March 15, 2020: They're Coming Back

I heard the first one this past Monday while riding a ski lift in Lincoln:  the pretty sound of a warbler singing its spring song on that warm, sunny day.  I recognized the song but couldn't name the bird.  It seemed awful early for a warbler to be that far  north, so when I got home I looked up what the first warblers are to return in the spring.  As soon as I saw the list of early birds, I knew what it was:  the yellow-rumped warbler.

A male yellow-rumped warbler.

Looking at the Cornell Ornithology Lab range map for the yellow-rumped it's easy to see why it arrives so early - it winters just south of the Lakes Region in northern Massachusetts, and just east on the Maine coast, so it's a quick jaunt into New Hampshire.  Other warblers such as the common yellowthroat and chestnut-sided winter in Central America.  They are on their way north but will need a few more weeks to complete their journey to New Hampshire.  Back home in Meredith I heard several more yellow-rumped warblers and was able to locate one high up in a tree, too high for a photo; the picture above was from last May.

Many warblers are insect-eaters but the yellow-rumped also consumes berries which has allowed them to adapt to a more northerly climate than most warblers.  Since the range maps are probably rather old I won't be surprised to see yellow-rumped warblers wintering all the way up to the Lakes Region in my lifetime as species migrate northward; there are plenty of berries still available here.

On the subject of berries and seeds, I recently read an article by Anne Krantz and Mary Tebo Davis published by the UNH Extension Service titled "Henry Thoreau and Shagbark Hickories".  The article describes the giant shagbark hickory trees Thoreau noted on a trip from Concord, Massachusetts to give a lecture at the Amherst, NH lyceum.  Some conversations with a couple of friends who live in that area led to them share photos of shagbarks on their property (thank PS and JW) that may have been just saplings when Thoreau rode by on his carriage.

Shagbark hickory along a property boundary in Hollis, NH.
Photo by P. Smith.

That reminded me of a tree with similar bark I had seen right close by in Meredith.  So I to a walk to see if it is one of these trees, and sure enough, there's a shagbark hickory right here on the shores of Lake Wicwas.

The shagbark hickory is aptly named.

That thick, shaggy bark serves as fire protection for the tree.

A mature shagbark Hickory, according to Thoreau's journal, could produce 12 bushels of nutmeats - that's a good food supply for our wild animals.  They don't produce large crops every year, and there was speculation that Thoreau's report may have been on the high side.

The crown of a shagbark hickory.

I've made a mental note to look for nuts under this tree over the next few autumns.

But spring comes first, and winter is quickly losing its hold.  That 60 degree day took a toll on the snow pack as well as the ice which is down to 13 inches of soft, porous ice - I think yesterday will be the last time I'll be on the lake until ice-out.  As openings around the lake edges expand, the first waterfowl have arrived.

Ice peels back from the Wicwas shoreline.

Ducks and Geese at the Wicwas outlet.

As more water opens up there are signs of river otter coming ashore.

A fisher latrine near an open spot in the ice,

The otter's diet is clear from their scat; it's composed mostly of fish scales.

And as mentioned last week, maple sugar season has arrived in the Lakes Region.  Soon we'll see the plumes of maple steam from the local sugar houses - and smell the sweet fragrance of spring in New Hampshire.

Sap buckets hanging on sugar maples at the  Remick Farm in Tamworth frame Mt. Chocorua.

Wasn't it nice to have just a little bit of normalcy this week?