North Shore News Hour

Migrating birds and artificial light are not just a big building metropolitan problem. Any lighting appears to distract the migrators. WTIP’s Jay Andersen talks with naturalist Chel Anderson about lighting and migration.
 

Katie, Abigail and Hazel report the latest School News.

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Happy Easter from the West End. We’ve had lots of seasonally appropriate rabbit visitors around our place this week. None of them have come bearing chocolate yet, but we remain hopeful. Along with the surplus of bunnies comes more frequent lynx sightings. If you are hoping to catch a glimpse of the elusive Canada lynx, a drive on the Sawbill Trail is a good bet.

If you’re on the hunt for Easter candy, then Lutsen is the place to be this Easter Sunday. On Sunday, April 16, at 9 am Lutsen Mountains is hosting a Giant Easter Egg Hunt. Kids of all ages are invited to search for 500 eggs hidden all over the slopes. You do need a lift ticket to get out there, where eggs filled with candy and prizes await you.

Next weekend is the 7th Annual Fingerstyle Guitar Masters Weekend, featuring Richard Smith. This year, the music and workshops will take place at Bluefin Bay in Tofte. There’s something for everyone at these weekends, as long as you’re either a music lover or player, but in Cook County, who isn’t? Friday, April 21, at 8 pm is the free informal evening of listening. On Saturday, April 22, at 7:30 Richard Smith will be playing and tickets are $20. Saturday at 10 am, there are two workshops. Gordon Thorne and Richard Smith will be leading the Fingerstyle Guitar Workshop. Tom Shaefer will be leading the fiddle workshop. Both cost $60 and are open to all ages. If you’re under 18 you’re in luck as there’s no cost. Lunch is included and preregistration is requested. For tickets to the concert or to register for a workshop, call Gordon Thorne at 218-353-7308. So come on down to Tofte, enjoy the atmosphere of camaraderie and treat yourself to some good tunes at Bluefin next weekend.

Also next weekend, the third annual Midwest Extreme snowmobile event will take place at Lutsen Mountains. There’s hillcross on Saturday, April 22, from 9 am - 6 pm and cross-country on Sunday from 9 - 4. Both nights will have an after-party at Papa Charlie’s, but if you go on Saturday night you can catch my personal favorite Cook County band, The Plucked Up String Band. Tickets to the event are $20 for one day or $30 for both.

The ice on Sawbill is eight inches thick but no longer safe to travel on. This lesson was learned the hard way by one unlucky star-nosed mole this week. Our ice technicians found the frozen fella floating just offshore in between the landing and the ice. These curious little creatures often run amok in the spring, enthused by the thaw and in search of a partner, but often bumbling since their eyesight is poor. One year Bill even had one run up his pant leg. So keep your eyes open for the funny looking moles while you're out driving the backroads, and don’t be like the Hungry Jack moose or the Sawbill mole - stay off the lakes for now and spend that time digging out your paddles and PFD’s from their winter storage instead.

For WTIP, I’m Clare Shirley with the West End News.

The sap is running, buds are budding and birds are molting. WTIP’s Jay Andersen talks with naturalist Chel Anderson about closing in on spring.

Arlo, Kalina and Sophia report the latest School News.

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Spring along the Gunflint Trail continues awakening from its semi-winter slumber. Weather conditions during the past seven have been pretty much a yawn. Nevertheless, night time freezing and daytime melting have been splendid in allowing a calm meltdown. Thus, this process has avoided a hot, one day gush that gashes back country roads with gullies.

Further, for those tapping sugar maples for their sweet sap, this tranquil transition has been pleasing to date.                                                            

Concern has to be voiced in regard to there being no precipitation out this way for going on ten days or so. Where “old Sol” has vaporized all unshaded snow, the northern landscape is already becoming crunchy dry. “May flowers need April showers.”                                                                

According to the DNR, 98 percent of wild fires in Minnesota are touched off by human invaders; we hope the agencies charged with commanding burning bans are doing more diligence than was done in 2007 so there is no re-run of the Ham inferno. It would seem prudent to ban all burning (including camp fires) sooner rather than later, to avoid waiting until some accidental blaze gets takes off.                                         

The interior hinterland is at the stage where the white blanket has been thrown back to reveal “Mother Nature's” creation in its ugliest state. However, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder and some see our barren surroundings with the prospect of blooms and green to come. Even as we look at the gloomy gray/brown scene, it doesn’t hurt to dream a little blue skies and more colorful days ahead.  

