August 2, 2018: Lake Wicwas Becomes a Battleground

I'm posting early this week so people will receive it before the Lake Wicwas Annual Meeting tomorrow, Saturday, August 3rd (9:30 am at the Wicwas Grange on Meredith Center Road.)

Lake Wicwas became a battle ground this week and we learned again just how harsh nature can be, and the impact of humans as well.  Tom Crane, a resident on the north shore of the lake, described a horrific lesson on the territorial behavior of loons.  In front of Tom's house, two people experienced a fight between two loons which was described as nothing less than "brutal".  When it was over a seriously injured loon swam to the shoreline to recuperate, clearly the loser of the fight.  But a few days later, a dead loon was found against a nearby shoreline.  Tom collected it and was relieved that it was not banded, indicating it was neither parent of the chicks.  The Loon Preservation Committee came to pick it up and have already performed a necropsy to determine the specific cause of death:  although the bird did suffer from injuries from the fight, the primary cause of death was lead poisoning.  (Loons ingest small stones to help with digestion in their stomachs, and they frequently collect small lead fishing sinkers and jigs which look like stones, and which quickly kill them).

One can only speculate on the motivation of the fight, and if the attacking loon recognized the weakened state of the poisoned bird and took advantage of that.  Was the victim our rogue loon "Solo" that has been on the lake for several years now, and one of the parents of Harley and Davidson decided this was its chance to eliminate it?  Was it a bird from the other pair on the lake?    Or maybe it was just a visiting loon that stopped here in its weakened state to rest.  We may never know, but if Solo, who has been spending a lot of time in Marion Cove the past few years never reappears, that might be a clue.  All we know for sure is there is one less loon in New Hampshire, that lead fishing tackle is responsible for 44% of loon deaths [Ref:  Concord Monitor, July 18, 2019], and that these beautiful, majestic birds will fight literally to the death over territory, offspring, or some other reason.

I had my own little battle over in the blueberry bushes this week.  I was picking berries on some high-bush blueberry plants when I noticed a lot of bare branches - areas that were completely denuded of leaves.

A blueberry bush stripped of its leaves

I knew something had to be eating them so I searched around a bit and soon enough came across a bunch of brightly colored but not very pleasant looking caterpillars.

Yellow-necked Caterpillars (Datana ministra)

There were two colonies on this plant, as well as some on another bush I saw.

I found a little information on these insects, including that the behavior of lifting up both their head and tail when disturbed is common.  [Ref:  UNH Extension Service].  I don't know if that successfully scares off predators, but to me it certainly makes them look threatening.

The adult moth is just a typical, medium-sized brown moth, but it does have a reddish head.

Adult moth.  Photo Credit:  John Pickering, Discover Life

It appears that birds don't eat the caterpillars or the moths, but some, such as robins, do eat the pupae.  Also "predaceous bugs and parasitic flies may also attack this species."  [Ref:  Penn State University Extension Service]  The caterpillars are damaging to orchards, and blueberries are one of their preferred host trees.  UNH says spot spraying is the best control method, but not on blueberry plants or any other tree with edible fruit, in which case it's best to pick them off by hand.  And then feed them to the fish.  And eventually the loons.  The circle of life goes on....

Which brings us back to Harvey and Davidson, which are getting bigger and starting to look less chick-like as they get gray-brown feathers and a white chest.  But we now know there is never a time in their lives when we can be certain they are safe.

Starting to look loon-like.

And starting to grow tiny flight feathers on their wings.