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.

November 24, 2024: How old are our Boulders?

Much of New Hampshire's rugged beauty is the result of glacial activity that took place some 12,000 years ago as the last ice-age retreated.  The Laurentide Ice Sheet, which was over two miles thick at its peak, retreated north over thousands of years, with its last remnants in New Hampshire melting approximately 10,000 years ago, but the specific time frame of its final demise here is uncertain.  

As the glacier pushed south from the artic it cut deep gouges which formed many of our lakes, and sliced off parts of mountains forming ledges with fine views.  It also scoured off soil and dragged and rolled large chunks of rock with it in a continental-size rock tumbler.  As the planet warmed, less snow fell, the glacier slowed its movement, then stopped.  As it melted it left those boulders wherever they were at the time, sometimes far from their original formation.  These are know as glacial erratics and  can be found throughout much of New Hampshire, including all around Lake Wicwas.

An erratic beside the Arbutus Hill Trail in Hamlin.

A carefully balanced boulder, delicately placed by the glacier.

The most famous erratic in New Hampshire is the Madison Boulder which is as big as a house.

Madison Boulder.   White Mountains New Hampshire photo.

The largest erratic I've found in Meredith is in Hamlin, right beside the Yellow Trail to Crockett's Ledge.  If you hiked that trail you've surely noticed it.

This is right at the junction of the two Yellow Trails heading up to Crockett's Ledge.

A professor at Plymouth State University, Professor Simon Pendleton, and one his students, are studying glacial history and they're using these glacial boulders to determine more accurately just when the last glacier retreated north through the Lakes Region.  Prof. Pendleton has identified a small number of boulders in the Hamlin Town Forest to study as part of his research.  Each boulder was selected based on criteria that makes it most suitable for testing, and the stewards of the Town Forest worked with Prof. Simon on the selection process and approved the rocks for sampling.

One of the boulders selected for research.

The dating process involves chipping off a small piece of the boulder to bring it to the lab for testing.  The testing process is long and detailed, but involves crushing the stone to a fine dust, separating the small amount of beryllium within the rock, and then analyzing the beryllium for a specific isotope which is created by cosmic-rays from the sun.  By measuring the amount of this isotope they will know how long the boulder has been exposed to sun, thus providing a date for when the glacier melted which left the boulder exposed to the suns cosmic-rays.  For those interested, you can learn more about beryllium-10 Cosmic-Ray Exposure Testing here.

Of course, this isn't actually how old the rock is - the White Mountains were formed 100-120 million years ago - but it will give us a better idea of when the last ice sheet left the Lakes Region and allowed our current fauna and flora to attain a foothold.  This data will also help us understand how our planet and its present-day glaciers will behave in our current warming climate, as well as the impact it will have on Earth's existing inhabitants.

It will takes weeks to process the samples, and then many more to analyze and interpret the data, but when the results are published I'll report them here.  Professor Pendleton has also offered to give a presentation on the results, and lead a guided tour to the testing sites in the Hamlin Town Forest to show us the specific boulders tested, talk more about the testing and its significance, and let us know how long ago you would have been standing at the edge of a glacier.

Moving forward in time a hundred or so centuries, let's see some elements of that renewal of life that have survived.  This week a couple of female Common Mergansers spent a rainy day on the lake fishing.

It makes me wonder if the reason we haven't seen many migratory ducks since the Wood Ducks early on is because we've had such good weather.  Perhaps they only stop by the Lakes Region when weather is poor and they want a short day of travel.  

I've also had some fun, though fleeting glimpses of deer, mink, and otter.  The otters numbered three, and were out frolicking in the lake as they made their way from one shore to another.  Hopefully there will soon tracks in the snow to follow their path.  The mink I saw was swimming right against the shoreline, hopping up onto land here and there to follow a scent or something else of interest, then right back into the lake.  No picture of him either, but here's one from a similar scene a few years ago.

Mink are just one of the thousands of creatures that have returned and survived for all these years since the area was swept clean of life thousands of years ago.

An AI generated image of New Hampshire shortly after the Laurentide Ice Sheet retreated.

We can be thankful it will be long time before North America is swept clean again.

Happy Thanksgiving!  

March 17: 2024: Mink on Thin Ice

It's a busy time of year with so much happening all at once as the world wakes up from its winter slumber.  One cold morning as I was enjoying the interesting patterns that formed on the lake over night, a flash of brown scooted onto the thin ice from shore and bounded across the lake right in front of me.  It was one of those lucky occasions when I had my camera in my hand.

Mink on the ice.

No problem with traction for those claws.

A mink doesn't worry about falling through thin ice - when it came to edge of the ice it just slipped into the water and continued on its way.

That was on Wednesday.  The day before was bright and windy and that took a big toll on the ice with the wind really breaking things up.  

The ice started breaking up on Monday.

Getting wider under the March sun on Tuesday.

The wind blew shreds of ice up over the transition point which glistened like diamonds in the sun.

By noon on Tuesday there were large expanses of open water.

By Saturday, most of winter's ice was gone with just one ice patch blocking the passage on the west site of Bryant Island.  It's possible ice-out will occur later today which would make it one of the earliest ice-out dates recorded.  

Many geese have now arrived and they're fighting over the best nesting sites in the marshes.  We've also seen bald eagles almost every day this week, both circling over the lake and sitting on the ice, perhaps feeding off things that were blown up onto the ice with the wind.

A couple of bald eagles survey the lake.  Are they looking for a nesting site?

