July 13, 2025: Weed School

No, not the kind of weed school we had in the 60's.  This one was about aquatic plants, led by our own Russ Brummer, Science Department head at the New Hampton School.  

Our fearless leader describes the Floating Bladderwort.

A group of Wicwas Weedwatchers met on boats at the Wicwas launch where we first learned how to differential between native aquatic plants and the often similar looking non-native plants that can ruin a lake.  Because non-native plants haven't been here for thousands of years they have no natural predators so they grow unrestrained and can completely overtake a waterbody.  

The Lake Host program attempts to keep these invaders from moving from lake to lake, but we can't inspect every boat that comes in (more volunteers are always needed!) so the weed watcher team patrols the entire lake looking for dangerous weeds; if an outbreak does start we hope to catch it quickly.  

We first looked at the notorious Eurasian Milfoil which is the bane of many lakes in New Hampshire.

Eurasian Milfoil

We compared it to Coontail, a native plant often confused with milfoil.

Native Coontail

It's hard to tell the difference, but milfoil has feathery-like leaves, while the coontail mostly has leaves with a single strand, looking like a pine needle.  But if you're ever on a lake and see a plant that you think might be milfoil it's always better to report it - we're happy to determine it's not a problem, and it's great to have people watching for it.

After a short classroom session we hit the water for the real fun.  With no known invasives in Wicwas - and none were found - we spent our time studying our native aquatic plants, many of which are both fascinating and beautiful.  Last week I noted the Floating Bladderwort.  This carnivorous plant floats freely in the lake, untethered to the bottom.  The plant's bladders suck in water and tiny organisms such as insect larvae and water fleas, which the plant digests for sustenance.  (Maybe they'll eat Spiny Water Fleas in lakes where that invasive species has arrived.)  There are at least two other bladderwort species in Wicwas including the Common Bladderwort which can grow into huge floating mats and often concerns boaters due to its large size, but it is not a problem to the lake.  

Large mats of Bladderwort can capture a lot of insect larvae and make great habit for small fish.

As it grows and matures it can have huge submerged parts with hundreds of bladders that turn from pink to red to black as they consume their meals.

New pink growth on the left, more mature, black bladders on the right.

Another native plant is the Floating Heart - a small lily pad with heart shaped leaves and a flower so tiny you really have to get close to appreciate its beauty.

Floating Heart

We learned that the floating, grass-like plants also seen in the picture above is called Bur-reed.  It grows in many shallow, sheltered areas in New Hampshire lakes and also has an interesting flower which doesn't appear to be attached to the grassy leaves, but it is.

The Bur-reed flower can look like it's associated with the surrounding lily pads.

Here's another pretty one we examined:

The blossom of the Watershield, a common native aquatic plant.

We had a fun morning and we added to our lake knowledge - thank you Russ!  If you're interested in becoming a Weed Watcher, here or on any other lake, check in with your lake association.  They probably have a weed watching team, and if not, you can start one!

Back on dry land around the lake this week I came across a ground-nesting bird, the Veery.  I flushed it from its nest on what is obviously a very little used trail, otherwise it wouldn't have built its nest just a few feet off the trail.  I figured it was either a Veery or a Hermit Thrush.  It wasn't hard to find the nest having seen where the bird came from - otherwise no one would ever know there was a nest hidden here.

A well hidden bird nest.

But under that Bracken Fern was a tightly woven nest and four beautiful blue eggs. 

The bright blue color tells me it's a Veery nest.  Hermit thrush eggs have a lighter color and sometimes have brown spots.  I quickly took a picture and left so mother veery could get right back to her eggs.  I'll avoid that trail for a while.

Next I'll share a video sent to me by Conservation Commission volunteer Bob Hunt.  His son took this video of what is mostly likely a litter of River Otters running across a driveway near Lake Winona.  First at actual speed, then in slow motion.  

The littlest sibling appears to be struggling to keep up!  What a cool thing to have seen!

I would be remiss not to report on Spangle and Star, and happily, the reporter is that both are doing fine.

Mom or dad towers over the chicks, telling us to stay away.

The next two pictures were taken just yesterday by Dave Thorpe:

Star is still happy to hitch a ride on a parent's back.

They seem to be growing quickly and getting along well, so at just over a week they're off to a good start.  

