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| A bumble bee searches for pollen on lantana flowers. |
These large members of the bee family are important pollinators and are presently found swarming over the tiny blossoms of plants like goldenrod and Linda's Coleuses.
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| Golden rod is a favorite provider this time of year. |
These non-aggressive bees are covered with thick hair which keeps them warm and explains why they are the first bee to become active in the spring as well as why they can hang around into fall even after the other bees have disappeared.
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| A nice warm fur coat. |
Similar to other pollen collecting bees, the worker bee's mission is to collect enough food for the queen to lay eggs and fatten up to survive the winter. In late summer only worker bees and queen bees are born, and all of them will leave the nest. The worker bees feed the queen, and every bee in the colony will die when winter finally arrives except for the queen; only the queen will hibernate and live through the winter. In the spring the queen will find a nest location, lay her eggs, and sit on them for two weeks to keep them warm, just like a bird does. When they hatch, the new season begins. [Ref: Alina Bradford, LiveScience, 2017]
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| Large pollen sacs to bring home for the queen. |
Several species of bumble bee have seen dramatic reductions in population in New Hampshire, and NH Fish & Game has listed four species as species of Greatest Conservation Need. (Who knew Fish & Game studies bees?) [Ref: Sandra Rehan, NH Wildlife Journal, May/June 2016] Rehan and other researchers at the University of New Hampshire are studying the cause of population decline which appears to be due to multiple factors including habitat loss, insecticides, climate change, and pesticides. [Ref: NH Wildlife Action Plan, Appendix A]
It's good to know Linda is doing her part to help these important insects survive.
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| Coming in for a landing on Linda's lupines. |
The town of Meredith recently completed a habit logging project on the Eames property up behind the Hamlin easement. The goal was to improve the quality of the forest and create greater habitat diversity for a range of birds and mammals. I went for a short walk through the logged area (there are no trails in the area logged) and I saw that the project already appears to be bearing fruit.
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| This moose print in the soft soil is larger than my boot. |
That's the track of a good size moose that was using the logging trail for ease of movement, and was probably enjoying the new browse area. If you are hiking along the magenta trail - which is in the process of being re-blazed with white trail markers - and you see a large clear cut along the trail, know that this is NOT on town land. That clear cut was done by a private land owner adjacent to the Eames property.
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| Clear cut along the border of the Eames Conservation Easement |
If allowed to grow back to forest, this cut will provide excellent browse for moose and deer for many years, as well as a young successional forest habitat for ground birds and small animals.
I don't have any new pictures of the loon chicks this week, but I did see another very promising event. One of the chicks came through the cove by itself and spent a long time fishing all along the cove. And I saw it come with a fish on two of its dives. So at least one of the chicks is providing for itself - good news especially as fall arrives and the parents will be going on their way in the coming weeks. And fall is coming, as seen by misting mornings becoming more common.
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| A misty morning on the day I walked the logged area in Eames. |
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