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.
The reminder came out this week that it's time for the early summer weed-watcher inspection of the lake to make sure no invasive weeds snuck in over the late fall or early spring. The lake is divided into nine sectors that include the entire perimeter of the lake as well as the islands which a team of 12 volunteers join forces to inspect twice a year. I did my survey on a calm morning with the sun low enough in the sky to minimize reflections, helping me to see down into the water. The good news: I saw nothing to be concerned about. I did however, see plenty of pretty sights on my paddle.
A peaceful morning weed-watching on Lake Wicwas.
The White Water Lilies are always a favorite.
White Water Lily (Nymphaea odorata)
I recognize many of the aquatic plants but there are always several I have to look up, such as this one:
Pickerel Weed (Pontederia cordata)
I recognized these large arrow-shaped leaves as a common plant around the lake, but without the purple flowers that are about to erupt from that elongated bud, I didn't identify them right away as Pickerel Weed.
This next submerged plant always warrants a close look:
It's one of six species of native milfoil in New Hamphsire, easily confused with the invasive Variable Milfoil.
My sector of the lake just happens to include the nesting site of the northern loon pair which I was able to quietly paddle past at a distance such it didn't even notice me.
Now that we're on to animals, here are a couple of nocturnal visitors that stopped by this week. First, Mr. Stinky triggered the light on the motion detector.
Striped Skunk
It's a good reminder to make plenty of noise when heading out after dark. A few hours later, along came Rocky.
Common Raccoon
There are more animals out there lurking around in the dark of night than just the ones we hear through open windows on hot summer nights.
I'll close with one more animal, one that hopped right up to greet me as I walked up to the back door.
This lively pickerel frog jumped up out of the grass right onto the doorstep - I must have startled it. But then it just as quickly leaped back down into grass, but paused long enough for me to take its picture. Sometime nature cooperates!
A healthy looking White-tailed Deer paid a visit to the yard this week and we enjoyed watching it while it browsed because it was mostly nibbling on plants we didn't mind it gobbling up. Even though we were standing very still inside the house the deer was able to detect our motion and be on high alert.
Deer are incredibly sensitive animals.
I know their namesake fly, the Deer Fly, torments them as much as they do us, as the deer's constant tail swishing and ear twitching shows, but deer apparently are more tolerant than I am to these painful pests.
A couple of deer flies attached right to its forehead.
At one point the deer was munching on Sheep Laurel.
"This looks tasty."
Then it went after the Whorled Loosestrife.
Does it taste as good as it looks?
Even better was when it started working on various weeds.
The reach,
the snap,
and the munch. Note the ragged broken off stem above its nose.
A rough broken stem rather than a clean cut is a sign of deer damage because lacking front incisors, deer tear off vegetation rather than cut it with sharp front teeth like a rabbit. We don't mind finding these on the weeds, but there are plenty of garden casualties that result from deer and other wildlife when we're not around to shoo them away. Living amidst nature is definitely a give and take experience.
Did you happen to notice all the Rice Krispies in the lake this week?
These are the male cones of the White Pine tree and there was a good batch of them this year.
A friend gave them this name and it's perfect - that's exactly what they look like, just floating in the lake rather than your cereal bowl.
These are the factories that produced all that green pollen that fell a couple of weeks ago.
Another plant that is prolific this year is the Rose Pogonia.
Rose Pogonia (Pogonia ophioglossoides)
I mention these every summer simply because they are so fabulous. If you haven't seen them you really should grab a kayak and head into one of the many marshes around Wicwas or any of the other local lakes. They really are special - a native, miniature orchid.
Note the two legs of a spider hiding behind one of the flowers.
There is good news from the loons: last week's mating efforts were productive and the northern pair has built a second nest and is now incubating at least one egg. I went out with the LPC intern Jayden on Wednesday and it must have been right after the first egg was laid as both loons were away from the nest long before we came anywhere near it. With them off the nest, Jayden was able to see a single egg through binoculars. As we got nearer to the nest both loons came right up beside us, ready to defend their nest if needed.
