August 11, 2024: Osprey in Action

There has been a lot of osprey activity around the lake recently.  On a quiet evening paddle this week I heard one calling way off down the lake and looked in that direction - there were two ospreys flying far off in the distance.  They were close to the shore of an island, flying about tree-top level and occasionally crashing down into the lake in an attempt to catch a late day dinner.  As I continued down the lake one of them flew right over me; it was clearly empty handed.

Look at those talons.  Too bad they're empty.

The other osprey continued to make dives, and one was close enough for me take a couple of fuzzy pictures.  They are right into the sun but it lets you see how dramatic their dives are.  When an osprey targets a fish it will fold its wings and dive down head first until just before it hits the water.  An instant before impact it extends its talons ahead of its body and crashes into the lake feet-first, going down a couple of feet if necessary.  

Target contact!

If it's successful, it surfaces and takes off with its fish.  

Getting airborne.

This dive was a success.

A nice size fish.

After a few strong strokes of its wings it give a great shake to rid itself of all the extra weight of the water on its feathers.  

That's a lot of weight to rid itself of.

It will then turn the fish head first and fly to a secluded tree to dine.  If it's an adult nurturing chicks, after it has its fill of the choicest parts of the fish it will take the rest to its nest to feed its mate and their offspring.

Off to find a safe place to eat, out of sight of the eagles.

Late afternoon and evening is the best time to watch for this spectacle.  If you hear the kip-kip-kip call of an osprey, look around for it, and if you're patient, you might get a show.

🦅

I was up in Franconia Notch this week on what turned out to be the pick of the week weather-wise. It was cool and dry with light winds, only 15-20 mph on the summit of Mt. Lafayette. There's a reason this is rated as one of the top hikes in world (yes, in the world).

I like to hike the loop over Lafayette, Lincoln, and Little Haystack counterclockwise so I have sun behind me on the ridge and the water falls in front of me on the Falling Waters Trail.  There are a dozen gorgeous river views along that trail; here are a just a few of them.  

On my way down the Old Bridle Path I heard a clanking sound off in the distance and didn't know what it was. I soon came across the AMC Trail Crew working on the trail and instantly knew the source of the sound.  

Not a bad office for a summer job.  (At least on a nice day.)

I had read about the five year reconstruction project of the entire loop trail, and this was it. After decades of over use - the trail sees over 40,000 visitors each year - it has become terribly eroded.  

This is how badly much of the trail has eroded over the decades.

The work has to be done, but it saddens me that it will no longer be a hike in the rugged White Mountains, but instead more like a stroll through a city park.  Here's what the trail looks like where they've completed their work. 

 A finished section of trail.

It doesn't look much like a rugged hike to a 5249' peak in the White Mountains.

The number of hours that are going into this project is hard to fathom.  The clanking sound was the crew off in the woods splitting granite boulders to build all those steps and water bars.  They drag the cut pieces of granite to the trail and place them in a hole dug two or more feet deep to secure them well enough to endure all those feet over the coming years. It's like an iceberg - you only see the tip of the stone. All of this is done by hand.  But there's a very good reason this trail sees so much traffic:

The Franconia Ridge Trail runs along the top of that mountain range.

Back at the lake I came across a stash of Snapping Turtle eggs that had been exposed by recent rain eroding soil that was covering the nest.  I noticed the broken shells in the eroded ditch where water ran off the road.

The turtle shells are the ragged white objects in the eroded area.

The contents of the eggs were likely eaten by any number of predators - crows, raccoons, or minks for example.  Looking around I saw something unexpected - there was a displaced egg untouched and several more still in the part of the bank that hadn't been fully eroded. 

Six eggs visible in part of the nest still embedded in the gravel.

Why did the predator leave these choice eggs behind?  It seems any of those predators would have detected the eggs in the bank, if only by smell even if they weren't yet eroded enough to be visible.

Snapping turtle eggs look like perfectly round ping pong balls, just a little smaller.

An intact egg next to an open shell.  

Their shells are soft and leathery so they don't crack like a bird egg.

That was on Friday.  I figured the rain Friday night would have washed away the rest of the nest, and sure enough, Saturday morning, everything was gone.

Now eroded right up to the pavement.

Even though there is no shortage of snappers in the lake and the eggs provide a great source of protein for their predators, it's still sad to see a nest exposed due to poor road side conditions.  This momma snapper needs to work harder to find a safer place for her nests.

🐢

I'll end with a happier picture:  One more view from the iconic Franconia Ridge Trail.

Mt. Lafayette, the highest peak in the Franconia Range.