October 26, 2025: Pied-billed Grebe

I saw a new bird on Lake Wicwas this week:  A Pied-billed Grebe.

Pied-billed Grebe  (Podilymbus podiceps)

It was solitary, and having good success fishing all by itself in the lake, staying and diving for quite a while.  I had to look it up as it wasn't a bird I recognized, but after identifying it I realized I had seen this bird once before - on the coast of Virginia.  Pied-billed grebes breed throughout New Hampshire, but I'd never seen one here.  They are built like a loon with legs far back on their body which make them excellent swimmers, and like loons, very awkward when walking on land.  For that reason they spend almost their entire life in water - even when nesting.  

Unlike our Common Loon, this grebe builds a floating nest, a bowl-shaped nest on a floating mat of vegetation either by constructing a raft from stems of aquatic plants, or maybe even on top of lily pads.  Also like loons, once the chicks hatch they ride on their parent's back for safety.  The pied-billed has a wide range of food sources with crayfish being their primary food, but they also eat fish, snails, mussels, crabs, frogs, leeches, and insects.  [Ref: Cornell Lab of Ornithology]  Unlike loons, these grebes may lay a brood of up to ten eggs.  Here's a photo of a nest from the Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance.

Pied-billed Grebe nest with ten eggs.  Photo by James Otto.

I saw another uncommon bird on Lake Wicwas a couple of weeks ago:

A Solitary Sandpiper perches on top of a docked boat on Wicwas.

The solitary sandpiper breeds in boreal forests in Canada, so this one picked Wicwas as a nice rest stop on its way to Central or South America for the winter.  We'll soon be seeing more migrating birds making stopovers at Wicwas.

Leaves are falling fast now in the Lakes Region and the open branches continue to reveal new sights I hadn't noticed before.  This week I saw this huge American Beech tree a dozen yards off the trail to Crockett's Ledge in the Hamlin Forest.  

It seems healthy, even with that six foot crack running up the trunk and an enormous cavity inside.  The opening was large enough to put my hand in and take pictures looking both up and down inside the trunk.

The bottom of the cavity inside the beech.

Looking skywards

Fortunately, there were no signs of animal life in there.  I don't think I've seen the inside of a standing tree before!

Farther up towards the White Mountain Ledge I noticed a hemlock tree with a long strip of bark blown off from being struck by lightening.

A long strip of blown off bark where electrical heating
explosively boiled the moisture under the bark.

When lightning strikes a tree the electrical current passes through the cambium under the bark to reach the ground because the live, wet wood is a good electrical conductor.  The heat generated by the current vaporizes the water under the bark which expands violently and blows the bark right off the tree.

Rotting wood indicates this is old lightning scar.

On the trail it was evident that many of the leaves were no longer on the trees, especially the maples.

The beech, oak, and aspen hold on to their leaves a bit longer so there was still some color looking north towards the white mountains.

I could only see as far as Mt. Osceola on Friday.

Closing on a non-nature note, the boat ramp for Lake Wicwas got its rebuild this week.  

There are nine concrete slabs anchored together going out over 20 feet into the water; one is visible as the lake level is still down a few inches.

Hopefully the new design will reduce erosion and sedimentation going into the lake.  

Silt fencing protected the water during construction.

It's worth noting that going into the last week of October, we've still only had one day where the temperature has dropped below freezing and flowers are still blooming.

Daisies at my parents house.

And people are still out enjoying the fall weather on the water.

I hope you're able to take advantage of the quiet season around the lakes!

October 19, 2025: Witch Hazel

Late fall is when Witch Hazel puts on its highly unusual show, and it's an appropriate time with Halloween just around the corner.  Witch hazel is the only shrub or tree I can think of that blooms in October, and it has really interesting flowers.

The twisted, filament-like flowers of Witch Hazel.

The seeds are maturing now as well.

The woody capsule which typically contains two seeds.

But these are the pods from last autumns flowers.  They will soon burst open in halves and shoot their seeds far and wide - up to 20 feet away.  I cut one open (it wasn't easy) and this was its contents:

The two large black seeds in the seed pod of the witch hazel.

Staying with the Wicwas witch theme, how about this cute little orb-weaver spider, the kind that weave beautiful geometric webs using those dexterous legs and all the different types of silk it creates:

An Orb-weaver spider, probably a Cross Orb-weaver

It's most likely a female, and on its final days as they don't survive the winter.  I gave it a little nudge with my finger and it curled right up to protect itself with all those legs.

Another classic October sight is flocks of turkeys that have gathered up together, traveling the land in search of food to fatten up for winter.  You frequently see them along roadsides, especially near fields, and though they usually run off the road and disappear into the woods, sometimes they are reluctant to do so.  I've seen them recently along local roads, at Oakland Cemetery, and yesterday morning, at the end of our road.

While I was enjoying the bright foliage of maple trees during a paddle this week, I came upon yet another hornets' nest, this one hanging over the lake from Sheep Island. 

This nest was about the size of a large melon - quite a bit smaller than the one I found two weeks ago. 

 

Next up on my paddle was a Great Blue Heron stalking fish or frogs beside a marsh. 

I expect our herons will be heading south soon, or perhaps to the coast or large rivers where there's open water all winter.  I didn't see our young loon on my paddles this week, but it's still a little early for a juvenile to leave the lake.

