November 17, 2019: The Foxes found the Apple Tree

There were more beautiful pre-winter scenes on display this week, courtesy of an early cold snap.

A frozen Beaver Pond in the Hamlin Conservation Area

Thankfully there were also some nice fall days to finish off the pre-season yard work before the real stuff arrives.  The lakes and the hills of Meredith provide abundant opportunities to soak in the beauty.

Perhaps all this early cold weather is preserving the apples that have fallen on the ground because the foxes and coyotes have found them still good enough to eat.

Fresh scat filled with apple left as a calling card in the middle of the trail.

Hundreds of apple trees were abandoned in the Lakes Region when the settlers vacated their farms to move west and many of them still produce fruit.   And then there are local farms that maintain either reclaimed or newly-planted orchards.  I expect the foxes know them all.

A few weeks ago the fox's diet was more protein-based than fruit-based as indicated by the amount of fur in this scat from October.

This October scat is loaded with hair.

But soon enough most plant material will be gone and the canines - as well as weasels, felines, and raptors - will all be living off of small animals.  Winter is a tough time to be a rodent.

Duck season peaks in the Lakes Region in November with many migrating birds stopping on our lakes to fuel up during their travels south.  There have been rafts of over a dozen mallards.

17 mallards ply the waters of Lake Wicwas.

They like to dabble along the shorelines, finding things to eat on the bottom.  Under the category of "you learn something every day" I discovered that mallards - and other ducks - eat acorns.

For a late evening snack, a couple of male mallards partake of acorns from an oak that hangs over the lake.

Diving ducks such as Hooded Mergansers tend to travel in smaller groups, often only just a pair.  Mergansers take much shorter dives than loons, usually less than 15 seconds, though they are just as adept at catching fish, as this female proved.

Mrs. Merganser comes up with a fish.

She had to work on it for quite a while before she was willing to swallow it.

Playing with her food before she swallows it whole.

I never realized just how much control a male hooded merganser has over its hood.

From a highly elongated hood.

All

the way

down

to a low, rounded hood. 

Stokes & Stokes don't have mergansers in their three-volume book of bird behavior, but I expect the male merganser uses this ability to communicate a range of signals to other birds.


Back on land I was a bit surprised to see a fresh deer rut in the snow this week, but I guess the deer are still in mating season.

A fresh rut in the thin snow.

Be aware that hunting season is in full swing now through December 8th, so be sure to wear bright clothing when in the woods.

We were also treated to the full harvest moon (or beaver moon in some circles) this week.

"Because I'm still in love with you
on this Harvest Moon"
(Neil Young)

It was just another moment in the ongoing art show that nature provides us, free of charge, just for the looking.

Journal Note:  I have started uploading to the nature journal photographs of the flora and fauna living around Lake Wicwas.  I started with mammals and will work my way through birds, amphibians, etc. over the coming weeks.  My goal is to have a record of the plants and animals I've observed around the lake.  You can find them in the tabs underneath the main photo on the home page.

December 24, 2017 - Winter Solstice

Astronomical winter arrived on Thursday morning at 11:28 am, the moment when the northern hemisphere receives the least amount of sunlight due to the tilt of the earth's axis of rotation and its orbit pointing the north pole away from the sun.  I decided at the last minute - since it was such a gorgeous day - to watch the solstice from the summit of Red Hill in Moultonborough, so took a quick hike up the summit.  Here's the view at 11:28 am.

Winter arrives at Red Hill

Being so close to noontime, this is also the highest the sun rises this time of year, quite a bit different from summertime.

Remember, the tilt of the earth doesn't change over the year, just its orientation to the sun as we travel around our energy source.  Here's a depiction from the Encyclopedia Britannica.




It was a beautiful blue-sky day, clear enough to see the windmills on the mountains behind the old Tenney Ski Area, which is planning to open this winter after being closed for many years.  You can see some of the restored ski trails in the left third of the picture.

The trail up Red Hill

We've been getting regular snow falls to keep the snow lovers happy - at least until yesterday's rain which really messed things up.  But the forecast is for more snow tomorrow to freshen things up again.