There's still loon turmoil taking place in the northern nesting territory with regular encounters between three loons, a likely reason why there's no nest there this year.  You know what they say about three's a crowd....

Birds, mammals, flowers, pretty lily pads - there's a lot to see around the lakes at this time of year.  I hope you can get out to one the region's beautiful lakes to see some of nature's glory.

July 23, 2023: Watershield - not Water Lily

Perhaps the one plant that I think most represents a New Hampshire lake is the pond lily.  I have seen these small, oval lilies ever since I was a kid, and probably because of their ubiquity, I have never given them much thought until this week when I saw dozens of small, curled red flowers growing up amidst the lily pads.

It's the small red flower, easily overlooked next to the showy white pond lily.

There were actually hundreds of them.  (Plus one yellow pond lily.)

I had no idea what they were.  Going straight to my Audubon Field Guide to New England I was surprised not to find it listed within the covers of my most trusted book, so I searched online and immediately identified the flowers as those of the Watershield, which is the correct name for what I always called a water lily, but in fact isn't even in the same family as the water lilies.  A key difference between watershield and water lilies is that watershield leaves are oval and lack the cut that gives lilies their heart-shaped leaves. 

Many oval watershields and a few larger water lilies with the heart-shaped cuts in them.

Also, the stalk of the watershield connects to the center of the oval leaf rather than at the edge like the water lilies.  

I often see insects crawling all over the yellow and white pond lily flowers, transferring pollen between the plants.  But watershield is wind-pollinated so it doesn't need a big showy flower to attract pollinators, thus the small inconspicuous blossom I've so long overlooked. [Ref:  US Forest Service]  But looking closely, it's a beautiful, intricate flower. 

Watershield (Brasenia schreberi)

I also learned that watershield has a unique two-day flowering process.  According the Forest Service:

On the first day the bud emerges above the water. Sepals and petals open and bend downward. Although stamens and pistils are present in each flower, on the first day of blooming, only the pistils emerge. Stalks of the pistils lengthen and spread outward over the petals. At night, the flower stalk bends and the flowers submerge beneath the water. On the second day, flowers emerge from the water again, but with the pistils retracted. The stamen stalks are lengthened and the anthers open. In this way flowers are cross-pollinated (Osborn and Schneider). After blooming, the sepals and petals fold up and submerge. Fruit develops underwater enclosed in the petals and sepals. Fruits are leathery and club shaped with one or two seeds each.

I believe the lower, pale pink parts in the center are the retracted pistils, and the stamens are the taller, darker red structures with anthers at the end with yellow pollen on them.  This would indicate it's on the second day of blooming.  I didn't know enough to look to see if there some flowers that were on their first day.  I do learn something new every day.

There were also a couple of interesting insects buzzing around the lake this week, including one I hadn't seen before:

Summer fishfly (Chauliodes pectinicornis)

It looks a little beat up, with a damaged wing and missing most of one antenna.  The feathery remaining antenna helped with identifying it and also indicates it's a male.  That form of antenna is called "pectinate", forming part of its scientific name; cornis means "horns".  This fishfly was over two inches long, and it supposedly can give a painful bite with its large front pincers.  I didn't test that claim.  The fishfly can live several years, but as I've learned about other aquatic insects, much of that life span is under water.  Less than seven days is spent out of the water as an adult.

This next insect looks even more menacing, but it's actually harmless.

Mayfly

Mayflies are favorite foods of many fish.  Birds are happy to feed on these poor-flying insects as well, but they better be quick because an adult mayfly only lives one day, maybe two at the most - that doesn't leave much time to mate and lay eggs back in the lake!

I saved the loon update for last because there's sad news.  It appears we have lost both chicks from the southern nest to rogue loons.  One was apparently killed last Saturday night, and the other last Sunday; neither has been seen since.  On the positive side, despite eagle attacks and rogue loon assaults with violent calling almost every night, the northern pair has proven their mettle, and LuLu and Checkers are still hanging in there! 

LuLu and Checkers are doing fine under the expert supervision of their parents.

They're in the stage where they lose their baby feathers and their juvenile chevron pattern starts to show.

Let's end on a pretty note.

Bluet damselfly on one of Linda's daylilies

And now I know what stamens and anthers and pistils are!