July 19, 2026: Annual Loon Census

The Loon Preservation Committee's Annual Loon Census took place yesterday.  Each year, LPC hosts an annual Loon Census, when from 8:00 to 9:00am on a Saturday in July, volunteers count loons to collect data that helps the LPC monitor New Hampshire’s loons and their progress on lakes throughout the state.  This year, Lake Wicwas was well represented, showcasing a total of seven loons in the census.  The star of course, was little Pip.

Pip and a parent.

Pip was spotted with both parents at 8:16am in the far northwest corner of the northern pair's territory.

The northern territory family.

A big fish being prepared for Pip.

Pip's parents continue to provide generous meals, though Pip spends a lot of time with its head submerged studying the experts to learn how to fish for itself.  

At the same moment this was being observed, Team-Thorpe was observing three loons in the south territory, two of which are assumed to be the banded south pair.  The third was likely a rogue, looking for nesting territory for itself.  Then around 8:50am, those three were joined by a fourth loon, right at the boundary between the two nesting territories.  

Four loons on the boundary line.

I wonder if the two resident pairs are both pushing the rogues towards the other pairs territory, pinning them at the boundary.  I was able to confirm from the female's leg bands that the south pair (at a minimum the female) was part of this asylum.

Not a great look, but good enough to see the blue and green bands.

So, Lake Wicwas contributed a total of seven loons to the census.  The overall results will be reported by the LPC later in the year.  For more information on our loons, be sure to attend the Lake Wicwas Annual Meeting on August 1st at the Wicwas Grange.

This week I made my first visit to the Red Hill River Conservation Area with a long-time hiking partner.  It's a beautiful, quiet area in Sandwich with a well-flowing stream, an interesting network of gentle trails, and some large, mature trees.  

Red Hill River in Sandwich.

One of many good size White Pines and Hemlocks on the property.

We hiked a 2.5 mile loop along part of the river and over a small hill, and there are other route options as well.  We even discovered an old cellar hole along the route.

A cellar hole with remnants of a stove and brick chimney.

This area is definitely worth a visit; you can find trail information and driving directions here.

There were plenty of  interesting sights back around Lake Wicwas as well.  On one walk I came across a large pile of feathers beside a fallen tree.

It wasn't hard to identify who these feathers belonged to - can you guess the owner?

The bright blue and white colors indicate a Blue Jay met its demise here.  Determining the identity of the predator took a little more digging.  The conditions of the feathers gives an important clue:  note how the feathers are intact, clean, and undamaged. Mammals - bobcat, fox, etc. - tear into their food, ripping, shredding and damaging feathers in the process.  But these feathers have been cleanly plucked right out of the bird; a trademark raptor food-prep method.  Also, raptors frequently sit on a log or a branch to prepare their food, then, after the excess, non-consumable weight is removed, they'll take it away to be consumed elsewhere by themselves or their mate and young.

So, this is likely a raptor kill site.  I first wondered if it might be the Broad-winged Hawk I saw last week, but broad-winged hawks are too large and insufficiently agile to catch a bird in flight; they primarily feed on rodents and amphibians, though they will pluck a baby bird from a nest if they find one.  Broad-winged hawks are buteos which are generally considered ambush predators.

The raptor that caught this blue jay was most likely an accipiter, which in New Hampshire includes Sharp-shinned Hawks and Cooper Hawks.  These birds are smaller, with short wings and long tails that allow them fly fast and maneuver deftly though tight trees in pursuit of prey.  One source I found said blue jays are a "classic meal" for a Cooper's Hawk, so maybe that was it.

A highlight of the week was a quick visit from the three brothers.

Three River Otters play in the lake.

Otters have round tails, unlike the flat tail of beavers.

These are most certainly the three otters I tracked all winter (I don't know that they're brothers) taking a playful cruise far out in the cove one morning on their way down to the dam and Mill Brook, possibly heading over to Lake Winnisquam.  

I'll close with another cheery face, this one sent to me by a friend and fellow musician that lives in Moultonborough (thank you BB!).  This little guy was checking out some good smell that attracted its attention.

It's better to have a woodchuck staring in your window than a black bear!

 

July 12,2026: Blake Brook Paddle

This week the Lakes Region Conservation Trust sponsored a guided paddle tour on Lake Wicwas.  It was a small group, but they were adventurous, powering through the thick weeds to paddle all the way up to the beaver dam that impounds the beaver pond in Blake Brook before it flows into Lake Wicwas. Once we got past the shallow cove and into the brook the weeds thinned out and the paddling was easier. 

