April 19, 2026: A Squirrel's Tale

The weather was nice enough the day after ice-out on Wicwas to get on the lake for a kayak, and I wasn't the only one on the lake; I caught up on winter news with several others out enjoying the nice day.  It's always a long stretch to be off the lake between the time the ice isn't safe for travel until there's enough open water to kayak.

There was still ice in some of the protected, north-facing coves.

In addition to the loons and the geese, several other waterfowl are arriving on the lake.  There was a pair of Ring-necked Ducks, sharp looking birds.

Ring-necked Ducks

Buffleheads (another beautiful diving duck), and both Hooded and Common Mergansers all made their appearance.

Buffleheads

A quartet of male Common Mergansers

On my first kayak of the year I'm alway impressed by how quickly the pond lilies emerge, as well as how clear the water is in early spring.

Pond lilies emerging from the lake bottom as soon as the ice is out.

These plants probably start their process as the ice thins and small amounts of solar radiation start to penetrate to the bottom of the lake.

I also came across a beaver lodge that has been expanded and now towers high above the lake.

This home will stay dry even if spring flooding raises the lake level.

As I paddled across the imaginary line that separates the south and north loon territories, I found a loon on sentry.  I was sure it was the northern male guarding its boundary.  It was preening, so I watched from a safe distance - so not to not disturb him - while I waited for a foot wag.

Sprucing himself up to look handsome for his mate.

He was at it for a long time, but eventually, I got the action I needed.

White band with a black dot - that's our guy.

The spring invasion of migrating birds is really heating up now.  On one walk I saw or heard 18 different birds including a Hermit Thrush, Golden-crowned Kinglet, White-throated Sparrow, Carolina Wren, Blue-headed Vireo, and Northern Flicker.  Some migrants will stay here to breed while others are just stopping for a rest on their way to breeding grounds farther north.

🐦🐦🐦

Now for the squirrel tale, or rather, tail.  I found this on the ground in a small open area amidst a mixed pine-hardwood forest. 

I wasn't sure what it was until I turned it over and saw the red fur.

It's clearly the tail of a Red Squirrel.  The question is, did a predator catch the squirrel and leave the tail behind, or did it catch just the tail, which the squirrel jettisoned to save its life?  Scouring the area for clues was fruitless - no carcass, fur, or any signs of a struggle, which isn't surprising.  A predator would likely either take its meal to a safer place to eat, or take it back to its den or nest for its family.  But if it caught the squirrel, wouldn't it have taken it away tail and all?  Why would it cut off the tail and leave it there?

If the squirrel did escape alive, it will have a difficult life; squirrels can't regrow a tais the way starfish or lizards can regrow a body part, and a squirrel uses its tail in many ways including for balance and for insulation in winter.

The detachment point.

At any rate, I'll be keeping my eye out this summer for a tailless red squirrel!

P.S.  Speaking of migrating birds, the MOTUS bird tracking station on Red Hill in Moultonborough has detected two Saw-Whet Owls which are now far north in Canada on the St. Lawrence River.  You can always find the latest detections using the link at the top of the Wicwas Nature Journal.

April 12, 2026: Ice-Out

We were making good progress towards ice-out early in the week with a strong April sun shinning down on the darkening ice.

Monday

But then the thinnest layer of new snow set things back when the fresh white surface turned those rays around and reflected them right back into space.

A Snowy Tuesday

But a couple of warm days followed and ate away at the new snow.

Thursday

and by Friday we were back on the path towards rapid melting.  

Friday

Interesting formations always appear as meltwater finds the path to a low spot on the ice.

Ice Spider

The very next day, after a windy night, we woke to this:

Blue Water on Saturday Morning

Wind had splintered the ice like a giant ice chipper into small crystal fragments and piled them up against the edge of the waning ice sheet.

I think that's a compact summary of the ice-out process:  solid ice on left, open water on the right, and the fragmented ice crystals at the interface.  The green color at the margin of ice and fragments comes from liquid water that was swept onto the ice reflecting green pine trees on the far shore.

The wave action continued to erode the ice during the day, and the wind drove everything to the shore line.

You could audibly hear the ice fragments clinking and tinkling against each other in the wave action. 

By afternoon, almost all the remaining ice had been melted and worn away by the wave action.  Ice-out on Wicwas was declared yesterday, April 11.

Lake Wicwas Boat Ramp at 4:41pm on April 11th.

April 11 is typical for ice-out on Wicwas, but due to the cold December resulting in an early ice-in date of December 10th, the lake was ice-covered for 122 days, the longest period of ice cover since the winter of 2018-2019.  Lake Winnisquam was declared ice free on April 6th, and Lake Winnipesaukee is getting close with ice left only in Center Harbor and Wolfeboro according to Emerson Aviation.  

Earlier in the week the lake was too soft to be an avenue for coyotes, but it wasn't too soft for water-loving animals.  A pair of geese walked across the lake.

Making the trek from open water along the shore to their nesting site.

I'm pretty sure it's the pair that nests in the wetland behind Sheep Island, and that's where they were heading to see if it's open enough to start nestbuilding.  It's a well protected nesting site, and they want first dibs on it.

