July 25, 2021: Towering Summer Flowers

It's late July and the world has become lush and green with an abundance of rain.  It's interesting to watch the transition of wildflowers over the summer growing season as each species finds a place in the ecosystem to make its stand.  Early in the spring before larger plants have grown leaves the small plants living right at ground level take advantage of the short window when they receive nature's life-giving energy through bare branches above.  That's when plants like goldthread, trailing arbutus, and trillium do their thing.  As spring moves towards summer the taller plants such as hawkweed and daiseys rise up higher to find the sun, robbing it from the lower tier of plants.  Now in late July it's time for the tallest flowers, which have jostled they way up all year, to rise above the middle-tier and display their colors.

Common mullein (Verbascum thapsus)

This mullien was growing along the multi-use trail in the Page Pond Community Forest in Meredith.  Not recognizing this plant I had to look it up and found that it is yet another invasive species.  This one is not as fiendish as the worst invasives such as knotweed and bittersweet because it's shade intolerant - it will die off as other plants grow around it.  But it can be a problem if it grows to large populations as it will readily do if left unchecked - note huge number of seed-producing blossoms.

There were already a few of these along that trail; I've recommended the land stewards remove them.  If you're at Page Pond this week be sure to explore the field at the Barnard Ridge Road trailhead which is now packed with mid-summer wildflowers attracting a potpourri of birds and insects because it will be mowed soon now that the birds have nested and fledged their young.

Many of the taller summer flowers don't have the showy blossoms of the early plants, perhaps because with the abundance of pollinators at this point in the season they don't have to advertise as much to attract customers.  Overall, yellow seems to be the predominant color of the season, and this will continue into late fall as the goldenrod bloom high and tall above all else in the field until frost strikes them down.  But there are other colors to be found including this aquatic plant that doesn't need rain so it always blooms - unless the geese eat all its leaves first.

Pickerel weed (Pontederia cordata) gets pollinated.

Two plants with pale pink flowers also grow along the shores of the lakes, though their feet are planted on dry land right at the brink of water and earth.

Meadowsweet (Spiraea latifolia) - look for the tiny honey bee at the bottom of the tallest blossom.

Steeplebush (Spiraea tomentoas), appropriately named.

Sometimes plants that take advantage of the water and sun that the lake provides them end up spending their final days in that very water, but even in death they bring new life.  

A young kingfisher peers over the edge of its nest as it awaits a meal to be delivered via airmail.

This fallen white pine has been the birthplace of many broods of Eastern Kingfishers since it fell into the lake a few years ago.

The weekly status on the loon family shows all is well as Coco and Jimmy continue to thrive and grow under the care of their attentive parents who are now introducing them to new foods, and not without the typical rejection.

Mom comes up with a crawfish.

Mom went back and forth between the two siblings trying to get either of them to sample crawfish.

Jimmy says no thank you.

Coco seems equally unimpressed.

It often takes youngsters a while to learn to love shellfish.

Still a no.

Eventually mom convinced someone to try their first downeast lobster dinner.

I think it was Coco that got her courage up.

So far it's been a happy year for loons on Lake Wicwas, if not an easy one for the parents as there is still a number of other loons on the lake that dad spends a lot of time keeping away from the chicks.  But at this point all is well; the chicks are still light brown and fluffy with their downy feathers but soon these will begin to molt and a second set of adolescent feathers will appear.  

See you next week.

July 18, 2021: Annual Wicwas BBQ

The Lake Wicwas Association held their annual Paddle Regatta and Barbeque yesterday, once again graciously hosted by the Blakes, and the weather was kind enough to allow both events to take place without anyone getting wet.

The regatta departs from Wedding Island under the expert guidance of Dean Cascadden.

Navigating Blake Brook.

Exploring the beaver dam.
Photos by Dean Cascadden.

Later at the barbeque, food and conversation were great as always and it was wonderful to catch up with everyone after missing out last year.

Always great food!

That's Master Chef Wayne under the tent cooking up those perfect burgers.

Second only to seeing everyone was getting a demonstration of Wayne's sawmill.

Wayne Saws a 1938 hurricane log.

He gave a demonstration by sawing one of the Hurricane of  '38 logs that was retrieved from the lake and dried out for weeks.  This particular log had an "S" stamped in it;  there was discussion of whether this stood for the US Forest Service or logger Joseph Smith.  (My money is on Smith!)  Wayne has a number of boards he has sawn from these ancient logs and has a few he would offer to someone who wants one for a project - contact me if you're interested.  For more of the history on these sunken logs, see this prior post.  

A warm welcome to the new members of the association, and a huge thank you to the Blakes!

Earlier in the day the Loon Preservation Committee held their state-wide loon census from 8:00 to 9:00 and Lake Wicwas had four people combing the lake for loons.  Dave and Marge Thorpe found a group of six loons carousing together in the southern portion of the lake, while Michael Marion and I found the family of mom, dad, Coco, and Jimmy, for a total of ten loons on our small lake - that may be record for our census day.

