October 13, 2024: Anthocyanin

It sounds scary, but anthocyanin is what produces the red and crimson foliage that makes New Hampshire famous this time of year.  

Red Maples are the red champions of the autumn nature show.

Yellow and orange colors in leaves are present year-round but are only revealed in the fall when the leaves stop producing the chlorophyll that conceals their underlying colors. 

Photosynthesis ceases at the leaf tips first and works back towards the stem.

Trees with red leaves, however, actually create the pigment anthocyanin as they shut down photosynthesis in the fall.  They don't do it for our viewing pleasure or to extend the tourist season, but rather because the chemical helps protect plants against cold temperatures.

Black gum are less prevalent than maples but have even deeper red color in their leaves.

They use some of the sugars created over the summer to form this compound.  Anthocyanin is produced by a wide variety of plants with red, blue, and purple coloring including blueberries, tomatoes, red cabbage, beets, grapes, corn, even sweet potato.  It's one of several chemicals in the flavonoid family which are known to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits to humans.

Indian Cucumber has only a splash of anthocyanin.  The berries aren't edible, but the tubers are.

The color of these plants varies because anthocyanin changes color with pH level:  it is red in acidic conditions, purple in neutral, and yellow in alkaline conditions.  The chemical is thus useful in measuring pH levels - remember pH strips in high school chemistry?  Wikipedia provides lots of information on anthocyanin if you're interesed in learning more.

Jack-in-the-pulpit berries must be quite acidic.

Sumac is another red star this time of year.

Blueberry bushes are known to love acidic soil, and their leaves also turn dark red in the fall.

These were at 2400' elevation on the ledges up to Black Mountiain.

Black Mountain State Forest is in Haverhill and Benton, NH, and though the foliage there seemed past peak that far north on Friday, it was still pretty.

Thank you TB for the recommendation - it was a great hike!  

Around the Lakes Region, the maples are still at peak color.  I'll end with a few sights from around Lake Wicwas.

It's not too lake to take it all in!

October 6, 2024: Wildife in Action

Fall is progressing, most evident by the cooler temperatures and changing leaves.

North from the White Mountain Ledge on a perfect October day.

Wildlife is noting the changes too and their behavior is seen in many ways.  For some time now the songbirds have greatly reduced their singing.  Some have already left the Lakes Region, and much of the sounds of those remaining are the raucous alert calls of birds grouping up to drive off something they sense as a threat.  Chick-a-dees and Blue Jays are loud examples of this.  Sometimes I can determine what they're concerned about - crows, raptors, or even my presence in their house - but other times I have no idea.  I never realized just how acrobatic crows are until I saw a mob of them fighting over nesting rights on the cell tower atop Eastman Hill yesterday.

There were at least ten crows circling and dive bombing here.  The nest is in the center.

The Red Squirrels also get annoyed as I walk a trail through their home.

"Who's in my forest?!"

Beavers have resumed their daily cruises across the lake as they prepare for winter by searching out material for their homes, food for their winter pantries, and marking their territories to dissuade other beavers from entering their claimed domain.  Beavers' actions on land aren't easily observed as they work under the safety of the dark of night, so when I saw a scent mound being formed on the shoreline I set up a camera to see if I could catch the action.  Sure enough, that night the landowners stopped by.  

A big beaver at a small scent mound.

First, at 2:20 in the morning one beaver came by to check on and freshen its scent mound.  

Rubbing scent from its musk glands on the mound.

Then later a pair of friendly beavers were there, with at least one of them having an evening snack.  The camera took video of both moments:

As an added bonus, I got some daytime pictures of Gray Squirrels at the shoreline, including a couple that appeared to be getting a little frisky one morning.

It appears our three banded loons are still on the lake, and one of them is starting to lose its bright summer plumage, another sign of the season.

Breeding plumage is fading fast.

This is our south male as shown by the bands visible in the last photo.

The north male is still here as well and has been seen a few times fishing with another loon.  He hasn't started to change his appearance much.

