A somewhat random record of observations of what's happening around Lake Wicwas and the Lakes Region. I hope to post about once a week - your comments are welcomed.
This week there were four large birds soaring high over the Lake Wicwas. Our first thought was eagles because they were so large, but we don't usually see eagles soaring in groups, so then I thought maybe turkey vultures, but they aren't this far north in winter. As they circled closer we could see they were in fact bald eagles - four of them, all mature.
And they didn't seem pleased; they were acting aggressively and as they got even closer we could hear them calling.
Beaks open, squawking at each other.
I don't know much about eagle behavior but perhaps this was two pairs arguing over territory. Eagles are territorial and will defend their home turf. Eagles mate for life, and breeding season starts in late winter so newly formed pairs need to find a nesting territory. Whether it was an eviction or not, after one pair left, the remaining pair settled down into the same tree they used to watch over the deer carcass on the ice a few weeks ago.
Two perched eagles. They seem to like this particular white pine tree.
White pine is the preferred nesting tree for bald eagles - it would be exciting to have a pair of bald eagles nest on Wicwas! Well, maybe not for the loons.... This was another new experience for me, a result of the rebounding eagle population, enabled by work to protect endangered species and proof that such efforts can be successful.
The bald eagle isn't the only species that appreciates the attributes of white pine. This week I toured a logging project with the forester and got to witness the latest method of responsible logging in action.
Freshly cut and trimmed logs beside a logging trail.
This project is using a technique known as "cut-to-length" which greatly reduces the impact of the logging process on the soils as well as the trees that are not harvested. The other common method of logging large areas is “whole-tree” logging where the entire tree is dragged out of the forest along a skidder road with the branches removed and chipped at the log yard. In this method trees, standing trees beside the skidder roads often incur basal damage that weakens the tree, and makes it sick and rot, if not die. I toured the Chemung State Forest after its cut in 2021 and was dismayed to see dozens of trees with such damage.
Basal scarring from whole-tree logging in the Chemung State Forest in 2021.
This tree will surely die.
This damage is caused by trees being dragged out of the forest, especially on the inside of corners as the skidder drags the whole tree, branches and all, out to the log yard. Another negative of whole tree logging is that the entire tree is removed from the forest. In cut-to-length, much of the bio-mass is left in the forest to be recycled back into the soil.
In the cut-to-length logging process I observed, three specialized machines are used to do the harvesting. The first machine, called a feller-buncher, cuts trees marked for harvesting and places them near the trail.
Here is the machine in action:
Next, a powerful yet adept machine called a processor picks up each felled tree with a massive tool that quickly cuts off the branches, then measures and cuts the trunk into the desire lengths in a single step. The operator then lays the processed trunks along the edge of the trail for the final piece of equipment, the forwarder. It was fascinating to watch.
The processor stripping branches from a tree.
The business end of the processor.
Here are a couple of videos of the processor stripping, measuring, and cutting a tree.
Finally, the forwarder is another tracked vehicle which has a crane to pick up the processed trunks and place them on a flat bed to bring them out of the forest where they can be loaded onto a logging truck to be brought to the sawmill. The forwarder hadn’t started taking out the trees yet so I hope to go back next week to see the final step.
All of these machines are on tracks rather than wheels to better distribute their weight. They don’t form ruts in the soil, and have enough traction to not spin like wheels which can dig holes in the ground. Furthermore, the branches, after being removing from the trunk, are placed on the logging roads and the tracked vehicles drive right on top of the branches, further protecting the underlying soil. Wheeled vehicles can’t manage that kind of rough, uneven terrain.
Tracks limit damage to the soils and allow traveling over brush than directly on the ground.
I'm not pretending that logging on this scale doesn't damage the forest - it does. Cut-to-length still removes literally tons of biomass from the forest, impacts habitats, increases erosion, and damages soils along the logging roads. It also can impact small streams and wet areas that are crossed. But if planned and executed carefully the impact of cut-to-length is significantly less than whole-tree logging with skidders. It’s always hard for me to see logging on this scale, but trees are a renewable resource and will likely be harvested as long as humans (and beavers) are on the planet, and if it has to be done, this is the best process I’ve seen yet. Even horses and hand saws did their damage to the forest, let along the logging railroads of the 19th century.
Horses drag trees from the White Mountains. Photos from the Museum of the White Mountains.
Mad River Log Drive, Campton, NH.
Things have improved. The logging I saw this week was removing only a fraction of the trees, but opened up the canopy enough to provide smaller trees sunlight to grow strong and healthy, and left many large trees to reseed the areas newly opened to sunlight. And next year will be a good seed year for white pine. I learned from the forester that it takes two years for a white pine cone to mature and release seeds. Last year the pines flowered and formed tiny cones:
This tiny cone was formed last year and will mature and release seeds this fall.
These will stay on the tree though the winter and create the large cones we are familiar with which will drop their seeds this summer. And there will be plenty of large pines on this property, tall and strong, ready to host a nest for eagles looking for territory to claim as their own.
We've had an unusually high number of white-breasted nuthatches at our feeders this year so I thought I'd doing a little looking into the subject of nuthatches.
Yes, birds have tongues.
