February 19, 2023: Porcupine Ledge

I mentioned last week that I had been exploring a granite ledge that porcupine claim for their home. 

"Porcupine Ledge"

These rocky ledges are a favorite habitat for porcupines with all the nooks and crannies to hide in, and the hemlock trees that thrive on granite ledges.  

The days before I visited had seen a thaw-freeze cycle so there weren't any fresh tracks to be found but there were plenty of signs porcupine still inhabit this ledge - and are plenty active.  Immediately obvious as I approached the area were trees with large sections of their trunks stripped bare of their bark.

A stripped Striped Maple.  (Acer pensylvanicum) 

Striped maple trees have soft wood with moist, tender bark and are clearly a favorite of porcupine.

Porcupine are somewhat fussy, passing over areas with tough bark.

But they are very methodical in their eating, using their fine, sharp teeth to carefully scrape all the cambium right down to the heartwood of the tree they're dining on.

Porcupine incisor marks.

It appears they visited this tree in prior years based on the aged, gray wood in between the fresh chew marks.

Weathered gray wood from a prior year.

Hemlock trees are another favorite of porcupine and there are many hemlock trees on the ledge that have been dined on over the years. 

An Eastern Hemlock trimmed of its branches.

Often the first sign that you are in porcupine territory will be finding the ground covered with bits of hemlock branches that were chewed off the trees during the porcupine's harvest. 

Branches cut and dropped on the ground.

The frozen snow had preserved their trails from before the thaw so I could easily follow their paths to find their dens.

Porcupine trail leading to a den in the ledge.

Porcupine dens are typically small caves in the rocky ledge where they're protected from the elements and the earth keeps the temperature above freezing all winter.

The entrance to a den.

The floor of the entryway is often covered with droppings, an indicator the den is in current use.

Here's a photo of Erethizon dorsatum near the top of Porcupine Ledge from a prior winter:

Taken at night with my trail camera.

And here's one up in a tree, doing its thing.

Taken from a ski trail at Ragged Mountain.

We had some awfully pretty days this week, and with the thaw and freeze cycle the lake surface is back to being skate-able, so I took a skate around the entire lake yesterday.

A beautiful skate on Saturday.

And I found some pretty sights at Waukewan Highlands (off Parade Road in Meredith).

Near sunset on the Yellow Trail at Waukewan Highlands.

And finally, a gorgeous, fiery sunrise that Neil Crimins witnessed last weekend while ice fishing off Leavitt Beach on Winnipesaukee.

Thanks for sharing Neil!