May 3, 2026: Boneyard Beach

During our visit to South Carolina last week, we went on an excursion to Capers Island, the southern tip of 66 miles of protected barrier islands which starts just north of Isle of Palms.  We walked a long stretch of the shoreline facing the open Atlantic Ocean, through a habitat called a boneyard beach. 

The name stems from the dead, weathered tree trunks that resemble dried bones.

These are mostly oak trees, who's strong wood can survive the harsh elements for many years as the ocean advances.  There are also palmetto trees on these shorelines, but due to their soft wood, they are worn away soon after the ocean descends upon them. 

Live palmetto trees at the highwater mark with recently killed trees in the intertidal zone.

Barrier islands on the east coast are losing an average of 15 feet of land per year.  Some years they lose none, others they may lose 50 feet or more. Despite the efforts to hold back erosion on developed islands such as Isle of Palms, each time we visit, the ocean has clawed its way closer to the structures on the beach.  

While in the lowcountry, I saw a couple of shorebirds I haven't seen before, both of which do make appearances on the New England Coast.  The most interesting was the American Oystercatcher.  This is the only bird in our area that has the ability to open hard-shelled mollusks such as oysters, the bird's primary food source.  And an oyster bed exposed at low tide is exactly where I found it. 

American Oystercatcher searching an oyster bed for a good prospect.

Oystercatchers roost away from the shoreline at hightide, but as soon as the tide goes out enough to expose the oyster beds, they swoop in to look for vulnerable oysters.  The preferred method to consume an oyster is to thrust its sharp beak into a slightly open oyster and immediately sever the muscle that the bivalve uses to clamp its shell shut. 

Oysters exposed at low tide.  (I ate a few of these last week!)

Once severed, it's easy pickings to pluck out the good parts.  This process however, isn't risk-free.  It the bird misses the hinge muscle, the mollusk can clamp down on the bird's beak holding it in place, and if the oyster is securely attached to the ground, the bird will be held captive until the tide rises, which could mean the demise of the bird.  A second, safer, but more labor intensive method, is to hammer away at the oyster until the shell cracks, at which point it can reach in to cut the muscle and open the shell.  [Ref:  Cornell Lab of Ornithology]

The other new bird I saw was a Whimbrel, which doesn't spend much time on the New England coast.  It stops here only to refuel on its way between breeding grounds in the arctic and its summer domicile anywhere from the mid-Atlantic to the southernmost tip of South America.

Hudsonian Whimbrel on  the mudflats of Pitt Street Bridge 

The whimbrel uses it equally highly adapted bill to consume a different form of seafood, crustaceans, with its preferred dinner being the fiddler crab.  It uses its long, curved beak to probe down the fiddler crab's tunnel in the mud to extract it, often eating it whole, but perhaps removing its claws and legs first.  [Ref:  Cornell Lab of Ornithology]

Fiddler crabs in South Carolina

One more animal I'll mention is a mink that we saw running along the edge of a saltwater marsh at the Pitt Street Bridge.

A mink still damp from its swim in the saltmarsh.

It was behaving just like the minks at Lake Wicwas which travel the shoreline of the lake, moving back and forth between land and water using their excellent swimming and running abilities as they hunt for food.

Back home in New Hampshire, I was happy to see the Trailing Arbutus had bloomed.

Trailing Arbutus - the sweetest little flower you'll ever meet.

These incredibly sweet smelling flowers are the first of the deep forest flowers to bloom, and will soon be followed by many others.  It's also called the Mayflower, supposedly named by the Pilgrims in the first spring after arriving in Plymouth, and named for the boat that brought them to America.  It was voted the state flower of Massachusetts by the school children in 1918.

The red maples were just starting to put out their pretty red flowers as we left New Hampshire to head south.

Red maple flowers.

By the time we returned, small leaves and seed stalks had formed.

One more warm day and I expect lots of things will pop!

April 26, 2026: Graupel to Gulls

This week began with a cold front passing through which kindled some nice winter squalls and produced another round of graupel for us.

Grauple

I've written before about the atmospheric conditions that cause this unusual form of precipitation (see December 4, 2022).  The conditions rarely last more than a few minutes but it's fascinating to see - and hear! - whenever it occurs.