A snowbird (Eastern Junco) earns its name

Back at Lake Wicwas the ice is now thick enough for skiing and I have seen tracks of others out on the ice, though I personally haven't yet ventured across the areas of the lake that were last to freeze up.

I've also seen fox tracks on the ice for the first time this year;  somehow they seem to know when it is safe without benefit of cutting a hole.  I'm always amazed at how quickly the fox will take advantage of ski trails to ease their travel across the snow.

Foxes quickly find packed ski trails

The fox is all about conserving energy, which makes sense considering it spends its life cruising the forest in the cold and dark of winter in search of a tiny morsel of protein to survive.  The small amount of energy saved by walking in a packed track, multiplied by 20,000 steps a night, is a big advantage to its survival.  That's also why it evolved with a perfect direct-register gait where its hind foot falls directly on top of where its front foot landed, and why its mate will follow exactly in the lead fox's trail.

I read an article recently (thank you JS!) about someone tracking a fox up the Champney Brook Trail on the north side of Mount Chocorua.  He observed that the fox completely ignored the track of every mouse that it passed by, it's perfect gait not having the slightest hitch meaning it didn't even turn its head to consider following the trail.  Yet at another spot it stopped dead in its track with no sign of activity anywhere.  It then turned off the trail, walked in a much different pattern - slowly and quietly - before pouncing down into the snow.  There was a lot digging, but no signs of a capture, and then the trail continued on.

The explanation the author gave was that if a fox followed every track it saw or smelled, it would consume far too much energy chasing old, non-productive trails.  It doesn't even bother to look at these.  Instead, the fox hunts by sound, listening for definitive proof that its prey is present.  Trotting silently through the snow, it will hear a mouse scratching around under the snow looking for seeds.  It will stop, circle around the spot, and use its sharp hearing to pinpoint the exact location of the sound.  It then quietly approaches and pounces down, hoping to catch the animal with its paws.

It's a clever energy-conserving scheme developed over thousands of years of evolution.  I have only seen evidence of this myself once, on the trail up to Crockett's Ledge;  think about how many miles a fox much cover in a frigid night to find enough nourishment to live for another day.  But we know it does, as right on the trails one finds proof of a fox's hunting success.

A fox leaves its calling card in the middle of the trail

I hope everyone has a peaceful Christmas tomorrow with family and friends, and remember, with the solstice behind us, we're already on the road to summer!

The late afternoon sun provides light at the end of the tunnel

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Lake Wicwas!  It certainly has looked like Christmas Town around the lakes this week.

It's a white Christmas at Lake Wicwas

That's a picture from the Hamlin Conservation Area taken on the Blue trail around the beaver ponds three days before Christmas.  It was still snowing lightly, so there were no animal tracks to be seen but it was a beautiful, peaceful time to be out.

The Blue Trail provides good skiing right after a fresh snow

On a later trip along Lake Wicwas I did see tracks, and saw that with the ice growing thicker, the fox have started taking shortcuts across the lake to get from one hunting ground to another.

Fox tracks stretching across the lake

With only a little snow on the lake it must make for fast and efficient travel.  They were rather busy, hunting around the shore, the islands, even the beaver lodges, in search of food.

Fox tracks run over a beaver lodge in a marsh beside Sheep Island

I say "they" because there were two of them.  It often looks like one set of tracks, but one fox will follow exactly in its mate's tracks for long distances.  Since fox "double register" it means there are four footsteps in each print.

Here's one of their favorite entrees, fattening up on Linda's bird feeders.

Of course, the fox have to compete with the fishers, coyotes, hawks, owls, bobcats, and a host other predators that feed on the squirrels.  Nice to know Linda is doing her part to support the entire food chain so everyone will have a nice Christmas feast.

Up on higher ground away from the lake I found a spot where a fox had made a bed in a bright sunny spot, curling up in the snow for winter's nap.

A fox bed in the snow

We had a just a touch of rain on Christmas eve, but with the current weather pattern I'm optimistic more of the fluffy stuff will soon fall.  If you are visiting the lake over the holidays I hope you can get out to enjoy the beauty of the season.  And remember, with the winter solstice behind us, the sun is rising higher in the sky - the days are already getting longer!

