March 23, 2025: Now We're Springing Along

Ah yes - Snowdrops are blooming - spring is coming along.  Snowdrops aren't a native plant, but they're always the first to bloom, even before the crocuses.   

Snowdrops in March.

A true native sign of spring is lichen greening up, which in spring, unlike its dry, gray, cardboard-stiff status in summer, is now plump and verdant with moisture provided by winter snow melting off its granite home.

Rock Tripe Lichen.  

It actually looks somewhat edible this time of year.

This week we had more warm, beautiful days as well as some rainy ones, and what are usually small streams, sometimes even dry streambeds in summer, are now gushing with snowmelt.

And as a result, the lakes are flooding.  

A flooded shoreline along Lake Wicwas.

Hiking trails are filled with with huge puddles.

Frost still in the ground keeps low spots from draining.

With all the runoff along the shoreline I decided not to venture out to measure the ice thickness, but I'll bet it's still a good foot thick away from shore.  I may not trust it, but the animals do, so we know it's thick enough to support the weight of a bobcat.

A bobcat makes its way across the lake one morning.

And finds a way to get off the ice without getting its feet wet.

Cold ice on a warm day condenses some interesting fog banks as the moist air spreads across the lake.

We did take in the birdfeeders this week after they were emptied out, but I sprinkled a few seeds on the railing to give the birds a little more food while the rest of the snow melts.  It provided an opportunity to watch the birds in action.  

In this first video, a couple of White-breasted Nuthatches sort through the seeds to find one worthy of eating or taking away to hide somewhere.

In the next video, one bird works away on a hard-shelled safflower seed, then finds a few small seeds to gulp right down while it searches for another large seed worthy of hacking open.  You can see how much effort it takes to extract that little bit of high-energy fat from the shell.

At first I thought they were eating seeds that had fallen into cracks, but I soon realized they are smart enough stuff thier seed down in the crevice to hold it in place while they crack it open.  In this last video it hacks away at a safflower seed, then finds a few smaller ones to gobble up whole, before selecting a couple more safflower seeds to work on, finally taking one more large seed off to hide away in a tree bark crevice to save for later.

Look at those talons:

I guess that's how they can climb straight up and down tree trunks!

I also heard my first Red-winged Blackbird this week.  Snow, ice, flowers, sun, migrating birds - they're all part of spring in New Hampshire!

September 22, 2013

I hope you were able to see the full Harvest Moon a few days ago.  It occurred on a beautiful clear day and was spectacular - unfortunately I was not able to take any pictures.  The full moon came just a few days before the equinox, and although it seems like the days have already become awfully short, right now we have almost exactly 12 hours of sunlight.

Back on May 19th I wrote about a Nursery Spider, and this week I found a spider's nursery, although I believe this one is from a Dock Spider (Dolomedes) based on its location right beside the lake.

Nursery Web of a Dolomedes Spider

The spider had layed its eggs on a leaf, and then wrapped up several leaves to form a protective nursery around it.  It even selected a large, sturdy leaf to give it a roof.

A mother spider will stay and guard the nest until they hatch.  The spiderlings will have their first molt in the nursery, leaving their exoskeleton in the nest.  These spiders had all hatched and were gone when I found their nest, littered with their first skin.

Expended Exoskeletons from the Recently Hatched Spiders

I can only begin to guess how many spiders hatched from this one female Dolomedes.

Farther away from the lake I came upon what appears to be a lichen growing on the base of a tree.

I walk this trail frequently and hadn't noticed it before, but lichen grow very slowly, so if that's what it is, it must have been there for quite a while considering how large it is - lichen grow less than 1/2 inch per year.

In the early morning rain today a group of deer wandered by;  there were four of them in the road, with a fifth following along well up in the woods - perhaps a buck, I couldn't really see it.  As the fall rut approaches, the bucks will start to monitor does, marking territory, and perhaps fighting to secure their mates.  We should be seeing signs of the rut over the next few weeks throughout the woods.

With autumn upon us now, life around Lake Wicwas will start to change rapidly in many ways.

March 4, 2012

Now that spring (meteorological spring that is) has arrived, mother nature decides it's time for winter.  Thursday brought the biggest snow fall to the area since Thanksgiving - nearly a foot of light, dry powder.

I took only my second cross-county ski trip around the lake, and the last one was in October.  Yes, I haven't skied since the Halloween snow, meaning I missed November, December, January, and February!  Actually, there were a couple of times I could have gotten out, but it would have been pretty thin with lots or portages around bare spots, and rocks to damage the bottoms of the skis. 

Saturday was back to warm weather, and late in the afternoon a few peeks of sun came out to brighten up the winter scene.

