April 5, 2026: Happy Easter!

Spring is coming to New Hampshire.  The crocuses have joined the snowdrops in bloom, and the early spring birds are singing their joyous Easter songs. 

Crocus

Snowdrops

This week I heard the spring songs of phoebes (the first of the flycatchers to arrive), brown creepers, red-winged blackbirds, the singing-star Song Sparrow, and even a northern parula - all promising signs of spring.  Meanwhile, the lake is still firmly iced in, though with a beautiful warm and sunny day yesterday, the ice is turning dark, large cracks are forming around the edges - large enough to support the occasional pair of ducks - all of which mean the end of ice is near.  

Looking north over Wicwas yesterday from Wicwood Shores Road.

I doubt there will be any more coyotes crossing the ice unless we get an unexpected cold snap.

Last week's mid-day sighting of a coyote in the open was unusual because coyotes are primarily nocturnal.

There's not a clear story of the evolution of the Eastern Coyote, but a widely accepted theory is they are a mix of the Western Coyote and the Eastern Timber Wolf.  DNA testing of our coyotes shows roughly equal parts of these two species, with a small amount of domestic dog DNA as well.  The theory is that two major factors lead to this as a new species.  First, Europeans cleared the eastern forests where the timber wolf was present, all the way to the mid-west which was the eastern limit of the Western Coyote.  The presence of wolves probably kept them out of the east, but as the wolves were removed, there was the opportunity for coyotes to move in.

The second factor is that both wolves and western coyotes were hunted in a relentless effort to exterminate them.  As the popultion of both species declined, mating opportunities became scarce, and a result, they started interbreeding.  The extermination of wolves was largely successful, but it was not for coyotes which have incredible survival characteristics.  The result of the interbreeding is the eastern coyote, which weighing 30 to 50 pounds, is noticeably larger than the western coyote at 20 to 30 pounds.

Between the wolf extermination project and the decimation of the large mammal population (caribou, moose), wolves are no longer present in New England.  But coyotes have extremely wide diets including mammals large and small, birds, insects, amphibians, fruit, vegetation, and human garbage, so they thrived as the wolves departed the scene.  Despite governments spending millions of dollars to kill coyotes (in 1971 alone, the US government spent $8 million on the coyote extermination project), their numbers continued to grow.  The effort was self-defeating.  It turns out that coyotes have a remarkable survival instinct:  when their population is stressed for any reason, they actually increase their rate of  reproduction to ensure their lineage continues.  Coyotes are probably here to stay.

I rarely hear coyotes, though people west of the lake report hearing them at night on occasion, and I see their tracks and their scat regularly all around the lake.  

Coyote  tracks and scat after a light snow earlier this winter.

I've seen several instances of successful coyote hunts, most dramatically, deer killed on the ice in winter (See January 22, 2012).  One winter I set a camera at a kill site and captured a lot of nighttime action. 

A coyote approaches a deer carcass.

One coyote came near the site during the day, but it didn't venture out in the open; it crept along the shoreline, deciding to wait for the safety of dark.

As to why a coyote was out in daylight last week, it may have been needing extra hunting runs for its family.  Coyotes mate in winter, giving birth in spring, and the female remains with the pups in the den while the mate and other males in the pack hunt for food for her and the pups.  Both the male and female as well as perhaps an older sibling will care for the young.  The book "Tracking and the Art of Seeing" by Paul Rezendes [HarperCollins, 1990] provides an excellent portrait of coyotes.

I was in the Ossipee Mountains this week, and even in that southern part of the White Mountains, it's still winter at higher elevations.

Mount Washington viewed from the summit of Mt. Shaw in the Ossipee Range.

Ice formations on the Mt. Shaw Trail.

The warm day was sending a lot of snow melt into the streams.

I'm always happy to come across signs of moose wherever I am.  These tracks and droppings were near the Black Snout summit at an altitude of 2800'.

A pile of moose droppings near the summit of Black Snout.

Moose prints are huge compared to white-tailed deer.

The large animal followed the trail for quite a distance;  it requires a lot less energy than breaking its way through deep snow and dense forest. 

Down at the base however, it was back to spring, and there is a large sugarbush near the trailhead.

They were collecting sap as I arrived in the morning.  When I returned after my hike, I took a peak in one of the buckets.

In just a few hours, a couple of inches of sap had been collected.

The sap was flowing nicely.  

They must have to empty the pails every morning when the sap is flowing this well.

A lot is changing now in the Lakes Region.  Warm days and cold ice sometimes conspire to give us unexpected experiences.

Fog settles in on Lake Wicwas as the sun sets.

Spring is a beautiful season in New Hampshire, something worth waiting for - and appreciating when it finally arrives.  

Happy Easter!

November 23, 2025: The Freeze Begins

This week Lake Wicwas saw three cold nights with the temperature dropping into the 20s.  Ice formed the first night in some sheltered marshes, and each night crept farther out into the lake.

Various aquatic plants got caught in the quick freeze.

I wonder if plants frozen in ice can photosynthesize.

