January 26, 2020: Ice Castles

This week's non-nature adventure was a trip up to North Woodstock to explore the Ice Castles.

Entrance to the Ice Castles

We had never been to see them though I'd heard a lot about it - it was worth the trip.  They do a lot with lighting and shaping to make them interesting, and there were tunnels and slides to keep the kids entertained.

They even have an ice bar where you can get a warm drink.

Not many people at the bar on this cold night.

Before it got dark we took a drive along the Kancamagus Highway, and of course, a trip to Lincoln or Woodstock is always a good excuse for dinner at the Woodstock Inn.

Closer to home I had a couple of nice ski excursions up behind Corliss Hill, over to Lake Winnisquam, and along Old Stage Rd up towards Forest Pond.  There's been enough snow to groom the snowmobile trails, and they provided some nice skiing.

Snowmobile trail over Corliss Hill

On the lake the strong winds had formed a little wind crust on the snow, creating interesting textures in the process.

Miniature snow-dunes on the lake.

Then turning around, and looking in the other direction, I saw another in my series of classic New England houses.

But even with the very cold temperatures (we finally went below zero at -4.7 on Tuesday morning) there was still slush forming at the interface of the snow and the ice on the lakes.  This can be trouble when skiing or snowshoeing on the lake.

When skis meet slush on a cold day.
(Always keep a scraper in your pocket!)

I still don't have a documented explanation for this phenomenon but a fellow skier (thank you HC) suggested it's caused by the weight of the snow pressing on the ice.  The theory is the weight makes the ice sink down, forcing water up through holes and small cracks that form in the ice.  The concept seems reasonable; I sent a request to NHLakes for more information - they have several articles in their "Extraordinary Winter Lake Phenomena" library, but haven't addressed this one. 

In all my excursions this week I didn't see any interesting animals.  There were some tracks to be found where the wind hadn't blown them in yet, including this probable set of fox tracks bounding across the lake.

This fox came off the east shore at a good gallop.

And continued on to the west somewhat slower.

The best I have to report of actual sightings are the animals at the bird feeders.  The blue jays have arrived to join the mixed winter flock.

Blue jays arrived a couple of weeks ago.

And the gray squirrels are becoming more prevalent at the feeders as the snow pack deepens.  Someone (thank you EP!) gave us a cute bird feeder which we re-purposed to a squirrel feeder.

Though there are plenty of birds that spend time in there also, especially the juncos.  But it's still more fun to watch the squirrels performing acrobatics on the hanging bird feeder as they collect corn kernels.

I haven't seen any red squirrels at the feeder; it looks like they've been finding enough to eat in the hemlock trees.

Tiny hemlock cone shells dot the snow where red squirrels pull them apart for the seeds inside.

Sadly, we had a rain event last night; hopefully another snow storm will come through soon to freshen things up.  There will be no new tracks to follow, or skiing to be done, when this saturated snow freezes up.  But there will still be reasons to get out, even if it's just to take in the winter sunsets.

The January sun sets around the northern end of Sheep Island.

January 19, 2020: Winter's Back

Typical volatile New England weather: The January thaw ended with our coldest temperatures of the season, but we still haven't hit negative numbers per my thermometer.  Heavy, dense snow fell on Wednesday which stuck to the trees and returned us to winter scenery.

Hamlin Conservation Area

That was followed immediately by a cold blast from the northwest which ushered in the cold air as well as a bright, sunny, blue-sky day.

A perfect New England Scene.

Skiing on that bluebird day brought me across another set of otter tracks running far across the lake.

The unmistakable 2-2 track of the weasel family, to which the River Otter belongs.

This otter wasn't heading in my chosen direction, and I was on my way home so I didn't follow them along, but I will comment on the tracks I followed last week along the shoreline.

Some long otter slides on the lake.

When I saw this pair of tracks I surmised it was two otters traveling together rather than one on an out-and-back trip.  Based on the track pattern of slide and hop, as well as how close the two tracks followed each other, I decided that it was in fact a pair travelling together.  I ultimately lost the track when it went up on land, but picked up what appeared to be a single track farther along my trip.

Perhaps looking for a water entrance.

This track led to a couple of holes along the shoreline, and eventually terminated at a hole under the roots of a tree on the shore.

At least it looked to me as though there was only one set of tracks going into the hole.  I imagine the otter taking this secret passage down under the ice, knowing a nearby hole where it can emerge again before it's lung capacity is depleted.

It's always interesting to follow to these fun-loving creatures as they enjoy their winter escapades - and being reminded they're out doing this all summer too, but they rarely leave any evidence for me to see.

Who would have thought this would be the time to be thinking about bees, or rather, hornets.

I saw this hornet nest by accident while following the otter tracks.

There were a lot of hornet nests to be seen this past summer;  it must have been a great year for them, and most of their nests, like that one, are holding up well so far this winter.  But on a ski over to Lake Winnisquam yesterday, I found one that wasn't so lucky.

The innards of a hornet nest.

I can only wonder if this was brought down by the strong northwest winds of Friday, or whether an animal had a hand in its demise....

On a more humorous bee note, I found this sign on the hiking trail on the Mt. Welch-Dickey loop:

I know it's been warm, but really?

That was before Wednesday's snow; there was very little snow on the ground below 2000' elevation, but higher up there was a nice base, though it was rather icy on the trail.

Approaching the summit of Dickey Mountain in Campton.

The dusting of snow that fell on the ice the night before revealed the presence of snowshoe hares among the spruce at 2700 feet above sea level.

More good news:  writing now on Saturday night, it's snowing again.  Maybe we'll get one more good dump to confirm winter has returned.