The White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) is a small, acrobatic bird that is found throughout much of the eastern and central United States. This species is a year-round resident of deciduous and mixed woodlands, and is commonly found in residential areas and parks.
One of the most distinctive features of the White-breasted Nuthatch is its ability to walk down trees headfirst. This behavior is made possible by its sharp claws and strong toes, which allow it to cling to the rough bark of trees. The bird uses this ability to forage for food, probing crevices in the bark for insects and seeds.
White-breasted Nuthatches are also known for their vocalizations, which consist of a variety of calls and songs. The most common call is a nasal "yank" or "yank-yank" sound, which is often heard in the woods. The bird also has a loud, ringing "whinny" call that is used to defend its territory.
In terms of diet, White-breasted Nuthatches are opportunistic feeders, consuming a variety of insects and seeds. In the summer, they primarily feed on insects such as beetles, caterpillars, and ants, while in the winter, they shift to a diet of seeds and nuts. They also hoard food, caching it in crevices and other hidden places for later use.
White-breasted Nuthatches are also known to be cooperative breeders, with the breeding pair being helped by one or more helpers in raising their young. The breeding pair excavates a hole in a tree, usually in a dead tree or a dead branch of a live tree. The female lays an average of six eggs and both parents incubate them for about two weeks. The young are then cared for by both parents and helpers, if any, and fledge in about three weeks.
In conclusion, the White-breasted Nuthatch is a fascinating and familiar bird that is well adapted to its forested habitat. Its acrobatic ability to walk down trees and its vocalizations, along with its opportunistic feeding habits and cooperative breeding behavior, make it a unique and interesting species to study and observe.
Did that sound a little stilted? Have you heard of ChatGPT? ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence software program that's been in the news a lot lately and has been predicted by some to replace lots of people's jobs in the future, so I thought I'd give it a test. The above description of white-breasted nuthatches is word-for-word what ChatGPT gave me when I asked it to "write a scientific article about the white-breasted nuthatch". It isn't bad, but it is somewhat, shall I say, artificial, so I think my job is safe for a bit longer. But I can envision a day where a web-connected trail camera sends photos to an image-recognition system connected to an artificial intelligence engine that will document what's happening around Lake Wicwas with no human intervention. Then I can just stay home all day like the human blobs in the movie WALL-E.
This isn't going to happen as long as I have a say in it.
My own research revealed that the migratory behavior of white-breasted nuthatches is still being studied. It had been believed they were not migratory and stayed in their territory year round, but recent studies have found they may in fact have some migratory behavior, possible being an irruptive species like their red-breasted cousin, meaning they move in mass migrations in years of low food supply in their home range. Because white-breasted nuthatches are such common and widespread birds this is hard to determine without banding specific birds and tracking them, something that a group of ornithologists is starting to do. So maybe this is an irruptive year with low food supply in Canada bringing more white-breasted nuthatches to central New Hampshire, but regardless, I'll enjoy watching them on the feeder, even if they do shovel seeds onto the ground as they dig through the feeders looking for the largest, choicest seeds.
Nuthatches excavate in the feeder to find the perfect seed.
This is a female.
Another thing I learned is how to differentiate male and female nuthatches. The female has a slightly gray cap on its head as seen above, while the male's cap is black, matching the shade of its nape just behind the cap. The distinction is slight, but noticable.
Although the larger lakes are still ice-free, Wicwas has between seven and ten inches of good ice on it. There are people out fishing, and the first bob house has appeared.
That sky looks like snow is coming.
I saw this on Thursday after a cold night had frozen the surface up nicely, allowing a skating excursion around the entire lake, just before more snow fell. Then on Friday we received a nice snowstorm, one without any rain involved, and the world was freshened up with a beautiful blanket of white - easy to shovel and great to ski on.
Turtle Island on Friday morning.
As the storm wound down the heavens started sending these perfect snowflakes down to earth.
It's the kind of snow you'd see in a Hollywood movie on Christmas Eve and call it fake.
But it was real.
Whether it was the snow, or the breast of a bird, white was the color of the week, and none of it was artificial.
People have been reporting sightings of river otters in Meredith Bay the past few days and when I stopped at the town docks yesterday to check on the status of the ice in the bay, there they were - three of them!
Three river otters right at the end of Meredith Bay.
They're called River Otters, but they can be found on rivers, lakes, and ponds that have good water quality throughout the lakes region.
Taken from the Meredith town docks with Pleasant Street in the background,
I only had my phone with me so these are the best pictures I was able to take. I watched them for quite a while as they played in the water and on the ice - such incredibly playful and fun-loving animals. I took some video of them on the ice:
They look like three brothers happily carousing together in frigid water - I think I'll name them Mackinnley, Hayden, and Callum. I wish I could frolic endlessly like that in 32 degree water!
We've had several small snowfalls recently which provided enough snow to do a bit of animal tracking and on one trip I observed several sets of tracks including a nice set of bobcat prints in the snow.
The small spacing of ~6" tells me this cat was walking slowly.
The round shape, lack of toenail imprints, and the boomerang-shape ridge between heel and toes are distinguishing features of bobcat print.