Rituals of warmer times are gradually making their way up the Trail. Robins have returned and are tweeting about, while crows are adding a basal contribution to the growing spring concert and pileated woodpeckers are hammering the percussive background. I’ve also made note of an orange and black moth fluttering about our deck, and found a few arachnids creeping here and there.                                                                            

Another rite of the season was observed the other day on a trip to the Village. A snowshoe hare, in the early stage of putting on its summer apparel, was barely visible as it blended in well with the gritty windrowed snow bank along the Trail.                                                                          

The north woods bunny would not have been seen at all, had it not been hopping along the snowy mound. Being whiter than summer brown, its camo coat would have rendered it no more than a chunk of frozen winter.                                                                                                                      

Speaking of other fuzzy things, most deciduous buds are still cuddled snug in their winter wraps. However, I’ve noticed pussy willow shoots getting their first peeks at warm rays along the byway.                                                                                                                                                            

While moose can be observed most anytime if one is in the right place, a couple reports have come my way from the Hungry Jack and Loon Lake neighborhoods indicating moose presence but no photo ops. Tracks were found in the dwindling snow along with calling cards of scat. Genders are not known, but if they are mommas, next generation deliveries are due soon.                                                                                                

Mother Nature's  routine of removing the snow and ice by way of run-off must have the County Highway department about to tear its hair out as pot holes are abundantly catching driver’s attention. Whereas plowing of white has been the order for months, the task of grading miles of county roads shifts into a different grading mode.

What a nightmare for those guys! We users should be about keeping a heads up on the road ahead, slowing down and being patient until they can get a blade on our road.

The Gunflint Trail community welcomes new business owners. Windigo Lodge has been sold and the process of moving old stuff out and refurbishing is under way. New proprietors, (spouses) Bryan Gerrard, Stacey Palmer with Kibby Kuboy and Lynse McDonough are shooting for an early summer re-opening.  The foursome is energized with their new endeavor, and will be changing the facility's handle. From now on it will be known as, “The Poplar Haus.” Residents will want to stop by to meet and greet our new neighbors.                                                                              

For WTIP, this is Fred Smith, on the Trail at Wildersmith, where every day is great, as we anticipate re-birth of the wild land.

General, Sofi, and Ruby report the latest school news.

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Spring has sprung here in the West End. The sap is running and so are the snowshoe hares who are still sporting their winter attire. Grackles and redwing black birds have made their appearances. Our yard is serving as a personal lost and found stash as items unknowingly dropped into a snowbank back in December are slowing reemerging.

Another sure sign of spring is Lutsen Mountains annual Mountain Meltdown. This weekend they will be celebrating the last full week of skiing for the season. On Saturday the 8th and Sunday the 9th there will be a live music on the outdoor stage (weather permitting) and a barbeque. Music starts at 11:30 both days and the last band takes the outdoor stage at 4pm. If you, like me, have a small human who makes going out to live music late at night a challenge, or if you’re simply an early to bed kind of music lover this is a great opportunity to catch some really great tunes before the sun goes down. If you are a night owl, stick around for the late night music at Papa Charlie’s. Lutsen has been open into April every year for the past 26 years, if 26 years of spring skiing isn’t worth a good celebration I don’t know what is.

Congratulations are due to the Fika family. Many West End residents are frequent visitors to Josh Lindstrom and crew at the Fika coffee shop in the Clearview building in downtown Lutsen. If you tried to get your coffee fix on a certain weekend in mid-March you may have noticed that they were closed for a few days. They had a good reason though as they were in Duluth welcoming their fourth child. While the Lindstroms have not yet had the good sense to move their family to the West End, we are glad to have Fika Coffee in our midst and wish them the very best with their new baby boy.

Congratulations are also in order for Birch Grove School which received the 2017 School Finance Award from the Minnesota Department of Education. A friendly reminder that Birch Grove is having its Kindergarten round up on Tuesday April 11. If you’ve got a kiddo who will be 5 years old by September 1st, 2017, they are invited to come check out our neighborhood school. You can register on Birch Grove’s website or by calling 663-0170.

Okay, now what you’ve all been waiting for - the ice report. There is quite of bit of standing water on top of the ice, especially near shore. In many places, water can be seen, and more noticeably heard, seeping up through degraded spots creating little bubbles and a sense of anxiety for us ice measuring technicians. My sources tell me that as of April 5 there is, drumroll please, still 17 inches of ice. That’s seven inches less than last week though, so we’re moving in the right direction, and fast.

For WTIP, I’m Clare Shirley with the West End News.

Ice on area lakes and rivers seems to change frequently this time of year. WTIP’s Jay Andersen talks with naturalist Chel Anderson to learn more.

(Photo by Martha Marnocha)

Deane Morrison is a science writer at the University of Minnesota, where she authors the Minnesota Starwatch column.

Jupiter takes center stage, while Mars is dim in the west. There is a full moon on April 10 - also known as the full pink moon or the sprouting grass moon - and will be perfectly full on April 11. Spica can be seen below Jupiter and the moon while they are rising. Look for Mercury early in April in the sun's afterglow.