January 12, 2020: The Muskrat Attraction

A couple of light snowfalls this week made for some good skiing as well as providing a good surface for animal tracks.  One ski trip took me up to the Ridgefield Open Space just north of Route 104 in Meredith, where the main animal attraction - based on the tracks in the snow - was a muskrat lodge.

A muskrat lodge in the Ridgefield Open Space.

There were plenty of animals checking out the lodge, which appears occupied based on the open air hole and melted snow where heat from the animals escapes up the chimney.

And those tracks are not from the homeowner, as the muskrat has a plunge hole out the bottom where it can access its den under the protection of water.  Nonetheless, muskrats are significant food sources for many predators including hawks, owls, foxes, and minks.  It's a good thing they have lots of offspring, with two or three litters per year.  In return, muskrats create open water for ducks and other waterfowl:  muskrats are such prolific feeders of aquatic vegetation that they can open up large areas of a swamp, perfect for bird habitat.  [Ref:  New Hampshire Nature Notes, Hilbert E. Siegler, Equity Publishing, 1962]

I recently had a discussion with someone about what muskrats eat in the winter and whether they store food under the ice like beavers do.  I went to find out, and according to wikipedia, they do not.  Their primary food source is stalks and roots of cattails, but also arrowheads, rushes, and other wetland vegetation [Sielger], and a healthy wetland complex has plenty of those available under the ice all winter long.

Lots of vegetation in the Ridgefield wetlands complex.

In addition to lodges, muskrats build feeding stations called "push-ups" made of vegetation that rise up above the water level.  In winter muskrats keep these holes open by replacing the vegetation in the hole every day, consuming some in the process.  [Ref:  Tracking and the Art of Seeing, Paul Rezendes, Harper Collins, 1999]  This gives them places to catch a breath while they're out finding food without having to stay close to their lodge.  I'll look for these this winter when I'm out on the ice.  Below is a muskrat structure in summer which I believe is a lodge due to its size and location on the shore line.

It's hard to remember the lake looking like this at this point in the winter.

You can differentiate this from a beaver lodge which is made of sticks and branches rather than vegetation.

Back on Lake Wicwas I saw many other tracks on land and lake:  fox, otter, mink, fisher, mice....  But the most interesting was this set of mink tracks which came from the exact point I saw a mink pop out on the shoreline last November.

I'll bet there's a mink den in this bank.

The middle of those three tracks led to this:

The obvious question here is why this mink pulled such a crazy stunt.  My guess is a raptor was about to swoop down and grab it for lunch, and at the last moment the mink saw it and made a frantic defensive maneuver.  If that's the case, it was successful, as the tracks continued on, though the spacing of the tracks became significantly longer!

I also followed some otter tracks which told another story, but that's a tale for another day....

And of course, all this was before the January thaw hit on Saturday and made the lake, well, a lake.

Maybe back to skating?

It looked like this just four days earlier.

You know what they say about New England weather.  I must say, it was rather surreal skiing in shirtsleeves at 57 degrees in January.

January 5, 2020 - Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2020!  Perhaps you've heard of the "First Day Hike" initiative.  It was conceived by the Massachusetts State Park with the inaugural First Day Hike taking place at Blue Hills Reservation just south of Boston in 1992 [Ref:  Wikipedia] and now is promoted by dozens of outdoor oriented organizations.  New Year's Day 2020 was fortunate enough to occur after a nice fresh layer of snow arrived, so we put on the snowshoes and took a hike up Ladd Mountain in Meredith, and it was beautiful.

A winter wonderland on New Year's Day.

Right at the top we saw a fresh set of porcupine tracks traversing the summit from north to south.

The unperturbed track of the porcupine.

These tracks illustrate perfectly the attitude of the porcupine, safely ensconced behind its prickly barricade.  No other animal I know of walks along so slowly and nonchalantly, just making its way to its favorite hemlock tree to feast on some tender twigs and needles.

Taken a few years ago by my trail camera.

Winter is having a little trouble finding its rhythm this year, with only one cold spell, lots of warm weather, and alternating fronts bringing rain and snow.  There are still openings around the edges of the lake as well as many streams, and even in low spots in the forest.

Warm weather means open wet spots into January.  This is in the middle of the trail up to Ladd Mtn.

The birds are fine with the warm weather; with the feeders out, the usual collection has returned, including large flocks of goldfinches.

Sometimes they'll let a chick-a-dee join them.

We also have a regular visit from a Hairy Woodpecker.

I'd love to know if it's the same one that stops by every day.

The dark-eyed juncos appeared with the very first snow, being true to their alternate name, "snowbird".

There are no pictures from this next bird episode, but Linda saw an animal far out on the lake, which turned out to be a crow pecking at something in the ice.  The next thing that caught her eye was a large bald eagle flying straight at her from the spot the crow was at.  My guess:  the eagle saw the crow, and expecting to find something it could steal, swept down to take it away, and then flew off, either with or without something to eat.

On a walk below some power lines I came across the culprit to a power outage that struck a couple of houses on Harris Cove.

A burnt tree trunk that fell on the power lines.

I had met the line worker who had cleared this tree which fell on the power line and been pretty well charred by the time the circuit breaker cut the power.  Those line workers are pretty hardy souls, as this fault was over a tenth of mile from the nearest access point on some pretty rugged terrain.

Another interesting find before the most recent snow was this curved track out on the ice.

Hop, hop, hop, sliiiiide.

The widely separated plops following the slide tell me it must have been an otter out playing in the slush, but don't ask me how it managed to make that banked curve.

I'll end with a panorama from the top of Ladd Mountain - don't wait until 2021 to go there!  Let me know if you need directions.

Looking across Lake Winnisquam towards (left to right) Lake Winnipesaukee, Gunstock Mtn, Lakeport and Laconia