We quickly moved away. Jayden thinks it's likely they were not incubating the egg yet because a second egg will be added to the nest. Waiting until both eggs are laid before incubation allows the two eggs to hatch close together, usually about 24 hours apart. The next day there was a loon on the nest, so the incubation timer likely started on June 20th. Now we wait anxiously, with two loon nests on the lake. Check here on July 21st for an update, and on July 15th for the south nest.
Finally, I want to thank the intrepid group of hikers that braved the heat and humidity to participate in the Lakes Region Conservation Trust guided hike to the Smyth Easement. We started from the Hamlin Town Forest trailhead and were able to get nice but very hazy views from both Crockett's Ledge and the White Mountain Ledge.
A hazy day in the mountains.
It was the hottest day of the year, 94 degrees when we finished with 99% relative humidity, but we took it slow and had a great trip. Even on a hot day there were lots of birds singing - we heard Hermit Thrushes, Scarlet Tanagers, Ovenbirds, and several different warblers, among many others. At one of the stream crossings we stopped to see what we would find. There were small fish in the brook, and we discovered some beautiful bright green damselflies with black wings. I think they were Ebony Jewelwings.
Sometimes the best part of a hike is when you just stop, look, and listen.
One of the more interesting insects we see now and then is the Hummingbird Clearwing. This one visited Linda's flowers last week in search of nectar.
Hummingbird Clearwing Moth (Hemaris thysbe)
It's a beautiful insect, rather large, and the transparent wings add a special beauty around the flowers.
It's an interesting mashup of a hummingbird, a bee, a butterfly, and a moth - it actually is in the moth family - but it has a proboscis that it uses like a butterfly to drink nectar from deep in a flower.
Linda's hard work rewards us with more grace and wonder than just beautiful flowers!
The story of nests this summer continues. This week I found this nicely woven bird nest right in the middle of the road.
The unanswered questions are, who made it and why was it there? Presumably it fell from a tree overhanging the road, but was it after the eggs had hatched or was it dislodged by a predator? I looked into various bird nest construction methods and materials to try to identify it which led me to think it's a warbler nest, but I found insufficient defining characteristics to say just which warbler. The well-woven grass, pine needles, and bits of wasp nest point towards perhaps a Pine Warbler or a Chestnut-sided Warbler.
I'm happy to hear your thoughts on this.
And next, another loon nest: The south pair of Wicwas loons is now on a nest! It's on the same island as last year in Harris Cove.
We'll hope they fare better than the north pair, but there's a promising sign for the north pair too: they were seen mating on a shore in Marion Cove this week. Warning: the following video is R rated.
Loons mating on June 15. Video by Michael Marion.
A loon typically lays an egg within a week of copulating, so by next week we should have another nest.
Last week we were noticing all the brown needles on the White Pines. This week the trees look much better, back to green. That's because all the old needles are now elsewhere.
New pine needle carpeting makes for quiet walking in the forest.
While some leaves are ending their life cycle, ready to be recycled by microorganisms into soil, others are just getting started. The light green on these Hemlock needles show they're beginning to synthesize chlorophyll through photosynthesis.
Our newest beaver pond over in Hamlin is growing rapidly too but that story will have to wait. I'll close this week with a pretty blue flower, and for Sunday, a church with a beautiful view and a name to go with it.
Pointed Blue-eyed Grass
Mountain View Church on Upper Bay Road in Sanbornton.
The church has a beautiful view of the Belknap Mountains, but I do have to admit that I photoshopped the picture to remove the utility lines that somewhat spoil the view.
I'm sorry to report that it wasn't a good week for birds on Lake Wicwas, at least the ground nesting birds. Tuesday morning the LPC loon biologist came to the lake for his first survey of the season, and our first stop was to check on the loon nest. One loon was out at the expected sentry location guarding the cove, but as the nest came into view we saw the other loon was off the nest, some 20 or 30 yards away - not what we'd expect. We paddled in closer to the nest and the loon didn't seem at all concerned. When we got close enough to see the nest, the reason was clear. Both eggs had been destroyed. One was pretty broken up and a couple feet out of the nest, the other more intact and in the nest. The biologist collected the shells for study, and we left saddened, to continue our survey.
The empty nest. Perhaps they can determine what occurred by studying the eggs.
