February 23, 2025: Tracking Page Pond

The Meredith Conservation Commission sponsored a guided snowshoe tour of the Page Pond Town Forest yesterday that toured the entire Page Pond Loop trail in search of animal signs.  

Gathering at the Quarry Road Trailhead at the start of the trip.

Fresh snow and perfect weather greeted an intrepid group of 14 snowshoers - including people approaching 80 years old - that navigated the entire 3.2 mile trip with aplomb! 

Along the way we discovered signs of at least 14 different animals including deer, coyote, fox, porcupine, beaver, weasel (or maybe ermine), mink, red and gray squirrel, mouse, pileated woodpecker, white-breasted nuthatch, tufted titmouse, and chickadee.  A few we were hoping to see but didn't were otter, bobcat, and turkey - maybe we'll find them next time.  One of the more interesting tracks was that of a porcupine in the fresh, light snow.  In these conditions, rather than a deep channel plowed through the snow, we saw the wobbly track, footprints, and grooved furrow where its quilled tail dragged through the snow.

A porcupine waddled its way on top of the snow, dragging its prickly tail behind.

Another unmistakable sign was left by a pileated woodpecker that had very recently excavated a hole in a white pine as it probed deep into the trunk to feed on a nest of carpenter ants living inside the tree.

Large wood chips hacked out of a white pine tree by a pileated woodpecker.

Someone asked if that would kill the tree.  The woodpecker hole itself probably won't, but if ants continue to gnaw their way through the heartwood, and woodpeckers cut holes to get them, eventually the trunk will weaken enough that a strong wind will blow it over, the tree breaking at the weakest point at one the holes.

Several old holes and one new one - this woodpecker remembers where to find food in winter.

The group walked along the beaver dam that holds back the large pond which contains at least two beaver lodges.

A couple of beaver lodges out in the pond.

Earlier in the week Linda and I were on the same trail and saw the tracks and slides of mink near the dam at the beaver pond.

A long mink slide - narrower than the otter slides I've shared before.

This was the first time I've seen a mink slide.  It looks just like an otter slide but narrower - about three inches wide rather than the six inch slide an otter makes.  These were melted out by Saturday so we didn't see a slide, but we did see the tracks of what was probably a mink, as they were near water, but they may also have been those of an ermine.  Though much less common in the Lakes Region, ermine are a weasel of similar size to a mink.  Here are some mink tracks, identified confidently as they were part of the slide path, and ermine aren't known to be playful sliders like mink and otter.

Mink tracks.

Some obvious animal signs were the dozens of squirrel tracks all along our route, as well as myriad bits of pine cones, acorns, and hemlock branches that were being nibbled on by the red and gray squirrels.

Signs that a squirrel excavated, shelled, and ate a stash of acorns.

It was the perfect day to out in the woods in February - many thanks to everyone who enthusiastically participated and asked such great questions!  I hope you will join us again.

A perfect New Hampshire winter day.

Keep an eye out for future guided offerings by the Conservation Commission.

January 21, 2024: Pine Siskin

Light fresh snow and cold temperatures have provided the first good tracking conditions of the season - along with some really nice skiing. 

A late afternoon ski on Lake Wicwas.

On my first ski trip on the lake this winter I came across more signs of my new best friends, the otters. This time there must have been three of them out having a blast on top of the ice rather than under it. For a long stretch along the shore near Sheep Island I followed their hop-slide-hop game of follow the leader. 

A trio of river otters out sliding on the ice.

On a different trip in the woods behind the lake I found this animal sign right in the middle of the trail for all the animals of the forest to take note.

Based on the small, twisted form of the scat, it looks the calling card of a weasel.

On another beautiful, bright day Linda and I took a snowshoe out to the new viewing platform at the Page Pond Town Forest over looking the pond on the Quarry Loop Trail. 

The new viewing platform at the Quarry Loop at Page Pond.

There were plenty of animal tracks to be seen there including white-tailed deer tracks right at viewing platform. 

White-tailed deer were exploring the edge of the pond.

A hoof print that also shows the deer's dew claws (on the left).

At the other end of the size spectrum:  mouse tracks on the pond.

Standing quietly beside the pond we heard a rambunctious bird song that I thought was a bunch of goldfinches in the trees, but every now and then there was a distinct upward spiraling raspy call that wasn't anything I'd heard before.  I recorded his song and ran it through the Cornell BirdNET app  which identified it as pine siskin -  a new bird for me.  I looked for the rambunctious singer there at the pond as well as three other times when I heard one singing, but I could never find it high up in the branches.  Here's a picture of a pine siskin from the Cornell ornithology website that shows how it blends in so well, making it impossible for me to locate.

Pine siskin; photo from Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

If you participate in the NH Audubon Backyard Winter Bird Survey you should have received their recent newsletter about the upcoming survey.  It predicts the pine siskin will be "the finch of the season" so maybe we'll see (hear?) more of them.  If you're interested in the backyard survey you can find out how to participate at the NH Audubon Backyard Winter Bird Survey - it's very easy to participate, you can spend as much or as little time as you'd like, and you don't even have to leave your warm home!

