June 29, 2025: Catching up around the Lake

It's always comforting to return to the lake whether I've been away for a day or a month.  The enormity of a place like Alaska dwarfs the entire state of New Hampshire, but this small verdant patch of our planet has a charm that's truly special. How fortunate are we to able drive along a quiet stretch of road and see one of the iconic birds of the Northern Hemisphere incubating it's eggs?  

Many people put seeing a single loon on their life-list.  

This nest is in a good spot to be protected from boat traffic and is far enough off the road to not be bothered by cars.  You can see it at the first opening where you see the lake on Chemung Road when coming from Meredith Center.  Bring a pair of binoculars and scan the small islands in the cove - you won't bother it.

Hopefully this pair has survived the floods and a couple days of record heat this week and is carefully tending one or two viable eggs because it appears the northern-territory pair isn't going to have a nest this year.  I've seen a pair in the northern territory together with no recent signs of nest-building

Perhaps you saw this photo in the Laconia paper:

Assuming we do have a chick or two in a couple of weeks, there will be plenty more challenges for these birds to deal with!

There are other signs of nature to be found on a slow walk along country roads.  This small disturbed area caught my eye, and looking closer I found the tell-tale sign of a turtle nest.

An excavated Painted Turtle nest.

Painted turtles clamber out of the lake to find suitable nesting sites in soft gravel, sometimes having to travel long distances especially when the riparian area around a lake or stream has been developed.  They often find the first suitable spot along the shoulder of a road - which presents a couple of problems.  One is obvious from the number of squashed turtles in roads from car tires.  The other is the lack of protective cover as raccoons, fox, skunk, and crows also travel the roads looking for road kill.  When any of these come across a turtle nest they dig right because fresh turtle eggs, like chicken eggs, are an excellent source of much needed protein. 

Consumed turtle eggs.

Fortunately, the populations of both turtle species we have in Wicwas (painted turtles and snapping turtles) are strong.  

If you're on or near the water, especially in a small boat, look closely at the aquatic vegetation growing at the shoreline.  Many of our dragonflies and damsel flies are now emerging from their larval stage in the lake and drying out their wings for flight.  

You can find them doing this all summer long early in the morning to dry off nighttime dew.

I led a walk on the Laverack Nature Trail in Meredith Village with the Taylor Community this week.  Many fruiting trees are now in blossom along the boardwalk; we found native dogwood, winterberry, and many others.  

Silky Dogwood

Winterberry

Come fall and winter these provide valuable food for birds.  There are also blueberries with fruit already set; it looks like it might be a good blueberry season.  If you haven't been to the Laverack Trail (or even if you have!) this fully accessible trail is always worth a visit.

Finally, here's one more item from Alaska.  It's a slow motion video of a Tiger Swallowtail butterfly gathering nectar from lilac blossoms.  This is one-quarter actual speed; it was actually working those flowers very quickly.  It's a large file so it may take a minute to load.

After experiencing the untouched expanse of much of Alaska's Denali National Park and Tongass Natural Forest, flying over Boston and Seattle is a stark, almost overwhelming reminder of why we cherish even small pockets of undeveloped nature.  It is far too easy to take for granted all that Lake Wicwas gives us.

September 10, 2023: Summer in September

The best week of summer 2023 came in September when New Hampshire had a quintessential summer week with hot, hazy, humid weather every day.  With nary a breeze to stir up the lake, the water temperature was more like July without the chilly, early September feel that makes one think twice before jumping in the lake this time of year.  It was the perfect way end to the summer season, ideal for all the Labor Weekend activities.  Well, maybe except for one activity.  Our visitor from Colorado took me on a hike in the northern Presidential Mountains, and even way up there, on the summit of 5774' Mt. Adams (second in elevation only to Mt. Washington) it was hot, hot, hot with barely a breeze blowing on the summit.  

Mt. Madison, seen from a hot Adams summit.

An updraft in the morning was bringing warm air from the valleys up the mountain slopes and we feared we'd be socked into the clouds by the time we reached the first summit, Mt. Madison.

Cloud building on the hike up.

And in fact, the clouds had reached up to Mt. Adams by the time we summited Madison.  

Clouds flowing up the north flank of Mt. Adams.

But when we got down to the saddle between the two peaks, Adams had cleared.  We hiked past Star Lake and had a steamy trip up to Adams, and though hot, there were no complaints about the weather - or the views.

Star Lake.

We picked a good section of the range to hike, as Mt. Washington and the peaks just to the south of us remained under clouds all day while we experienced a sunny hike on the entire trek across the talus fields above treeline.

We had a few glimpses of Washington when the clouds lifted.

It was a grueling day, but we were prepared for the conditions with plenty of water and salty snacks.  It was my best hike of the summer - thanks for the excursion VP!

