Oct 1, 2023: Pennsylvania Dutch Country

This week was spent exploring Pennsylvania Dutch Country and the mid-Appalachian Mountain area.  One of our excursions was a hike on Kittatinny Ridge to Hawk Mountain which is a raptor sanctuary.  On the migration path for raptors, the sanctuary tallies 17 different species of raptor flying overhead, and the total count to date, only half way through the migration, is 8812.  Unfortunately, the day we were there it was very slow. Early in the morning, before we arrived, a group of 181 broad-winged hawks flew over, but the whole rest of the day saw only 13 more birds. While we were at the summit we saw several turkey vultures, plus one peregrine falcon so far off in the distance that I couldn't convince myself I saw it.  But we did get some good close looks at turkey vultures as they soared over the ridge. 

They were all immature, thus the gray rather than red head.

Even though vultures hunt in a different manner than hawks and eagles they are still in the raptor family.  They have highly attuned abilities to find and ride on thermal and mountain updrafts, and use their maneuverable wing structures to make optimum use of the available currents.

We were hoping to see more of our New Hampshire birds like osprey and broad-wing hawks on their way to South America, but we couldn't have hoped for a prettier day on Kittatinny Ridge.

The view from the north summit where the count takes place.

This is the south summit which has a fully accessible trail from the trailhead.

I've noted a couple of times this fall the good mast year we're experiencing in New Hampshire with large crops of white pine, beech, and red oak mast, and the same seems to taking place in Pennsylvania. Wherever we went, branches and ground were well adorned with nuts of the region:  hickory, chestnut, oak, black walnut, even locust.  

Locust seed pods.

Black walnut fruit, the size of small oranges.

I picked up a small bagful of black walnuts to find out just how palatable these wild nuts are and how they compare to English walnuts. It's a bit of a process to prepare them, something that gave me more appreciation for what it takes to bring commercial nuts to market as well as how much time and effort early inhabitants of North America put into harvesting food.  First the thick outer skin needed to removed. This was easily accomplished by rolling them one at a time under my foot, which broke open the fruit to expose the nut. 

The nut came out easily, but then the work began. There's a thick, stringy layer tightly adhered to the outside of the nut which needs to be completely removed or it will grow potentially harmful mold, and will ruin the taste of the nutmeat inside.  This took a lot of scraping, scrubbing, and washing - with gloves on because the nuts have strong tannins that will stain your hands terribly.  Once clean I put them in a mesh bag to thoroughly dry out. 

Cleaned black walnuts

After aging for several weeks to several months they'll be ready to sample, after another challenge.  Store bought English walnuts are hard enough to crack, and black walnuts are even harder. It seems it's almost impossible to crack them without pulverizing the nutmeat inside even using special tools designed for this purpose. One technique I read about says to dry them until the shell cracks along the seam, and then pry it open with a knife.  I'll report my experience with opening them as well as whether they taste good enough to warrant the effort.

Pennsylvania also grows some big and beautiful trees. 

Sycamore

This sycamore tree is in the Landis Valley near Lancaster.  It's growing next to a circa 1900 hotel that's on the old Pennsylvania coach road and is now protected by the Landis Valley Museum.  

Tulip poplar trees are common in the area - I saw many - and they are even bigger than sycamore, competing with white pine and eastern hemlock for the tallest trees in the east. 

Tulip Popular (Liriodendron tulipifera)

Another big tree?  White oak.  

White oak

This one is growing along the Great Oak Trail at the Quittie Creek Nature Park in Anneville.  Quittie Park was a disaster of an abandoned industrial site turned illegal dumping area.  The town of Anneville committed to turn it into a park and it's now a model of town park with a pristine river running through it.

Other trees just have huge leaves like this Catalpa leaf torn off by the winds of Ophelia.

In addition to discovering nature, we also learned much of the local history and culture of the area from  the original inhabitants of the valley to the Amish and Mennonite communities to the development of industries such as coal, iron, and yes, chocolate.  Maybe some of that will get into future posts, but for now I'll just say the Amish have remarkable social, family, and work values, and their farms are beautiful.

Hyacinth beans form a colorful tunnel on this Amish farm.

