April 21, 2024: First Wildflower

I noted my first wildflower of the year at Page Pond on April 16th, a Coltsfoot.  (I don 't count introduced species like crocuses and snowdrops.)

Coltsfoot, April 16

Like most things this year, it's ahead of schedule.  Coltsfoot usually blooms in the first week of May and the earliest I've seem them previously is April 29th.  I'll be looking for the Trailing Arbutus to bloom next.

The lake level continues to be high though it has come down quite a bit over the last few days.  The high water may be raising havoc with the Canada geese finding sufficient nesting sites.  I've watched pairs of geese tangling with each other, apparently one pair defending their nesting site from an intruding pair.

If you're boating on the lake in the next few weeks, be careful of floating debris in the water from the recent storm.  There are lots of logs floating just under the surface and several large trees still making their way around the lake including this large one currently stuck on the bottom down towards the dam.

Photos by Dean Cascadden.

There's also a lost umbrella base floating in the lake, looking like a white submarine with its periscope up.  If you recognize it let me know and we'll get it back to you.

Up Periscope.  (Note the log also in the picture.)

All the trees in the lake have been a bonanza for the beavers who are finding easy foraging for food without having to cut their own trees down.

Branches gnawed clean of their bark.

Calmly enjoying an easy meal in the lake.

Good news on the loon front:  Just yesterday I confirmed our northern banded-loon pair has returned for the summer.  Earlier I had seen the female alone and caught sight of her bands.

All four bands are visible.

This is the female of the pair that raised LuLu and Checkers last year; she was banded on Lake Pemigewasset in 2018 and has been on Wicwas since 2021 when she evicted our prior banded female.  Then yesterday a pair of loons came by and I was able to get a look at its white band with black dot to determine it's LuLu and Checker's father, as well as another glimpse of the female.  

You can just barely make out the male's band on its left leg.

So the 2024 loon mating season has begun.  We'll be monitoring the lake level carefully now to keep it as steady as we can which won't be easy as those beavers are already packing the dam with all those branches blown down.

One more pair of breeding animals before I end:  The wood ducks appear to have taken up home here, so keep your eye open in a few weeks for mother wood duck and what is often her large brood of chicks.

Mrs. Wood Duck on her morning tour of the lake.

Take advantage of these last few bug-free days to get outside - the black flies will be here way too soon.