The Wicwas Navy steams up the lake.

While we watched the family of four, mom came up with a large fish - we know it was mom because we saw her red band.

Mom brings home the bacon this morning.

She first brought it to one chick who wanted nothing to do with it.

Usually when a parent comes up with a fish both chicks go rushing over to get it first, but not for this monster fish (from a chicks' perspective).  Mom went back and forth between the two of them several times, but each time the chick turned up their nose. 

 Or should I say, stuck its head in the water.

Eventually mom gave up and swallowed it herself - it was pretty big even for her.

Look at that bulge in her neck.

While she was trying to convince someone to eat it dad came up with a chick-size minnow, and sure enough, Jimmy dashed right over and gobbled it down!

Dad motors off in search of more.

Here's yet another surprising nature report from Lake Wicwas.  First you need to know that the Thorpes have a statue of heron on their property.  They've long wondered if they'd ever see a real heron come to visit it.  Well earlier this summer it actually happened.

Henry and Henrietta.  Photo by Dave Thorpe.

The statue is Henry, and they named its friend Henrietta.  Once Henrietta found a companion she decided to come back and visit again, but on the most recent visit the Thorpes witnessed something extraordinary:  Henrietta caught a chipmunk!  They watched as the heron thrashed it around for a while, either killing it or at least wearing it down; Henrietta then took off with it in her beak, presumably to feed it to her chicks back in the nest.  [That's a correction from the original post.]  But the crazy heron stories don't end there.  

On another day Debby Crowley was watching a loon on the lake when she saw another bird land.  When she zoomed in on it she saw it was a heron.  Have you ever seen a heron land on the water?  She then saw it had a fish in it's beak - it's unknow if the heron caught it or saw it floating on the water and came down to get it.  Either way it decided to leave it there as its neck was already pretty full - heron will catch food and store it in their neck to bring it to the chicks in the nest for feeding.  

I asked Debby if the heron was able to fly away from deep water and she said yes, actually rather gracefully, and even sent some photos of the takeoff.

Flaps out.

Gaining air speed.

Almost there.

Airborne - retract landing gear.
Photos by Debby Crowley.

Nature never ceases to surprise me with its unexpected events.  Thank you for those great nature reports Dave and Debby!

One thing that has come to be expected this July is rain.  One evening after a rather wet day the sky cleared enough to go out for a quiet evening paddle, and like most days, even rainy ones, there's always something beautiful to see in the world.

Rain drops on lily pads.

Mist rises from the hills beyond Wicwas.

July 11, 2021: Big Moths and Big Snakes

I need to go back and catch up with some items that were neglected the past few weeks due to all the loon news on the lake.  First, the appearance of Luna Moths occurred quite some time ago and several people told me of their sightings including this one by Dotty Treisner who found two of them resting on the red siding of her house.

Luna Moth (Actius Luna).   Photo by Dotty Treisner.

Though jealous of these sightings because I haven't seen one myself in many years I'm always excited to know these beautiful, huge moths are still present in the Lakes Region.  A big reason they're not often seen is that they only live for about a week in their adult, moth form, during which time they mate but they don't eat - they don't even have a mouth or a digestive tract.  All their food consumption occurs while they are a caterpillar, munching on tree leaves such as birch.

Another overdue observation dates all the way back to the rained-out bird walk that was to be led by UNH Extension Service biologist Mart Tarr at the Page Pond Community Forest.  As we were all waiting at the trailhead to see if the thunderstorm would pass quickly (it didn't) he mentioned there had been a lot of Baltimore Orioles in new Hampshire this summer.  Since I hadn't seen one of these bright orange birds yet this year I went out the next morning in the kayak to peruse likely oriole habitats, and sure enough I found one right away.

A Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula) sings from the highest branch of a white pine.   

They are such impressive birds and their loud, repeated song carries a long way over the water to lead you to them.  You can listen to their songs here.

Another impressive bird is the great blue heron which even standing three feet tall is often hidden among the weeds and bushes of the shoreline.  So it was an uncommon sight when Cindy Desmond saw one perched completely exposed on a raft.

A great blue heron (Ardea herodias) standing tall.  Photo by Cindy Desmond.

Wild creatures aren't ashamed to take advantage of human alterations to the environment when they suit their needs, sometimes to their benefit, sometimes to their demise.  Running along the side of the road one day I saw a bright green snake sunning itself on the edge of road, soaking up the heat from the pavement.   I stopped to encourage it to move farther from the road lest it become a participant of the old "Frogger" video game, but I was too late.  Though still alive and wriggling from what looked like a minor injury I'm pretty sure it wasn't going to survive the trauma it had endured.  And that wasn't the only snake-on-human-structure moment this week.  One morning I found this large northern water snake sunning itself on our dock when I went out for a paddle.

One warm, happy, water snake.

Like all snakes it wanted nothing to do with me and immediately slithered off the dock as I approached, but I was ready.  You probably shouldn't watch this video if you don't like snakes and ever want to swim in a lake again.

