May 3, 2026: Boneyard Beach

During our visit to South Carolina last week, we went on an excursion to Capers Island, the southern tip of 66 miles of protected barrier islands which starts just north of Isle of Palms.  We walked a long stretch of the shoreline facing the open Atlantic Ocean, through a habitat called a boneyard beach. 

The name stems from the dead, weathered tree trunks that resemble dried bones.

These are mostly oak trees, who's strong wood can survive the harsh elements for many years as the ocean advances.  There are also palmetto trees on these shorelines, but due to their soft wood, they are worn away soon after the ocean descends upon them. 

Live palmetto trees at the highwater mark with recently killed trees in the intertidal zone.

Barrier islands on the east coast are losing an average of 15 feet of land per year.  Some years they lose none, others they may lose 50 feet or more. Despite the efforts to hold back erosion on developed islands such as Isle of Palms, each time we visit, the ocean has clawed its way closer to the structures on the beach.  

While in the lowcountry, I saw a couple of shorebirds I haven't seen before, both of which do make appearances on the New England Coast.  The most interesting was the American Oystercatcher.  This is the only bird in our area that has the ability to open hard-shelled mollusks such as oysters, the bird's primary food source.  And an oyster bed exposed at low tide is exactly where I found it. 

American Oystercatcher searching an oyster bed for a good prospect.

Oystercatchers roost away from the shoreline at hightide, but as soon as the tide goes out enough to expose the oyster beds, they swoop in to look for vulnerable oysters.  The preferred method to consume an oyster is to thrust its sharp beak into a slightly open oyster and immediately sever the muscle that the bivalve uses to clamp its shell shut. 

Oysters exposed at low tide.  (I ate a few of these last week!)

Once severed, it's easy pickings to pluck out the good parts.  This process however, isn't risk-free.  It the bird misses the hinge muscle, the mollusk can clamp down on the bird's beak holding it in place, and if the oyster is securely attached to the ground, the bird will be held captive until the tide rises, which could mean the demise of the bird.  A second, safer, but more labor intensive method, is to hammer away at the oyster until the shell cracks, at which point it can reach in to cut the muscle and open the shell.  [Ref:  Cornell Lab of Ornithology]

The other new bird I saw was a Whimbrel, which doesn't spend much time on the New England coast.  It stops here only to refuel on its way between breeding grounds in the arctic and its summer domicile anywhere from the mid-Atlantic to the southernmost tip of South America.

Hudsonian Whimbrel on  the mudflats of Pitt Street Bridge 

The whimbrel uses it equally highly adapted bill to consume a different form of seafood, crustaceans, with its preferred dinner being the fiddler crab.  It uses its long, curved beak to probe down the fiddler crab's tunnel in the mud to extract it, often eating it whole, but perhaps removing its claws and legs first.  [Ref:  Cornell Lab of Ornithology]

Fiddler crabs in South Carolina

One more animal I'll mention is a mink that we saw running along the edge of a saltwater marsh at the Pitt Street Bridge.

A mink still damp from its swim in the saltmarsh.

It was behaving just like the minks at Lake Wicwas which travel the shoreline of the lake, moving back and forth between land and water using their excellent swimming and running abilities as they hunt for food.

Back home in New Hampshire, I was happy to see the Trailing Arbutus had bloomed.

Trailing Arbutus - the sweetest little flower you'll ever meet.

These incredibly sweet smelling flowers are the first of the deep forest flowers to bloom, and will soon be followed by many others.  It's also called the Mayflower, supposedly named by the Pilgrims in the first spring after arriving in Plymouth, and named for the boat that brought them to America.  It was voted the state flower of Massachusetts by the school children in 1918.

The red maples were just starting to put out their pretty red flowers as we left New Hampshire to head south.

Red maple flowers.

By the time we returned, small leaves and seed stalks had formed.

One more warm day and I expect lots of things will pop!

May 4, 2025: Fiddleheads Erupt

A few sunny days in late April really get things moving - the sun is as strong now as it is at the end of July.  In warm, damp, sunny spots ferns are shooting out of the ground, their fiddle heads mimicking the top of a violin.  