🐦

Before the most recent snow fell there were a few interesting items visible on the top of the old crusty snow.

White pine cone scales shredded by red squirrels.

This particular patch of forest was covered with scales from white pine cones scattered uniformly over the snow.  I'm guessing here, the squirrel was up in a tree shredding pincecones and the scales fluttered down, spreading out over the ground.  Compare it to this situation where a squirrel sat on the ground having its meal:

Pinecone scales and the stem from which they were removed.

In another part of the forest the snow was littered with maple seeds. 

Maple seeds all over the snow.

Maple seeds in January?  I've always seen these released in the spring; it makes no sense to me why trees would produce seeds now when there's no hope of them finding warm soil on which to germinate. Could the tree have been confused by all the warm weather in December?

One more bit of good news from the cold weather (it got as cold as -5 this week):  People were fishing on Meredith Bay on Friday!  And the Pond Hockey rink area has been staked out on Lake Waukewan.  If it remains cold they should be able to hold the tournament on Winnipesaukee, but Waukewan will be a backup if needed.

It sure is nice to have real winter arrive.

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.

August 25, 2019: Low Flying Objects

Lake hosting can be a quite interesting endeavor on New Hampshire Lakes.  One morning, frequent Lake Host Marge Thorpe inspected a rather unique vessel launching into the lake.

Perhaps a first for Lake Wicwas.

I've seen amphibious cars launch here before,

A circa 1965 Amphicar launches into Lake Wicwas.

but never an amphibious plane.

Rigging for launch.  Photo by Marge Thorpe.

The business end of an ultralight.  Photo by Marge Thorpe.

But not phased in the least, the host did her inspection for invasive weeds, crustaceans, (and birds?) and helped the sailor/pilot get on his way.

Photo by Marge Thorpe.

The unusual sight caught the eye of others on the lake as well.

Off-duty Lake Host Claranne Bechtler saw him taxing down the lake.  (Photo by Claranne Bechtler.)

If you have ever observed these ultra-lights in flight, you know they aren't quiet, so it was no surprise when Marge heard the vessel return to the lake sometime later.  But she was a bit alarmed to hear the sound of a sputtering engine, and then silence.  Quickly she and Dave went out to see what transpired, and found the pilot half way down the lake, swimming, pushing his plane back towards the boat ramp.  Needless to say, the Thorpes provided a welcome tow back to the ramp.

You can see the pilot in the water behind his aircraft, using a pusher-stroke.  Photo by Claranne Bechtler.

Neil Crimins, another Lake Host also saw the action going down on the lake.  (Photo by Neil Crimins.)

Dave Thorpe provides towing service.  Photo by Marge Thorpe.

The pilot had not allotted quite enough fuel for his entire trip, and had run out of gas on his return flight.  He was able to make a dead stick landing onto the lake which was fortunately close enough for him to glide in to.  The pilot is from Canterbury and brings his ultra-light around the region exploring different lakes.  Keep an eye to the sky and maybe you'll see him flying overhead some time.  Just keep an extra fuel tank handy!


There wasn't much nature that could compete with that excitement this week, but I did find evidence of our friendly bears up in the Hamlin conservation area while I was doing some property monitoring.

A small pile of bear scat, loaded with the fruits of the season.

And hiking with a couple of good friends over in the Page Pond Town Forest, one of them spotted a handsome wood frog sitting right in the middle of trail.

A green frog hangs out near the Page Pond mill dam.

He must have been waiting for a princess to come along.

The new trails on the Barnard Ridge side of the Page Pond are being developed and should be ready by fall.  If you travel in that area you will find white blazes going up to mark the new trail.  One trail will pass along the far side (west shore) of Page Pond, and will provide some gorgeous views of the pond, a beaver lodge, and several beaver dams.

Page Pond from the southwest shoreline.

I'll be sure to let you know when the trails are officially open for use.

There was also a beautiful monarch butterfly chrysalis hanging from a window sill at the Lakes Region Conservation Trusts headquarters building in Center Harbor.  (Thank you Phil P. for pointing it out to me!)

A monarch butterfly chrysalis.

This is the time to find them - look especially near fields of milkweed and goldenrod which are blooming abundantly now.  Milkweed in particular is a special food source for monarchs, as drinking the liquid from the milkweed plant fills their body with toxic cardenolides which makes their bodies poisonous to predators [Ref:  University of Minnesota Monarch Lab].  If you have never been to the LRCT headquarters in Center Harbor, you should stop by and check out the gorgeous views and all the maps and other items they have there.  They always enjoy having visitors!


Lastly, a status on the loon twins:  Harley and Davidson are doing just fine and still spending a lot time with mom and dad.

When they're fishing together and a parent comes up from a dive empty handed the chicks make the strangest little creaking sound, expressing their disappointment, and letting the parent know they are still hungry.  But they must be getting enough nourishment as they continue to grow, looking more and more like juvenile loons every day.