April 5, 2026: Happy Easter!

Spring is coming to New Hampshire.  The crocuses have joined the snowdrops in bloom, and the early spring birds are singing their joyous Easter songs. 

Crocus

Snowdrops

This week I heard the spring songs of phoebes (the first of the flycatchers to arrive), brown creepers, red-winged blackbirds, the singing-star Song Sparrow, and even a northern parula - all promising signs of spring.  Meanwhile, the lake is still firmly iced in, though with a beautiful warm and sunny day yesterday, the ice is turning dark, large cracks are forming around the edges - large enough to support the occasional pair of ducks - all of which mean the end of ice is near.  

Looking north over Wicwas yesterday from Wicwood Shores Road.

I doubt there will be any more coyotes crossing the ice unless we get an unexpected cold snap.

Last week's mid-day sighting of a coyote in the open was unusual because coyotes are primarily nocturnal.

There's not a clear story of the evolution of the Eastern Coyote, but a widely accepted theory is they are a mix of the Western Coyote and the Eastern Timber Wolf.  DNA testing of our coyotes shows roughly equal parts of these two species, with a small amount of domestic dog DNA as well.  The theory is that two major factors lead to this as a new species.  First, Europeans cleared the eastern forests where the timber wolf was present, all the way to the mid-west which was the eastern limit of the Western Coyote.  The presence of wolves probably kept them out of the east, but as the wolves were removed, there was the opportunity for coyotes to move in.

The second factor is that both wolves and western coyotes were hunted in a relentless effort to exterminate them.  As the popultion of both species declined, mating opportunities became scarce, and a result, they started interbreeding.  The extermination of wolves was largely successful, but it was not for coyotes which have incredible survival characteristics.  The result of the interbreeding is the eastern coyote, which weighing 30 to 50 pounds, is noticeably larger than the western coyote at 20 to 30 pounds.

Between the wolf extermination project and the decimation of the large mammal population (caribou, moose), wolves are no longer present in New England.  But coyotes have extremely wide diets including mammals large and small, birds, insects, amphibians, fruit, vegetation, and human garbage, so they thrived as the wolves departed the scene.  Despite governments spending millions of dollars to kill coyotes (in 1971 alone, the US government spent $8 million on the coyote extermination project), their numbers continued to grow.  The effort was self-defeating.  It turns out that coyotes have a remarkable survival instinct:  when their population is stressed for any reason, they actually increase their rate of  reproduction to ensure their lineage continues.  Coyotes are probably here to stay.

I rarely hear coyotes, though people west of the lake report hearing them at night on occasion, and I see their tracks and their scat regularly all around the lake.  

Coyote  tracks and scat after a light snow earlier this winter.

I've seen several instances of successful coyote hunts, most dramatically, deer killed on the ice in winter (See January 22, 2012).  One winter I set a camera at a kill site and captured a lot of nighttime action. 

A coyote approaches a deer carcass.

One coyote came near the site during the day, but it didn't venture out in the open; it crept along the shoreline, deciding to wait for the safety of dark.

As to why a coyote was out in daylight last week, it may have been needing extra hunting runs for its family.  Coyotes mate in winter, giving birth in spring, and the female remains with the pups in the den while the mate and other males in the pack hunt for food for her and the pups.  Both the male and female as well as perhaps an older sibling will care for the young.  The book "Tracking and the Art of Seeing" by Paul Rezendes [HarperCollins, 1990] provides an excellent portrait of coyotes.

I was in the Ossipee Mountains this week, and even in that southern part of the White Mountains, it's still winter at higher elevations.

Mount Washington viewed from the summit of Mt. Shaw in the Ossipee Range.

Ice formations on the Mt. Shaw Trail.

The warm day was sending a lot of snow melt into the streams.

I'm always happy to come across signs of moose wherever I am.  These tracks and droppings were near the Black Snout summit at an altitude of 2800'.

A pile of moose droppings near the summit of Black Snout.

