road last August.

In June, Harley moved north along the St. Louis River and then moved even farther north to Lake Vermilion in mid-July. He has spent most of August in a relatively small area in the western reaches, or the Cook end, of the lake.

“Both his evening roost sites and daily wanderings are limited to a fairly small area of the lake,” said Mark Martell, director of bird conservation for the University of Minnesota Raptor Center in St. Paul, in a blog on Harley’s location. “This western edge does not have as many historic eagle nests as parts of the lake further east.”

Martell speculated that Harley might be avoiding confrontations with territorial nesting eagles that are keeping him away from other areas of the lake.

Scientists can track Harley daily because he is wearing a tiny GPS transmitter.

Harley was found Aug. 3, 2009, along Douglas County Highway T near Wascott by Harley-Davidson motorcyclist Brian Baladez of Cloquet. The bird appeared injured, disoriented and was unable to fly.

Baladez captured the bird in his leather jacket and used a bungee cord to secure it to the saddle bags of his motorcycle and drove it 50 miles to Duluth. Harley eventually was taken to the Raptor Center, where he was treated for lead poisoning and malnutrition. Veterinarians later had to do surgery on the wing from an old break that hadn’t healed properly.

Harley was nursed back to health, fitted with a GPS transmitter and set free —with Baladez called in to handle the release — in late January at a bald eagle wintering area along the Mississippi River south of the Twin Cities.

Harley hung out along the Mississippi much of the winter, and then headed north, moving from central Minnesota into western Wisconsin. He was in Douglas County or Carlton County along the Nemadji in April and May and in fact spent a couple of days within a mile or two of where he was found last summer.

The Raptor Center handles more than 800 birds of prey each year. Of the roughly 100 ailing eagles that come into the center each year, more than one-third die because of lead poisoning.

Harley’s travels can be followed at theraptorcenternews.blogspot.com.

The Vince Shute Wildlife Sanctuary is located about 25 miles north from Cook.  It is operated by the American Bear Association and has been described as the best place to see wild black bears in their natural habitat. From their expanded viewing deck visitors can learn about black bears by observing their natural behavior.

This year the VSWS has added a new twist.  They are offering several programs which will give people the opportunity to interact with bears in differents ways.  Upcoming programs include:

• Breakfast with the Bears
• In the Shadow of Bears - Yoga and Meditation
• Spend a Night Surrounded by Bears Camping
• Bears in Figure and Form Drawing Class

More information on all of these can be found on our Calendare of Events (under ”Things to See and Do”) or on their website at American Bear Association Website.

On January 2, 55 birders counted birds in the Cook area for a 24 hour period. The count was done by car, walking or watching yards and feeders.  Weather for the day started with a temperature of -33°F.  Here are the numbers:

• Ruffed Grouse, 12
• Spruce Grouse, 2
• Bald Eagle, 3
• Rock Dove, 130
• Northern Hawk Owl, 3
• Downy Woodpecker, 31
• Hairy Woodpecker, 36
• Pileated Woodpecker, 8
• Northern Shrike, 1
• American Crow, 2
• Common Raven, 139
• Blue Jay, 134
• Gray Jay, 19
• White- Nuthatch, 60
• Red-breasted Nuthatch, 42
• European Starling, 53
• White-throated Sparrow, 1
• Dark-eyed Junco, 8
• Snow Bunting, 10
• American Goldfinch, 530
• Black-capped Chickadee, 707
• Pine Grosbeak, 182
• Evening Grosbeak, 101
• Common Red Poll, 113
• Pine Siskin, 52
• House Sparrow, 9

Some significant findings were:  sighting 3 Northern Hawk Owls verified reports of Northern Owls moving south in search of food; American Goldfinch numbers increased from 33 in 2009 to 530; Red-breasted Nuthatches dropped from 136 to 42; and numbers of Pine Grosbeaks, Pine Siskins and Common Red Polls were much less this year.

Thanks to the North Country Free Press for the information.

Once again on the drive to the Resort Association office along County Road 115, I was priviledged to see some wildlife up close.  Not one, but 2 bald eagles were feeding on something  just off the shoulder of the road.  As my car approached, they took flight - a spectacular sight from my vantage point of a few yards away.  Just another perk of living and working in this beautiful Northwoods.

On the drive between Tower and Cook  this morning on County Road 115, which runs along the south shore of Lake Vermilion, I was stopped by a timber wolf crossing the road.  I was thinking about work and not paying much attention to my surroundings when the truck about a quarter mile in front of me suddenly slowed down.  I saw an animal crossing in front of it - too large for a dog, but not walking like a deer.  Immediately it dawned on me that it was a wolf.

I am partial to wolves.  Several amazing photos of wolves are in my living room.  For some reason I feel a connection to them.  As I drew near, I pulled over to the side of the road to get a close look.  I was very grateful to the wolf, which paused a few feet from the shoulder, turned and looked at me in a perfect pose.  Of course by the time I grabbed my cell phone and zoomed in, the wolf had turned and sauntered into the cover of the trees. 

As I put my phone down, I saw that the couple in the truck I had been following had turned around and come back to look at the wolf.  We smiled and waved, sharing one of those priceless moments of nature that don’t come along very often.

Each year the Sportsmen’s Club of Lake Vermilion (SCLV) sponsors a loon count on the lake.  This year’s counting is set for Monday, July 15.  The following is an excerpt from the SCLV’s website:

Lake Vermilion has always been known for its large population of loons. To lake residents and frequent visitors, the loon has been something special. One never tires of the haunting cries in the early morning or late evening hours, the sight of a loon cruising the open waters of the lake with his head below water looking for a meal, or the special scene of a loon chick — or maybe two — riding on a parent’s back to keep warm.

In the early 1980s, news of large loon die-offs off the coast of Florida had the Club worried. They could have been “our” loons. So in 1983 the Sportsmen’s Club began keeping count of the loons on Lake Vermilion every summer.

The task was quite large: thousands of acres of water, many bays and islands, and a bird that wouldn’t sit still long enough to be counted only once. But if enough volunteers could be on the water on the same day, at the same time, an accurate count could be taken. Today, the Lake Vermilion Loon Count is the longest running, single lake count of common loons anywhere in the United States.

For more information and a chart of the loon counts since 1983, visit the SCLV’s website here:

http://www.sportsmensclublakevermilion.org/htm/loonct.htm