December 11, 2022: Boreal Chickadee

I met a new bird this week:  a boreal chickadee.  I had just reached the summit of Mt. Tecumseh, the mountain on which Waterville Valley Ski Area is located, when I heard the flutter of wings near me.  On prior hikes to Tecumseh I've always been greeted by Canada Jays, sometimes called "robber jays" because they will snatch food or small bright items left unattended.  On this summit they are so accustomed to people they will come and eat from your hand.  But as I followed the wingbeats, I saw not a jay, but a small chickadee land in the spruce tree right next to me.

Boreal Chickadee (Poecile hudsonicus)

We looked at each other as I took out my phone to take a picture, and it wasn't phased one bit.  As it flitted around me in the trees, I decided it was as tame as the jays, so I held out my hand, and sure enough, it landed right on my glove expecting a hand out.  Clearly this bird has learned about hikers.  I had no bird food, and not wanting to feed it people food, it must have been disappointed with me.  But later it returned, landing on the ground at my feet.  It hopped around, even right up to my foot where it found a crumb of food I or another hiker had dropped.  

Searching for lost crumbs.

At least it got something for its efforts.  

When I saw this bird I knew it was unlike our usual black-capped chickadee, but I didn't know just what it was - a variant, or a different species.  Back home with field guide in hand, it was easy to identify as a boreal chickadee with its brown cap, though it did take a couple of books as it's not in my first go-to Audubon guide.  That's because this bird is rare in New England.  It's primarily a resident of Canada's boreal forests, though its range does include very northern parts of New England, especially at higher elevations. 

Maybe they come for the spruce seeds, but stay for the view.

The boreal chickadee spends most of its life deep in the spruce trees and is therefor not often seen even within its range.  Considering the Cornell Ornithology lab states "Its boreal habits and sedentary lifestyle mean it’s a hard species for most bird watchers to see without taking a trip to Canada or Alaska", I feel very fortunate to have seen one.  Though, with this bird being acclimated to humans, I expect anyone hiking to the summit of Tecumseh has a good chance to see one.  I wouldn't be surprised if they also frequent the top of the ski area in winter.

On the subject of skiing, it's a pretty sad story in New Hampshire right now.  Yes, it's still early December, but there was essentially no snow even at 4000' elevation.  Only the highest peaks on the Presidential Range and the Franconia Range are "white" mountains right now.

Not much white in the mountains yet.

  

The other nature highlight of the week was found back in Meredith, at the end of the trail to Arbutus Hill Pond in the Hamlin/Eames/Smyth Conservation area where the beavers have been very busy.

Beaver activity at Arbutus Hill Pond.

Several good-size trees have been felled, some carefully planned to land right in the pond where it was easy for the beavers to cut off the branches and bring them into the pond to stock their underwater winter food stores.  

Where the trunks were too large to take away they gnawed off the bark and cambium to consume its high nutritional content.  

These large rodents have some pretty serious woodworking tools at their disposal.

It takes some strong teeth and jaws to cut these wood chips.

Beavers around Lake Wicwas have been busy too, stuffing the dam once again with tightly packed debris, raising the water level more than a foot above normal full level, flooding low areas around the shoreline.  The town employees were here again late in the week to clear it out before the lake freezes, which it's starting to do even with the warm days. 

Ice advances on a cold night, then retreats during the day.

Early one morning after a skim of ice had formed I saw a bald eagle fly over the lake, circle back around for a closer look, and then land right on the thin ice.  It pecked for several minutes on the ice; I have no idea what it found there.  It was far away and the morning light was dim, but it was definitely a bald eagle.

The battle between fall and winter goes on, and this week Jack Frost infiltrated our sun room, using the humid air of the prior day as the medium for his artwork on the inside of our windows.

I won't complain about an intruder that has these artistic abilities.  

One final note:  Maddie is still here.  She was leading a flock of perhaps 40 common mergansers, which flew off in a thundering of wings, though Maddie stayed calmly behind, watching over her lake.  I'm glad we have a lot of observers to make sure she has departed by the time the lake freezes over.