Moose prints are huge compared to white-tailed deer.

The large animal followed the trail for quite a distance;  it requires a lot less energy than breaking its way through deep snow and dense forest. 

Down at the base however, it was back to spring, and there is a large sugarbush near the trailhead.

They were collecting sap as I arrived in the morning.  When I returned after my hike, I took a peak in one of the buckets.

In just a few hours, a couple of inches of sap had been collected.

The sap was flowing nicely.  

They must have to empty the pails every morning when the sap is flowing this well.

A lot is changing now in the Lakes Region.  Warm days and cold ice sometimes conspire to give us unexpected experiences.

Fog settles in on Lake Wicwas as the sun sets.

Spring is a beautiful season in New Hampshire, something worth waiting for - and appreciating when it finally arrives.  

Happy Easter!

March 29, 2026: Wandering Skunks

 A bit more snow this week provided evidence of a skunk meandering here and there looking for things to eat.  The snow also gave us more beatuiful scenery in the steadily intenstifying spring sun.

That light overnight snowfall left an ideal medium to record the skunk's tracks as it made its rounds of the neighborhood.

Meandering skunk tracks in fresh snow.

You may recall last summer (Skunking Through the Flowers, August 3, 2025) we had a juvenile skunk exploring the yard during the day when I was able to watch its meandering all around and through the flowers.  

Our young skunk last summmer.

I wonder if this was the same animal, now mature and traveling at night as mature skunks do.  I followed its tracks around where the flowers will soon rise again, over to the garage, around the house, and even right up onto the front step.

One of the best ways to identify skunk tracks is ther quite random and variable path, far different from most wild animals.  

This may be due to the fact that a skunk doesn't really worry too much about being attacked, as most predators know enough to stay away from a skunk.  But a hungry bobcat, fox, coyote, or owl will still take a skunk if needed.  They are easy prey, and the stench is worth it if one is hungy enough.  There weren't any clear prints to study due to the soft, light snow, but this shows their size, and you can make out the toenails in one of the prints:

Skunks have especially long front toenails to held them dig for food and making dens.

Skunks in New Hampshire have mated by now, and the young will be born soon if not already.  They'll spend seven weeks in the den nursing before their first venture out into the world.  My skunk could be either a male or female; the male has no role in raising the young so mom needs to hunt for herself.  Sometime in June she'll bring the half dozen or so kits out of the den and show them how to hunt for themselves.

Waukewan Canal between Lakes Waukewan and Winnipesaukee.

Linda and I took a nice spring walk around Swasey Park in Meredith Village during the week - there's still a lot ice in the canal and on Lake Waukewan.  But in open water there are now ducks and geese staking out their nesting territories.

I also saw two geese in a small patch of open water near the outlet of Wicwas.  

We extended our walk into the village to check the outflow of the canal over the falls at the Inn.

While in town we spent time enjoying the blue sky and soaking in the sun while perusing the many sculptures and weathervanes in Meredith Village.

"Pamola" - The Wabanake spirit that lives atop Mount Katahdin and guards the highest point in Maine.

Congregational Church

Palmer Inn at Mill Falls

Hermit Woods Winery

The Inn at Bay Point

I'll close this journal entry back at Lake Wicwas with yet another visitor to the lake:

Eastern Coyote

This coyote trotted across the lake just yesterday, so I'll read up on coyotes and provide more information about this interesting and sometimes misunderstood animal next week.

It may look spring-like in some spots with crocuses emerging and the snowdrops blooming,

Snowdrops

but Lake Wicwas is still firmly in the grip of Old Man Winter with 12" of solid ice on the lake, plenty to support coyotes for a couple more weeks.

Old Man Winter still has a few cards left to play.

