July 28, 2019: Berry Season

Berry season is in full swing right now in the Lakes Region.  The blueberries have been especially productive this year, perhaps due to a perfect combination of hot sunny weather and sufficient rain.

We're probably just past peak around Lake Wicwas, so get them now before they're gone.  They should be plentiful farther north and at higher altitudes for a bit longer;  I was up in the Belknap Mountains last week and the bushes were loaded with berries.

Strawberry season is just about over but you may still find local berries at the farm stands.  And the cherries are starting to ripen, but the wild black cherries, though edible, aren't worth the effort in my book. 

These black cherries will turn black when ripe - if the birds and bears don't eat them first.

And of course, the u-pick berries will be available for several more weeks, so there's still plenty of opportunity to get those local, fresh, nutrient-rich little beauties for your breakfast fruit or your dessert treats.

We spent part of this week at a beautiful lake in Maine, up near the town of Belfast on Penobscot Bay.

Lake Quantabacock

We had a great visit with wonderful hosts and were treated to a summer's worth of lake life - sailing, kayaking, paddle boarding, a lake tour, and just visiting in a gorgeous setting.  (And of course, lobster.)

Lake Quantabacook is similar in many ways to Lake Wicwas, complete with its own pair of loons, but there is one significant difference:  Quantabacook has nesting bald eagles.

This eagle nest is huge - well over six feet across.

One of the highlights of the trip was seeing the eaglet - thanks to Linda's sharp eye - though it was pretty darn big already.

The eaglet was a couple of trees away from the nest so it is likely flying now and should probably be called a fledgling.

We didn't see either of the parents so they must have been off fishing elsewhere, perhaps in Belfast Harbor or at the nearby Passagassawakeag River.  (And we think Winnipesaukee is difficult!) 

Belfast Harbor

A bald eagle doesn't fully mature and earn its trademark white head and tail for five years, so if you see a very large (six foot-plus wingspan) raptor but it doesn't have the classic look of a bald eagle, it may well be an immature bald eagle.  It's good to know that loons can survive on a lake right underneath an eagle nest and still find a way to raise a family. 

And that brings us to Lake Wicwas's loons.  I had a very disconcerting moment when I went out for a paddle on Lake Wicwas today after returning from Maine.  I came upon a single loon swimming along looking every which way with a small minnow hanging from its beak.

It swam right up to my kayak, clearly looking for a chick to feed.

That's never a good sign and I feared the worst as there was no sign of a chick to be seen.  So I went on my way fearing another chick casualty, but 15 minutes later, way over on the other side of the lake I saw three floating objects, and as I got closer I could see it was the rest of the loon family.

Harley and Davidson, probably with mom, after giving me a scare.

I don't know how or why they got so separated, but all seems to be well, and it gives me more confidence that Harley and Davidson might make it, but there's still a long way to go.

July 21, 2019: The Dogs Come Early

Wow, what a weekend!  The dog days of summer started early this year in the Lakes Region.  Usually this kind of weather doesn't hit until August, but this week we had dew points into the 70s and temps well into the 90s.  The peak temperature was 95.7 on Saturday with a dew point of 72.

Hot summer nights

On a cooler morning at the boat ramp a few weeks ago I had a neat experience which got superseded by all the loon activity the past few weeks:  I got to observe the courting behavior of a pair of downy woodpeckers.

Mr. and Mrs. Downy

The pair was searching for insects on the trees right around the boat launch, probing into all the potential places for insects to hide out.

Where are you ants?

This looks like a good spot.

The male (with the bright red spot on the back of its head) seemed to be leading the way with the female following along a bit behind.

"Where are you going!" she asks.

When the male found a potential spot it worked it for a while until it pulled an insect out.

But rather than eat it, it did something rather kind.

Trying to win her over!

It brought it right to its mate and gave it to her!

This is a known behavior as part of courtship for several species of birds; perhaps the feeding helps to convince the female that he will be a good provider for a future family.  For downy woodpeckers an interesting aspect of mating is that both male and female will search for a nesting site and must agree on a suitable tree.  [Ref:  Stokes, Donald and Lillian, "A Guide to Bird Behavior" Vol II, Little, Brown and Compay, 1983.]  If they can come to terms they will both excavate a nest, but if they can't agree on a tree they most likely will not mate.  I witnessed a few more feedings before they moved beyond my line of sight, but probably not far.

