February 23, 2020: Catching up around the Lake

With all the recent winter events in the Lakes Region there are a few things to catch up on back here at Lake Wicwas, the first of which is that the lake level has gone down quite a bit since the ice formed back in December.  It can be observed near shore where ice that fastened to land was fractured from the main ice sheet as the lake dropped, and was left hanging in space.

A glimpse of land under the ice.

Other evidence can be found where rocks that had been just below the surface have now been exposed.

I haven't checked the ice thickness in a couple of weeks but we've had enough cold temperatures that I expect it's approaching two feet thick.  The ice fishermen have certainly determined that it's pretty strong.

Cars started appearing on the lake in the first week of February

Authorities are still warning people to be careful on the larger lakes as the up-and-down temperatures have made the ice unreliable.  The weather has also prevented the ice runway on Alton Bay from opening this year, and it's too late at this point for it to be certified regardless of what the weather does next.  The runway is usually a popular attraction for aviators as it's the only the only registered ice runway in the continental United States. 

I haven't seen the ice motorcycles on Lake Wicwas yet this winter, but a few weeks ago someone did plow a fun skating circuit on the south end of the lake in front of the boat launch.

 They found the ideal moment to get perfect ice conditions.

I didn't get down there to skate, but other people had!

We've finally been getting regular snowstorms, and various critters have left their tracks in the fresh snow, including this fisher cat that walked along a stone wall looking for unsuspecting rodents that use all those nooks and crannies between the stones for hiding places.

Fisher tracks on top a stone wall.

It's hard to make them out, but I found enough evidence to be certain that's what was here.

Fishers are extremely good hunters which feed primarily on rodents, but will eat just about anything they come across, including the prickly porcupine.  Fishers are smart enough to track down squirrels living in hollow trees, and are strong enough to rip the tree apart to dispatch the residents inside.  It's tough enough to always be a target when out gathering food, but those poor rodents aren't even safe at night inside their own home.  And speaking of rodents, I wish they'd stopping gnawing on the trail blazes.

Most likely a red squirrel chewed this, but it could have been a porcupine.

I followed the fisher's tracks long enough to be certain it was a fisher but didn't see any signs of it finding a meal before I lost the track when it went up a tree.

There were other tracks on the lake that I wasn't able to identify.

Smaller tracks running from shore to marsh and back again.

The size, pattern, and obvious interest in a hole near land hint that it may be a small predator of some sort.

I heard two reports of bears this week, one a set of tracks, and one an actual sighting.  Both were small, probably first-year males, restless and with lots of energy and curiosity.  These were in Sandwich; I haven't seen any signs of bears around Wicwas so we're leaving the feeders up, but I'm keeping a careful eye out, especially with the warm weather forecast for next week.  I'm still hoping to see some of the visitors that have been absent this winter, such as the bobcat, the barred owl, and the ermine.  I wonder where they're all hiding out this year....


Winter has been giving us a regular dose of snow lately which has made for nice skiing and snowshoeing all around the Lakes Region.  Linda and I had a gorgeous trip up to the ledges west of Lake Wicwas, as well as a nice snowshoe in Page Pond Community Forest.

Looking north from the aptly named White Mountain Ledge

There are some  big trees in the Hamlin Conservation Area -
I could only get half of this beech in the picture!

The Mill Dam at Page Pond on Friday.

If you're in the area, perhaps you've been out enjoying the winter beauty as well - it doesn't get any better than this, and the timing is perfect for school vacation week.

April 20, 2014

I didn't get up to Lake Wicwas over the holiday weekend, but a local observer saw two eagles devouring a large bass on the ice near Bryant Island.  His thought is that an otter brought it up onto the ice.  Now that's a big challenge for an otter, even if the fish do have lower energy levels due to the cold water.  He also saw a Fisher Cat making one of its final trips out to the island;  hopefully the ice will be going soon, as there is a forecast for warm weather the next couple of days.