Working our way up to the beaver dam.

Blake Brook is the second largest tributary feeding the lake; Dolloff Brook is the largest.  Both tributaries have beaver dams which provide great value to clean the water before entering the lake, as well as providing flood mitigation during heavy rain events, and storing water to supply the lake through prolonged dry spells.

As far as one can paddle before reaching the beaver dam.

There are literally thousands of White Water Lilies blooming in the lake now, and we saw quite a few Floating Bladderwort.

White Water Lilies - and several Yellow Water Lilies

White Water Lilies

Floating Bladderwort

There was even a painted turtle posing for us as it was sunning on a log.

Back in the middle of the lake we noticed a stand of tall dead trees reaching up above the forest canopy west of the lake.

Ash trees killed by the emerald ash borer.

These are White Ash trees, killed by the invasive Emerald Ash Borer which I mentioned in the May 17, 2026 Journal Entry.  

The remaining live ash trees in the Lakes Region won't last much longer.

Speaking of invasive species, here are a few of the most notorious invasive plants to keep an eye for at this time of year as they are easily identifed right now.  All of these spread very rapidly and should be addressed as soon as they are noted.  Once they have grown into a large area they are much harder to eliminate.

Glossy Buckthorn

Purple Loosestrife

Japanese Knotweed

I mentioned recently that a skunk family has taken up residence behind our house.  I'm pretty sure that's what's been digging holes beside our steps at night, so I set the trail camera to see if that's the case.  Well, I haven't seen the skunk yet, but I did catch this animal which was probably following the skunk's scent.

I wonder what a bobcat would do if it came upon a skunk....

We also have a broad-winged Hawk nest somewhere in the vicinity.  They've been driving the chipmunks and small birds crazy whenever they're near.  I saw this one swoop in, causing all the other birds to scatter.

Broad-winged Hawk

Finally, a check in with our loon chick, Pip, thanks to Deb Crowely.  

Loon photos by Deb Crowley

Pip is doing fine, and somehow swallowing ever bigger fish.

At this rate, Pip will start shedding its baby fluff soon!

July 5th, 2026: Alpine Bogs

Last week I paddled through a typical Lakes Region bog.  This week I discovered a less common type of bog, one high in the White Mountains.  One might not expect to find a wetland in exposed rocky terrain above timber line at 4000 to 5000 feet of elevation, but the poorly draining bedrock means that any depression that collects the frequent rain the mountains extract from the atmosphere has nowhere to go.  The result is alpine lakes (think Lonesome Lake or Lakes of the Clouds) and wet, muddy, alpine and subalpine bogs. 

Star Lake at 4900' on Mt. Adams in the Presidential Range.

Ledges and ravines also collect copious amounts of snow which lasts well into May.  Such locations are protected from late spring frosts, so can harbor plants that usually can't survive harsh alpine conditions.  Here are some of the plants our hiking group found along our traverse of the Franconia Range between Mt. Lafayette (5249') and Little Haystack ( 4780').

Mountain avens grows where deep snow collects in the mountains.

Mountain cranberry (or cowberry)

Three-toothed cinquefoil grows in subalpine bogs.

Alpine bilberry (or bog bilberry)

Labrador tea grows in many alpine habitats.

Bunchberry bloomed in the Lakes Region months ago.  It's one that survives in the alpine zone protected beneath late snowpack.

Wild raisin (or Possumhaw virburnum)

We had the good fortune to meet a Forest Ranger at the Greenleaf Hut and he hiked part way down the Old Bridle Path with us so I was able to get help with identifying some of these.  You may have heard the reports of the recent rescues of hikers on Franconia Ridge.  There have been so many rescues on the Falling Waters Trail that the Rangers have renamed it the "Falling Hikers Trail".  We hiked on Monday before the heat hit - it was a beautiful day on Franconia Ridge.

Our intrepid clan of seven hikers.

Back on Lake Wicwas, the water warmed dramatically from three days of temperatures in the 90s - our loons must be happy they weren't trying to incubate eggs this week!  Little Northern Pip continues to grow, being well fed and well protected by the parents.

One of the parents in search of fish.

Still, sometimes Pip is left all alone, being vulnerable to dangers of all kinds, from eagles to boat traffic.

The hot weather brought out lots of summer insects including, unfortunately, deerflies.  But most of our flying friends are much more enjoyable.