By evening, there was bright moon light, and with low ground fog it made for a very eerie feeling.  The world was well lit, but looking into the woods or across the lake was like peering into a haunted forest.  There was also a nice astronomical show - Jupiter and Venus are close together in the WSW evening sky, and will continue to get closer for a few more weeks before they start to separate.  If you look within an hour of sunset, you can also see Mercury just above the horizon.  Finally, Mars, which on Monday makes its closest approach in its two-year dance with Earth, is also visible in the eastern sky early in the evening,

Jupiter (above) and Venus (below) - taken March 4 at 8:39pm

We have had more goldfinches than usual this winter - perhaps due to the warm weather.  We usually see only a few goldfinches, and lots of chick-a-dees, but this year has been the exact opposite.  The snow storm brought them out in full force, sometimes there were seven or eight on the feeder at once.  The snow birds (juncos) appreciate all their dropped seeds.

Unfortunately, rain came on Saturday to saturate and pack down all that nice light snow.  Then the cold night froze everything up, so we had a rather noisy snow shoe trip on Sunday morning, though on the lake the sun had softened things up.  We saw only a few tracks, as most animals could walk easily on the frozen crust.  We did find quite a few little tufts of lime-green lichen that were blown out of the trees when last night's cold front came through with strong wind gusts.

Usnea Lichen

This looks like a Usnea lichen, so named because it contains usnic acid.  Usnic acid has anti-biotic properties, and has been used medicinally since ancient times.  So if you're ever stranded deep in the wilderness with an injury at risk of infection, just look for this little lichen.

And what's this I see?  Could it be a sign of spring?       Is that a hint of yellow on one of those finches?

November 21, 2010

The cold weather continues to bring winter closer, and with short days, the full moon set this week early in the morning.  This is a "blue moon" because it is the third full moon in a season that has four full moons, a relatively rare event.  Full moons this fall occurred on September 23, October 23, and will happen again on Dec 21, just before the winter solstice, thus fitting in four full moons between the equinox and the solstice.

Blue Moon Setting

Lake Wicwas north of Chemung Road

Last week ice was forming only in the most protected areas, but by this week there was ice in some of the smallest coves - the cove right beside Chemung Road had a skim of ice by Sunday morning.







Signs of the coming ski season are also visible.  From the White Mountain Ledge in the Hamlin area one can see the ski trails on Waterville Valley turning white.  In fact, if you look carefully you can make out the clouds of snow coming from the snow-making guns at the top of the Sunnyside Lift.  The curve of white is the top of the trail "True Grit" going down to the right and "Oblivion" down to the left.  With binoculars you can see the summit lift buildings, as well as the radio towers near the top of the High Country Lift on the summit to the left.  Mount Osceola is behind and to the right.

Mt. Tecumseh from the White Mountain Ledge

We saw more signs of rabbits around Lake Wicwas, (much to Linda's dismay).  This branch shows the tell-tale nibbling of a rabbit, cut clean at 45 degree angle, looking like it was cut by shears.  Deer make a more ragged cut, as they don't have upper and lower incisors to make a clean cut, so they tear and pull at the branches, leaving them ragged.

Rabbit Damage

On an afternoon walk I saw this large glacial erratic with a beautiful, healthy crop of lichen growing on its northwestern side.  If you're ever lost in the woods, this is supposed to be edible and somewhat nutritious.  I'm told is best to boil it to soften in up.

Glacial Erratic with Lichen

I haven't seen or heard any loons for a couple of weeks now, so they may have flown off for the winter.

October 3, 2010

We had tropical weather this past week, very warm and humid, and with several inches of rain, the lake is returning to it its normal level.  On Saturday it was back to +1” at the dam.  It is also nice to see the brooks flowing again.  There were some strong winds this week, but as the trees are just starting to change, the wind didn’t pull many leaves from the trees.  There is only partial color on the hills around Lake Wicwas, with peak color a good week away, but some of the smaller maples along the shore are brilliant against the dark green background.

On one warm, muggy night I went for a walk; it was so dark with the heavy cloud cover that I used an LED headlight to light the way.  It was eerie to be walking on a warm, summer-like evening, but without the summer sounds.  There are no crickets, peepers or bullfrogs making their usual nocturnal sounds this late in the year.  I was surprised to see bright light emanating from the rocks in the stone walls.  At first I thought it was fluorescence from minerals in the granite, but further investigation proved it to be emanating from lichen on the rocks.

Lichen is dual organism, formed by a symbiotic relationship between a fungus and a colony of cyanobacteria (blue-green algae, the same algae that is found in the lake during the summer).  In lichen, the fungus surrounds the algae, and absorbs water and minerals from the substrate, in this case, granite.  The algae in turn provide carbohydrates that they produce from photosynthesis.  It is the pigments in the algae that have the photonic properties that allow it to absorb light at one wavelength and emit it at another wavelength that the eye can see.  Pictures don’t do it justice – you’ll have to try it for yourself.

 And then, this weekend, fall arrived.  Temperatures were in the mid-thirties over night, and the sky was clear blue after the morning mist lifted. 

The loons are still here – I saw several on the lake – and found lots of ducks and turtles as well.  The chipmunks are getting pretty fat, and running everywhere collecting food for their winter stores.