Still looking dapper in his formal suit.

He's quite accomplished in his fishing skills.

Down he goes.

On one dive he came up with a keeper, way too big to swallow underwater which loons do with most of the fish they catch.

Yes, he's going to swallow that whole.

This big sunfish had to be worn out before swallowing so he wouldn't have a large fish thrashing around in his gullet:

There's a lot of activity to be seen as wildlife - as well as we humans - prepare for the change in season, some moving south for the winter and those that stay put preparing to survive the New England winter.  Trees have to stay here; deciduous trees prepare by storing in their roots the energy their leaves generated all summer and then letting the leaves go.  That process gives us the great fall foliage which should be just about at peak for the upcoming holiday weekend.

Here's hoping for good leaf-peeping weather over the coming week!

A foggy sunrise on this fine Sunday morning.

September 29, 2024: Logging for Moose

It's been a couple of years since I've seen a moose around Lake Wicwas, but I know they're still here.  

Moose scat - much larger than deer scat.

This week the Meredith Conservation Commission took a survey of a forestry project performed on the Leighton Town Forest far up in the Chemung area.  The work was done in 2017-2018 and included thinning overcrowded and weak trees as well as a several-acre patch cut for habitat diversity.  Much of the forest in New Hampshire is of a common age having regenerated after the state was largely cleared of forest in the nineteenth century.  With few fires to clear areas of forest, there is now minimal habitat of the young trees that many species need to survive.  One animal that takes advantage of early-growth trees is moose.  In the summer moose feed on aquatic vegetation in ponds and wetlands, but in winter they need other food sources which includes twigs and bark of small trees.  You can still see signs of bark scraped off red maple trees along the White Trail in the Hamlin Forest but they date from the early 2000s; there are few small trees left for them to feed on.

Look for old moose scrapes (this is from 2004) near the highest point on the Arbutus Hill Pond Trail.

The photo of moose scat was one of half a dozen piles of scat we saw on our trip around the patch cut at Leighton, which indicates the cut was successful.  The forestry plan for that property includes creating additional patch cuts every five to ten years so there will be a constant range of forest ages for animals to find their preferred habitat.

Here's what the cleared area looked like in 2018 shortly after in was cut.  

And here's what it looks like from the same spot today.

That thick young forest is what many species need for food and shelter.

It shows how quickly a forest can regenerate, though it will take 50 to 100 years to fully mature, and over 200 to become "old growth" forest.  Forestry requires a long term outlook.

The forest can look pretty ugly right after logging, but in a few years they recover.  Here's what the main logging path looked like right after the work was done.  

And six years later, the same spot has filled in with thick growth of pioneer species such raspberry, birch, red maple, and white pine.  

Here's another example of before and after:

2017

And the same area today:

2024

Another ​important aspect of forestry today is having a diverse forest to make it resilient to introduced animals, pathogens, and climate change. Imagine what would happen if many acres of forest consisted of a single species and that species was attacked by an invasive insect or disease like the ash trees and the elm trees before that. Or perhaps that species can't handle the droughts or very wet years climate change is causing. Careful forestry can open up areas around under-represented trees to allow them to thrive and maintain Forest diversity in case of species collapse.  For example, around the Lakes Region we find monocultures of Eastern Hemlock which is now under attack by the hemlock woolly adelgid, an invasive insect that's a serious threat to the health of hemlock trees.  American Beech is facing a similar threat from the Beech Leaf Disease.

A hemlock monoculture with a closed canopy blocking light from other plants.

A knowledgeable forester also assesses soil conditions and sun exposure and will manage for species best suited to the immediate microclimate.  

There's a lot to consider in the long-term management of our forests.  If you're interested in learning more, keep an eye on the Commission's Facebook page as they will be having more public forestry tours in the future.  There's also a good article in the Summer 2024 issue of the Forest Society's Forest Notes publication [Managing for Resilient Landscapes, Aldrich and Weisiger, Pg 14]

And yes, I used to see a lot of moose, and I know I will see them again.