A dragonfly rests in the morning sun to dry off nighttime dew.

Whether you're paddling the bogs or standing on your dock, keep an eye for these ancient flying dragons that evolved over 200 million years ago and survived through even the mass extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs.

A friendly dock sitter, a damselfly.

Finally, it's time to search out grandma's blueberry muffin recipe - it won't be long now!

Happy Fourth of July!

Center Harbor, after the concert.

June 28, 2026: A Floating Nursery Log

Before we look at the nursery log, here's the loon update.  All our hopes for fledging a chick this year may fall upon little Northern Pip and its parents' vigorous protection of it from all danger. 

Northern Pip, five days old.  Photo by Debby Crowley.

Which by all appearances, they are doing. 

Two parents and one chick means twice the attention.  Photo by Debby C.

The reason we have all our hopes on Pip is because the southern pair has abandoned its nest - and for no clear reason.  On Monday, Shayne D. noted that both adults were out on the lake away from the nest.  On Thursday, seeing the same situation, I took a look at the nest, and found a single egg. 

A lone, unattended egg in the southern nest.

On Friday afternoon, the Loon Preservation Committee (LPC) gave the order to mark the egg and check it on Saturday.  Dave T. did that and found it had not been tended, so he collected it for analysis by the LPC.  We may not know the status of the egg until winter when things slow down enough for the LPC biologists to do forensics, but we may learn then why it was abandoned.  There's a chance the southern pair will attempt a second nest, but if not, we'll have to hope the big, strong male, and unknown female that make up the northern pair can keep Pip safe all summer long.

Our banded male, up close and personal.

Wicwas isn't the only Lake having loon challenges.  A pair using one of the floating nests that the LPC has a camera on is on their fourth egg, after three failures, each for a different reason.  Details were in the Laconia Daily Sun yesterday (see page 25).

Now the "nurse log".  You may have heard about nurse logs in the forest - large trees that fall to the ground and decay slowly over many years, providing a fertile bed for plants to grow.  Much of a forest floor is covered with a dense layer of leaves which can prevent germination, so these fallen trees can become filled with new life.  Well, on a paddle this week I came across an aquatic analog, an old log floating in the lake that's serving the same purpose, but for bog-centric flora.

Nurse log

Let's look at what's growing here.

The primary base plant is Sphagnum Moss, which covers much of the log and may provide a good place for other plants to take hold.

Sphagnum Moss

The tall, grass-like plant growing most profusely on the right is a sedge.  There are many varieties of sedge and I won't attempt to determine which this is.

Sedge

In the center is another tall plant, this one woody, which can grow quite tall and dominates much of the higher ground in the bogs around Lake Wicwas:  Leatherleaf.

Leatherleaf

Growing on the right side of the log, with a reddish-green color (which helps identity this species) is Bog St. John's Wort.

Bog St. John's Wort

One of the most interesting of our bog plants is the carnivorous Round-leaved Sundew, which is on the log in several places, but most visibly right in front of the St. John's Wort beside the bare spot on the log.

Round-leaved Sundew

When you find these on your paddles near a bog, look closely and you'll see fine hairs with a sticky drop of dew on each which catches small insects which the plant then digests.

Hardest to find on the log is the Purple Pitcher Plant, another carnivorous plant.  These are small, tubular stems growing right along the water's edge.  They'll be easier to spot in fall when they've grown larger.

A mature Pitcher Plant, fully grown in October.

Finally, the crown jewel of the log is the Rose Pogonia.

Rose Pogonia

This pretty member of the orchid family also grows on wet soil around water, and it's extremely abundant this year.  There are two growing on the log and another ten or so behind the log at the very top of the first photo of the full nursery.

These are some of the most common species seen in an exemplary acidic bog habitat in New Hampshire.  I will remind you that I have no formal training in botany, but am learning from books and often the internet (PlantNet ID is excellent), and I may not have all these right.  If you notice an error, please let me know!

In a few weeks, I hope to have a similar post on plants in the aquatic habitat, this time with expert assistance.  Wicwas' resident biologist, Russ Brummer, is leading a Weed-Watcher class on July 11th, and all are welcome to participate.  Below are the details in case you're interested in becoming a weed-watcher, or are just curious about the aquatic plants we have in our NH lakes.  Last year's class was interesting, and a lot of fun - you can see what we did on the July 13, 2025 post, "Weed School".

I hope to see you there!