The wildlife has been pretty reclusive lately other than the turkeys which continue to be quite prevalent and visible.

But there are plenty of signs that animals are active and getting ready for winter.  In a young forest that's regenerating after a habitat cut to provide forage for moose there are plenty of signs it's having the desired results.  There were many, many trees with the tender branches nibbled off way up high, and some trees that were too high, yet too tasty to pass by, were bent over and snapped so the moose could reach the nutritious tips.

Trees bent over and lots of nibbled branches.

Trees that had grown too high to reach are also serving them well.  Moose scrape off the tender bark and nutritious cambium underneath with their lower incisors and munch that down too.

A fresh scrape made by a moose stripping the bark from the bottom up.

A mature moose can weigh 1000 pounds and consume 40 pounds of plant material every day, so creating these forest openings are important for moose and other animals (including grouse and snowshoe hare) that lack this habitat now that fires are extinguished before a natural opening is created.

The smaller of New Hampshire's ungulates, the white-tailed deer, are also leaving signs as rut season goes on.  Look for triangular shaped scrapes on the ground, often with leaves and dirt kicked several feet beyond the scrape.

On the water, I don't see beavers swimming at dusk anymore, but they are certainly actively stocking their winter food stores and reinforcing their lodges.  This beaver family even added a touch of greenery for the holiday season.

Note a second beaver lodge farther back on the left.

I discovered a new local hiking trail this week which I enjoyed:  Sugar Hill State Forest in Bristol.  New Hampshire State Parks doesn't have much information about the trail, but All Trails has a fair description and the trailhead appears on google maps.  

There are nice views of Mt. Cardigan and Newfound lake from the ridge.  

Mt. Cardigan from Sugar Hill State Forest

Newfound Lake

The trailhead doesn't have any parking but it's just a short walk from downtown Bristol which is where I parked.  The sign at the trailhead is a few yards up beside a home's driveway, and the sign there shows the trail continues past the State Forest to North Main St, so you can make it a loop if you don't mind walking back along a quiet side road.  

The trailhead just of Rt 104 (Main St) east of downtown Bristol.

If you do that you'll end up on private property that's being developed but the land owners are happy to have hikers pass through, and they invite you to walk down their driveway to North Main Street.  If you go that route you'll get a view of Mount Moosilauke, which was snow-covered this week.

Mt, Moosilauke from the northern terminus of the trail.

The route isn't straight forward so give me shout if you'd like more information.

If the cold weather keeps up we might get earlier ice-in than the past few years.  Our dabbling ducks  might have to move on soon, though the diving ducks, including our young loon, are probably safe for a few more weeks.

A couple of female mallards scout for food along the shoreline.

Bottoms Up!

        Happy Thanksgiving!

September 29, 2024: Logging for Moose

It's been a couple of years since I've seen a moose around Lake Wicwas, but I know they're still here.  

Moose scat - much larger than deer scat.

This week the Meredith Conservation Commission took a survey of a forestry project performed on the Leighton Town Forest far up in the Chemung area.  The work was done in 2017-2018 and included thinning overcrowded and weak trees as well as a several-acre patch cut for habitat diversity.  Much of the forest in New Hampshire is of a common age having regenerated after the state was largely cleared of forest in the nineteenth century.  With few fires to clear areas of forest, there is now minimal habitat of the young trees that many species need to survive.  One animal that takes advantage of early-growth trees is moose.  In the summer moose feed on aquatic vegetation in ponds and wetlands, but in winter they need other food sources which includes twigs and bark of small trees.  You can still see signs of bark scraped off red maple trees along the White Trail in the Hamlin Forest but they date from the early 2000s; there are few small trees left for them to feed on.

Look for old moose scrapes (this is from 2004) near the highest point on the Arbutus Hill Pond Trail.

The photo of moose scat was one of half a dozen piles of scat we saw on our trip around the patch cut at Leighton, which indicates the cut was successful.  The forestry plan for that property includes creating additional patch cuts every five to ten years so there will be a constant range of forest ages for animals to find their preferred habitat.

Here's what the cleared area looked like in 2018 shortly after in was cut.  

And here's what it looks like from the same spot today.

That thick young forest is what many species need for food and shelter.

It shows how quickly a forest can regenerate, though it will take 50 to 100 years to fully mature, and over 200 to become "old growth" forest.  Forestry requires a long term outlook.

The forest can look pretty ugly right after logging, but in a few years they recover.  Here's what the main logging path looked like right after the work was done.  

And six years later, the same spot has filled in with thick growth of pioneer species such raspberry, birch, red maple, and white pine.  

Here's another example of before and after:

2017

And the same area today:

2024

Another ​important aspect of forestry today is having a diverse forest to make it resilient to introduced animals, pathogens, and climate change. Imagine what would happen if many acres of forest consisted of a single species and that species was attacked by an invasive insect or disease like the ash trees and the elm trees before that. Or perhaps that species can't handle the droughts or very wet years climate change is causing. Careful forestry can open up areas around under-represented trees to allow them to thrive and maintain Forest diversity in case of species collapse.  For example, around the Lakes Region we find monocultures of Eastern Hemlock which is now under attack by the hemlock woolly adelgid, an invasive insect that's a serious threat to the health of hemlock trees.  American Beech is facing a similar threat from the Beech Leaf Disease.

