June 28, 2026: A Floating Nursery Log

Before we look at the nursery log, here's the loon update.  All our hopes for fledging a chick this year may fall upon little Northern Pip and its parents' vigorous protection of it from all danger. 

Northern Pip, five days old.  Photo by Debby Crowley.

Which by all appearances, they are doing. 

Two parents and one chick means twice the attention.  Photo by Debby C.

The reason we have all our hopes on Pip is because the southern pair has abandoned its nest - and for no clear reason.  On Monday, Shayne D. noted that both adults were out on the lake away from the nest.  On Thursday, seeing the same situation, I took a look at the nest, and found a single egg. 

A lone, unattended egg in the southern nest.

On Friday afternoon, the Loon Preservation Committee (LPC) gave the order to mark the egg and check it on Saturday.  Dave T. did that and found it had not been tended, so he collected it for analysis by the LPC.  We may not know the status of the egg until winter when things slow down enough for the LPC biologists to do forensics, but we may learn then why it was abandoned.  There's a chance the southern pair will attempt a second nest, but if not, we'll have to hope the big, strong male, and unknown female that make up the northern pair can keep Pip safe all summer long.

Our banded male, up close and personal.

Wicwas isn't the only Lake having loon challenges.  A pair using one of the floating nests that the LPC has a camera on is on their fourth egg, after three failures, each for a different reason.  Details were in the Laconia Daily Sun yesterday (see page 25).

Now the "nurse log".  You may have heard about nurse logs in the forest - large trees that fall to the ground and decay slowly over many years, providing a fertile bed for plants to grow.  Much of a forest floor is covered with a dense layer of leaves which can prevent germination, so these fallen trees can become filled with new life.  Well, on a paddle this week I came across an aquatic analog, an old log floating in the lake that's serving the same purpose, but for bog-centric flora.

Nurse log

Let's look at what's growing here.

The primary base plant is Sphagnum Moss, which covers much of the log and may provide a good place for other plants to take hold.

Sphagnum Moss

The tall, grass-like plant growing most profusely on the right is a sedge.  There are many varieties of sedge and I won't attempt to determine which this is.

Sedge

In the center is another tall plant, this one woody, which can grow quite tall and dominates much of the higher ground in the bogs around Lake Wicwas:  Leatherleaf.

Leatherleaf

Growing on the right side of the log, with a reddish-green color (which helps identity this species) is Bog St. John's Wort.

Bog St. John's Wort

One of the most interesting of our bog plants is the carnivorous Round-leaved Sundew, which is on the log in several places, but most visibly right in front of the St. John's Wort beside the bare spot on the log.

Round-leaved Sundew

When you find these on your paddles near a bog, look closely and you'll see fine hairs with a sticky drop of dew on each which catches small insects which the plant then digests.

Hardest to find on the log is the Purple Pitcher Plant, another carnivorous plant.  These are small, tubular stems growing right along the water's edge.  They'll be easier to spot in fall when they've grown larger.

A mature Pitcher Plant, fully grown in October.

Finally, the crown jewel of the log is the Rose Pogonia.

Rose Pogonia

This pretty member of the orchid family also grows on wet soil around water, and it's extremely abundant this year.  There are two growing on the log and another ten or so behind the log at the very top of the first photo of the full nursery.

These are some of the most common species seen in an exemplary acidic bog habitat in New Hampshire.  I will remind you that I have no formal training in botany, but am learning from books and often the internet (PlantNet ID is excellent), and I may not have all these right.  If you notice an error, please let me know!

In a few weeks, I hope to have a similar post on plants in the aquatic habitat, this time with expert assistance.  Wicwas' resident biologist, Russ Brummer, is leading a Weed-Watcher class on July 11th, and all are welcome to participate.  Below are the details in case you're interested in becoming a weed-watcher, or are just curious about the aquatic plants we have in our NH lakes.  Last year's class was interesting, and a lot of fun - you can see what we did on the July 13, 2025 post, "Weed School".

I hope to see you there!

November 3, 2024: Autumn Visitors

We were treated to a couple of fall visitors this week.   The first was this young bobcat that snuck by the house in search of a mid-afternoon snack. 

On the Prowl.

It crept along the path through the blueberry bushes where the chipmunks and sparrows collect seeds on the ground. 

Finding no prospects there, it walked up to the corner of the house under the deck and waited a long time, listening to all the tasty sounds in the air:  birds singing, chipmunks chipping, squirrels rustling the dry oak leaves.  Being primarily ambush hunters, bobcats have a lot more patience than I do - I gave up watching before I saw if an unsuspecting prey put itself into a position where the cat thought it could make at attempt at it. 

It's hard to tell without a frame of reference, but this bobcat was much smaller than even a mature female, so I'm pretty sure it's one of this year's litter.  I've seen a young bobcat still with its mother as late as December so seeing this one out hunting on its own and looking healthy is a good sign its mother taught it well.  

