October 20, 2019: Bucks on the Prowl

I've seen quite a few signs of white-tail deer lately - the bucks that is - out and about, claiming their territory.  I caught this guy on my trail camera one night this week.

A nice size buck cruises its territory.

The most visible signs are the many "scrapes" they make on the ground. 

The buck was facing to the left, kicking debris to the right to clear the soil.

These are commonly seen near hiking trails because bucks with a rack of antlers appreciate the easy travel along cleared trails.  The scrape above shows that the buck had dug up leaves and such and thrown it back a good ten feet.  The scrape itself often has a triangular shape where the buck used its front feet to dig at the ground. 

The typical V pattern made by the front hooves.

After making a scrape a buck will urinate there so it can soak into the bared ground, thus letting its scent linger for several days.  This provides a mating signal to the females in the area, as well letting other bucks know that this territory - and its resident females - have been claimed. 

Another technique bucks use to mark territory is called a rub. 

A rub on a young hemlock tree.

I found this rub on a hemlock tree this week in the same area.  A buck will rub its antlers on a tree, often an aromatic hemlock, to leave another territorial marker.  Deer have glands near their eyes which add their unique scent to that of the freshly released hemlock bark which intensifies the marker.

Deer aren't the only creatures out prowling around in the dark these days.  The sunrise in late October and early November is the latest we get all year (later than at the winter solstice due to daylight savings time) so it's the least painful time to get up to witness the birth of a new day.

The first peak of sun rises over Lake Winnisquam.

This week I took the short hike up Ladd Mountain in the Chemung area of Meredith to indulge in the beauty of early morning.

Mist on Lake Winnisquam

It's an easy 1-mile hike up, and when I was there this summer I thought it would be good vantage point with an eastern exposure overlooking the northern end of Lake Winnisquam.  I wasn't disappointed.

Dawn breaks over Meredith.

It's hard to believe we still haven't had a hard frost.  One morning the temperature dropped to almost freezing, low enough that in an open field with a lot of radiational cooling, I saw my first ice crystals of the season. 

First ice, only in open areas on the very lowest lying leaves.

Earlier in the week I was out on Turtle Island in Lake Wicwas doing some fall clean-up and saw that the turtle nests laid way back in June had hatched out.

Holes and shells where baby turtles emerged from the nest.

The shell fragments are soft and leathery feeling.

I had forgotten how late in the year snapping turtle eggs hatch until my brother sent me photos of 21 little guys hatching out from a nest in Canterbury on October 1st.

Just two of a litter of 21.  Photo by Glen Powell.  (Thanks for sharing!)

Snapping turtles have evolved with a very strange property related to hatching eggs.  The sex of the turtles that hatch is dependent on the temperature while they are developing in the ground.  Temperatures below 77 degrees F will result in only male turtles, while temperatures above 80 produce only females.  Between these temperature there will be a mix of sexes.  It seems like a strange way to balance the population, and it makes me wonder if they will evolve quickly enough to maintain a successful population at our latitude as the planet's temperature increases.

There were a lot of photos being shared of the rainbow that appeared on Friday.  I was lucky enough to be out on run and saw it shimmering over the hills north of Lake Wicwas.

Rainbow over Wicwas, seen from Wicwood Shores Rd.

At least one adult loon is still on on the lake, and one of the chicks remains glued to her (?) side all the time. 

One of the chicks, most likely with mom.

They separate only to dive, regrouping as soon they surface.

It's a pretty sight to see loons on the lake in autumn.

There were a lot of gorgeous colors around the Lakes Region this week before the storm that blew through on Wednesday night stripped many leaves off the trees, but there is still plenty of color to be seen this weekend.

Still nice colors west of the lake as of yesterday (Oct 19th).

One of these nights we'll get that first hard frost.