While on shaded forest floors, the Trailing Arbutus are now in full bloom.

They are so small you may have to look carefully to find them.  Trailing Arbutus, along with Partridge Berry are some of our forests' more common ground covers, helping to maintain moisture in the soil as well as providing food and cover for the smallest of animals.  I saw my first bee of the year buzzing among the Trailing Arbutus - it was a bumble bee, the primary pollinator of this plant.  These large bees with a hairy coat can stand colder temperatures, and are the first  bees to emerge after winter.  If you find Trailing Arbutus flowers, pinch one of their flowers and smell the strong, sweet perfume that attracts the bees. 

More birds arrive daily now - this week there's been a flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers here every day.  

Yellow-rumped Warbler.

They flit erratically among the bare branches picking off insects and caterpillars. 

Caught this one in action.

Yellow-rumpeds spend the winter farther north than most warblers so they arrive early, allowing us to see them rather than just hear them since the bare tree branches give them no cover.  

How they got their name.

Bare tree branches let me watch a Tufted Titmouse forage around in a young successional forest picking off insects and spiders.  

We'll lose those bare branches in just a few more days so the birds will be well hidden up in the treetops.  The trees are now starting to put out leaves; the view down on treetops from Crockett's Ledge shows tinges of pale yellow-green aspen and dark red maple buds.

Just a smattering of color against brown branches.

Other new arrivals this week include Oven Bird, Common Yellowthroat, and Veery.  But my bird of the week was this Broad-winged Hawk which spent time hanging out amidst the warblers.

Broad-winged Hawk

I was surprised that while it was here the warblers will still flying around in the trees.  The hawk wasn't trying to be secretive because it twice flew from one tree to another. 

It also walked up and down a branch, showing off its talons.

So the warblers were certainly aware of its presence.  Are warblers smart enough to tell a broad-winged hawk apart from the smaller Merlin and Kestrel, and know that broad-wings mostly go after small animals on the ground?  They should keep in mind that these hawks do occasionally take a bird on the wing.

One quiet morning as I was listening to the birds' sunrise serenade beside the lake, I jumped a foot in the air when a beaver gave a loud slap just a few yards away from me. I hadn't seen it coming and it really is startling when you're not expecting it. I watched it swim back and forth, and it presented me with a couple more tail slaps.

There was another noisy event on the lake this week:  The loons are back to fighting over either territory or mates.  Two days after I took a nice trip around the lake and was pleased at seeing two pairs of loons peacefully enjoying their separate territories, I witnessed the most intense loon battle I've ever seen.  I heard a ruckus and looked out and saw two loons in a wing-rowing chase winding back and forth across the lake at breakneck speed - they looked like waterskiers carving up the cove.  When they reached the end of the cove they went back and forth multiple times, chasing, diving to make sharp stops and turns, barely losing a beat.  I had watched for a long time not wanting to look away, but eventually I got my camera.

They went out of my sight, but then came back and I took more video until they went far down the lake.  I checked my watch only after they'd been at it for at least a few minutes - I have no idea how long it was going on before they caught my attention, but it was ten minutes that I watched before they went back out of sight, still in active combat.  

I'm amazed at their endurance; that video was only two and a quarter minutes of a fight that went on well over ten minutes and they never once stopped going full tilt.  I can only assume one of the contestants is the north territory male.  It seems it would be one doing the chasing to drive another away, but it could be the other way around.  It could also be two females fighting over who gets to pair with the male.  Hopefully someone will give up rather than fight to the death.  But what will happen if the weaker bird gets so exhausted it can't escape?  I was happy to see a pair together fishing peacefully in the northern territory the next morning.

Some of the trees and shrubs I like to watch progress in spring are Service Berry, Black Cherry, and Hobblebush Viburnmum, all of which are pushing out small leaves now.  The viburnum is the furthest along, already forming flower buds.  

Hobblebush Viburnum early buds.

All three of these shrubs/trees might have blossoms by next week - stay tuned!