A hemlock monoculture with a closed canopy blocking light from other plants.

A knowledgeable forester also assesses soil conditions and sun exposure and will manage for species best suited to the immediate microclimate.  

There's a lot to consider in the long-term management of our forests.  If you're interested in learning more, keep an eye on the Commission's Facebook page as they will be having more public forestry tours in the future.  There's also a good article in the Summer 2024 issue of the Forest Society's Forest Notes publication [Managing for Resilient Landscapes, Aldrich and Weisiger, Pg 14]

And yes, I used to see a lot of moose, and I know I will see them again.

I froze when this big bull walked right in front of me some ten years ago.  I don't think it even noticed me, which is just the way you want it around a moose.

Back around the lake, ducks that spent the summer north of the Lakes Region have started to make their appearance on Wicwas as they return south for the winter.

Two pairs of Wood Ducks enjoy a rainy morning on the lake.

All the migrating birds - and we - will soon be treated to the great New Hampshire foliage season.

Foggy mornings and changing leaves - Fall is in the air.

June 27, 2021: A Moose in the Lake

Last week Claranne reported on a moose which, after swimming across the lake, climbed up onto land near Loon Point Road.  With her quick reaction she was able to get a picture for all of us to see it!

Our latest moose visitor after taking a dip in Lake Wicwas.
Photo by Claranne Bechtler.

Moose are such ungainly animals - look at the shape and angle of that hind leg - but what impressive creatures.  They are the largest animals in New Hampshire, easily weighing over 1000 pounds, and although the population in New England is suffering greatly due to the winter tics, they do still roam the Lakes Region.  

The warming climate means winter tics are not dying off in the winter and so are having a much greater impact on the moose.  Of course another huge factor in their decline is the loss of habitat.  Research has shown that moose can better survive winter tics when their population density is lower, but as their land is taken over by development they are forced into fewer and fewer tracts of land.  Moose need large areas of unfragmented land - they can't live in developed areas like deer - so deer have taken over from moose as the most common ungulate in the state.  According to NH Fish and Game, "prior to European settlement moose were more common than deer in New Hampshire".  You can learn more about moose on the NH Fish and Game website.

Over the years I've seen moose swimming in the lake, munching on aquatic vegetation in the marshes, and wandering among the young forest in the Eames Conservation Area.

A moose munches on aquatic vegetation in Harris Cove on Lake Wicwas early one morning.

Today I don't see as many signs of them as I used to, but if you hike on the White Trail (up to Arbutus Hill Pond in the Hamlin-Eames-Smyth Conservation Area) you can still find signs of moose having scraped bark off red maple trees - look for scars running up and down the trunk, about four to six feet above ground level.  

Healed-over scars from moose scraping trees near the White Trail in the Eames Conservation Area.

The Meredith Conservation Commission is currently working on a habitat cut along the White Trail, clearing an area that will allow young trees to grow back.  Moose consume leaves and aquatic vegetation during the summer but when the leaves are gone and the ponds and wetlands freeze over, moose use the tender bark of young trees as a food source to survive the winter.  The clearing will also provide habitat for a wide range of other animals that need young, successional forests to live, including many bird species such as the common yellowthroat and the chestnut-sided warbler.

Chestnut-sided warbler in a young maple forest.

 

While I'm on the subject of different habitats, the newly restored field at the Page Pond Conservation Area along Barnard Ridge Road appears to be the new nesting site of bobolinks.  

Bobolink in the field off Barnard Ridge Road.
Photo by Eileen Moore.

The bobolinks' arrival last week was noted by Squam Lakes Science Center Executive Director Iain MacLeod; he believes they were driven out of another field when it was mowed, destroying their nest.  They are displaying nesting behavior at Page Pond, so we're hoping they'll have a successful nesting here.  If you walk up the trail through the field you are likely to see them.  The field is a wonderfully different habitat than our many forests and is becoming home to a wide range of non-forest dwelling species.

Finally, our own nest of loons on Lake Wicwas is still being well tended to and we should be seeing new little chicks any day now - fingers are crossed!

Mom or dad loon heading back up for its shift on the nest.
Photo by Dave Thorpe.

Whether on land or water, large or small, there's always something to be seen around the lakes.

Just in, this late-breaking news:  We have a chick!

Introducing Coco.

She was first observed on June 26 by Linda Powell who has named our newest lake member Coco.  Sadly, it appears Coco isn't going to have a sibling as the second egg was left on the nest, intact, for reasons unknown.  Hopefully we'll have a long summer ahead of watching little Coco grow big and strong.  But please be extra careful on the lake for the next few weeks as Coco cannot dive to protect herself yet.  (No, we don't know that it's girl, but that's what Linda has decreed!  ; ) 

The proud new parents take Coca on its first tour of Lake Wicwas.