October 13, 2019: The Colorful Season

It's a time of change around the Lakes Region in so many ways, and color is one of the most obvious.

Between the beginning of October and the end of November the world transforms from a sea of green, through a kaleidoscope of  brilliant colors, and ends up in a mellow state of gray and brown.  And then it won't be long before the scene turns into glistening hues of blue and white.

It's the best time of the year to be outside enjoying everything nature has to offer, with cool temperatures, dry trails, no bugs, and beautiful scenery.  We took a short hike up in the Ossipee Mountains at Castle in the Clouds and the colors were quite nice.

Looking across Shannon Pond at Turtleback Mountain

The Belknap Mountains in the haze beyond Lake Winnipesaukee

It's a good time to look down as you walk because the berries of many shrubs are ripening now and they add different colors to the palette, such as the white baneberry plant with its white and black berries on bright red stems.

White baneberry (Actaea pachypoda), also known as "Dolls eyes", grows beneath a dense forest canopy.

All parts of this plant are poisonous, though one source [Natural Medicinal Herbs] does say it has multiple medicinal uses including "as a stimulant to revive and rally patients at the point of death."  Maybe I'll keep a few berries in  my pocket just in case....

On other walks this week I came across two very large hornet nests.

Bald-faced hornet nest.

One, pointed out by a fellow trail worker (thank you JS!) at the Page Pond Community Forest, had been knocked down on the ground and was devoid of insects which allowed a look at close range.

I walked right by this nest, thinking it was just a rock on the ground.

I was fascinated by the intricate design and construction of the nest, especially the subtle color variations.

This nest was most likely built by bald-faced hornets.  Bald-faced hornets are technically wasps, and they make nests by chewing wood into a pulp with their saliva and forming it into the nest.  I would guess the color variations are due to different types of wood they used as the starting material.

One color you don't want to see is black, at least when it comes from smoke.

Smoke from a barn fire on Chase Road.

We saw this column of black smoke late Wednesday afternoon;  it was reportedly from a barn fire on Chase Rd.  It was quickly extinguished by Meredith fire department with assistance from neighboring stations.  I don't know how extensive the damage was, and I hope there were no human or animal injuries.



If you've been in the forest lately you already know it's a banner year for acorns.

An copious crop of acorns is underfoot this fall.

They are abundant and large this year, and when you're in a garage with a metal roof, focused on your work, and a big one slams onto the roof, it just about gives you a heart attack.  Where are those baneberry berries?

I think the red and orange colors from the maples are at a peak in the Lakes Region right now, with the yellows of beech and oak still in the early stages.  And there are more and more ducks arriving to enjoy the scene, adding their own unique color schemes color to the picture.

A flock of wood ducks paddles among the maples.

Enjoy it now before it all segues into those browns and grays of November.

April 30, 2017

Signs of life are poking up everywhere as spring emerges from its long slumber.  The very first of the wildflowers, the Trailing Arbutus, emerged early in the week and are now blooming widely in the warmer locations.

First wildflower buds of the season

Trailing Arbutus (Epigaea repens), also known as Mayflower

Little Canada Mayflower stalks are starting to push their way up through last fall's leaf litter, even in the most improbable spots.

Canada Mayflower (Maianthemum canadense) also known as false-lily-of-the-valley.  Confusing, isn't it?

Soon the forest floor will be speckled with green shoots.

Even the Red Oak seeds are emerging from their cradle, reaching a toe out to test the soil, revealing their true colors even at this early stage.

A Red Oak is born

It's a wonder of nature that some day such a tiny seed will become a majestic oak.

A pair of Red Oaks along the Blue Trail in the Hamlin conservation area

Most of the Red Maple flowers are gone now and they are starting to push out miniature leaves, as are the Black Cherry trees.

Black Cherry leaves, and fruit in its early form

Allergy lovers, of course, already know this.

I witnessed a couple of displays of aerial acrobatics this week as crows defended their nests.  First I saw one crow attacking another that was just sitting in the top of an oak tree.

The attacker would fly away and circle up to gather energy for a bombing run.  As it dove down at the tree-sitter, the target would raise its sharp beak and let a out a loud "caaaw" and the bomber would make a close approach at high speed, then bank hard and swing away for another strafing run.

A crow protecting its territory

This went on for several minutes - I shared a couple of videos on YouTube:

               Crow Acrobatics                Bombing Run

Another day I saw a small bird chasing a larger bird and thought it was one of the smaller birds such as a blue jay or a black bird harassing a crow. (This is known as "mobbing": when smaller birds harass a larger bird to protect their nesting territory.  Crows for example, are known robbers of young hatchlings from smaller bird's nests.)  But with binoculars I immediately saw it was a crow going after a Bald Eagle.  The eagle flew to the shoreline and found a protected branch on a white pine to land, and the crow went on its way.

The Eagle protected from its smaller antagonist

I know there are crow nests in this area, as when walking nearby the crows put up an awful racket when I'm in the vicinity of their nest tree.  They know eagles love to raid their offspring just as much as the crows love to raid those of smaller birds.  It doesn't matter if you are the largest creature in the forest;  it won't make you invulnerable to less powerful nations who will fight tirelessly to protect their country.

