October 3, 2021: Cranberry Trifecta

This week we were hiking with good friends (thanks Bill and Tracy!) in the Kelley-Drake Conservation Area, a nice property conserved by the New Hampton Conservation Commission, when we came upon a large growth of low green plants with bright red berries in a wet area near Lake Pemigewasset.  Bill immediately identified them as cranberries.

Large cranberry or American cranberry (vaccinium macrocarpon)

I picked up a few of them and brought them home to see if they are the edible type, and sure enough, they are.

In fact these are the same species that are cultivated into a highly valuable commercial crop, especially in the cranberry bogs of Cape Cod.  If you serve Ocean Spray cranberries at Thanksgiving table, this is what you are eating.  I cooked up my handful of berries with a little maple sugar and had them in my yogurt - delicious!

It's clearly the season for cranberries; in the past few weeks I have come across mountain cranberries, cranberry viburnum, and now the traditional American cranberry.  I expect this weekend I'll see people in the marshes around the lakes with buckets in hand foraging for these pretty delicacies.

As the weather cools and flowers fade from the scene there are fewer pollinators around.  The yellow jackets are storming the hummingbird feeder but many other bees are much less prevalent.  One exception is the bumble bee.  This large and hairy bee can keep warm better than other bees and hornets and is often the first to arrive and the last to be seen each season.

A bumblebee diligently collects pollen from each tiny flower.

Nice and warm in its thick fur coat.

They're happy to find Linda's collection of coleus which she kindly lets bloom late in the summer.

Off to the next coleus.

We've had some cooler weather now, but I think the foliage is still a bit behind.  Even up in the White Mountains this week the color is just emerging.

Sandwich Dome and Jennings Peak seen from Sandwich Notch Road.

Kastle Equine at Bumps Intervale in Campton.

Back in Meredith where the foliage is even less developed, mom and her two loon chicks are still on Lake Wicwas but I think mom is getting a little frustrated with them.  I heard them far off, with one of the chicks making a really annoying call that sounded just like a kid whining that they're hungry.  When they sailed by me both chicks were constantly harassing mom, demanding food.

Coca and Jimmy badgering mom for food.

At one point mom lost her patience and snapped at them.

"Catch your own dinner!"

One chick then dove and came up far away, but it wasn't long before he or she returned back to mother.  I haven't seen dad for a week or two now so maybe this time he's really gone for the winter.  Mom will soon follow, and then Coco and Jimmy will have to fend for themselves.

Until they too leave, everyone will treasure the calm, warm, waning days of summer.