I froze when this big bull walked right in front of me some ten years ago.  I don't think it even noticed me, which is just the way you want it around a moose.

Back around the lake, ducks that spent the summer north of the Lakes Region have started to make their appearance on Wicwas as they return south for the winter.

Two pairs of Wood Ducks enjoy a rainy morning on the lake.

All the migrating birds - and we - will soon be treated to the great New Hampshire foliage season.

Foggy mornings and changing leaves - Fall is in the air.

September 22, 2024: Spring Peeping into Fall

This confused little Spring Peeper was climbing up the side of our house one evening right at supper time.

Look at the little suction cup pads on its toes.

Does our house look like a tree?  

Spring Peepers are the smallest frogs we have in New Hampshire, less than an inch in length, and have a distinguishing X-mark on their back.  They make up for their small size with a large voice - these are the frogs that create the loud peeping sound that keep you awake on early spring nights.  According to NH Audubon, a large group of them can make enough noise to be heard two and a half miles away!  [Ref:  NH Audubon]  Spring Peepers are similar to Wood Frogs in many ways including being able to climb trees, breeding only in vernal pools, and synthesizing antifreeze which allows them to survive subfreezing temperatures over the winter.  This feature lets them hibernate near the surface so they can emerge early in spring to get to vernal pools in time for their offspring to mature and leave the pool before it dries up in summer.

Walking along the White Trail in the Smyth Easement on one of these fine falls mornings I saw a spider web reflecting a sunbeam that found its way through the forest canopy.  

The owner was home and right at the center of its web.

I don't know what kind of spider it is other than it's in the orb-weaver family, and it's a pretty tiny spider to have created such a large web.  It likely means I was the first one on the trail that day, though because it was so visible in the sunbeam, I was able see it and leave it undisturbed for the next hiker to find.

There's been a cormorant hanging around the lake recently, taking advantage of the good fishing in Wicwas to fuel up during its migration south.  

Double-crested Cormorant

Keep your eye out for them this time of year on any of our lakes.  They can look like a loon from a distance, but they typically ride lower in the water.  They may look dark and plain, but up close they are actually quite pretty.

On the subject of birds, the NH Audubon Society has just established a bird tracking station on the Lakes Region Conservation Trust fire tower atop Red Hill in Moultonborough.  This joins a network of stations used to track birds across the country.  The Red Hill station already tagged its first bird, a Wood Thrush passing through New Hampshire on its way south.  Two days later the same bird was in Pennsylvania!  

Since then the station has detected two migrating Eastern Whip-poor-wills.  Birds are tracked using miniature transmitters attached to them.  The stations pick up the signal from the transmitter when the bird flies near a station, much like the ez-pass system on our car.  You can learn more about the system here.  With fall migration in full swing now, there should be many more birds detected over the coming weeks.  You can monitor the station's observations and track the birds' travels on-line at this link.  

It may be hard to believe, but the transmitters are so small that they can also be attached to bats and even insects, including dragonflies.  I don't know if any dragonflies have been tagged in our area, but they are very active right now especially in the marshes around the lake.  I watched male dragonflies hovering over their claimed territory until another one entered its air space. 

Then it zipped after it to chase the intruder away before returning to its sentry post.

Dragonflies have amazing joints and muscles that allow their wings to rotate in a figure eight pattern, providing the ability to hover as well as enabling high speed flight and rapid maneuvering to capture insects on the wing.

Four wings that move independently give dragonflies great acrobatic abilities.

Those marshes around the lake are starting to age into their soft golden hues of fall now.

Autumn marshes and Red Maple trees in wet areas are early signs of the coming season.

One of the prettiest times of year in the Lakes Region is almost here.

P.S.  For you historians, the Meredith Historical Society will be featuring our own Dean Dexter next Tuesday when he presents "The Smiths of Wicwas Lodge".  The event is at the Meredith Community Center on Tuesday, Oct 1st.  Doors open with snacks at 6:30pm and the presentation starts at 7:00.  I hope to see you there!