Soon the next bird generation will be hatching out to join with all the other new life that makes up the rebirth of New England year after year.

Postscript:  As you drive the roads in Meredith in the coming weeks, take note how good the roadsides look.  A team of generous volunteers spent their Saturday morning picking up trash along the town's roads.  The event was organized and sponsored by Dave Kutcher and DAK Financial Group in Meredith.  Next time you're down town, stop by to say thank you to Dave and his team. Many thanks all the wonderful people who participated, including employees of Meredith's DPW who took away the mountain of trash collected.  It really makes a difference in how our town looks!

October 12, 2014

It's Columbus Day weekend and the fall colors are peaking right on schedule around Lake Wicwas.  The maples are deep red and orange, and the beech are starting to turn bright yellow.  The small deciduous trees right along the shore provide a brilliant contrast to the dark green of the pines behind them.

A couple of rare Black Gum trees add to the variety of hues.

Black Gum (Tupelo)

I have heard the loud report of shot guns just before dawn this past week, as duck season is now open.  The hunters are on shore and on boats, getting positioned before day-break to get the first shot of the day.  I know they've been on land when they leave an unfortunate calling card.

It's too bad one careless hunter can hurt the reputation of what are usually careful users of property.

But they haven't found all the birds, as I often flush out a group of ducks when I walk along the shore, and I caught this group out for a fall foliage tour.

The water is getting cold, but it is still warm enough to put off mist on a cold morning.

One day there were unusually tall, thin columns of mist reaching up to the sky.

The cause of this phenomenon is unknown to me.

In what is yet another warm fall, Lake Wicwas had its first frost just last night, and then only in open areas with no trees overhead where radiational cooling allowed the temperature to drop just below freezing.  Only the smallest of leaves raised just enough off the warm ground showed any frost.

There has been an abundance of acorns this year, with large, heavy nuts covering the ground under the oak trees. 

Acorns from Red Oak

I heard a science report explaining why two or three years of low acorn production is followed by a heavy crop (called a mast year).  If the oaks generated the same number of acorns every year, the animals that eat them - squirrels, mice, deer, turkey - would reach equilibrium with the crop, where there would be just enough animals to eat all the nuts.  But this would mean very few seeds survive to germinate.  So the trees have evolved to limit acorn production for a few years to reduce the population of the consumers.  Then they produce a bumper crop, with far more nuts than the population can possibly consume, leaving plenty to survive into spring.  Of course, the high food year produces lots of offspring for those animals the following year, which is then followed by an increase in the next level of animals in the food chain: owls, hawks, fox, fisher, and other predators.  But all these acorns should provide sustenance for healthy deer and turkey populations this winter.

But let's not rush winter.  The fall colors should last another week, so next weekend should provide one more opportunity for leaf peeping.  At least one loon is still on the lake, enjoying the beauty of autumn at Lake Wicwas.

August 25, 2013

The harvest season has begun at Lake Wicwas.  The squirrels, both red and gray, are the most obvious early reapers of summer's bounty.  I noticed the start a couple of weeks ago when green acorns started appearing on the ground.

And then last week the beechnuts started dropping from the trees.

Beech Nuts

They get lots of assistance from the squirrels, especially the gray squirrels it seems.  When you see branches swaying at the top of tree on a perfectly calm day, there's a good chance a squirrel is up there gathering some food it covets.  In the case of the beech trees, they seem to jump on the branches, shaking the nuts onto the ground.  On a quiet afternoon it can sound like rain coming down as all the small nuts fall on the ground around you at the base of large tree.

If you have a large Beech tree nearby, keep an eye out for signs of bear activity - beechnuts are one of their favorite foods. You may see scat in the area, or possibly claw marks where they climbed the tree.  There have been more bear sightings lately, so they are in the area.

The most interesting activity for me is the collection of pine cones from the white pines.  The squirrels chew the new cones - which still contain their seeds - off the branches and let them fall to the ground so they can store them for winter.  On a quiet morning in a pine forest one can hear the heavy cones sounding like a pinball machine as they bounce off multiple braches on their way down from of the top of the tree, landing with final crash on the forest floor.

Various mushroom and fungi are becoming numerous all around the lake.  This yellow fungus is one that stands our brightly against the mostly drab surroundings of dry leaves and pine needles.

If you've hiked the Blue Trail around the beaver ponds in the Hamlin area you've probably noticed a large muddy area that has developed in the trail as the water patterns changed in the past few years.  Well, recently the trail maintenance crew has added some large logs to form steps over the area - a welcome addition, especially in the spring.  But be careful - they'll be slippery!

If you hike past this brook, notice also the color of it, which indicates a lot of iron dissolved in the water.

Next week:  Labor Day weekend.  Where has the summer gone?