But shortly after the graupel squall, we were far from New Hampshire, having left graupel weather for gull weather.

Laughing Gulls in South Carolina

We might see laughing gulls along the New Hampshire coast in another month, but these were on the Isle of Palms in South Carolina where we were on a visit to family and friends in Mount Pleasant.  Other birds at the shore in South Carolina, we'll never see on the New England Coast.

Brown Pelicans

Pelicans are graceful, beatiful in their own way, yet somehow rather ungainly all at the same time.  

Pelicans use a plunge dive technique to catch their prey, dropping down head first into water where they've spotted a school of fish, hitting the water with their large beak open wide.  The impact is so powerful it can actually stun the fish which makes them easier to capture.  

A Pelican Plunge Dive

The bird then scoops up three gallons of seawater with as many fish as it can corral, raises its head to let the water drain out through the corners of it beak, and swallows its catch of fresh seafood.  

We walked the shore of Isle of Palms to "The Breach" where a storm broke a hole through the barrier island and now separates Isle of Palms and Sullivan's Island.  Here we watched a couple of bottlenose dolphins fishing.

Tamanend's Bottlenose Dophin

The dolphin dive technique

I had one of my better experiences observing these intelligent mammals.

Only recently have biologists learned there are two distinct species of dolphins.  The animals that are seen near the shoreline spend their entire lives in coastal waters; these are now called "Tamanend's Bottlenose Dolphins."  Members of the species that kept the name Common Bottlenose Dolphin spend their lives in deeper water offshore, though they may come close to land during migration.  You can read about the research by NOAA that led to this determination here:  Bottlenose Dolphins Along the East Coast Proposed to be a Different Species

I'll close with an interesting animal from yet another class of animals, a reptile called the Green Anole.

The most amazing aspect of the anole is it's ability to change color almost instantly from green to brown and back to blend in with what it's sitting on.  This particular anole was not focused at all on blending in:  It crawled along a narrow ledge and then stopped on this white drain pipe for several minutes.  It was very exposed, and it put on quite a display.  It would nod its head up and down a few times, then inflate and display its bright prink dewlap.

You can probably guess the two primary reasons it does this.  One is a male (it's most likely a male as females sometimes have a dewlap but it's not so dramatic)  showing domain over territory as anoles are highly territorial.  The other is a practice common to males of many animals:  to look strong, healthy, and beautiful to potential mates.

Isn't he handsome!

P.S.  Here's early notice of a guided bird walk that will be hosted by the Meredith Conservation Commission on May 9th.  You can find more information here.

April 19, 2026: A Squirrel's Tale

The weather was nice enough the day after ice-out on Wicwas to get on the lake for a kayak, and I wasn't the only one on the lake; I caught up on winter news with several others out enjoying the nice day.  It's always a long stretch to be off the lake between the time the ice isn't safe for travel until there's enough open water to kayak.

There was still ice in some of the protected, north-facing coves.

In addition to the loons and the geese, several other waterfowl are arriving on the lake.  There was a pair of Ring-necked Ducks, sharp looking birds.

Ring-necked Ducks

Buffleheads (another beautiful diving duck), and both Hooded and Common Mergansers all made their appearance.

Buffleheads

A quartet of male Common Mergansers

On my first kayak of the year I'm alway impressed by how quickly the pond lilies emerge, as well as how clear the water is in early spring.

Pond lilies emerging from the lake bottom as soon as the ice is out.

These plants probably start their process as the ice thins and small amounts of solar radiation start to penetrate to the bottom of the lake.

I also came across a beaver lodge that has been expanded and now towers high above the lake.

This home will stay dry even if spring flooding raises the lake level.

As I paddled across the imaginary line that separates the south and north loon territories, I found a loon on sentry.  I was sure it was the northern male guarding its boundary.  It was preening, so I watched from a safe distance - so not to not disturb him - while I waited for a foot wag.

Sprucing himself up to look handsome for his mate.

He was at it for a long time, but eventually, I got the action I needed.

White band with a black dot - that's our guy.