 

May 7, 2023: Black and White Warblers Crash the Party

This spring party is feasting on a buffet of insects, providing much entertainment.  The air show started a few weeks ago when the phoebes appeared, but really hit its stride this week with the arrival of masses of yellow-rumped warblers.  Whereas the phoebes - which have taken up residence near our house - dash out from a tree branch to catch a bug and then return to the same tree to watch for the next victim, the yellow-rumped warblers were flying along quickly from tree to tree, the whole flock moving rapidly in the same direction.  As I was watching the yellow-rumped's do their thing, I noticed one bird acting differently - rather than flitting about catching flying insects, this bird was rapidly climbing up and around the trunk of an oak tree like a nuthatch.  With binoculars, I saw it was the Black and White Warbler.  I hear their distinctive "squeaky-wheel" call often, but rarely see them, and have never gotten a picture of one before, but I was able to here.

Black and White Warbler

They move so fast it's hard to get a picture that isn't blurred by their motion.  According the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, black and white warblers often travel with large bands of other migrating warblers.  The B&W's come all the way from Florida or Central America to breed here.  Their diet consists almost entirely of spiders and insects, especially their larva, all of which they pick out of crevices in the bark of trees.  Black and white warblers are ground-nesters, usually building their nest at the base of a tree or a rock for protection and cover.   

Belting out it's high-pitched squeaky-wheel song.

Other additions to the spring bird arrivals this week included the Winter Wren and the Ruby-crowned Kinglet.  Here's one of the many Yellow-rumped warblers.

The robins are once again building their annual nest under our deck.

Mrs. Robin collects nesting materials.

They've been doing this for so many years I guess they just don't mind being disturbed every time we walk by.

The cool and damp weather has meant a long season for the trailing arbutus - they are still blooming.  The service berries have joined them now, as have the fly-honeysuckle.

Fly Honeysuckle (Lonicera canadensis)

You're surely aware that all the rain in the northeast has caused significant flooding and washouts of roads and trails.  A beaver dam on Meredith Neck failed and now the pond is just a shallow mud hole after the rush of water took away part of Meredith Neck Road.  There were reports of the beavers rebuilding the dam that held back the pond after the first breach, but they haven't been seen since it failed a second time with the latest rain.  All the beaver dams around Wicwas seem to have held.  The water level in the lake was as high as twelve inches above normal, but it's now coming back down.  Profile Falls in Bristol is gushing, and the trail to the Pemigewasset River is impassible due to flooding.

Profile Falls on the Smith River.

The first warm sunny evening following all that rain sure got the Spring Peepers excited:

I went for a kayak the day the weather was clearing; I did get a few showers on me, but it was worth it, as our male loon gave me a great show as it performed a thorough preening routine.

Afterwards, he wanted to make darn sure I knew it was him out there:

Making sure I saw his leg band.

Things are getting busy around the lake as spring hits its stride - I barely mentioned all the plants now bursting out with buds and leaves - maybe next week.  I'll close with a video of a Turkey Vulture that was enjoying the airflow being forced upwards by the cliff at Crockett's Ledge.  

While I was there I also saw an osprey fly right overhead.  Ledges provide good vantage points for observing animals as well as great views!

May 24, 2020: Hello Summer!

Can you believe that just two weeks ago I was posting about snow?  Well this week summer hit New Hampshire and the mercury here in Meredith broke 90 degrees and that was all it took for the trees to blast out their leaves, and along with them, their pollen.

New maple leaves with "noses" getting ready to helicopter away to find a place to grow.

I always wonder why the largest plants - say the mighty oak - have such tiny flowers while a small plant like a trillium has blooms so much larger.  I figure it's because a trillium has only flower, so it better be a good one, while the oak has so many it's sure to get plenty of pollen distributed, to which my itchy eyes and runny nose can attest.

That's a lot of pollen in all those flowers.

I had a couple of peaceful paddles around Lake Wicwas this week, including a trip to Turtle Island to check on the re-vegetation project there to address the erosion of the thin soil on the island.  We are making progress, though the snapping turtles are doing their best to thwart the effort.

Excavated snapping turtle nests.

Leathery turtle shell fragments.

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On my way to Turtle Island I heard the unmistakable thwack of a pileated woodpecker hacking away at a tree.  It was so loud it sounded like someone was cutting down a tree with a hatchet, which made it easy to locate the lumberjack.  It was working on a medium size tree not far from the shoreline and it gave me a good show as I paddled by.

A Pileated Woodpecker doing its own excavating.

