Snowshoeing Page Pond

This was supposed to be a post about winter tracking in the Page Pond Town Forest, but old man winter had other plans - and I'm not complaining!  We woke up to another gorgeous winter wonderland with about six inches of fresh powder, which made for a beautiful excursion through pristine snow.

Entering a winter paradise.

A group of ten intrepid snowshoers braved the trip through unbroken snow, up the field, down to Page Pond, and all the way to the mill dam.

 I forgot to take a picture of the dam, but here's one from a prior year.

The historical mill dam which powered an up-and-down sawmill on Meredith Neck.

New snow meant all the animal tracks were covered up; all we could identify were deer, which punched deeply into the snow, and a few gray squirrel tracks.  Even woodpecker chips and red squirrel debris had been hidden.  But by the time we were heading back to the trailhead there were bits of birch tree catkins lying on the fresh snow where the goldfinches had already been feeding on the tiny seeds within the catkins.

A goldfinch extracting seeds from a catkin on a birch tree beside the field.

The best wildlife moment was a large flock of mixed birds feeding on fruit trees right near the trailhead.

Three cedar waxwings frame a single robin, all plucking apples from the tree.

The larger robins had caught my eye first.

But then I saw there were more cedar waxwings than robins.

A colorful cedar waxwing brightens up a winter day.

Cedar waxwings are fruit eaters, so are likely to be found around old farmsteads and fields, such as those at Page Pond, where there are apple trees, Autumn Olive trees, and of course, plenty of Oriental Bittersweet.  Unfortunately, when cedar waxwings eat bittersweet fruit, the seeds are aren't digested, but pass right through them, which means they spread this invasive species far and wide throughout their range of travel.  

American Robins in summer eat almost exclusively invertebrates such as earthworms, grubs, and insects.  But in winter they turn into frugivories, meaning fruit eaters.  Like several other birds that used to migrate out of New Hampshire in the winter, robins have been resident here year-round since the late 1990s, partly due to warmer winters, and partly due to the prevalence of ornamental fruit trees planted by homeowners.  This was yet another discovery that resulted from the Audubon backyard bird count.  

While we're on the bird watch, I'll share a photo of a red-tailed hawk I saw last weekend (thank you RB for help with identification.)

It flew out of the trees and over the staging area of the Laconia Sled Dog races just as the dogs started getting excited and loud as they were lining up for the start.  The hawk either didn't like the noise, or knew that the racket would send any potential lunch prospects running for cover.

So there wasn't much tracking to be done at this winter's Meredith Conservation Commission guided snowshoe tour, but nobody complained given the beautiful winter scenes through which we trekked.

The top of the field at Barnard Ridge Road with the Belknap Mountains in the background.

Thank you all for joining  the trip!

September 7, 2025: Quieter Days on the Lakes

Welcome to September, a time when things graciously slow down around all the lakes.  I took advantage of a calm day to paddle the big lake; it's a peaceful place on a September morning.

Lake Winnipesaukee in September.

I paddled around several of Meredith's Islands to the east of Meredith Neck: Beaver, Hawk's Nest, Three Mile, and Pine.  I had the lake to myself until almost 11:00, affording opportunities to see several birds including this eagle having its breakfast on Three Mile Island.

I will surmise this is an immature Bald Eagle that has not yet earned its white head and tail feathers.

A little farther along, a Double-crested Cormorant was biding its time off the eastern point of Hawk's Nest Island.

A cormorant surveys the big lake.

I discovered an interesting find deep in a secluded cove in the cut between the Beaver Islands:  a stand of Black Gum (aka Black Tupelo) trees which were starting to turn red.

There used to be several large black gum trees on Wicwas too, but most of them have been taken down by beavers, though there are still a few smaller trees around.  You can find them most easily in the fall when their thick, glossy leaves turn a deep crimson color.

Look for these dark-red black gum leaves in early to mid October.

After paddling past Pine Island I followed the shoreline of Meredith Neck north back to Leavitt Beach, and along the way I rounded a point and flushed a Great Blue Heron off its resting point on a shoreline bounder.

Here are few manmade sights you might recognize from this part of the lake.

Stone marker at the north entrance to the channel behind Pine Island

That's Red Hill directly behind, with 4043' Mt. Passaconaway the high peak off in the distance.

AMC Camp on Three Mile Island

Y-Landing on Meredith Neck

Back on Lake Wicwas, our most famous residents, the loons and our juvenile Spangle, continue to do well even while constantly fending off intruders.  I found mom and spangle fishing in the middle of the lake one bright day.