March 22, 2026: The Bears Awaken

We had some nice weather this week and it has awakened the bears.  I had a few reports of bears being active, and then yesterday we had a visit from our local bruin ourselves.  Although we have taken down our birdfeeders in spring ever since our first bear visit back in 2009, they still come by every spring - bears have great memories of where they've found food previously, and mama bears pass their knowledge on as they lead their cubs through their range during their first spring and summer.  Also, bears have an excellent sense of smell, and the spent seed shells melted into the snow have an odor that will draw in a bear from a long distance away.  The travels of a bear with snow on the ground can be determined by its footprint which is much different than any other wild animal.  Its appearance is more like a human than any other animal, showing a foot pad and five toes.

It's hard to see with the low contrast, but you make out the foot-like pattern.

The toenails however, are impressive, and distinctly not human-like.

The size of their prints gives a good indication of just how large and powerfull these animals are.

This is just a few  hours after the print was made, so it hasn't melted out to appear larger.

This is not something you want to tangle with - it's time to take down the bird feeders!

The warm weather has melted out the compost pile enough to resume composting - and emit the odors that attract animals.  A raccoon started scoping out the area from a distance.  I love the way raccoons tight-wire walk along tree trunks.  

It came closer as it became a bit bolder.

Eventually it was became brave enough to poke around on the pile.

It wasn't until nighttime that it was ready search for food though, and it invited its mate for assistance.

It took a long time, but eventually they found something in there worth eating.

The raccoon and bear activity was after rain and a few warm days in the 70s followed by a nice cold snap.  That combination, along with the 20" of ice on the lake set the stage for a rare, late winter skating opportunity.

March 18th, the latest in the season I've ever skated on Wicwas.

The ice itself was firm and glassy but the suface was pretty lumpy which encouraged careful skating except for areas where water had puddled before it froze.  The warmth has melted enough snow that the lake is now 14" above full lake level.  But it's the time of year when anything might happen next.  This morning we woke up to snow falling, with several inches forecast to accumlate today.

Ah, spring in New Hampshire!

March 15, 2026: Season of Change

Spring is a season of changes and after a good hard winter with abundant snow, there's a lot of change to happen.  We'll start with Lake Wicwas itself.  It will take a while to melt this year's thick ice, especially with a deep snow pack to insulate it, but the warm March sun (only a week now until the vernal equinox) is starting to do its work even though the first signs may be hidden.  Some of the snow will sublimate directly into the atmosphere, but some will melt and get trapped at the surface of the lake.  One might never know it's happening until a step is taken onto to the lake on a warm day - or a snowmobile passes by.

Snowmobiles on the lake reveal what's hidden under the snow.

Compressing the snow, whether by foot or machine, reveals several inches of watery slush under the snow.  If you keep moving it's not too bad because it takes a moment for the snow to get saturated, but if you stop you can sink deep into wetness.

The slush freezes up when it gets cold enough over night, which happened later in the week.  

I mentioned previously how temperature is stabilized in the subnivean zone at the interface of land and snow; by this time of year with such good snow cover, that open gap is getting big enough for larger animals to hang out down there.  I watched a red squirrel one morning eating bird seed, and ducking down into its safe room whenever something startled it.  At times it would climb up to a high spot to scan for dangers before resuming its meal.  In this video I cut out the long section where it just sat still, observing from its sentry.

My most interesting observation this week was where otters had found their own secret path through the subnivean zone from lake to land where they established a latrine.  They somehow found - or created - an opening some three feet from the lake which they used to emerge from the depths.

The lake is off to the left of the tree.

It's a good size gap between earth and snow that lets an otter pass.

That's a deep, dark hole!

The number of tracks, staining on the snow, and size of the latrine tell me this has had a lot of use.

One more sign of animals digging down under the snow was this hole where a Red Squirrel tunneled down to access one of its caches of pine cones.

The jagged stalks are the spine of the pine cone, called the rachis.

Last night mother nature freshened up the scenery with a couple of inches of new snow, just what we need in March to keep things pretty. 

Heading into late March now, there may not be many more skiing opportunities left around the lake this winter, even with a lot of snow on the ground and 19 inches of ice still in the lake!

It will be while before we see blue water.