April 12, 2026: Ice-Out

We were making good progress towards ice-out early in the week with a strong April sun shinning down on the darkening ice.

Monday

But then the thinnest layer of new snow set things back when the fresh white surface turned those rays around and reflected them right back into space.

A Snowy Tuesday

But a couple of warm days followed and ate away at the new snow.

Thursday

and by Friday we were back on the path towards rapid melting.  

Friday

Interesting formations always appear as meltwater finds the path to a low spot on the ice.

Ice Spider

The very next day, after a windy night, we woke to this:

Blue Water on Saturday Morning

Wind had splintered the ice like a giant ice chipper into small crystal fragments and piled them up against the edge of the waning ice sheet.

I think that's a compact summary of the ice-out process:  solid ice on left, open water on the right, and the fragmented ice crystals at the interface.  The green color at the margin of ice and fragments comes from liquid water that was swept onto the ice reflecting green pine trees on the far shore.

The wave action continued to erode the ice during the day, and the wind drove everything to the shore line.

You could audibly hear the ice fragments clinking and tinkling against each other in the wave action. 

By afternoon, almost all the remaining ice had been melted and worn away by the wave action.  Ice-out on Wicwas was declared yesterday, April 11.

Lake Wicwas Boat Ramp at 4:41pm on April 11th.

April 11 is typical for ice-out on Wicwas, but due to the cold December resulting in an early ice-in date of December 10th, the lake was ice-covered for 122 days, the longest period of ice cover since the winter of 2018-2019.  Lake Winnisquam was declared ice free on April 6th, and Lake Winnipesaukee is getting close with ice left only in Center Harbor and Wolfeboro according to Emerson Aviation.  

Earlier in the week the lake was too soft to be an avenue for coyotes, but it wasn't too soft for water-loving animals.  A pair of geese walked across the lake.

Making the trek from open water along the shore to their nesting site.

I'm pretty sure it's the pair that nests in the wetland behind Sheep Island, and that's where they were heading to see if it's open enough to start nestbuilding.  It's a well protected nesting site, and they want first dibs on it.

We also watched a River Otter out playing on the ice - it has no concern with crossing open water at the shore lines.  It was dusk so I couldn't get a picture, but here's one from an otter on an earlier trip across the lake.

They run, hop, jump, slide, and just generally seem to have a grand time playing on the ice.

Belly Slide

And finally, more late breaking news from the lake: The loons have arrived!

This is most likely the northern territory male and hopefully, a new mate.

This pair arrived Friday (or earlier), before ice-out.  Like the geese, they want to claim their territory before any other bird noses in.  All our loon watchers will be looking for bands now to determine who they are!

March 15, 2026: Season of Change

Spring is a season of changes and after a good hard winter with abundant snow, there's a lot of change to happen.  We'll start with Lake Wicwas itself.  It will take a while to melt this year's thick ice, especially with a deep snow pack to insulate it, but the warm March sun (only a week now until the vernal equinox) is starting to do its work even though the first signs may be hidden.  Some of the snow will sublimate directly into the atmosphere, but some will melt and get trapped at the surface of the lake.  One might never know it's happening until a step is taken onto to the lake on a warm day - or a snowmobile passes by.

Snowmobiles on the lake reveal what's hidden under the snow.

Compressing the snow, whether by foot or machine, reveals several inches of watery slush under the snow.  If you keep moving it's not too bad because it takes a moment for the snow to get saturated, but if you stop you can sink deep into wetness.

The slush freezes up when it gets cold enough over night, which happened later in the week.  

I mentioned previously how temperature is stabilized in the subnivean zone at the interface of land and snow; by this time of year with such good snow cover, that open gap is getting big enough for larger animals to hang out down there.  I watched a red squirrel one morning eating bird seed, and ducking down into its safe room whenever something startled it.  At times it would climb up to a high spot to scan for dangers before resuming its meal.  In this video I cut out the long section where it just sat still, observing from its sentry.

My most interesting observation this week was where otters had found their own secret path through the subnivean zone from lake to land where they established a latrine.  They somehow found - or created - an opening some three feet from the lake which they used to emerge from the depths.

The lake is off to the left of the tree.

It's a good size gap between earth and snow that lets an otter pass.

That's a deep, dark hole!

The number of tracks, staining on the snow, and size of the latrine tell me this has had a lot of use.

One more sign of animals digging down under the snow was this hole where a Red Squirrel tunneled down to access one of its caches of pine cones.