The next visitors were a pair of deer that were grazing under the tall Red Oaks, greedily gobbling up the heavy load of acorns dropped on the forest floor this year.

Sibling No. 1

Sibling No. 2

The excellent acorn crop will provide sustenance for many animals, likely resulting in healthy populations of everything from squirrels to turkey to deer next year.  

These animals and others that don't head south or hibernate are growing their warm winter coats at this point even though they didn't need them this week as a warm air mass settled in for most of the week.  Thursday was anything but a clear fall day.  

The view from the Blueberry Ledge Trail on Mt. Whiteface.

On the hike up Mt. Whiteface I recognized this red moss from my recent visit to the Philbrick Bog.  

Sphagnum Moss

Though far removed from the geography of a bog, this high elevation area of dense spruce trees has the same properties of wet, acidic, and low nutrient soil.  I probably wouldn't have noticed it if not for its red color and the fact I had just seen it in the bog.  I love the way multiple plants share the same piece land as much as I do the fabulous colors of nature.

Sphagnum moss, Haircap moss, and Eastern Hemlock all sharing the land.

At a lower elevation of the mountain, this large, bright fungus growing ten feet off the trail on the base of a tree caught the corner of my eye. 

There are several different fungi that have a similar look, one of which is called a Turkey Tail fungus (another is called False-turkey Tail), both named for their similar appearance to the tail of our well known Thanksgiving fowl.  

Cornell Lab of Ornithology photo.

Finally, a quick update on our Wood Thrush that came through New Hampshire and was picked up by the tracking station on Red Hill on September 14th.  The thrush has made its way as far south as Georgia where it was last detected on October 8th.  

The path of Wood Thrush #55768.

Wood Thrushes may overwinter in Florida (or go on to Cuba or South America), so it may be stationary now until spring comes.  We can continue to watch for it here, hoping it will return in the spring.  Until then, we'll enjoy the last vestiges of fall.

Milkweed pods prepare to disperse their seeds for next year's crop.

October 20, 2024: Philbrick-Cricenti Bog

It's been over a decade since I wrote about the Philbrick-Cricenti kettle hole bog in New London, and it's time for an update.  The bog is just as beautiful as ever, and recently the New London Conservation Commission upgraded much of the boardwalk so it's now even more accessible. 

A quick refresher on the bog's history:  It started as a lake over 15,000 years ago when the continental ice sheet deposited a huge chunk of ice that sunk into the earth and created a pond as it melted.  150 years ago it was still a pond that people fished in, but today the pond is completely covered by a floating peat bog.  As you walk across the bog you are suspended above the hidden lake by the floating mat of moss.  There's a pole beside the boardwalk that you can pull up and see that the water below your feet is over ten feet deep.

Bogs have a unique natural community of plants that can survive in the highly acidic and nutrient-poor conditions in a bog.  One of the most interesting - and beautiful - is the Pitcher Plant.

Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia purpurea)

Pitcher Plant is a carnivorous plant that attracts insects by sight and scent.  

Once an insect lands on its slippery cup it slides down past downward facing hairs into the bottom of the cup which contains water and the plant's digestive juices. 

Bye-bye bug.

I was also intrigued by these dead stalks sticking up out the bog.

I looked them up to identify them and found that they also are part of the Pitcher Plant - it's their seed pod.

A Pitcher Plant seed pod.

All that red throughout the bog is the thick layer of Sphagnum Moss that has formed over many years.  

Sphagnum Moss.

Some of it is grounded while much of it is floating on the pond.  Over time the moss will decay and eventually become peat.  

Sphagnum moss working its way towards peat.

Along the board walk we noticed a plant that looked like rosemary.

A rosemary lookalike.

Looking into this one I learned it's called Bog Rosemary though it's not related to the herb rosemary.  Bog Rosemary is in the heath family, and is in fact toxic, containing andromedotoxins which can cause breathing problems among other health issues.  

Plants in the heath-family are generally well suited to the acidic, low nutrient soils of bogs, and another heath plant abundant at the bog is Leatherleaf, which is also prevalent around Lake Wicwas.  Other plants found at both Wicwas and the Philbrick Bog include cranberry and blueberry.  Something Wicwas doesn't have is Tamarack which is a tree prevalent all around the Philbrick Bog.

Tamarack

Tamarack is considered a deciduous conifer, unusual in that it loses its needles in the fall which is why they are a nice yellow-green color right now.

Back at Lake Wicwas it's a quiet time of year.  We toured the lake yesterday on a gorgeous October day and saw no loons, herons, osprey, or eagles, just a dozen mallards enjoying a nice rest day on their trip south.  

It sure was a pretty day.

I hope you're able to enjoy this fine New England weather wherever you are!