Just as we arrived at the Madison AMC hut we heard a helicopter come out of nowhere and land right at the hut.

It dropped off a crew of workers in hard hats and left as quickly as it arrived.  But it was back in just a few minutes with a grapple hook hanging below.  The crew had gathered up four empty propane tanks while it was away, which they connected to grapple hook, and off it went.  

A resupply mission to the hut.

It came back twice more, once to remove more material, and again to bring in new supplies.  On the final trip it had dropped off the grapple and landed to pick up the crew.  Madison Hut is now stocked for the last two weeks of its season.  

It's worth noting that foliage season comes early in the northern White Mountains.  There was already a warm yellow glow in the mid-elevation forest with quite a few leaves on the ground.  

Salmicus Falls

The huts will be open for leaf-peeping season, but then close down for the year.  Foliage viewing in the North County will be here soon.

Back at Lake Wicwas I was relieved that the hot weather hadn't brought on a cyanobacteria bloom.  There was obvious cyanobacteria in the lake with many suspended green specks smaller than a grain of sand, but it had the look of what DES calls a "starry night" rather than a "galaxy", so it was at a safe level.  We were fortunate this year.  Even Lake Winnipesaukee has four cyanobacteria alerts right now.  The large amount of shoreline covered by vegetation is a big factor in Lake Wicwas remaining healthy - lots of blueberry and huckleberry, buttonbush, even dogwood line the shore.

Silky dogwood (Cornus amomum)

This silky dogwood is a great species to plant on a shoreline to help with water quality.  It thrives in damp soils, has pretty flowers and light blue berries that are favored by birds because of their high fat content.  It also turns a beautiful deep red or purple color in fall.  

And this shrub won't grow high to block your view of the lake.  

If you're lucky (or if you planted them) you might find pretty turtlehead flowers blooming on the shoreline right now.

Turtlehead (Chelone obliqua), a common shoreline flower.

There was also a dragon at the lake this week, actually a dragonhunter.

Dragonhunter (Hagenius brevistylus)

This is a member of the aptly-named clubtail family.  It's the largest clubtail dragonfly in the northeast, and one of the most handsome with its contrasting yellow, black, and green coloring.  

I think the dragonhunter, the bear, and all the other lake and forest animals are enjoying Summer in September as much as I am.

November 3, 2019: November, and Still no Hard Frost

Halloween came and went - it was a warm, 65 degree day, though a bit damp.  Soon after, a cold front came through bringing below freezing weather, but still not enough for a hard, killing frost.  Even the cold, open field barely had a touch of frost, though up north in the mountains it was cold enough for at least one ski area to fire up the snow guns.

Blowing snow at Sunday River with Orion shining in the sky.  Photo by Sunday River Resort.

Even though daisies were still blooming this morning, the first real taste of winter isn't far off.

Daisies, mums, and a few marigolds are still hanging on.

The cold front's 40 mph winds finished ripping the leaves off the trees, and it did a good job of moving them from any clear area and piling them up against the nearest wind-stop.  But before it did it's job the atmosphere was so calm that leaves had been dropping straight down, leaving an elegant red carpet for all who trod the halls of the forest.

Before the wind stripped everything bare, the blueberry and huckleberry bushes had painted the shorelines with brilliant red as well.

Royal red - the color of kings for this special Sunday.

The sun is setting early now.

At the other end of the color spectrum I found these dark blue berries in large clumps on a dogwood tree.

I think this is Silky Dogwood (Cornus amomum).

At least I think that's what this is.  At first I thought it was a viburnum, but the leaves and berries convinced me it's the dogwood.

There is a viburnum that had a very good crop of berries this year, and this one combines both ends of the color spectrum.

Mapleleaf Viburnum (Viburnum acerifolium)

The dark purple berries and deep red leaves of the mapleleaf viburnum contrast nicely in the fall sun.

On the animal side of the ledger, I saw quite a few ducks come by Lake Wicwas this week, but always on those days when it was "good weather for ducks" and in the morning when there was never enough light to take a decent picture.

A raft of woodies on a colorless morning.

I've seen mallards, buffleheads, and wood ducks so far, as well as our loons, at least one chick and one parent, always side by side.

Davidson and mom?

Davidson in a rare moment almost 100 yards away from mom, but looking for her.

There she is.  Mom is losing her summer colors, making it difficult to tell them apart from a distance.

There have been enough questions asking whether this close relationship is atypical that I sent the question on to the Loon Preservation Committee.  John Cooley responded that it is somewhat unusual this late in the year, so we'll keep an eye on things and provide an update as we approach ice-in.

With that thought...  it's the time of year when I wonder if every kayak trip will be my last for the season.

I hope everyone had a good, scary, haunted Halloween!

A haunted tree - complete with beard - alongside Tucker Mountain Road in Chemung.