June 24, 2012

Lake Wicwas has certainly been treated to some great weekend weather lately.  Even this past Saturday, when thunder could be heard rumbling close by with storms all around us, we received only a few raindrops, not even enough to get the roads wet.  Taking a bike ride south along lake Winnisquam in the evening it was evident that just a couple of miles away they had much more precipitation. 

My simple curiosity this week was with the water bugs which have hatched out in massive quantity and form giant black swarms on the surface of the water.  From well over a hundred feet away I could see thousands insects no more than quarter of an inch across dancing in formation on the water.  Their behavior is much like schools of fish or flocks of birds that swim or fly in ever changing shapes, something known as swarm behavior.  They would group tightly together, then something would cause them to spread out getting so thin that the swarm almost dissapeared, only to reform again in tens of seconds.  It's also rather fun to swim into their swarm;  as you approach they start hopping up off the water about six inches like miniature pogo sticks.

Waterbugs Swarming

Another insect hatching now is the Mayfly, an insect that clearly hasn't learned how to read a calendar.

Mayflower

A late blooming wildflower is decorating the forest floor - the partridgeberry.  I don't have any good guesses as to why this flower blooms so much later than all the other small, forest ground plants.

Partridge Berry

Several more cormorants have made the lake their home, perching on dead branches of favorite pine trees on a couple of islands.  They are pretty cool looking birds, with webbed feet that can hold onto branches, even if they are rather messy.

Cormorant

The loons have been busy trying to nest, but with the changing water levels, it is not apparent they have been successful, and it's getting late for another attempt.

Common Loon

They are a beautiful bird. 

Another beautiful, and rarer bird visited Lake Wicwas this weekend:  a Bald Eagle!  We saw it Friday afternoon, circling rather high over the south part of the lake.  It flew in from the north, made quite a few large circles over the lake, moving slowly southward until it went over the hill towards Lake Winnisquam.  A fabulous sight to see.

The heavens also added some beauty this weekend, with a nice sunset followed by a bright crescent moon.

The fireflies have also emerged.  After watching the moon pass in out of the clouds, I walked to a field on that dark, warm, humid night, and was treated to a fabulous light show of hundreds of twinkling lights dancing all around me.