Wilderness spoiled?

Back in the beautiful basin of ancient Lake Chicago with further details of the Canada trip. The bird species tally was 43. I added two birds to my life list: olive-sided flycatcher and black-backed woodpecker.

I've been seeking the olive-sided flycatcher for a while now. They are uncommon and reside in the north woods, but they are often seen in Chicago during spring migration. I identified it by its distinctive "quick three beers" call.

I've been in black-backed woodpecker territory before but never had seen one. The Peterson guide describes them as "scarce." I saw the woodpecker land in a tree in the island across from where we were camping. Its call was a cuckoo-like "chuk," which is unlike any of the other potential woodpeckers of the area. I immediately ruled out downy, hairy, red-bellied and yellow-bellied sapsucker. When I saw it fly, I was pretty sure it was either a black-backed woodpecker or the more northerly american three-toed woodpecker. A little research confirmed it was the former.

Birds I should have added to the life list included the boreal owl and boreal chickadee. I'm near certain I heard them both but didn't realize it at the time.

Meantime, one of the unfortunate developments of the trip was the realization that a secluded lake adjacent to where we were camped is increasingly being utilized by anglers. The lake heretofore had only been accessible by a 2.5-mile boat ride and .3-mile portage. A new road has eased ORV access to the marsh at the south end of the lake. We fished the lake four times and didn't see anyone, but we met someone who fished it on one of the days we weren't there. In general, there was more traffic in the area as commercial interests and more vacationers have begun to seep in.