The ice in Meredith bay on Lake Winnipesaukee is coming out fast, but other parts of the lake are still frozen over - Weirs Beach, for example:

View from Weirs Beach at 8:51 am on April 20

There is series of web-cameras around Winnipesaukee that you can watch to follow the ice retreating from the big lake.  The link to the Winnipesaukee Ice-Out site is:  http://www.rattlesnakecam.com/iceout.htm

The answer to last week's question on the historical marker is the Lakeport Dam, which sets the lake level for Winnipeasukee.  Last week it was flowing quickly, but far from the highest flow we've seen.  The cool spring without any really warm weather has allowed a slow and steady snow melt this year.

The Lakeport Dam where it Empties into Opechee Bay

Both Winnipesaukee and Wicwas empty in Lake Winnisquam, which then flows into the Winnipesaukee River on its way to the Merrimack River, and ultimately the Atlantic Ocean.

Just now, another nature watcher sent me a picture of the first loon of the year!  The ice has left a portion of the lake, apparently enough to let a loon land.  I don't know if it is a resident, or just stopping here on its way to its summer home.  At any rate, it is another sign that spring is close at hand!

First Loon Sighting - April 20, 2014

January 19, 2014

The most tantalizing aspect of using my trail camera is the mystery of what I might find when I retrieve it and down-load a set of new images.  Most of the time I haven't capture anything extraordinary, but I usually get a least one or two interesting pictures - and I always learn something about the animal life, even if it's just that they aren't active, at least in my chosen location. 

Knowing we would have warm weather and a full moon, I set my camera out for a few days last week to see who was in the neighborhood. As is often the case, the Gray Fox came by a couple of times, once on the 13th and once on the 15th, both times traveling in the same direction. 

13 January at 4:51am

 I'm always excited to see this magnificent animal in the area, with its thick winter coat and beautiful colors. 

15 January at 5:57am

But then I moved onto the next image and beheld one of the greatest shots I've ever gotten:

Breakfast!

A good-size Fisher Cat carrying a large Gray Squirrel home for breakfast!  A few weeks ago (see December 22 post) I followed Fisher tracks around Lake Wicwas, and I knew one was in the local area because I had seen its scat.  But I have never got a picture of one, probably because they take such varied paths from tree to tree in their search for food.  My guess is that after getting such a large meal, this one was happy to take the shortest route back to its den to either eat or store its bounty for later. 

The picture was taken at 6:45 am, before sunrise when it is still quite dark;  I don't see squirrels out this early, so the fisher had probably found the squirrel's nest in one of its trips up an oak tree.  (This time of year it is pretty easy to see the ball of leaves that form a gray squirrel's nest high up in an oak tree.)  At any rate, there will be one less squirrel under the bird feeder this week.

We had a beautiful, light snowfall on Saturday night, which greatly enhanced the scenery around Lake Wicwas - it was getting a little drab after the recent thaw.

And this morning, the squirrels were back searching for food under the new snow.  (Though I only saw one gray squirrel!)  With a layer of crusty snow and ice on the bird feeder baffle, one clever red squirrel found a way to climb up and mount an attack on the feeders. 

Linda enjoyed the ensuing display of creativity and acrobatic ability.

You have to appreciate their drive for sustenance! 

I hope all the animals managed to get a good supply of fat and protein to store up, as the weather is now forecast to return to a prolonged stretch of deep freeze!  We'll see if it will surpass the last one....

December 22, 2012

I had a great adventure tracking a Fisher Cat today, as the soft snow and warm weather made fine tracks to follow.  I noticed the tracks when I was skiing yesterday, and went out on show shoes to follow their story.

Fisher Cat Trail

I don't know whether it was a male or a female, but based on the size of its stride and its body, I'm going to guess it was a female.  The distance between her strides when she was moving in open space was about 42" - a good length, but a full grown male will bound up to 52".  Of course, it could be a small male as well. 

