January 21, 2024: Pine Siskin

Light fresh snow and cold temperatures have provided the first good tracking conditions of the season - along with some really nice skiing. 

A late afternoon ski on Lake Wicwas.

On my first ski trip on the lake this winter I came across more signs of my new best friends, the otters. This time there must have been three of them out having a blast on top of the ice rather than under it. For a long stretch along the shore near Sheep Island I followed their hop-slide-hop game of follow the leader. 

A trio of river otters out sliding on the ice.

On a different trip in the woods behind the lake I found this animal sign right in the middle of the trail for all the animals of the forest to take note.

Based on the small, twisted form of the scat, it looks the calling card of a weasel.

On another beautiful, bright day Linda and I took a snowshoe out to the new viewing platform at the Page Pond Town Forest over looking the pond on the Quarry Loop Trail. 

The new viewing platform at the Quarry Loop at Page Pond.

There were plenty of animal tracks to be seen there including white-tailed deer tracks right at viewing platform. 

White-tailed deer were exploring the edge of the pond.

A hoof print that also shows the deer's dew claws (on the left).

At the other end of the size spectrum:  mouse tracks on the pond.

Standing quietly beside the pond we heard a rambunctious bird song that I thought was a bunch of goldfinches in the trees, but every now and then there was a distinct upward spiraling raspy call that wasn't anything I'd heard before.  I recorded his song and ran it through the Cornell BirdNET app  which identified it as pine siskin -  a new bird for me.  I looked for the rambunctious singer there at the pond as well as three other times when I heard one singing, but I could never find it high up in the branches.  Here's a picture of a pine siskin from the Cornell ornithology website that shows how it blends in so well, making it impossible for me to locate.

Pine siskin; photo from Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

If you participate in the NH Audubon Backyard Winter Bird Survey you should have received their recent newsletter about the upcoming survey.  It predicts the pine siskin will be "the finch of the season" so maybe we'll see (hear?) more of them.  If you're interested in the backyard survey you can find out how to participate at the NH Audubon Backyard Winter Bird Survey - it's very easy to participate, you can spend as much or as little time as you'd like, and you don't even have to leave your warm home!

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Before the most recent snow fell there were a few interesting items visible on the top of the old crusty snow.

White pine cone scales shredded by red squirrels.

This particular patch of forest was covered with scales from white pine cones scattered uniformly over the snow.  I'm guessing here, the squirrel was up in a tree shredding pincecones and the scales fluttered down, spreading out over the ground.  Compare it to this situation where a squirrel sat on the ground having its meal:

Pinecone scales and the stem from which they were removed.

In another part of the forest the snow was littered with maple seeds. 

Maple seeds all over the snow.

Maple seeds in January?  I've always seen these released in the spring; it makes no sense to me why trees would produce seeds now when there's no hope of them finding warm soil on which to germinate. Could the tree have been confused by all the warm weather in December?

One more bit of good news from the cold weather (it got as cold as -5 this week):  People were fishing on Meredith Bay on Friday!  And the Pond Hockey rink area has been staked out on Lake Waukewan.  If it remains cold they should be able to hold the tournament on Winnipesaukee, but Waukewan will be a backup if needed.

It sure is nice to have real winter arrive.