April 27, 2025: Talons and Trilliums

Spring is popping up everywhere now, and I saw my first true wildflower Wednesday on a hike in the Ossipee Mountains - not where or what I expected.  But there on a southern exposure on the Mt. Shaw Trail, I saw my first flash of color, a bright Round-leaved Yellow Violet (one of those oxymoronic flower names).

Round-leaved Yellow Violet (Viola rotundifolia)

This was at 1800' elevation, and soon there were many of these violets, sometimes in large clumps.

A little higher up Mt. Shaw, on a ledge overlooking a deep-blue Lake Winnipesauke, I could see there's still snow on the trails at Gunstock.

It was a warm, sunny day, and approaching the trailhead on my way down in the afternoon I started seeing trillium leaves poking up through the leaf litter.  Then right at the parking area there were dozens of them.

Dozens of trillium at the Mt. Shaw Trailhead.

A few had buds that were about to open.

So I searched to see if I could find one that had opened, and finally I found one - just one, and just barely open, but that was enough to verify they were Purple Trillium.

Purple Trillium

On the next sunny day there will be a fabulous display of color at the Mt. Shaw trailhead on Rt. 171 for all to see.

A deciduous forest floor only gets direct sunlight for a brief period between snow-melt and leaf-out.  These early wildflowers have evolved the ability to emerge early enough to take advantage of this short window to collect enough energy to blossom and survive until next spring.  

It wasn't until Friday, back at Lake Wicwas, that I saw my first Trailing Arbutus in bloom.

Trailing Arbutus aka Mayflower

At the same time as the flowers are exploding on the scene, so are the birds.  This week I heard the first Hermit Thrush, Blue-headed Vireo, Phoebe, Palm Warbler, and Black-throated Green Warbler.  All of these have loud songs, and the hermit thrush is my favorite of the woodland birds.

On a mid-day kayak I saw my first osprey of the season as it flew over the lake and landed in a lichen covered tree on Loon  Point.

On the same paddle I came across a promising loon encounter.  Two loons were interacting closely, actively enough that I first thought they were in conflict.  But there wasn't any chasing or vocalizing, and their behavior didn't seem aggressive, so maybe they were just checking each other out.

When one of them swam right beside my kayak I was able to clearly see the white band with black dot that identified it as the northern male.  And later in my trip there were two loons fishing together in the northern territory, so perhaps the behavior I saw earlier was the loon version of flirting.  Maybe our male has accepted a new mate after last year's partner was killed.  

I also saw a second pair of loons in the south territory which may be the banded south pair, but we'll need to see bands to know that.  The busy loon-watching season has begun!

It's an exciting time of year on the lakes and in the forests as nature reawakens for the summer; there were many more new sightings, too many to note, so some will have to wait.  But something else is exploding on the scene too.  Be aware that biting insects will be out very soon, so the days of bug-free walks are almost over.  Here's clear evidence that the insects are coming.

Happy spring!

May 5, 2024: Boats and Birds are back on the Lake

Docks are going in and boats are appearing on the lake - sure signs that summer is approaching.  The April showers have come and gone and the lake is down to its proper summer level - just in time as both pairs of our nesting loons have returned and started scouting for nesting sites.  I got on the lake a couple of times, and on one of my kayak trips I watched a hawk fly over the lake right towards me and land high on an island I was paddling beside.    

Broad-winged Hawk.  (Buteo platypterus)

The broad-winged Hawks have returned.  These are hawks I often see and hear soaring over the lakes and trees in summer.  Their strongly banded tail is visible as they fly, and their high-pitched whistle is easily heard piercing the summer sky. 

Photo credit:  David Brown

New Hampshire's broad-winged hawks migrate 4000 miles twice a year, back and forth from Central America, and these birds are survivors.  Fossil records show they have been on the planet for 400,000 years.  [Ref:  Cornell Lab of Ornithology]  Cornell also states they usually nest "far from areas of human disturbance," another indicator that the conserved areas around Wicwas are supportive of wildlife species that need large unfragmented lands.

Later on the paddle I saw motion far across the lake in a marsh.  I couldn't see what it was but took a picture to blow up later, and saw that it was a Great Blue Heron.  And it had some huge object in its beak.