A couple of other birds I found on my travel (in addition to the loons, of which we still have just the one pair) include a turkey vulture soaring over head and a Veery (May 25th correction) collecting food at the water's edge.

Turkey Vulture

Hermit Thrush  May 25 Correction: I now think this is a Veery

Yes, I saw geese too, and they have goslings already.  I'll keep an out for the little guys - they are so cute when they are small, yellow, and fuzzy.

There are also pretty trees to note on your travels around the lake; the downy service berry seemed quite prolific in their blossoms this year.

Serviceberry or shadbush

And then there is this interesting plant on Bryant Island, which to the best of my ability to identify is a staghorn sumac.

Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina)

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If that's what this is, I think these are the fruits which grew last year;  they're called drupes and contain the fruit covered with fine hairs.  The fruit matures in autumn and remains attached through the winter.  Staghorn sumac gets its name from the velvet covering on the twigs which makes it look like deer antlers, though it didn't fool the resident spider.  [Ref:  Eastern Forests, Ann Sutton and Myron Sutton, 1985, Alfred A, Knopf]  According to that reference, the Indians made a "lemonadelike drink from the crushed fruit of this and related species."

The early summer weather makes it easy for people to forget that winter was here just two weeks ago.  I took a hike up in the white mountains this week where there is still up to four feet of snow at the higher elevations.

The Crawford Path between Mt. Eisenshower and Mt. Pierce in the Presidential Range

Packing spikes and snowshoes for a hike in 80 degree weather seems crazy, but there were people up there that were unprepared for what they encountered.

You know you're in a pretty special place when you can go snowshoeing at 80 degrees.

The summit of Mt. Washington seen through the spruce trees at about 4200'.

July 17, 2016

Back on May first we had a late frost which coated the black cherry buds with a layer of ice.

May 1, 2016

At the time I wondered if it would have a detrimental affect on the Lake Wicwas cherry crop as it did on the New England peach crop.  But no, these hardy cherries came through it just fine.

Black Cherry survived the late frost

They are starting to change color from green to red to black, and soon the fox and bear will be here taking advantage of the bountiful crop.  Birds will eat their share too, but even before the fruit is ripe the insects start to dig in. 

Green Stink Bug (Acrosternum hilare)

This green stink bug has some amazing camouflage to help it hide from predators while it sucks juices out of the still-green fruit.

I did my mid-summer weed watch tour on a segment of Lake Wicwas this week, and I was happy to find nothing out of the ordinary.  Our Lake Host program continues to be successful in keeping milfoil and other invasive weeds out of the lake through education and boat inspections.  Far from being a chore, the process of weed watching is always an interesting event, as poking along the shores of a lake with a careful eye always reveals interesting sights.   Some of the more visible sights are signs of the beaver.  At one point I saw where a beaver had cut off some saplings to bring the tender wood back to their lodge.

I also saw their attempts to increase the size of their kingdom by stuffing all kinds of debris in the top of the dam to raise the lake level.

Beavers are genetically programmed to stop any flowing water

An unexpected sight was to see a beaver swimming along through the weeds in the middle of the day.

A beaver swims among the weeds

I also caught a glimpse of a muskrat along the shore, but it eluded the camera.

On an exposed point were the left over shells from some aquatic carnivore - probably muskrat, racoon, or mink - that enjoyed a meal of fresh water mussels at a table with a view.

Someone enjoyed a fresh seafood dinner

A weed watch tour is almost certain to reveal a red-winged blackbird chirping from the top of a reed or a branch hanging over the lake. 

Red-winged blackbird on an alder tree

Of course there are always pretty flowers growing along the shore as well as in the lake.

Yellow Pond Lilly

Unidentified wetland flower

Swamp Milkweed

I didn't see any osprey on this tour but I did see a large turkey vulture circling above me.

Turkey Vulture

If you're wondering why the weed watcher program is important to the health of our lakes and our economy, take a look at this news story that WMUR aired on Chronicle which shows the sad story of what happens when milfoil gets into a lake:  The Milfoil Battle

If you want to get in on the action and do some weed watching of your own, just let me know and we'll get you started.  Who knows, maybe you'll find your own secret blueberry bush loaded with berries along some hidden shoreline.  And even if you don't, you're sure to see something interesting and beautiful along the shores of a New Hampshire lake.

Goldfinch in its summer colors