Right along this same trail I came across this pile of scat which has the size, shape, segmentation, and content of a bobcat:
Note the fur in this scat.
At least these tracks were far from our birdfeeders.
On the avian side, I saw my first tufted titmouse on the feeders on January 10th, and on the 14th the red-bellied woodpecker made another appearance.
This suet feeder is just barely long enough for a woodpecker of its size to feed. Woodpeckers use their tail as a third point of support as they climb on trees and use their beak to go after food. Here you can see the red-bellied has bent its tail 90 degrees to press it against the bottom of the feeder as a brace.
The tail feathers are pressed against the bottom of the feeder; the wings feathers extend down below.
If it were much longer it wouldn't be able to feed there. Bird feed manufacturers make large suet feeders like this one available from Wild Birds Unlimited to accomodate even the largest woodpeckers we have, the pileated, which is not able to partake in typical feeding stations:
A feeder with a long extension on which a pileated woodpecker can press its tail for a third point of support.
Mounting a feeder on a tree trunk will also work.
I'll end with two more sets of tracks on Lake Wicwas, which is frozen. I took this picture just because it was pretty but after the fact I wished I paid more attention to the tracks. My best guess is another bobcat based on the round prints and the offset tracks. A coyote or fox would leave prints in a straight line. Had I noted the dimensions I would be able to make a better identification.
Sadly, the ice on Meredith Bay is a long ways from being ready for February's events on the bay, but the otters sure are enjoying the current status.
The state of ice on Meredith Bay as of yesterday.
Correction: In last weeks journal entry I misidentified a woodpecker. A knowledgeable viewer noted that the length of the beak and the lack of black spots on the outer tail feathers indicate it was a hairy woodpecker, not a downy. Thank you for that helpful identification information!
In early December I noted a lot of beaver activity at Arbutus Hill Pond in the Eames Conservation Area (accessed via the Hamlin/Eames trailhead) so this week I took a walk back up to explore further now that the pond is frozen. I found that the main beaver lodge has been well maintained, and a second lodge has been added to neighborhood.
Two active beaver lodges at Arbutus Hill Pond.
This might explain all the activity this fall: They needed building materials as well as food to sustain an expanding, multi-generational family network. Larger branches from the trees they felled were used for lodge construction while the smaller branches and twigs were taken for winter food. Beavers don't typically eat hemlock trees, but they are smart enough to know if they cut them down it will leave space and light for their preferred species to grow. One homeowner even got into the holiday spirit and used hemlock to erect a Christmas tree on their lodge.
As the population grows beavers need a larger pond to support them and they've been busy on this aspect as well. The beaver dam on the west side of the pond has been elevated to enlarge the pond, which also required lengthening it so the water wouldn't spill around the ends of the dam.
Looking south along the dam.
The same point looking north. The water level below the dam is perhaps three feet lower.
With no snow on the ground when I was there I could easily see the entire dam which I estimate to be 250' in length.
The pink line is the dam, the blue line is the extent of the wetland. The white line is the hiking trail.
I think there may be a second dam at the west point of the wetland - something to look for on a future visit. Winter does make exploring wetlands much easier, though one must be careful of thin spots where there's moving water and beaver paths, especially with all the recent warm weather. If you would like to visit you can find a trail map at the kiosk or on the Meredith Conservation Commission website.
In mid December we decided it was safe to put the bird feeders out for the winter and it was interesting to watch how long it took different birds to find it. Within minutes a blue jay was on the feeder, but that was all on the first day. Surprisingly it took until the second day for the chickadees to show up.
Our first chickadee on the feeder.
By day three there were a bunch of chickadees, and on day four too many to count, as well as five gray squirrels. On day seven a red-bellied woodpecker appeared. It only spent a few seconds on the feeder before it flew off to explore every tree trunk in the yard looking for fresher food. It's such a pretty bird I hope it returns often. That same day the first white-breasted nuthatch made its appearance. Since then there have been many nuthatches, following their usual routine of shoveling seeds out onto the ground until they can get to a great big juicy seed or nut. Two days later we saw the first downy woodpecker, followed shortly by it's larger relative, the hairy woodpecker.
A hairy woodpecker selects a choice seed.
And it looks like it's going to be a big year for gray squirrels. One day there were 14 of them in the yard, mostly staying on their own designated feeders and taking advantage of the nuthatches discarded seeds.
With the low production of acorns this year I expect a lot of squirrels will be looking for handouts. Maybe the bobcat will switch from venison to squirrel. He may get a bird or two as well, but they are pretty good escape artists.
We received a couple of inches of snow on Friday, and fresh snow on a heavy overcast day always brings great contrasting scenes.
It even made me notice these tiny self-heal plants, standing in stark contrast against the white snow.
Dried self-heal blossoms (Prunella vulgaris) poking up above the thin snow cover.
I've walked by these a dozen times in the past few months and never noticed them. Their dried flowers remind me of hop cones - the kind used in making beer.
At least with Friday's snow the remnants of the deer are covered up - and it looks like winter again.
I hope this finally means a change to a winter weather pattern!
And they didn't seem pleased; they were acting aggressively and as they got even closer we could hear them calling.