There's been plenty of stormy weather lately including the most recent heavy rains from tropical storm Elsa; the lake right now is a good six inches above full pond.  Did you catch the sunset as one of the recent storms departed?

I think our drought conditions have been largely remedied at this point.

I can't close without an update on the loons.  Coco and Jimmy were both doing fine at my last check on Saturday.  I don't see them as often now that they are widening their circle of travel all the way out to the area between Sheep and Bryant Islands.  Keep an eye out for them on your lake trips as they may be most anywhere on the northern portion of the lake in the coming weeks - they are still pretty small and vulnerable.

"Move your head dad, I can't see!"

My counterparts who report on the nature scene at Pleasant Lake in New London have been following an interesting loon story that mirrors our experience with a mate change.  But the female loons battling each other on Pleasant Lake have not given up the fight and it's taking a toll on everyone.  Their reporting implies that male loons fight over territory while female loons fight over males.  This week's report is dramatic, violent, and heart wrenching, but it's worth reading to better understand these complex animals.  You can find their report here; it will make you appreciate how fortunate we are to be having a peaceful year on Wicwas.

Nap time on Lake Wicwas.

July 4, 2021: Jimmy Gets his Dinner

Lots of loon stories to share this week.  As reported earlier, Coco hatched on June 26, probably early in the morning of National Chocolate Pudding day.  Linda thought she heard/saw something around the nest so we went out to take a peek, and sure enough, there was one little ball of coco floating on the lake.

Coco on June 26, probably just a few hours old.

And both parents were with her!

Who's watching the nest to keep those predators away?

  The second egg was left unguarded.

For much of the day both parents were out with Coco, enough so that we thought the second egg had been abandoned.  Dave Thorpe was keeping LPC biologist Jayden Jech appraised so on the following day she came out to mark the egg on one side.  The plan was to check the egg again after 24 hours and if the egg had not been repositioned it would mean it had in fact been abandoned.  Dave recounts what happed next:

I went out in the morning [of June 27th] with the expectation that the nest would still be empty and was very surprised to find an adult on the nest so left quickly.  When Jayden arrived we approached the nest from a significant distance.  As we were sitting there one chick came off the nest, soon followed by another.  They were will hidden in the grass so we had doubts about what we though we saw but this photo confirms it.

It's hard to see but there are two chicks right under the adult's beak.  Photo by Dave Thorpe.

 

The other adult was nearby and calling but did not come to the nest.  We left hoping that adult would come to the nest.  After a half hour or so we returned to find the nest empty, both adults together and both chicks with them, well out in the [cove].

Jimmy, just hatched on June 27, gets what may be his first meal.  Photo by Dave Thorpe.

Jayden collected all the egg fragments, some of which looked very fresh.  We think it is possible the second chick hatched while we were watching earlier in the day.

Dave and Jayden were kind enough to let Linda name the second chick as well, and she crowned him Jimmy, in honor of Ice Cream Cake day. (Do you detect a theme here?)

There had been a few glimpses of leg bands on the female that made us think it was the loon banded on Lake Pemigewasset in 2019, but Deb Crowley got the first positive confirmation that in fact, our long-standing female loon had been replaced.

These bands confirm this is the Pemi female.  Photo by Deb Crowley.

We consider ourselves most fortunate to have the nest so close that we see the family many times during the day.  Initially they stayed in the area of the nest, but each day they have explored a bit farther, coming right by our dock on Thursday.  On their trip by in the rain on Friday we experienced a feeding event, and with the drab sky reducing reflection off the water, both adults' leg bands were visible enough to know who was who, and Jimmy is enough smaller than Coco to be able tell the siblings apart when they're near each other.  Being able to see the bands under the water made this a really interesting experience.  I apologize if it hints at some sexist stereotypes, but I'm just reporting the facts!  Here's how the feeding unfolded:  First, dad brings home the bacon while Coco stretches his tiny wings.

The leg bands on both adults are visible under the water.

"Who's turn is it for this one?"

"It's Jimmy's"

"Here you are"

But Jimmy doesn't seem interested and lets it go.

Mom and dad search for it to collect it again.

But dad says "Hey, if you don't want it that's up to you", while mom tracks the fish down.

"I got it"

"Here Jimmy, try again"

He's still not interested.

"It's awful big mom"

But mom has more patience with the kids than dad and goes after the minnow a third time.

And presents it again.

"Come on Jimmy, you really need to eat your fish if you're going to grow big and strong."

"Open wide"

"OK mom"

Down the hatch head first, tail flapping in the rain.

"There you go Jimmy"

Mom watches carefully as he gags it down.

So through a team effort, little Jimmy ate his dinner.  Maybe it's just their agreed-to division of duties:  Mom supervises dinner while dad goes out to catch more food.  At any rate, the parents are keeping the kids very busy and Coco and Jimmy are are already watching their parents fish and are taking short dives of their own.

That's Coco going for a practice dive.

It's hard, tiring work being a loon chick.

Happy Independence Day!