42" Between Prints

I followed her tracks for several miles, sometimes in open areas, sometimes in dense trees, but always going from tree to tree.  She would frequently dig around in the snow looking for a squirrel or mouse, and occasionally she would tunnel under the snow or under a tree stump.  Here she tunneled along under a fallen tree for a good 12 feet.

Searching for Rodents under a Fallen Tree

She favored large pines and hemlocks, climbing up them for who knows how long.  It does make it little harder to follow a fisher track than a fox or coyote, as I had to search around a bit to find where she came back down on the ground.  Sometimes it was quite obvious, as she would occasionally jump out of the tree, leaving a full body implant, sometimes with even a tail print. 

Imprint from jumping our of a tree

 

This is how I could estimate the size of this fisher cat (the largest member of weasel family that lives in New England).

In one instance I could see that she had leaped onto a tree as well, as blown snow had stuck to the side of the tree, and she left four clear paw prints in the snow where she landed before jumping higher up on the trunk.

Fisher cats have a swivel joint in their rear ankle (reference Rezendes, "Tracking and the Art of Seeing") which lets them climb down trees head-first as well as up them.

She led me on quite a tour of the south east side of Lake Wicwas:  up hills, along ridges, to the shore line (where she hunted for mice under a tree blown over by the July 2012 storm), along streams and across marshes.

I never found any evidence of her catching her prey, but I did find where she had climbed up some winterberry bushes to eat the berries.  She left a few scattered on the ground....

But it's clear that she did have some luck in her hunting, proven by her scat.  She left a couple of markers for the other animals - in obvious, well visible locations.  This sample shows lots of evidence of vegetable matter, including some undigested winter berries.

This sample however, had feathers in it:

 

Perhaps she caught a chick-a-dee in one of her excursions up a hemlock!

In a large stand of hemlock trees, I believe I found either her home territory, or a favorite hunting ground, as there were tracks everywhere.  And I could see why - there were signs of red squirrels everywhere as well, with debris from pine cones, and lots of holes where squirrels live and hide.

I even followed her trail up a rocky ledge where she crossed some porcupine trails that led into the porcupine's den - but she didn't seem interested in meeting up with a porcupine in its own home.  A fisher cat will take on a porcupine, but that, along with the deer tracks I found, are a story for another day. 

I'll close for now with the satisfaction of knowing that all the bird feeding (and squirrel feeding) that we do finds it way up the food chain, whether it's fox, hawks, or fisher cats!

Downy Woodpecker

Chick-a-dee

There is plenty of entertainment around Lake Wicwas, in winter or summer!

January 8, 2011

The winter is certainly off to a gentle start at Lake Wicwas, as we're already into the second week of January and the temperature has yet to fall below zero, and there's been only one measurable snow fall.  There was a very light dusting earlier this week, and today we had beautiful, delicate snow flakes floating down, just like in the movies, but it barely amounted to half an inch.

It was enough to cover the trees though, making another beautiful winter scene, as in this view of Crocket's Ledge.

Crocket's Ledge

Before the clouds came in there was a spectacular crescent moon that set over the lake both Thursday and Friday nights.

 
When there's just a sliver of moon visible, one can sometimes actually see the "dark side of the moon", especially in winter.  The dark side is illuminated by sunlight reflecting off the earth back towards the moon, and is most visible when the earth has a good cover of snow to maximize the reflected light.





Someone is taking advantage of the good weather, as the building on the north end of the lake is making great progress.  No visible construction has started at the south end; they are still doing site work.

Fox Pair

Before today's snow there were quite a few tracks around the lake.  Here a pair of foxes were traveling together.  A pair will often follow exactly in each others footprints, appearing to be one fox, but occasionally separating to show there are actually two, and then combining again.


There were also tracks of the fisher-cat up on one of the rocky ridges near the lake.

Fisher-cat Prints

At 10:15 pm, the red fox came by again, this time wearing his full winter coat (see summer and fall pictures on November 7, 2010), out for a night hunting session, with light snow still in the air.

Red Fox