The world is inching its way along towards spring, always at its own pace. The days (until today that is) have been nice enough to get out and enjoy some springtime walks, but it's clear we still have a ways to go before lake activities are at hand.
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| Lake Wicwas still firmly in the grasp of Old Man Winter |
The latest report from the Lake Winnipesaukee Ice Out team (Emerson Aviation) is that there is still no appreciable open water on the big lake. Here on Lake Wicwas we have the same story, just bits of open water around a few edges edges.
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| Open water is growing, enabling ducks and beavers to cruise the shorelines |
I'm still able able to venture out a short ways from shore to measure the ice, and it stands 12" thick, though we are now down to only 3" of solid ice with the rest being soft, porous ice. But it was still strong enough on Friday to support me without sinking in at all.
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| 12 inches of ice yet to wilt away |
Bird activity seems to be picking up - there was a bald eagle and a pair of red-tailed hawks soaring over the lake this week.
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| Red-tailed Hawk riding the thermals |
And mallards have joined the geese on the lake.
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All my ducks geese in a row |
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| Mom and dad mallard looking for the best nesting site |
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| Time to warm up my feet |
The mallards seem to spend most of their time in the water, though they occasionally climb up onto the ice for whatever ducky-reason they may have: (
Link to video)
I even flushed out a grouse on one walk, though I had to send a picture of the tracks to one of my colleagues at the Conservation Commission to identify the tracks (thank you JS)!
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| Grouse tracks are much closer together than the larger turkey and pheasant |
Even in the absence of insects the flycatchers and warblers are starting to return; I heard my first phoebe and chestnut-sided warbler with its pretty "
sweet-sweet-sweet-to-MEET-you" song on Friday. On morning walks it's reassuring to hear the summer songbirds singing again. We enjoy the sounds of chick-a-dees, titmice, and other year-round residents through the winter, but the songs of warblers provides some subliminal message that even if one's walking on snow and ice, summer will arrive. Sounds are hard to capture, but here are some of the sights from one spring walk this week after an April shower.
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| An April Sunrise |
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| Morning dew on last years survivors |
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| Wintergreen wanting to be springgreen |
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| Pretty barren in the understory |
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| Pearl necklaces |
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| Winter. Still. |
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| Pussy willows are among the first trees to blossom |
It is a time of contradictions, old man winter fighting to conserve the past, and spring, pushing us into the inevitability of the future.
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| Cracks showing in winter's defenses |
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