May 5, 2024: Boats and Birds are back on the Lake

Docks are going in and boats are appearing on the lake - sure signs that summer is approaching.  The April showers have come and gone and the lake is down to its proper summer level - just in time as both pairs of our nesting loons have returned and started scouting for nesting sites.  I got on the lake a couple of times, and on one of my kayak trips I watched a hawk fly over the lake right towards me and land high on an island I was paddling beside.    

Broad-winged Hawk.  (Buteo platypterus)

The broad-winged Hawks have returned.  These are hawks I often see and hear soaring over the lakes and trees in summer.  Their strongly banded tail is visible as they fly, and their high-pitched whistle is easily heard piercing the summer sky. 

Photo credit:  David Brown

New Hampshire's broad-winged hawks migrate 4000 miles twice a year, back and forth from Central America, and these birds are survivors.  Fossil records show they have been on the planet for 400,000 years.  [Ref:  Cornell Lab of Ornithology]  Cornell also states they usually nest "far from areas of human disturbance," another indicator that the conserved areas around Wicwas are supportive of wildlife species that need large unfragmented lands.

Later on the paddle I saw motion far across the lake in a marsh.  I couldn't see what it was but took a picture to blow up later, and saw that it was a Great Blue Heron.  And it had some huge object in its beak.

Is that a fish?  It doesn't look like a snake.  The photo is too poor to tell.

The herons have been back for a while now but many warblers arrived just this week.  I saw or heard Yellow-rumped, Black-throated Green, and Blackburnian warblers as well as Oven Birds.  

Lots of animals are taking advantage of the trees that got blown into the lake, not just the beavers.  I've seen painted turtles sun bathing on them as well as this heron which was using one felled tree as a fishing platform.

Amy and Russ found the Harris Cove loons preening one afternoon and were able to identify both of them by their bands.  This provided the confirmation that both nesting pairs are back.

The Harris Cove male.  Photo by Amy Wilson.

The two pairs seem to be sharing the lake well so it looks like we're set for another successful breeding season.  Between these two pairs, Lake Wicwas has fledged nine new loons over the past five years.

I also caught a glimpse of two deer strolling the woods.

I think they might have been yearlings still traveling together as both appeared rather small.  White-tailed deer are curious animals and they watched me for a while, eventually deciding I wasn't a threat, but they walked slowly up into thicker woods just to be safe.

The spring flora is also starting to rev up now.  This week I saw my first Trillium, a purple one.

Purple Trillium (Trillium erectum) in Hamlin.

Fiddleheads are poking up in and around wetlands.

Also Violets, the Sweet White and Common Blue, as well as Trailing Arbutus, are in bloom.

Trailing Arbutus (Epigaea repens)

There's a lot going on around the lake in spring, and there's only a short time left to enjoy it all without dealing with the bugs.  All those Phoebes and warblers fliting through the bare branches show that bugs are back on the lake too.