Is that a fish?  It doesn't look like a snake.  The photo is too poor to tell.

The herons have been back for a while now but many warblers arrived just this week.  I saw or heard Yellow-rumped, Black-throated Green, and Blackburnian warblers as well as Oven Birds.  

Lots of animals are taking advantage of the trees that got blown into the lake, not just the beavers.  I've seen painted turtles sun bathing on them as well as this heron which was using one felled tree as a fishing platform.

Amy and Russ found the Harris Cove loons preening one afternoon and were able to identify both of them by their bands.  This provided the confirmation that both nesting pairs are back.

The Harris Cove male.  Photo by Amy Wilson.

The two pairs seem to be sharing the lake well so it looks like we're set for another successful breeding season.  Between these two pairs, Lake Wicwas has fledged nine new loons over the past five years.

I also caught a glimpse of two deer strolling the woods.

I think they might have been yearlings still traveling together as both appeared rather small.  White-tailed deer are curious animals and they watched me for a while, eventually deciding I wasn't a threat, but they walked slowly up into thicker woods just to be safe.

The spring flora is also starting to rev up now.  This week I saw my first Trillium, a purple one.

Purple Trillium (Trillium erectum) in Hamlin.

Fiddleheads are poking up in and around wetlands.

Also Violets, the Sweet White and Common Blue, as well as Trailing Arbutus, are in bloom.

Trailing Arbutus (Epigaea repens)

There's a lot going on around the lake in spring, and there's only a short time left to enjoy it all without dealing with the bugs.  All those Phoebes and warblers fliting through the bare branches show that bugs are back on the lake too.

April 23, 2023: Ducks in a Tree

They're called "Wood Ducks" for a reason.  A large bird flying high through the forest caught my eye on my morning walk.  It was about the size of crow and landed on a branch high in a tree.  I knew it wasn't a crow, but what else is that size?  When it started calling I recognized the call as that of a wood duck, and soon a second started returning the call.  Tracking the sound, I was able to find both ducks through the leafless branches.

Mrs. (above) and Mr. (below) Wood Duck in search of a nesting site.

I never think of ducks in trees.  But wood ducks make their nests in holes in trees, as high as 50 feet above the ground and up to a mile away from water; this pair was about a tenth of a mile from the lake.  

I saw them early in the morning which is the time that wood ducks search for nesting sites.  They can't make their own holes, so they search through mature forests looking for existing suitable holes to use.  They occasionally will use an old woodpecker cavity, but usually they find a natural hole left where a branch broke off and the wood around the wound rotted away.  

I was tempted to try to get closer, but decided not to disturb them from their search and went on my way.  Maybe we'll have baby wood ducks on the lake this summer - incubation time is four to five weeks so watch for them in late May.

On this early morning walk with no leaves out yet I was also able to see two beaver lodges that have been improved this spring with fresh mud and new sticks.  

The second lodge is hard to see - it's on the left, just in front of large rock on the shore.

This is the time of year when two year old beavers are kicked out the lodge to build their own home.  Unfortunately, this results in beavers crossing roads in search of new territory, and one was killed on Meredith Center Road right by the dam where it was probably crossing between the lake and the marsh below the dam.

Last week's warm weather convinced the red maples that it was time to bloom and out popped their small red flowers.

Red Maple flowers on Tuesday, April 18th.

Red maple are the first of the large deciduous trees to put out buds, and soon, leaves.

Finally, the first woodland flowers are blooming - the Trailing Arbutus - which are always the first I see to bloom.

Trailing Arbutus (Epigaea repens) bloomed on Monday, April 17th.

It's a sign that many plants will soon be showing their spring colors.

Late breaking news, just before this went to press:  We have confirmation from Amy Wilson that our "northern" pair of resident loons is back on the lake.  If you look carefully you can see the white band with black dot on the male loon, and a green band on the female loon.  

Male with White band with black dot.  Photo by Amy Wilson.

Female with green and silver band.  Photo by Amy Wilson.

Amy reports several other loons have been on the lake, but no observations of bands that would confirm the "Harris Cove" pair is back.  Stay tuned....