The spring invasion of migrating birds is really heating up now.  On one walk I saw or heard 18 different birds including a Hermit Thrush, Golden-crowned Kinglet, White-throated Sparrow, Carolina Wren, Blue-headed Vireo, and Northern Flicker.  Some migrants will stay here to breed while others are just stopping for a rest on their way to breeding grounds farther north.

🐦🐦🐦

Now for the squirrel tale, or rather, tail.  I found this on the ground in a small open area amidst a mixed pine-hardwood forest. 

I wasn't sure what it was until I turned it over and saw the red fur.

It's clearly the tail of a Red Squirrel.  The question is, did a predator catch the squirrel and leave the tail behind, or did it catch just the tail, which the squirrel jettisoned to save its life?  Scouring the area for clues was fruitless - no carcass, fur, or any signs of a struggle, which isn't surprising.  A predator would likely either take its meal to a safer place to eat, or take it back to its den or nest for its family.  But if it caught the squirrel, wouldn't it have taken it away tail and all?  Why would it cut off the tail and leave it there?

If the squirrel did escape alive, it will have a difficult life; squirrels can't regrow a tais the way starfish or lizards can regrow a body part, and a squirrel uses its tail in many ways including for balance and for insulation in winter.

The detachment point.

At any rate, I'll be keeping my eye out this summer for a tailless red squirrel!

P.S.  Speaking of migrating birds, the MOTUS bird tracking station on Red Hill in Moultonborough has detected two Saw-Whet Owls which are now far north in Canada on the St. Lawrence River.  You can always find the latest detections using the link at the top of the Wicwas Nature Journal.

April 12, 2026: Ice-Out

We were making good progress towards ice-out early in the week with a strong April sun shinning down on the darkening ice.

Monday

But then the thinnest layer of new snow set things back when the fresh white surface turned those rays around and reflected them right back into space.

A Snowy Tuesday

But a couple of warm days followed and ate away at the new snow.

Thursday

and by Friday we were back on the path towards rapid melting.  

Friday

Interesting formations always appear as meltwater finds the path to a low spot on the ice.

Ice Spider

The very next day, after a windy night, we woke to this:

Blue Water on Saturday Morning

Wind had splintered the ice like a giant ice chipper into small crystal fragments and piled them up against the edge of the waning ice sheet.

I think that's a compact summary of the ice-out process:  solid ice on left, open water on the right, and the fragmented ice crystals at the interface.  The green color at the margin of ice and fragments comes from liquid water that was swept onto the ice reflecting green pine trees on the far shore.

The wave action continued to erode the ice during the day, and the wind drove everything to the shore line.

You could audibly hear the ice fragments clinking and tinkling against each other in the wave action. 

By afternoon, almost all the remaining ice had been melted and worn away by the wave action.  Ice-out on Wicwas was declared yesterday, April 11.

Lake Wicwas Boat Ramp at 4:41pm on April 11th.

April 11 is typical for ice-out on Wicwas, but due to the cold December resulting in an early ice-in date of December 10th, the lake was ice-covered for 122 days, the longest period of ice cover since the winter of 2018-2019.  Lake Winnisquam was declared ice free on April 6th, and Lake Winnipesaukee is getting close with ice left only in Center Harbor and Wolfeboro according to Emerson Aviation.  

Earlier in the week the lake was too soft to be an avenue for coyotes, but it wasn't too soft for water-loving animals.  A pair of geese walked across the lake.

Making the trek from open water along the shore to their nesting site.

I'm pretty sure it's the pair that nests in the wetland behind Sheep Island, and that's where they were heading to see if it's open enough to start nestbuilding.  It's a well protected nesting site, and they want first dibs on it.

We also watched a River Otter out playing on the ice - it has no concern with crossing open water at the shore lines.  It was dusk so I couldn't get a picture, but here's one from an otter on an earlier trip across the lake.

They run, hop, jump, slide, and just generally seem to have a grand time playing on the ice.

Belly Slide

And finally, more late breaking news from the lake: The loons have arrived!

This is most likely the northern territory male and hopefully, a new mate.

This pair arrived Friday (or earlier), before ice-out.  Like the geese, they want to claim their territory before any other bird noses in.  All our loon watchers will be looking for bands now to determine who they are!