December 8, 2019: Foxes are Clever - and Light

I don't know how the fox knows when the ice will support its weight - maybe they are just so light that if there's visible ice, they are good to go.  But the very first morning I saw ice on the lake, when there were still many open spots along the shore, there was already a set of tracks across the cove.  And the next day, there was our local red fox taking a short cut from its den to its hunting grounds.

A red fox takes the short route across Lake Wicwas.

Looking for a safe place to get off the ice.

Tracks left from an earlier excursion.

Fox are very efficient animals and will take every advantage offered in conserving energy in their travels.

Snow on the ground makes it more difficult for all the rodent-hunters to catch their prey since the mice can hide under the cover of snow, so it's starting off as a hard winter for fox, owls, and the other small-mammal predators.  At least there are lots of acorns so the mice will be well fed and making plenty more little mice - a female mouse can have over a dozen pups in a litter, as many as ten times per year!

The last reported sighting of our loons was on November 18th, and with ice now, it's safe to say that all our loons have departed.  It was exciting to have fledged two chicks this year as we haven't had a successful nesting since 2014, though it's sad to think we'll never know what happens to Harley and Davidson from this point forward.  If we see a new loon or two appear on the lake in four or five years, we can imagine it is one of this year's chicks, but that would be pure speculation as loons returning from the their maturing period on the ocean often return to the lake of their birth, but they will also venture to another nearby lake if their birth lake is fully populated.  It's too bad young chicks can't be banded, but on the other hand, perhaps the unknown is part of the mystique of the loon.

And loons better be gone from Lake Wicwas;  by December 4th the coves were frozen as was the southern portion of the lake.

Lake Wicwas was frozen part way up Loon Point on Wednesday.

On December 5th there was only one section open on the west shore at the north edge of the conservation area where the Red Trail reaches the lake.

Only a small open area the next day (far left in picture).

By yesterday it was down to a tiny circle of water, and after last night's low of five degrees and calm wind, that had closed up.  We won't know if this is the final ice-in until we see if the next two days of warm temperatures opens things up again.

The Lakes Region didn't get snow measured in feet like farther south but we did have a few inches on Monday and few more Friday night.  The first snow provides the fun of knowing what animals have been living around us all summer even if we haven't seen them; I've already seen tracks of fox, coyote, and deer, but this was my favorite animal track this week:

A porcupine leaves its mark in the snow, framed by unknown prior tracks on either side.

It's certainly starting to look like winter around the lakes.

Squam Lake was still wide open on Saturday, as seen through snow squalls from the summit of Mt. Morgan.

Note:  Ice-in was declared as December 8th as it did hold though the warm spell.