In addition to annoying the Canada Geese endlessly, one afternoon an eagle flew right over me and landed in a tree, and had a heated argument with a red-bellied woodpecker that was not happy with its presence.  The two of them made quite the ruckus.  Here's a clip of the interaction - the eagle starts and ends, with the woodpecker calling out in the middle.  

This went on for quite some time.  Between the eagles, the geese, the mallards, and the red squirrels in the forest, it's been a noisy week.  Now we just need the wood frogs to join in.

The mergansers have also been plentiful this spring with a couple of different groups congregating on the lake.  I saw a few altercations of males chasing males, but mostly they seem well behaved as they figure out how to pair up for the mating season.

A couple of available female Common Mergansers.

And a male about to go...

under the ice for a fishing excursion.

I didn't realize that like Wood Ducks, Common Mergansers make their nests in tree cavities up to a mile away from water.  The female chooses the nesting site and builds the nest, and I believe the female also selects her mate, the one she finds most desirable after observing them all strut their stuff.  After mating, the male is done and leaves the child rearing to the mother.  I'd love to know how she gets a dozen little ducklings to travel a mile through a thick forest back to the lake.

The beavers also came around as soon as the ice opened up enough for them to swim along the shore line, and they are already building their scent mounds to mark their territory.  

I've also heard spring bird songs this week including the Song Sparrow and even a Carolina Wren (though that was a bit south of the Lakes Region, along the high banks of the Merrimack River in Concord) so the great migration is underway.  But this entry is long enough, so those will have to wait for another week.  

This is a great time to get outside to watch the world wake up and break into its triumphant return to life.  Just remember to wear your mud boots, and that tick season never ends - I've already found one deer tick - so take appropriate precautions.  

Mr. Mink won't be able to take short cuts across the lake any more, but for us, it's a time of renewal, rebirth, and rediscovery.

Blueberry buds, red and swelling with spring life.

April 16, 2023: Ice out and Spring In

Everything happened so quickly this week that there's way too much to discuss, so this entry will pretty much be a recording of events for the journal followed by a few notes about the mergansers which have been so plentiful and entertaining.  

Many of the spring birds arrived - here's what I observed for the first time this year:

• Northern Flicker
• Pine Warbler
• Blue-headed Vireo
• Swamp Sparrow
• Hermit Thrush
• Golden-crowned Kinglet
• Wood Duck
• Common Loon
• American Robin

Robins of course are here year 'round, living off fruit in the winter, but I rarely see them in the cold months.  Now that it's spring, they're here and hopping all over the ground listening for insects and worms in the soft soil.

Tuning in on lunch down underground.

The Pine Warblers are usually the first of warbler family to arrive and they have a loud distinctive call so you know when they're here.  Much more subtle and absolutely beautiful - perhaps the most eloquent of all the bird songs - is the Hermit Thrush.  Their song in the early morning is one of the most satisfying sounds of summer.  Another distinctive song is that of the wood frog which I heard for the first time this week, dozens of male wood frogs singing their hearts out looking for a mate.  Scientists say males congregate in a single vernal pool so they have a better chance of attracting females to their pool due to the loud sound.  Then each frog has to perform solo to gain the favor of an arriving female.  [Ref:  Discover Magazine]

The first report of a loon on Wicwas was on April 9th, and the following day a pair was observed.  I went for a paddle on Thursday but I wasn't able to find them.  So far there have only been reports of one pair on the lake.

There were also eagles on the lake this week;  I went looking for what was causing a traumatic call from the loons, and there was the eagle soaring overhead.

This was an immature bald eagle.  I also saw a mature eagle which landed in one of the pine trees where eagles roosted over the deer kill this winter.

Could it be looking for a nesting site?  

The loons' arrival on Sunday preceded ice-out on Wicwas by three days; ice-out was called on Wednesday April 12, right in line with the average ice-out day.  Ice-out came quickly with the warm and windy weather.  (We hit 86 degrees this week.)  

On Tuesday there was still a lot of ice in the lake.

Intrepid fisher people on Tuesday, April 11.

By Wednesday it was essentially gone, with only remnants blown onto the boat ramp by the strong northwest wind.

Ice-out was declared on Wednesday, April 12

Even with an average ice-out date, the late ice-in date of December 25th meant a lower than usual ice-coverage period of 108 days, quite a bit short of the 123 day average.

Now a few comments on the mergansers.  There have been multiple groups of them on the lake, numbering perhaps two dozen in total.  

Common mergansers socializing.

They've been interacting quite actively, though their intent isn't always clear.  When there are three or four males and one female I assume the drakes (males) are vying for the affection of the hen. 

Four drakes, one hen.

Other times a male is chasing away another male which also makes sense.  But sometimes a female is chasing away another female - does that mean she has selected a mate and doesn't want another girl to move in on her chosen one? 

When they've had enough action they'll climb up on the ice to preen and rest.  

The Lakes Region is right on the edge of common mergansers' breeding zone, so most of these are migrants on their way to their primary breeding area in Canada.  Too bad, because they are such pretty birds.

And it's fun to watch them dive, as they put their heads down and flip up their tails.

When one group of them was close I captured a bit of their antics, which you can watch here:

80 degrees with flowers blooming and warblers singing doesn't mean that winter sports are over.  There's still skiing to be had on Mount Washington!

The scene in Mount Washington's Tuckerman Ravine on Friday, April 14th.

It's the time of many seasons all-at-once here in New Hampshire.