The jagged stalks are the spine of the pine cone, called the rachis.

Last night mother nature freshened up the scenery with a couple of inches of new snow, just what we need in March to keep things pretty. 

Heading into late March now, there may not be many more skiing opportunities left around the lake this winter, even with a lot of snow on the ground and 19 inches of ice still in the lake!

It will be while before we see blue water.

December 28, 2025: Otters Times Three

We have passed the winter solstice now, but the sun still clings stubbornly close to the horizon, even in the middle of the day.  This photo was taken just 20 minutes after noon.

The sun doesn't rise much above the horizon at a latitude of 43.65 degrees.

Cold sunny days give us brilliant blue skies, but along with that dry weather coming from Canada after a snowstorm, we often also get cold winds.  Outside activities require warm clothing for sure.  But the animals?  Some will spend those days in dens or sheltered in thick stands of trees, but the otters, they are tough little critters.  Some are out hunting all night while others head out right at first light when the temperature is at its lowest.  By the time I get out, the otters have already been on long excursions across the lake.  One morning I followed their antics all the way across the lake.  The three brothers (my arbitrary conclusion as they remind me of three young boys I knew) slid down out of the trees and romped across the lake.

They would sometimes run, sometime hop, sometimes slide, always seeming to enjoy themselves.

They took shortcuts across swamps and over islands that were in their way.

They led me to their latrine, which they use regularly - I've seen their signs there in summer too.

You can tell an otter latrine because their scat looks like no other animal I know:  It's wet and loose and full of fish scales.

The otters' trail led me far across the lake.

All the way to the dam where they crossed - hopefully safely - Meredith Center Road into the mill brook that leads to Lake Winnisquam.  That was the end of my pursuit, as I wasn't about to follow them over the dangerous ice in the marsh and brook.  But I have seen otter playing at the mouth of that stream where it enters the northern tip of Winnisquam, and now I wonder if they are the same family that I think lives somewhere up Blake Brook west of Lake Wicwas.  

  

The powdery snowfalls we've been getting regularly keep refreshing the surface into good tracking conditions.  I haven't seen the bobcat yet this winter, but he or she left a near-perfect set of tracks in the dry snow.

A beautiful set of bobcat tracks.

Also, more turkeys were out searching for food where the snow was cleared to reveal open ground.

Turkeys will take advantage of human changes to the environment.

If you were fortunate enough to be in New Hampshire this year, you had a white Christmas.  We received fresh snow on Christmas Eve to set the mood, and even a few Hollywood-perfect snowflakes fell on Christmas Day.  I hope you had a peaceful day around a Christmas tree wherever you are - the beavers did!

The beavers' Christmas tree freshly draped with snow.

December 14, 2025: Ice-In

A few more cold days and a calm night early in the week gave Lake Wicwas its earliest ice-in since 2019, being declared on Wednesday morning, December 10th, when the last open area north of the Rawson Wood Islands froze over.  (Thank you KM and LB for the reports!)  By then some of the coves already had six inches of solid ice and were ready for skating.  A few people got out there before the second snow of the season fell and put an end to skating for now. 

Good skating in the cove before the snow.

On my skating trip I found that the otters had also been out enjoying the ice even before the lake froze up.

River Otter tracks frozen in the ice near Sheep Island.

With no concern about falling through the ice, otters get to have fun playing in the ice and slush long before it's safe for humans.

Otter hops and slides.

We'll never know if in fact Spangle, our juvenile loon, made it off the the lake before it froze over, but I'll assume she did, and count it as another successful loon fledged from Lake Wicwas.  That makes eleven loons fledged over the past ten years.

Our second snowfall mirrored the first, dropping another four inches of beautifully light, dry snow - a good medium for seeing animal tracks, large and small, and I found both during a pretty winter walk at Page Pond.  

A gorgeous day at Page Pond Town Forest.

On the small end, I saw that lots of mice had been out scampering on the snow in search of seeds, their long trails flopping on the snow with every hop.

Mouse tracks with their distinctive tail drag in the soft snow.

Their long excursions over the snow leave them vulnerable to attack by predators that may be watching from perches in trees that rodents often scamper between.

A long mouse trail in open cover.

That's one of the reasons we leave a few trees in the fields.  When the snow pack gets deeper, the mice, moles, and voles will create tunnels under the snow for safer travel.  But even down there in the subnivean zone they remain vulnerable to foxes with their excellent auditory and olfactory hunting skills.   (See March 17, 2019:  The Subnivean Zone)

On the larger end of the animal kingdom were signs of a robust deer population in and around the Page Pond Town Forest.  There are deer tracks crisscrossing much of that large unfragmented area of conserved land, and we came across several areas where deer had bedded down for a nap, melting the snow right down to the leaves.

