May 17, 2026: Busy Beavers

A beaver dam holds back the large pond in the Sherman Easement at Page Pond.

I was out with the trail crew on Tuesday morning doing winter clean up and spring brushing of the trails at Page Pond.  One team worked on the wetland loop, while I was on the team that patrolled the Brook Trail and the Beaver Pond Trail, the later of which is living up to its name.  Beaver activity is evident by cut trees and the well maintained dams.  (There are several dams visible from the trail, including a series of dams along the stream that drains the large beaver pond on the Sherman Easement).

For food, beavers prefer deciduous trees with nutritious bark and low tannins and noxious chemicals:  aspen, birch, maple.  They get less picky when food is in short supply, and they'll cut down almost any tree for use in dams and lodges.

I think this is an Eastern Hemlock

Their well constructed dams kept the pond full even with our dry spring (until later in the week).

Much of the right had side of the pond is a dam.

I would have been interested to see what the pond looked like after we received 2.75" of rain on Thursday.  The Beaver Pond Trail is especially beautiful in spring when many wild flowers bloom along the trail, and both purple and painted trillium are blooming right now.  The trail is most easily accessed from the Blueberry Hill Road Trailhead.

Painted Trillium

Lake Wicwas rose about 11" as a result of that storm, and low-lying areas of the shoreline are flooded.

+12" at the Wicwas Dam on Saturday.

On my check around the lake, I came across quite a bit of beaver activity on Wicwas too. 

These are also hemlocks.  The bark and cambium were removed from most of them; only the one on the far right was cut down and taken away.  Trees with bark removed all the way around will likely die.  If you'd like to learn more about beavers, here's a fun, two-minute video from NH Fish and Game that a friend sent me. (Thanks DM!)

Beaver aren't the only animal munching on trees.  Early in the week I saw that the Hobblebush Viburnum were starting to bloom.

Hobblebush Viburnum

These large flowers last a long time and transition through multiple stages of flowers and fruit.  However, all the flowers and most of the other buds and branch tips on the entire stand of hobblebush were soon cut off.  A few days later I found where they had gone.

A fresh pile of deer droppings near the viburnum.

Those hobblebush flowers have been processed into fertilizer to nourish the next generation of forest plants.  Deer right now are feasting on plentiful tender, new spring growth, especially does which will soon be giving birth to one or two fawns.  

Here's evidence of one more animal that feasts on trees, and not one we're fond of.

Emerald Ash Borer damage.

The Emerald Ash Borer is an invasive species that has decimated the ash trees in North America.  The larvae bore under the bark and feed on the cambium just like the beaver, and once the tree is girdled, sap carrying water and nutrients can no longer pass from roots to leaves and vice versa.  You can see this tree is right beside the Yellow Trail in the Hamlin Town Forest; it was cut down after it died to keep the trail safe.

I'll end with a small bird report - a really small bird, the Ruby-throated Humming bird.  A couple of friends put up a hummingbird feeder with a camera built into it which automatically records both still shots and videos whenever a bird comes to the feeder and triggers the motion sensor. 

Photos by Pam Hunt.

Being within inches of the birds, the camera captures a lot of detail.

In the video below you can see how rapidly it cycles its tongue in and out, and how fast it breaths - about 4 breaths per second - by the way its abdomen vibrates while it's feeding.  Turn up the volume so you can hear it chirp when it first lands.

Here's a slow motion version where you can see its tongue, and get a glimpse of its wings which are flapping about 50 times per second.

This is a fun camera - thank you Pam and Bob for sharing!

P.S.  Remember that as lake temperatures rise, the concern of cyanobacteria rises as well.  The Lake Winnipesaukee Alliance is sponsoring an open event on June 17th at the Meredith Community Center for people to learn more about how to deal with this increasing threat to our lakes.  It runs from 6:00 to 8:00 pm; you can learn more about the event and the cyanobacteria threat here.