January 13, 2013

The January thaw hit Lake Wicwas this week, and it isn't pretty.  At least we had enough snow in December that the landscape is still mostly white, but it won't last if this weather keeps up.  The lake has standing water on it, and has had a dense layer of fog hanging above it for the past two days.  In fact, multiple layers of fog due to the colder temperature right at the surface of the ice.

Travel up in elevation a thousand feet or so, and the picture changes.  The warm air riding over colder air at the surface created the fog through a tempertuare inversion.  From the top of Ragged Mountain, looking over towards lake Wicwas, it looked like an ocean of clouds with mountain tops sticking up like islands.  Lake Wicwas is somewhere under that thick blanket.

From the Summit of Ragged Mountain in Danbury

This is the view looking north towards Mount Cardigan.

Mount Cardigan

Warm and sunny on the mountain top, damp and dreary in the valley - that's New England!

Back, on January 5th, a rather cold day, I found this tiny insect on the snow - it's about a half an inch long.
I don't know what it is, and I have no idea why it was out on a winter day when the temperature was only 30 degrees.


I put out some acorns for the animals during the cold snap after the snow we had.  They have been appreciated by the turkeys and the squirrels, and then yesterday we had a deer or two enjoying them.

Deer Feeding on Acorns

Acorns are one of the most nutritious and important winter food sources for many animals.  Although acorns - as well as oak buds - contain high levels of tannins (up to 9% - they were used in leather tanning!) and other potent toxins that humans can't process, some animals have evolved over time with organs that manufacture enzymes that break down and metabolize those toxins.  It's part of the battle between the self-protection systems of plants and the evolution of animals.  Plants create toxins to prevent them from being eaten, and over time, herbivores develop mechanisms that protect them from these assaults.

One reason deer have such a varied diet is because they eat slow-growing plant tissues which tend to have high levels of toxins:  acorns, leaves, hemlock needles.  By varying their diet and eating only small amounts of each food, they prevent the toxins from overloading their internal defensive organs.  Thus the deer have left some acorns for later.

Of course some animals, squirrels for one, play an important part in dispersing the oak tree's genes by carrying their seeds away and hiding them in the ground.  Those they lose track of and never harvest spread the oak's DNA farther than the tree could accomplish on its own.  Deer help as well, by stepping on some seeds, pressing them into the ground - as seen above - helping them to germinate in the spring.

But, if we don't get more snow soon we won't be doing any more tracking - let's hope winter returns soon!

September 9, 2012

I didn't get out much this week, as it is a busy time with fall chores kicking in, but I did see the loon chick on one trip around the lake.  No pictures, but it is starting to lose its baby fuzz and develop more mature markings, particularly on its head and beak.  It was also quite distant from its parents, the first time I've seen them apart. 

I took a run up to Crocket's Ledge on Saturday.  Though I didn't see any wildlife, I did find a plethora of mushrooms springing up everywhere.  Large clumps of them, and some of pretty good size.  Maybe next week I'll take some pictures.  For now, there was one new variety I found that was interesting enough that I had to look it up.  It is called a Crown-tipped Coral.

Crown-tipped Coral  (Artomyces pyxidatus)

This fungus is reportedly edible (though I'll pass) and the name is appropriately descriptive;  up close you can see where they got the crow-tipped part.

On the way back from Crocket's Ledge I saw a baby-blue car driving down Chemung Road, and I knew right away what it was up to.  So I stopped at the boat landing and sure enough, it turned onto the ramp.  It stopped for minute to prepare its metamorphosis,

 and then, it drove right into Lake Wicwas!

It took a moment to get it's mode of propulsion rearranged,

and it was off!

I've seen this amphibious vehicle before, but never got this close a look at it.  It has twin props, a high exhaust pipe, and another probe on the right side that I don't recognize - perhaps it's the bilge pump. 

This is an "Amphicar", built in Germany from 1961 through 1965.  It's a pretty cool machine, but I don't think I'd like to encounter much of a rough sea in it.  Plus, it has a British power-plant - an engine made by Triumph.  British cars were notorious for their electrical systems - I can't imagine how reliable it is when surrounded by water!

Quite a sight cruising the waters of Lake Wicwas!

Closer to the house, doing the end-of-summer errands, I found a couple of nice spider webs collecting their fall harvest.  The spider who made this web was an overachiever, as it had captured two dragon-flies.

It must make a pretty darn strong web to keep these large insects captive, and it certainly will eat well for the next few days.  I didn't see the homeowner though.

A second web didn't have any big customers, but it did have a beautiful web.

And this one was definitely at home, right in the middle of its web waiting for its meal.

There are plenty of other signs that autumn is coming, beyond the fabulous blue sky and water that graced the lake today.  Acorns are falling now, and it's looking like a good year for them, which will be appreciated by many animals, including the deer and turkey. 

I think these two objects are also the product of oak trees. 

I haven't found a reliable source of information yet, but the best I can discern is that they are called "galls", and are caused by insects laying eggs on an oak bud.  The oak grows a barrier around it, and the larvae develops inside.  That would explain why they always have a hole in them.

Of course, the most visible sign of the coming season is also becoming evident.