The fall foliage is past peak now but there are still plenty of bright red and orange maples and a few yellow aspen dotting the landscape.  

Finally, we took one last ride on the Cannon Tramway before they shut it down for replacement.  It will take two years to get the new one installed.  Built in 1980 to replace the original tram built in 1938 (the first in all of North America), this old friend served us well for 45 years.  If you want to take one last ride, do it before October 26th - that will be the end.    😞

October 12, 2025: Hoppers and Hawks

Adding to the migrating raptors this week was a Red-tailed Hawk rising up on the thermals over the summit of Bald Knob in the Ossipee Mountains.

Red-tailed Hawk in the Ossipees

I had some nice views of it with the sun shining through its plumage, though it quickly rose up to a small spec in the sky.  It didn't have a very red tail, or perhaps the bright light washed the color out.

Raptors use these thermals in their migration by riding them high in the air, sometimes thousands feet, without using energy flapping their wings.  Then they soar southward for miles, slowly losing altitude, until they find another rising thermal air column.  And if there's a stiff northwest wind, all the better.  

I also heard a red-tail hawk up on the hills behind Lake Wicwas this week but I couldn't see it.  They typically don't stay in the Lakes Region through the winter, migrating just south of us, but perhaps that boundary is moving north now.

I found myself looking skyward for other reasons also.

The foliage doesn't seem as bright this year, perhaps due to the drought conditions, but there are plenty of beautiful trees in localized areas, especially around the lake where they had plenty of water all summer.

Looking down can be fruitful too.  That's where I found this huge American Toad camouflaged among the dry leaves.

American Toad (Anaxyrus americanus)

There are migrating birds on the water too, including this flock of four mallards foraging for food in the shallow water near the dam on Wicwas.

Must be something good down there.

They're losing their iridescent summer colors.  

Paddling the marshy shorelines also reveals bright red American Cranberries ripening amongst the wetland growth.

If you see people tramping through the marshes in tall rubber boots, that's what they're collecting.

One must be prepared to take stowaways on board when paddling through the marshes.

Lots of little bugs hopped on my boat.

These appear to be different than the longer, thinner bugs that hop onto my kayak earlier in the summer.  I think these are a species of Planthopper, likely the Common Pondlily Planthopper.

Common Pondlily Planthopper (Megamelus davisi)

Wikipedia states there are over 12,000 species of planthoppers;  these are in the family Delphacidae, which includes "only" 2000 species.   

Thankfully these insects are purely herbivores.  That protrusion on its head is for sucking plant juices rather than human juices, so these are harmless to us; most had jumped ship before I got back to port.  But on my way home I passed by yet another pretty wetland plant, a variety of St John's Wort growing on a boulder in the lake.

Bog St. John's Wort  (Triadenum fraseri)

There's always something new and interesting to discover on the shores of your favorite lake.

October 5, 2025: Summer Continues

It's hard to remember it's October with seemingly endless summer weather coming day after day.   The forecast for Meredith is for three more days with the temperature hitting 80 degrees before rain arrives on Wednesday.  On one of those gorgeous days this week I took a long, peaceful paddle around the lake and was treated to several large bird sightings.  First was this mature eagle perched in a prime spot to watch over the world.

Farther along I saw an eagle fly high over the lake, and later a third one, immature, swoop down low, right at the loons.

An eagle on the hunt for fish - or loons.

The loons were aware of both of these. They sent out a general alert about the high-flier, but when the immature eagle came on its strafing run, they let out some pretty impressive shrieks that resounded across the lake.  Fortunately, all the loons evaded the attack.  There were three that I saw on this paddle, two together which swam amicably towards a third.   All were adults in various stages of losing their sharp summer plumage.  I didn't come across Spangle.

The northern territory male loon is still on the lake as well.  Perhaps he's sticking around to keep other loons out of his territory, or perhaps he's making sure he's visible to any eligible females that might fly over Wicwas on their way to the ocean.  (I don't know about this, I just like to consider various hypotheses - which sounds better than just making stuff up.)

The rest of my trip was spent just savoring a quiet, late summer day - and I wasn't the only one doing so.

A couple of painted turtles soak up some warm summer rays.

Swamp Rose (Rosa palustris)

Groundnut (Apios americana)

Groundnut, also know as wild potato, has edible tubers and legumes.  The tubers were an important food source for the native Americans, and were boiled like potatoes.  Europeans also relied on them during their early years in Massachusetts.  [Ref: Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center]  I've seen groundnut growing in multiple locations around Lake Wicwas.

As leaves turn and start to drop from their branches, the sightlines through the forest are returning.  I had walked this section of trail a few times this summer but never saw this huge hornets nest until now.

It's a beauty - and so big it's bent the branch it's attached to almost 180 degrees - they must manufacture some pretty strong glue.  Bald-faced hornets are aggressive and pack a powerful sting, so I was careful in walking behind the nest to take a video of the residents coming and going as they performed their duties.  Click below to see the video:

They know to create the opening facing away from the prevailing winds.  I wonder how many hornets call that nest home.

 

Soon all the leaves will be gone, and the hornets too.  But as long as they last, let's relish in these last glorious days of summer.