March 17, 2013

After our short spring interlude, winter returned to Lake Wicwas with cold temperatures - back down to 13 degress last night under clear skies and a crescent moon.  And another light snow came through and made it look like winter too!

Fresh Spring Snow Friday Night

And Bright March Sunshine on Saturday

The new snow wasn't enough to penetrate the trees and allow skiing in the woods after last week's rain devastated the base, but it left another perfect surface for both skiing and tracking on the lake.  There were numerous mink, weasel, mouse and fox tracks to be seen.  Here a pair of coyotes traveled right across the middle of the lake and along the shore line, heading into a low swampy area.

Coyotes On the Prowl

The larger foot print and stride - about 24" - distinguishes it from a fox.

The fox stride by comparison is about 16 inches long.  This near perfect rendering of a fox's side trotting pattern very was left in the very thin layer of soft snow early Saturday morning. 

Fox  Side Trotting

 A mouse also left some clear tracks in the light snow.  The tiny size of these tracks, only about two inches apart, can be appreciated by the small line in the snow left by its tail.

Mouse Tracks on the Lake

 

In some deeper snow where the sun had softened it just the right amount, we came across some deer tracks that left the imprint of the hoofed animal's dewclaws, which I don't see very often.  

White Tailed Deer Track with Visible Dewclaw Imprints

All in all, it's been a pretty uneventful winter around the lake without any dramatic events - the most interesting sights being a Cooper's Hawk and a Bald Eagle in late February.  But all the snow has made it a great winter for animal tracking, and lots of other outdoor activity.

Signs of a Good Day on Lake Wicwas

January 6, 2013

Happy New Year! 

January brought the winter's first mass of cold air down from Canada, with temperatures on Thursday and Friday right around 0 degrees Fahrenheit.  It was enough to finally get Lake Wicwas frozen.  As late as January 1st  there was still a large open section of water in the middle of the lake.

January 1, 2013

It froze over that night, but as we saw in Rindge, the ice will be treacherous for a while - ice fishermen and snowmobilers take note!  The difference in the time of freezing is easily seen in the varying surface colors and textures.

The cold temperatures have kept the snow dry and light, which has made for great tracking;  it's enlightening to see just how much activity takes place around Lake Wicwas that we are never aware of.  There are fox tracks everywhere criss-crossing the woods looking for rodents.

Fox Tracks

Frequently one finds where a fox dug in the snow hunting for a mouse, or a left a marker for their territory.

Fox Hunting

I enjoy seeing them follow my ski tracks for long distances, knowing I made their travel a little easier;  you'd think they'd show a little courtesy in return!

Fox Scat in my Ski Trail

I saw a group of four good-size turkeys strutting down the road in the middle of the day.

Later, out on a walk we saw their tracks going back and forth across the road, up into the woods and back down looking for food.

They scratched in the road often, looking for acorns,

and scratched up large piles of leaves that were buried under the snowbanks, leaving quite a bit of evidence of their passing.

We also saw a set of deer prints, along with numerous squirrel, mice, weasel and otter tracks.  A hole in the ice along the shore was an active spot for an otter, with tracks, slides, and a latrine close by.

River Otter Signs

Entrance and Exit Holes

Otter Slide

I took a walk with my nephews up to the beaver dam in the Hamlin area, and found dramatic evidence of beaver activity - large areas cleared of trees, including some of the largest trees cut down I've seen.  There are several large red oaks that were cut most of the way through, but left standing.  Could they just be practicing, or wearing down their teeth for the winter?

Note the bark chewed off the felled tree in the background.  If you have a chance to get up there, poke around and take a look.

We also found some weasel tracks,

Long-Tailed Weasel Tracks

and large areas where the deer had dug around in the snow and leaves looking for acorns.  Look at the size of this area:

White Tail Hunting Grounds

Let's hope the weather stays cold so we can get out on the ice soon - the Meredith Fishing Derby is only five weeks away, and Meredith Bay is wide open.  A bit more snow would be nice also, to build up the base for skiing and snow shoeing.

Enjoy the winter of 2013, and keep warm!