October 26, 2025: Pied-billed Grebe

I saw a new bird on Lake Wicwas this week:  A Pied-billed Grebe.

Pied-billed Grebe  (Podilymbus podiceps)

It was solitary, and having good success fishing all by itself in the lake, staying and diving for quite a while.  I had to look it up as it wasn't a bird I recognized, but after identifying it I realized I had seen this bird once before - on the coast of Virginia.  Pied-billed grebes breed throughout New Hampshire, but I'd never seen one here.  They are built like a loon with legs far back on their body which make them excellent swimmers, and like loons, very awkward when walking on land.  For that reason they spend almost their entire life in water - even when nesting.  

Unlike our Common Loon, this grebe builds a floating nest, a bowl-shaped nest on a floating mat of vegetation either by constructing a raft from stems of aquatic plants, or maybe even on top of lily pads.  Also like loons, once the chicks hatch they ride on their parent's back for safety.  The pied-billed has a wide range of food sources with crayfish being their primary food, but they also eat fish, snails, mussels, crabs, frogs, leeches, and insects.  [Ref: Cornell Lab of Ornithology]  Unlike loons, these grebes may lay a brood of up to ten eggs.  Here's a photo of a nest from the Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance.

Pied-billed Grebe nest with ten eggs.  Photo by James Otto.

I saw another uncommon bird on Lake Wicwas a couple of weeks ago:

A Solitary Sandpiper perches on top of a docked boat on Wicwas.

The solitary sandpiper breeds in boreal forests in Canada, so this one picked Wicwas as a nice rest stop on its way to Central or South America for the winter.  We'll soon be seeing more migrating birds making stopovers at Wicwas.

Leaves are falling fast now in the Lakes Region and the open branches continue to reveal new sights I hadn't noticed before.  This week I saw this huge American Beech tree a dozen yards off the trail to Crockett's Ledge in the Hamlin Forest.  

It seems healthy, even with that six foot crack running up the trunk and an enormous cavity inside.  The opening was large enough to put my hand in and take pictures looking both up and down inside the trunk.

The bottom of the cavity inside the beech.

Looking skywards

Fortunately, there were no signs of animal life in there.  I don't think I've seen the inside of a standing tree before!

Farther up towards the White Mountain Ledge I noticed a hemlock tree with a long strip of bark blown off from being struck by lightening.

A long strip of blown off bark where electrical heating
explosively boiled the moisture under the bark.

When lightning strikes a tree the electrical current passes through the cambium under the bark to reach the ground because the live, wet wood is a good electrical conductor.  The heat generated by the current vaporizes the water under the bark which expands violently and blows the bark right off the tree.

Rotting wood indicates this is old lightning scar.

On the trail it was evident that many of the leaves were no longer on the trees, especially the maples.

The beech, oak, and aspen hold on to their leaves a bit longer so there was still some color looking north towards the white mountains.

I could only see as far as Mt. Osceola on Friday.

Closing on a non-nature note, the boat ramp for Lake Wicwas got its rebuild this week.  

There are nine concrete slabs anchored together going out over 20 feet into the water; one is visible as the lake level is still down a few inches.

Hopefully the new design will reduce erosion and sedimentation going into the lake.  

Silt fencing protected the water during construction.

It's worth noting that going into the last week of October, we've still only had one day where the temperature has dropped below freezing and flowers are still blooming.

Daisies at my parents house.

And people are still out enjoying the fall weather on the water.

I hope you're able to take advantage of the quiet season around the lakes!

September 4, 2022: Forestry Lessons

This week I attended a public forestry tour at the Page Pond Town Forest in Meredith sponsored by the Meredith Conservation Commission.  It was led by Dan Stepanauskas, a highly qualified forester who focuses on forest and wildlife habitat improvement, and he passed on a tremendous amount of information to the attendees.  One of the highlights for me was seeing this stand of hemlock trees which he estimates to be 350 years old.

Hemlocks estimated to be 350 years old.

That means these trees have witnessed American history from the time before there was an America - back to King Phillip's war.  I don't know why these trees escaped the axe; most of the old-growth trees I see in the Lakes Region are twisted, gnarly, knotty trees with no timber value so the loggers left them behind.

