March 16, 2025: It's Not Spring Yet

We enjoyed some beautiful late-winter weather this week, with sunny days and temperatures into the mid-sixties.  I took a walk on one of those days to see if I could find some early signs of spring - I was not very successful.  The best I could find were the sounds of birds singing their spring songs:  chickadees, titmice, and woodpeckers rapping on dead trees.  It wasn't too surprising, considering there's still a foot on snowpack on the ground and 18 inches of ice in the lake.  It's not looking like an early ice-out this year.  Here was a Tufted Titmouse hidden somewhere in the treetops, singing his "peter-peter-peter" song to secure his territory.

Later in the week I saw my first chipmunk running around on the snow, and soon there were lots of them out and about.  Now that the squirrels have done their thing, it appears it's the chipmunks' turn to be claiming mates and territory, as they chased each other around the forest.

No videos - these guys are a lot faster than the squirrels!

We're winding down the bird feeding season, letting the feeders be emptied out before the bears awaken, hungry and in search of food. 

 Only another week or two of observing them up close and personal.

On a hike up Mt. Liberty in Franconia Notch I was able to compare the trees that try to eke out a living in New Hampshire's harsh environment at the relatively low elevation of 4,000 - 5,000 feet.  Here's what the trees look like at the 4,500 foot summit of Liberty.  

Even below the summit in a protected area they find it hard to survive.

Growing a little taller in a protected swale at 4,300'.

Compare those to the towering Lodgepole Pines we saw last week at 9,000 feet in Rabbits Ears Pass.

Yes, there's still lots of snow and ice in the mountains, as well as here in Meredith.

A small stream crossing the Liberty Springs Trail.

The vernal equinox arrives in just four day, but there are still 18 inches of winter's ice safeguarding Lake Wicwas.

Short of a drastic heatwave, there won't be an early ice-out this year.

December 10, 2017 - First Snow

The first real snow of the season fell yesterday, and it immediately transformed the world into a winter wonder land.

It's nice to have winter arrive, but why does the snow always seem to come just as the ice is almost ready for skating?  The calm weather this week had allowed the lake to spread a perfect layer of smooth ice just before the snow fell.

The Full Cold Moon reflects off newly formed ice on December fourth

Ice working its way slowly across Lake Wicwas under the setting moon

But we'll take the snow (is there a choice?) and it sure does make everything look pristine.

Hemlocks are still holding onto their cones

Snow-covered pines on Sheep Island

A tunnel of snow

With the snow the bird feeders came out, both because the birds can use it with much of their food supply covered up, and because we'll be able to see if the bear is still active.  It didn't take long....

A goldfinch scratches its chin

A Tufted Titmouse waits its turn on a snowy branch

I can't wait to get out after the first snow to see what's been out and about in the world, and sure enough, even coming home from the concert last night there was already the trail of a fox trotting down the road in the still-falling snow.  This morning there were mouse prints in the snow by the stone wall where it has its nest.

Mouse prints, with the tail imprint barely visible

And right next to them, the landing mark of an ermine where it dropped down looking for a meal, but there was no sign of a capture, at least at that location.

Ermine landing mark above the mouse trail - about 4 inches long

I found the track of a coyote as well.

Coyote tracks this morning

And saw where it ventured to a small stream for a drink.

So, we may have missed the skating window again this year, but I'm looking forward to the season of observing animal tracks, and at least we should be able to get out on the skis soon!

Some trails will be ski-able with one more good storm

March 12, 2017

I returned to the lake this week to find bare ground on south-facing slopes, and open water where currents move through the lake.

Open water reaches far up the lake from the outlet

The melt and freeze cycles of the past weeks were evident in the rock-hard, treacherous surface of the snow that remains, as well as the frozen ruts left in the thawing and freezing surfaces of unimproved roads. 

Our initial greeting of warm weather was quickly revoked over the weekend as the temperature fell below zero and the northwest wind plunged the wind chills into the negative 20's.  Saturday was the second coldest day of the winter, the only colder day was way back in the middle of December.  Mud season will be pushed off for at least another week now, and I wonder how the maple sugaring season will respond.

All fall and winter I've been watching the stream that drains Lake Wicwas in to Lake Winnisquam rise in level due to beavers building up dams somewhere between the two water bodies.  At this point it is noticeably higher than a year ago, and I wonder if it will pose a flooding problem for Meredith Center Road when the spring freshets come. 

On the other side of the dam beavers are raising the mill stream

There is not a lot of snow left to melt but if we get significant rain, especially before the frost is out of the ground, it could get interesting.

I have seen very few tufted titmice over the winter, but this week they have arrived in good numbers, with many of them visiting the feeders now back in place, confident the bears will continue their slumber though this cold stretch.

Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor)

The Lakes Region is at the very northern edge of even the "uncommon range" of the titmouse's habitat (they do not migrate), but they are now spreading northward as the season warms.  (It also appears that their range is creeping north as the climate warms.) 

Range of the Tufted Titmouse;  light blue is "uncommon"  [Ref:  Audubon Society]

Titmice stay in family flocks during the winter, but as mating season approaches they pair up and will keep together as a pair throughout the spring and early summer.  The male will select and defend a breeding area of 15 to 20 acres.  Both parents will feed and tend to the young, which will stay with the parents and become a new family group through the following fall and winter.  [Ref:  "A Guide to Bird Behavior  Vol II,  Donald W. Stokes and Lillian Q. Stokes]  The well known peter-peter-peter call is starting to be heard now, given mostly by the male as it forms it territory and advertises for a mate.  Titmice make many different calls - you can listen to them here.  As the season progresses, look for males feeding their mate as part of the courtship process, and again as the female incubates the eggs.  [Ref: ibid]

Another nice behavior of titmice:  unlike many other birds, most notably the greedy nuthatch which shovels seeds onto the ground in search of the biggest, fattest seed in the feeder, titmice eat the tiniest seeds in the mix.

I'll close this week with a really neat picture that someone on the snowshoe tour two weeks ago sent me (thanks D&G!).  It's a photograph of an albino porcupine taken in Canterbury near Hackleboro Orchards.  All the farmers out there know how much porcupine love orchards!

A rare albino porcupine in central New Hampshire