Stopping to watch - at a safe distance of course - after one dive Spangle came up right next to me!  She did her best to hide, keeping a low profile before she dove again.

Heading north after this I found what I presume to be Spangle's father right at the line defining the north and south nesting territories guarding his domain against four other loons.  Even as a nearly full-size juvenile, spangle is still vulnerable to attack by other loons and protected fiercely by her parents.  

Spangle has shed all her baby feathers and is now fully clothed in juvenile plumage.

The feeble amount of rain we received this week did little to help the drought situation.  The lake is now down about seven inches, and almost all the streams are bone-dry (this was prior to yesterday when we did get some first appreciable rain, the first since July 13th, with more on tap for today).

Not a drop of water in these streams.

The only exception are ones that have beaver dams upstream which store enough water to keep the stream running slowly all summer as water leaks through the dam.  

This stream is supplied with water from the upstream beaver pond shown below.

The pond level is down, but that's what's keeping the stream alive.

The dry summer has been great for tourism and outside activities, but hard on plants and wildlife.  Water in both beaver ponds and flowing streams are incredibly valuable resources to animals in drought years.

I'm hearing lots of reports of ground hornet nests this fall - perhaps due to the dry summer?  I have personal experience with two already.  One I found in the Hamlin forest at the intersection of the Blue and Yellow trails heading up to Crockett's Ledge.  There was a large boulder turned over beside the trail and I wondered why.  Looking around I found the hole where it came from and realized a bear had excavated a bee nest to access the eggs and larvae.  

An excavated yellow-jacket nest.

Hornets that had survived the attack, perhaps because they were away from the nest at the time, were working like a construction crew after a tornado to recover what they could from the remains.  

I still can't image how a bear can endure the dozens, maybe hundreds, of stings it sustains while it feeds on a nest.  My advice to hikers is to simply keep a steady pace as you hike.  As long as you keep moving, even if you stomp right on top of a nest, by the time the hornets come out to investigate, they won't bother you if you've gone past them.  They're only likely to be a problem if you happen sit down right next to one - so be aware of where you stop for a break on your hikes.  If you see bees, move on quickly.

I wanted to mention all the wild fruit that's ripening now but that will have to wait.  I'll share just this fun moment of watching a young robin collecting cherries from a Black Cherry tree.

It's an important time of  year for animals to start stocking up on calories for winter, whether for hibernation or migration.

June 2, 2024: Momma Snapper

This week I came across a good size snapping turtle ambling down a gravel road looking for the perfect spot to place her eggs.  

A large, well armored Snapping Turtle.

It's a safe bet that a snapper up on dry land is a female, as males have little reason to leave the safety of the lake.  Did you notice those long, sharp claws for digging a nest in hard packed ground? 

Out of water and exposed to any predator brave enough to tangle with that strong jaw.

I've written previously about snappers and their deceptive technique to increase the odds for their offspring to survive.  A single female Snapping Turtle will dig multiple nest holes, but will only place her eggs in one of them.  A predator won't know where the eggs are, and after a failed attempt or two at finding food, may give up.  On aptly named Turtle Island in Lake Wicwas I've seen dozens of holes and sand piles where snappers have created false nests to stymie predators.  

Another unusual trait of Snapping Turtles is that the sex of the hatchling isn't determined when the egg is fertilized, but rather the resulting gender is determined by the temperature of the ground in which it develops.  If the temperature of the nest is below 68 degrees Fahrenheit, all the eggs will be female.  If the temperature is above 73 degrees they will all be male.  Between these temperatures there will be some of each gender.  Personally, I'm hoping for lots of little boy turtles this summer!

She's not the only reptile out nest building.  This Painted Turtle was doing her thing in the same general area a few days earlier.

A Painted Turtle lays her eggs.

Both of these turtles managed to make their way about a hundred yards through thick growth to find their nesting spot.

On the much smaller end of the herpetofauna scale (the collective term for amphibians and reptiles) is this little Red Eft that happened to be walking down the same dirt road.  

That's the tip of my shoe.

These mid-life-stage Eastern Newts aren't rare, but it's always a treat to find one creeping along a hiking trail in the woods, most often after a summer rain.  

Talking about trails, the Chokeberry are blooming now.  I found these right beside the trail at the very summit of Red Hill.

Black Chokeberry on Red Hill in Moultonborough.

Chokeberry is well adapted to growing in wet areas and many are growing along the shores of local lakes and wetlands. 

And on the shores around Lake Wicwas.

In the fall they'll have large black berries that are consumed by birds as well as mammals large and small.

Did you find some Lady's Slippers to enjoy this week?  This Tiger Swallowtail butterfly did.

