August 12, 2018 - 250th Celebration

Meredith is celebrating it's 250th anniversary in 2018, and this week was packed with events.  On Tuesday the Meredith Historical Society sponsored a presentation on the History of Bear Island, on Thursday the Greater Meredith Program unveiled the New "Archie" statue, and yesterday the town sent a great parade down Main Street and back up Daniel Webster Highway.

"Archie" with scupltor Valery Mahuchy (second from right) and members of Bob Montana's family

Meredith's 250th Anniversary Parade proceeds down Main Street

You know you're in the Lakes Region when there are boats in the parade

It was fun a week, and good to have lots of excitement to offset more sad news back on Lake Wicwas.  It appears that our second loon chick, Sam, has succumbed to the attack of other loons.  The first indication we had was a single loon swimming quickly around the cove multiple times with its head on swivel as if searching for a lost chick.  We can't be sure of the culprit, but the parents have been fending off at least one rogue loon all summer, and with how large Sam had become this is the most likely cause.  Furthermore, the Loon Preservation Committee's Lake Region Field Biologist Henry Stevens (who spoke at the Lake Wicwas Association annual meeting last week) reported that this year "the overwhelming cause of nest failure and chick death was intruding loons."

My last sighting of Sam, August 7, 2018

It is sad, but this is nature ensuring the survival of the fittest.  A more concerning issue for Lake Region's loons was noted in Henry's presentation at the meeting.  He stated that New Hampshire is at the southern boundary for loons.  It's sad to think that as the planet becomes warmer, driving loons farther north, future generations of Lakes Region inhabitants might never experience the haunting call of a loon drifting over the water on a calm summer evening.


On the other hand, some animals may become more prevalent, such as this pretty caterpillar.

Milkweed Tussock Moth (Euchaetes egle)

New Hampshire is toward the northern side of its range, so it will be fine here as things warm up.  And this creature has some pretty amazing traits.  First, like the monarch butterfly, its preferred food is milkweed.  Did you know that milkweed has poisonous constituents called cardiac glycosides which affect the heart (thus "cardiac" in its name) and can be fatal to animals including humans?  [REF:  "Bug of the Week", Michael J. Raupp, Professor of Entomology, University of Maryland]  But the Milkweed Tussock Moth is unaffected by the poison, and in fact it consumes and stores the toxin in its body.  When a bird eats one of these caterpillars it immediately vomits, so predators quickly learn to leave these easily identifiable black and orange caterpillars alone.

And it gets better.  The toxins remain after the caterpillar becomes a moth, but at night, bats are the primary predator, and hunting at night, they don't have the visual cue to know not to eat them.  But this wily insect has also developed an organ that emits an ultrasonic sound that is detected by bats, so when bats have a similar unpleasant reaction after eating a milkweed tussock moth, they also learn to avoid them.  More information on this remarkable animal is at the link in the reference above.

One more animal item:  have you ever wondered why there are so may porcupines hit by cars?  Here's a clue:

I saw this big porker just waddling down the middle of the road without a care in the world.  I stopped to watch, and it wasn't until I pulled up quite close before it decided to wander off into the bushes.

Porcupines know almost nothing (other than a human) is a threat to it.

Perhaps our loons should grow quills.

Sam, July 4, 2018 - August 7, 2018