They couldn't get a good board out of this crooked white pine.

An important exception to this is sugar maples.  These weren't cut because they provided a cash crop for the land owner.  There are still several old-growth sugar maples in the Hamlin Conservation Area and the Red Trail takes you right through them. 

One of several remaining ancient sugar maples on the Red Trail

The average life span of a sugar maple is 200 years (though they can live over 300 years).  The few trees that are still hanging on in Hamlin are showing their age and won't last too much longer.

The old maples are showing their age.

On the tour I also learned about black oak, a species I wasn't familiar with, as well as black birch, a tree with a beautiful sweet aroma when the twigs are scraped.  This is the tree that's tapped to make birch beer; appropriately, it's also known as sweet birch.  

Back on Lake Wicwas I enjoyed some late summer bird watching, including brilliant goldfinches tearing into the seed pods of black-eyed susans and evening primrose. 

A male goldfinch feasts on evening primrose seeds.

They are not particularly neat diners.

He needs a napkin.

On a kayak yesterday I came across a bird I always think of as a shore bird though I have seen them on the lake several times. 

A sandpiper on the lake.

I think this is a solitary sandpiper; I've also seen spotted sandpipers at the lake.

Finally, our little Maddie isn't so little anymore. 

Mom and Maddie.

She's now lost most of her baby fuzz, revealing more and more of her juvenile plumage.

Photo by Debby Crowley

Maddie spends most her time with mom while dad's fishing nearby.

Mom, as seen by her bands, splashes water in Maddie's face.  She didn't seem to mind.

But dad brings fish to her when he catches the right one.

Maddie chokes down another good size fish.

With all that attention from her parents she's grown quickly and at this point the likelihood of her surviving to adulthood is high. It's never a sure thing, but as large as she is now, I expect she'll have no problem making it until she flies off to the mighty Atlantic in November.

Setpember 12, 2010

Summer is hanging on, but signs of fall are everywhere.  Saturday was a perfect September day, and I got in one more ski trip; the water is still as warm as in July.  I saw many ducks on the lake again this weekend, including a beautiful Wood Duck.  As I came around a point in the kayak, four or five ducks flew off, but one brightly colored male stayed behind, crouching down low against the shore.  But I as raised my camera, he took off also.  This is all I got:

The lake level is a little low, about minus two inches at the dam, but not bad considering how dry it's been.  The lake level has been managed very well lately.  The water level is about three inches below the top board in the dam.  The low water has revealed lots of mud flats in the marshes, and there were many turtles out sunning themselves on Saturday.  I found this Solitary Sandpiper digging on one of the mud flats.

Solitary Sandpiper

It's the season of red berries.  The wintergreen has ripened and its bright red berries are visible all around the shores of Lake Wicwas.  These will stay red into winter, and provide a good food source for many birds.

Winterberry

Partridgeberry

The Partridgeberries are also ripe, but much less ostentatious, hiding amongst the leaf litter on the forest floor.  Both are signs that fall is here.

Red isn't the only color though - I found these large clusters of blue berries at the dam on Meredith Center road.  They have a large woody stalk, with very strong stems holding the berries.  With Emily's assistance, I learned they are Smooth Carrion Flower.  Between the leaves and the berries, they are the food of Bear, Deer, Cottontail Rabbit, Turkey, Ruffled Grouse, and other animals - just another attraction for the diverse fauna around Lake Wicwas.

Smooth Carrion Flower (Smilax herbacea)

Linda found these delicate blue flowers right on the shoreline - I don't know what these are either - any ideas?

Linda also saw the three fawns last week, as well as a fourth fawn with them, but only saw one doe.  Other than the birds, including several wood peckers hammering in the forest, and lots of turtles sunning on the mud flat, I didn't see much wildlife this week.  But a large member of the weasel family came by the house, leaving a large twisted scat to mark his presence.  Being over a 12 inches long, and full of hair, I'm guessing it was a Fisher.

Fisher Cat Scat?

Alas, another clear sign of fall:  we took out the dock today.  But the boat and kayaks are still in for fall tours around the lake.