A Tiger Swallowtail looks for nectar in a Pink Lady's Slipper.

However, the butterfly left unsatisfied as Lady's Slippers don't produce nectar!  These are two of several Lady's Slippers growing right beside the trail leading up to Crockett's Ledge in the Hamlin Town Forest.  

Keep your eye out now for pretty white Bunchberry flowers down low to the ground.

Bunchberry will have red fruit in the fall.

These are woodland plants, found mostly in slightly open areas of damp forests.

Following up on the bird nests of last week, I forgot to mention one, a phoebe nest that's built on a beam under our deck.  The poor bird flies off the nest every time we go by the deck.  That's one bird that's getting its exercise.  And there's yet another nest under construction, one who's location is unknown to me. 

An American Robin gathers nest building material.

It's late for a Robin's first nest, and since Robins will often have two or even three broods each summer and don't usually reuse a nest, this bird is probably working on nest number two.

Have you noticed the dragonflies have emerged?  I've seen several of various shapes and colors including swarms of Chalk-fronted Corporals which are common at this point in the season.

Chalk-fronted Corporal.

But the most beautiful dragonfly I saw this week was this one with fabulous clear wings that reflect the light with the most delectable colors.

I haven't been able to identify it, but I were to name it I'd call it the Rainbow Dragon.

Nature's beauty reveals itself once again.

There were signs this week the second pair of loons are preparing their nest - maybe there will be news to report next week.

May 7, 2023: Black and White Warblers Crash the Party

This spring party is feasting on a buffet of insects, providing much entertainment.  The air show started a few weeks ago when the phoebes appeared, but really hit its stride this week with the arrival of masses of yellow-rumped warblers.  Whereas the phoebes - which have taken up residence near our house - dash out from a tree branch to catch a bug and then return to the same tree to watch for the next victim, the yellow-rumped warblers were flying along quickly from tree to tree, the whole flock moving rapidly in the same direction.  As I was watching the yellow-rumped's do their thing, I noticed one bird acting differently - rather than flitting about catching flying insects, this bird was rapidly climbing up and around the trunk of an oak tree like a nuthatch.  With binoculars, I saw it was the Black and White Warbler.  I hear their distinctive "squeaky-wheel" call often, but rarely see them, and have never gotten a picture of one before, but I was able to here.

Black and White Warbler

They move so fast it's hard to get a picture that isn't blurred by their motion.  According the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, black and white warblers often travel with large bands of other migrating warblers.  The B&W's come all the way from Florida or Central America to breed here.  Their diet consists almost entirely of spiders and insects, especially their larva, all of which they pick out of crevices in the bark of trees.  Black and white warblers are ground-nesters, usually building their nest at the base of a tree or a rock for protection and cover.   

Belting out it's high-pitched squeaky-wheel song.

Other additions to the spring bird arrivals this week included the Winter Wren and the Ruby-crowned Kinglet.  Here's one of the many Yellow-rumped warblers.

The robins are once again building their annual nest under our deck.

Mrs. Robin collects nesting materials.

They've been doing this for so many years I guess they just don't mind being disturbed every time we walk by.

The cool and damp weather has meant a long season for the trailing arbutus - they are still blooming.  The service berries have joined them now, as have the fly-honeysuckle.

Fly Honeysuckle (Lonicera canadensis)

You're surely aware that all the rain in the northeast has caused significant flooding and washouts of roads and trails.  A beaver dam on Meredith Neck failed and now the pond is just a shallow mud hole after the rush of water took away part of Meredith Neck Road.  There were reports of the beavers rebuilding the dam that held back the pond after the first breach, but they haven't been seen since it failed a second time with the latest rain.  All the beaver dams around Wicwas seem to have held.  The water level in the lake was as high as twelve inches above normal, but it's now coming back down.  Profile Falls in Bristol is gushing, and the trail to the Pemigewasset River is impassible due to flooding.

Profile Falls on the Smith River.

The first warm sunny evening following all that rain sure got the Spring Peepers excited:

I went for a kayak the day the weather was clearing; I did get a few showers on me, but it was worth it, as our male loon gave me a great show as it performed a thorough preening routine.

Afterwards, he wanted to make darn sure I knew it was him out there:

Making sure I saw his leg band.

Things are getting busy around the lake as spring hits its stride - I barely mentioned all the plants now bursting out with buds and leaves - maybe next week.  I'll close with a video of a Turkey Vulture that was enjoying the airflow being forced upwards by the cliff at Crockett's Ledge.  

While I was there I also saw an osprey fly right overhead.  Ledges provide good vantage points for observing animals as well as great views!