We also watched a River Otter out playing on the ice - it has no concern with crossing open water at the shore lines.  It was dusk so I couldn't get a picture, but here's one from an otter on an earlier trip across the lake.

They run, hop, jump, slide, and just generally seem to have a grand time playing on the ice.

Belly Slide

And finally, more late breaking news from the lake: The loons have arrived!

This is most likely the northern territory male and hopefully, a new mate.

This pair arrived Friday (or earlier), before ice-out.  Like the geese, they want to claim their territory before any other bird noses in.  All our loon watchers will be looking for bands now to determine who they are!

April 5, 2026: Happy Easter!

Spring is coming to New Hampshire.  The crocuses have joined the snowdrops in bloom, and the early spring birds are singing their joyous Easter songs. 

Crocus

Snowdrops

This week I heard the spring songs of phoebes (the first of the flycatchers to arrive), brown creepers, red-winged blackbirds, the singing-star Song Sparrow, and even a northern parula - all promising signs of spring.  Meanwhile, the lake is still firmly iced in, though with a beautiful warm and sunny day yesterday, the ice is turning dark, large cracks are forming around the edges - large enough to support the occasional pair of ducks - all of which mean the end of ice is near.  

Looking north over Wicwas yesterday from Wicwood Shores Road.

I doubt there will be any more coyotes crossing the ice unless we get an unexpected cold snap.

Last week's mid-day sighting of a coyote in the open was unusual because coyotes are primarily nocturnal.

There's not a clear story of the evolution of the Eastern Coyote, but a widely accepted theory is they are a mix of the Western Coyote and the Eastern Timber Wolf.  DNA testing of our coyotes shows roughly equal parts of these two species, with a small amount of domestic dog DNA as well.  The theory is that two major factors lead to this as a new species.  First, Europeans cleared the eastern forests where the timber wolf was present, all the way to the mid-west which was the eastern limit of the Western Coyote.  The presence of wolves probably kept them out of the east, but as the wolves were removed, there was the opportunity for coyotes to move in.

The second factor is that both wolves and western coyotes were hunted in a relentless effort to exterminate them.  As the popultion of both species declined, mating opportunities became scarce, and a result, they started interbreeding.  The extermination of wolves was largely successful, but it was not for coyotes which have incredible survival characteristics.  The result of the interbreeding is the eastern coyote, which weighing 30 to 50 pounds, is noticeably larger than the western coyote at 20 to 30 pounds.

Between the wolf extermination project and the decimation of the large mammal population (caribou, moose), wolves are no longer present in New England.  But coyotes have extremely wide diets including mammals large and small, birds, insects, amphibians, fruit, vegetation, and human garbage, so they thrived as the wolves departed the scene.  Despite governments spending millions of dollars to kill coyotes (in 1971 alone, the US government spent $8 million on the coyote extermination project), their numbers continued to grow.  The effort was self-defeating.  It turns out that coyotes have a remarkable survival instinct:  when their population is stressed for any reason, they actually increase their rate of  reproduction to ensure their lineage continues.  Coyotes are probably here to stay.

I rarely hear coyotes, though people west of the lake report hearing them at night on occasion, and I see their tracks and their scat regularly all around the lake.  

Coyote  tracks and scat after a light snow earlier this winter.

I've seen several instances of successful coyote hunts, most dramatically, deer killed on the ice in winter (See January 22, 2012).  One winter I set a camera at a kill site and captured a lot of nighttime action. 

A coyote approaches a deer carcass.

One coyote came near the site during the day, but it didn't venture out in the open; it crept along the shoreline, deciding to wait for the safety of dark.

As to why a coyote was out in daylight last week, it may have been needing extra hunting runs for its family.  Coyotes mate in winter, giving birth in spring, and the female remains with the pups in the den while the mate and other males in the pack hunt for food for her and the pups.  Both the male and female as well as perhaps an older sibling will care for the young.  The book "Tracking and the Art of Seeing" by Paul Rezendes [HarperCollins, 1990] provides an excellent portrait of coyotes.

I was in the Ossipee Mountains this week, and even in that southern part of the White Mountains, it's still winter at higher elevations.

Mount Washington viewed from the summit of Mt. Shaw in the Ossipee Range.

Ice formations on the Mt. Shaw Trail.

The warm day was sending a lot of snow melt into the streams.

I'm always happy to come across signs of moose wherever I am.  These tracks and droppings were near the Black Snout summit at an altitude of 2800'.

A pile of moose droppings near the summit of Black Snout.

Moose prints are huge compared to white-tailed deer.

The large animal followed the trail for quite a distance;  it requires a lot less energy than breaking its way through deep snow and dense forest. 

Down at the base however, it was back to spring, and there is a large sugarbush near the trailhead.

They were collecting sap as I arrived in the morning.  When I returned after my hike, I took a peak in one of the buckets.

In just a few hours, a couple of inches of sap had been collected.

The sap was flowing nicely.  

They must have to empty the pails every morning when the sap is flowing this well.

A lot is changing now in the Lakes Region.  Warm days and cold ice sometimes conspire to give us unexpected experiences.

Fog settles in on Lake Wicwas as the sun sets.

Spring is a beautiful season in New Hampshire, something worth waiting for - and appreciating when it finally arrives.  

Happy Easter!