At one spot there were three such beds close together, making me think it might have been a doe with her two fawns.

With winter firmly settled in, it's safe to put out the bird feeders, and it didn't take long for the birds to find them.  Chickadees are always first, but the nuthatches, woodpeckers, titmice and other birds are smart enough to follow the chickadees, knowing chickadees will lead them to food.  A nearby birdwatcher has seen Bluebirds, Carolina Wrens, and an American Tree Swallow - I'll be watching for them as well as many others that should arrive soon.  He also observed momma bobcat and her two kits walking along the ice at the shoreline.  I'll definitely be watching for them and their tracks; they are a lot of fun to follow to learn about their behavior.  (Thanks for sharing RB!) 

Momma and a kit scouting the lake edge a few years ago.

Perhaps you were out enjoying the milder weather yesterday and found your own nature signs.  But if not, today promises to be another good day, perhaps with more sun.  Winter is not only beautiful in the Lakes Region, but with snow on the ground it offers the best opportunities to see what animals are running around in your neck of the woods!

Happy Tracking!

December 29, 2024: Ice In and Tracks Galore

Where to begin....   

We'll start with Ice-In which was declared on December 27th.  It's possible it actually occurred one day earlier based on how little open water was left on Christmas, but if it did, it wasn't observed, so December 27 it is.  And although the surface is frozen, it is not safe.  Much of the center of the lake - the parts clearly open in last week's drone video - are very thin.  

Lots of open water on Monday Dec 23rd.

But that doesn't stop otters, as they are perfectly happy to climb in and out of the water as their mood desires.  The otter tracks all over the lake are really fun to see, and to imagine their behavior as they randomly run, hop, or slide their way across the lake.

They are completely unlike the fox which are all business - fox are on a mission, traveling in a clean, precise path across the snow, broken only when there is something to sniff at. 

Note the precise path of a canine crossing the otters' path.

Otters on the other hand, dance all over the place, running, sliding, backtracking to tackle one of their siblings.  

Otters having fun, while the pair of foxes just searched for food.

The messy tracks of fun-loving otters.

The jubilant play of the three brothers (totally made up on my part) went all the way from the west side of the lake, over Sheep Island, down to the outlet and across into the wetland between Wicwas and Winnisquam.  

Synchronized slides by the three brothers next to Sheep Island.

Over to Winnisquam.  I didn't think to see if they ran across the road, or swam over the dam.

These good-sized mammals weren't the only animals making their presence known this week, as two of our larger birds were seen as well.  First is this regal Barred-owl seen on Loon Point and captured by Eric Cohen.

Photo by Eric Cohen.

Second, I was able to catch the Pileated Woodpecker as it made its rounds of the lake when it stopped on a tree right in my line of sight.

The red mustache indicates this is a male Pileated.

With fresh snow, cold temperatures, and thick ice in the long-frozen coves (7 inches now), I had a couple of nice ski trips which is how I followed along behind the otters.  I also saw fox, coyote, and bobcat tracks, maybe mink, and several bird tracks which were most likely left by crows.

Much too small to be turkey tracks.

I'll end with a beautiful evening on Mt. Roberts at the Lakes Region Conservation Trust property at Castle in the Clouds.  (Speaking of that, did you see that Castle in the Clouds has been designated as a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior?)

I had planned to do a sunset hike on the winter solstice but the weather didn't cooperate.  Friday the atmospheric conditions looked promising so I took a late afternoon hike to the summit of Roberts.

Heading up over the ledges on Mt. Roberts in the late afternoon.

On the way down I stopped at the west facing ledge just before sunset as the fog was settling in the valleys between the mountains.

I was treated to a spectacular sunset with Kearsarge, Cardigan, and even Meredith's highest peak, Leavitt Mountain, in the distance.

Pink glow reflects off The Broads in Lake Winnipesaukee.

I tarried long enough to see the lights come on for night skiing at Gunstock.

It's an easy hike down from that viewpoint with a headlamp, especially with the trail packed smooth with dry snow.  Nonetheless, micro-spikes on boots are strongly recommended.

Happy New Year!

P.S.  After writing this I received a report that there is still a small patch of open water.  Depending on its size there may be an update in the ice-in date.