As we approached the middle of the lake, right at the dividing line between the two nesting territories, we saw five more loons acting in an aggressive manner, and yet another farther away by the entrance to the usual south nesting site. That meant eight loons on the lake.
We watched them tangle with each other for a while before we moved on. By the time we finished the full lake survey and were nearing home again, we found seven of the loons had congregated together, and none of them were happy.
Seven loons together is an unusual sight in June.
They were head-dunking and diving and wing-rowing after each other. I wondered if these non-resident loons had any role in destroying the eggs, though predators seem more likely - a racoon, mink, eagle, or even a bear. It seems like a loon's four inch beak might scare off a racoon or a mink, but who knows. The good news is that it's still plenty early enough for a second nest attempt, and the next day all the visiting loons were nowhere to be seen. We can hope things will settle down and the two resident pairs will get back to business.
I found the other sad sight when I went to to see if the eggs in the Hermit Thrush nest I discovered a couple of weeks ago had hatched. As well as I thought the nest was hidden, some animal had found it, dragged it out from under its hemlock cover, predated the nest, and surely consumed the eggs.
Remnants of the Hermit Thrush nest.
It can be hard to watch nature sometimes, but it's all part of the food chain. Hermit Thrushes may have two broods a summer anyway, so there's a good chance it will re-nest also.
I'll report on one more carnivorous animal, and this may be hard for some people to watch, so be warned.
A dragonfly and its prey.
This dragonfly was dining upon some other flying insect right on our deck. In the past I've shown the pretty ferocious looking mouth parts of a a dragonfly, and now I've seen what they can do.
It was sucking out all the juices from its prey's body, and when it was done there were just wings and legs left behind. This is a blurry video, but it shows meal time in action:
Gruesome I know, sorry, but again, that's life in the wild.
How about something prettier now?
June is the time for Lupines.
And bumble bees.
This bumble bee was flitting all around Linda's Lupines. Its proboscis seems ideally suited to probe into the tiny slit in each flower to extract nectar.
We haven't been up to Sugar Hill this year, but I think now is the time to see the lupines at their peak. Don't forget to stop in to Polly's Pancake House!
I spent a beautiful day in the White Mountains this week with a good friend as we hiked up to Lonesome Lake in Franconia Notch.
Mt. Lafayette rises above Lonesome Lake.
The season there is a couple of weeks behind the Lakes Region as shown by the dozens of Painted Trillium we saw along the trail. Right near the lake there were also some neat little butterflies. When they flew they were bright blue, but as soon as they landed they folded their wings and just about disappeared as they blended into the ground.
Well hidden when not in flight.
But it's there.
This is a Spring Azure butterfly, one of the first to emerge, but there were also lots of Tiger Swallowtails flitting all around the lake.
Now here's a really interesting find that a nature-watching friend sent me:
Wool Sower Gall. Photo by Dick Hunnewell.
I'd never seen anything like this before, but a little digging turned up that it's another kind of gall, this one a Wool Sower Gall. Like other galls, it's the nursery of an insect larva, in this case, the Wool Sower Gall Wasp. After the adult wasp inserts an egg into a leaf or stem, the host tree creates the gall around it to isolate the intrusion, and in the process builds a sanctuary for the larva to develop in, well protected from predators. This wasp will only lay its eggs on White Oak, so I'll have to look for these trees on my next excursion. You can read more about his particular wasp and gall here. Thanks for sharing this Dick!
We've had good stretch of some really nice weather, and with the long days it's been great growing season. On a bike ride up in the Chemung area I saw the farmers out harvesting their first cutting of hay; it's good to see agricultural fields here among all our forests.
Another piece of good news: One of my favorite photographers is back at the lake, and already sending me great pictures. She heard a new bird right after she returned, and spent quite a while working to find it and get a picture. It's a Blackburnian Warbler, a species that seems to be everywhere this year, though I've rarely seen or heard it before. She has more patience than it do, as these birds are very elusive!
Blackburnian Warbler. Photo by Debby Crowell.
Great to have you back Debby!
(P.S. Did you notice the brown pine needles? You can read what's going on here)
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