If they have agreed on a nesting tree they tend to stay close by to guard their site.

A quick update on Harley and Davidson - both chicks continue to advance in size and skill.  Although they mostly stick their heads underwater and watch as their parents dive for fish, they do occasionally dive themselves.  They seem to like going in very close to shore at a shallow beach, and the parents watch them very closely there, calling them back out to deeper water at the slightest concern.  It will be interesting to see when they are able to catch their own fish.

Harley and Davidson like to go right up the shore here.  (Some will recognize that canoe!)

We also had a scare this week.  One morning the family came by with only one chick in tow.  They fished for 20 minutes without a sign of the second and they didn't show a hint of distress.  Half an hour later we had a report from someone else that they also had seen only one chick.  But then in another hour the report came in that both chicks were back with the parents.  What are those parents thinking, leaving their kids unsupervised all that time!

As expected, the second pair of loons finally gave up and abandoned their nest.  It looks like Harley and Davidson will have to carry the torch for Wicwas this summer.

The Annual Loon Census took place yesterday and though we didn't have the loon overload of last week, there were eight loons that appeared for the census.  Citizenship questions were not asked.  😉

Mom (?) and the kids during the census

Dad was probably off keeping the other loons far away.

I'll end this week with a pretty butterfly that was sucking nectar out of the black-eyed susans (which are having a banner year).

American Painted Lady (Vanessa virginiensis)

This is an American Painted Lady.  In these next two you can see its proboscis inserted deep into the flower.

The susan's must be loving all the heat this summer.  Keep cool!

July 14, 2019: Loon Overload

So many loons, and it is just too hard to ignore them when they come by every day and fish right in front of me.

The chicks are growing quickly now; the family must find the fishing quite productive where the little perch hide out under the dock and the boat as they spend lots of time diving there.  Even Harley and Davidson are working on their skills right under the boat.

Looking for fish hiding in the shadows.

Yesterday I saw the family coming along the shoreline across the cove so I went down to the dock and sat quietly waiting for them to come by, and I got a great look at them as they fished right off the dock. 

Side by side you can see one chick is slightly larger than the other.

Little bird, big foot.

Soon enough dinner time arrived.  A parent brought up a medium size perch and gave it to one chick.

Another time the fish dropped in the lake and the little guy re-caught it himself - they are learning.  I caught it on a video, though it's pretty shaky (click here to see it).

The parents seem to be very proficient this summer as the chicks are growing rapidly and there have been a lot of other loons on the lake from which to protect them.  One morning I saw a group of seven loons together, one of which was possibly one of the chicks' parents as it seemed to be herding the other six along.

Six visiting loons, with one more just outside this picture.

That same morning there was an altercation taking place at the entrance to the cove of the second nest with another set of loons.  This was perhaps the male of the second nest keeping a rogue away, and it was successful in driving it off.

The intruder on retreat.

But it didn't go far, just flying across the lake and setting down again, so the resident will have to maintain sentry at the mouth of the cove.

Coming in for a landing.

Splashdown!

And that morning the family was nowhere to be found, possibly being hidden away from all the intruders by a parent.  All told that morning I counted 11 loons on Lake Wicwas, and that didn't include any chicks and probably at least one of their parents.  And speaking of the second nest, as of yesterday there was still a loon sitting on the nest, refusing to give up.  It is highly improbable a chick will hatch from that nest at this point.

Even with loons getting all the attention there are other things going on around the lake.  On Saturday the Lakes Region Conservation Trust held a guided paddle on Lake Wicwas, and a group of intrepid paddlers kayaked all around the lake.

The LRCT has numerous events - paddles, hikes, work days - in which you can participate.  You can learn about them here.  Thank you to all who participated in the Wicwas Paddle.

A few interesting insects also made an appearance this week, including an unusual moth.

Rosy Maple Moth (Dryocampa rubicunda).   Photo by Nancy Marion.

With a few exceptions such as the tremendous Luna Moth, most moths are rather drab in appearance, being small, brown or gray, but the rosy maple moth is a nice exception.  Thank you for sharing Nancy!

Another neat insect that - in New Hampshire at least - always appears well after its name says it should, is the mayfly. 

Mayfly in July.

I often find these on the window in the morning and they hang out there for hours until their wings dry out enough to fly away, during which time the are very photogenic.

I'll end with one other amazing event that another reader sent me:

Garter snake versus toad.  Photo by John Windyka.

Talk about having eyes bigger than one's stomach.  I wonder if this garter snake was ever able to eventually get the toad into its mouth!  Thanks for the great photo John!

Sorry the post was so long this week, but how can you resist this?

July 7, 2019: A Hot Fourth of July

And it sure was a beauty.  We even had an official heat wave of three days in a row over 90, with Friday maxing out at 94.1 degrees.  The beaches in the area were packed to overflowing and the lakes were busy with boats of all kinds as people hit the water to keep cool.  I counted twelve boats lined up at the Meredith ramp waiting to launch on Thursday morning, backed up all the way to Town Dock's ice cream stand.

A busy week in Meredith Bay.  Photo by Dustin Powell.

The Bay was packed for the fireworks.  Photo by Dustin Powell.

I'll be interested to see what the Lake Host boat inspection count was at the Lake Wicwas ramp this week as there were plenty of boats here on Wicwas all week.

There are a couple of content canines!

Other people headed up to the mountains to escape the heat, including me as I hiked one the most popular hikes in the White Mountains with family on Friday.

Mt. Lafayette (left) and Mt. Lincoln (right) from the Old Bridle Path.

Looking south along the Franconia Range on a hot summer day.

It was a beautiful day to be in the high summits but the humidity limited the views.  You could barely make out the Presidential Range just 18 miles away.

That faint shadow in the distance is Mt. Washington and the Presidentials.

Back on the lake the animals were keeping a low profile during the day to avoid the heat.  I saw a heron in the early morning and even then it was splashing itself to keep cool.

Everyone needs a way to keep cool.

The loon family with Harley and Davidson were smart to nest early as they are in the cool water during this hot stretch.

The family happily enjoys the cool lake during a hot week.

The other pair is not so fortunate as they've been on the nest all week and their nest, though shaded in the morning, is exposed to the hot sun in the afternoon and evening.  A careful observer (thank you ES) reported that the loon left the nest several times over this hot stretch, perhaps just to cool off when its mate didn't return in time for its shift in the heat.  Hopefully the eggs haven't overheated - it's past time when we expected they would have hatched, but they took a long time building their nest so we don't really know just when the eggs were laid.  We'll keep waiting.

And evidently, the holiday weekend isn't just for human gatherings.

A Sunday morning loon party.

I did get an amazing loon experience this week when I was invited to participate in a loon banding exercise.  I got the call about 9:00 at night that John Cooley, Senior Biologist at the Loon Preservation Committee was coming to Wicwas to try to capture the male of the pair with chicks to band him (the female is already banded).  I readily accepted, and was allowed to go out on the boat with John, Caroline Hughs (also with the LPC) and Olivia Pea, a third year veterinarian student at Tufts University.  They worked as a very efficient team, scanning the lake to search out the loon family, with Caroline expertly identifying the male loon and quickly scooping him up in large net and wrapping him in a towel to calm and protect him.  We brought him back to the staging area (thank you D&M) where the bird was measured, and I had the honor of holding it during the exam and banding - including the honor of getting pooped on as I held him in my lap.

Marge Thorpe and I keep dad calm while John measures the oversize leg.

When John measured the bird's right leg he was astonished at its size - it was the largest he had every measured, and there wasn't even a band large enough for it!  Fortunately the left leg was a little smaller, so our male loon now has a bit of body art:  a white band with a black dot on it.  Finally, a small wound on the bird's leg was treated by Oliva (the attending vet), the bird was weighed (at 14 pounds, large for a male but not the largest seen) and released back near the family.  By the next morning the reunited family was back in their favorite cove fishing and feeding and the little ones, with dad now having its own jewelry to keep up with mom.

Mom and dad back with the kids.

The bands will provide the ability to know if this pair ever changes mates, as well as determining where each bird spends the winter - and if they spend it together or apart - if someone observes the bands when they are off the lake for the winter.  If you ever see a banded loon, please provide the information to the Loon Preservation Committee, or let me know and I will pass it on to them.

Altogether it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I thank all of those that provided me this opportunity.  Every time I see that male loon I will think about the time I held him in my lap.

Finally, what's the perfect ending to hot fourth of July Holiday week?

Sunset after the storm on Saturday evening.