September 7, 2025: Quieter Days on the Lakes

Welcome to September, a time when things graciously slow down around all the lakes.  I took advantage of a calm day to paddle the big lake; it's a peaceful place on a September morning.

Lake Winnipesaukee in September.

I paddled around several of Meredith's Islands to the east of Meredith Neck: Beaver, Hawk's Nest, Three Mile, and Pine.  I had the lake to myself until almost 11:00, affording opportunities to see several birds including this eagle having its breakfast on Three Mile Island.

I will surmise this is an immature Bald Eagle that has not yet earned its white head and tail feathers.

A little farther along, a Double-crested Cormorant was biding its time off the eastern point of Hawk's Nest Island.

A cormorant surveys the big lake.

I discovered an interesting find deep in a secluded cove in the cut between the Beaver Islands:  a stand of Black Gum (aka Black Tupelo) trees which were starting to turn red.

There used to be several large black gum trees on Wicwas too, but most of them have been taken down by beavers, though there are still a few smaller trees around.  You can find them most easily in the fall when their thick, glossy leaves turn a deep crimson color.

Look for these dark-red black gum leaves in early to mid October.

After paddling past Pine Island I followed the shoreline of Meredith Neck north back to Leavitt Beach, and along the way I rounded a point and flushed a Great Blue Heron off its resting point on a shoreline bounder.

Here are few manmade sights you might recognize from this part of the lake.

Stone marker at the north entrance to the channel behind Pine Island

That's Red Hill directly behind, with 4043' Mt. Passaconaway the high peak off in the distance.

AMC Camp on Three Mile Island

Y-Landing on Meredith Neck

Back on Lake Wicwas, our most famous residents, the loons and our juvenile Spangle, continue to do well even while constantly fending off intruders.  I found mom and spangle fishing in the middle of the lake one bright day.

Stopping to watch - at a safe distance of course - after one dive Spangle came up right next to me!  She did her best to hide, keeping a low profile before she dove again.

Heading north after this I found what I presume to be Spangle's father right at the line defining the north and south nesting territories guarding his domain against four other loons.  Even as a nearly full-size juvenile, spangle is still vulnerable to attack by other loons and protected fiercely by her parents.  

Spangle has shed all her baby feathers and is now fully clothed in juvenile plumage.

The feeble amount of rain we received this week did little to help the drought situation.  The lake is now down about seven inches, and almost all the streams are bone-dry (this was prior to yesterday when we did get some first appreciable rain, the first since July 13th, with more on tap for today).

Not a drop of water in these streams.

The only exception are ones that have beaver dams upstream which store enough water to keep the stream running slowly all summer as water leaks through the dam.  

This stream is supplied with water from the upstream beaver pond shown below.

The pond level is down, but that's what's keeping the stream alive.

The dry summer has been great for tourism and outside activities, but hard on plants and wildlife.  Water in both beaver ponds and flowing streams are incredibly valuable resources to animals in drought years.

I'm hearing lots of reports of ground hornet nests this fall - perhaps due to the dry summer?  I have personal experience with two already.  One I found in the Hamlin forest at the intersection of the Blue and Yellow trails heading up to Crockett's Ledge.  There was a large boulder turned over beside the trail and I wondered why.  Looking around I found the hole where it came from and realized a bear had excavated a bee nest to access the eggs and larvae.  

An excavated yellow-jacket nest.

Hornets that had survived the attack, perhaps because they were away from the nest at the time, were working like a construction crew after a tornado to recover what they could from the remains.  

I still can't image how a bear can endure the dozens, maybe hundreds, of stings it sustains while it feeds on a nest.  My advice to hikers is to simply keep a steady pace as you hike.  As long as you keep moving, even if you stomp right on top of a nest, by the time the hornets come out to investigate, they won't bother you if you've gone past them.  They're only likely to be a problem if you happen sit down right next to one - so be aware of where you stop for a break on your hikes.  If you see bees, move on quickly.

I wanted to mention all the wild fruit that's ripening now but that will have to wait.  I'll share just this fun moment of watching a young robin collecting cherries from a Black Cherry tree.

It's an important time of  year for animals to start stocking up on calories for winter, whether for hibernation or migration.

October 27, 2019: Who Left these little Gems?

The past week provided us both beautiful late summer days and cool, damp October days - I was able to get on the lake on one of the former for a perfectly calm autumn paddle.

Paddling alongside a marshy shoreline I noticed those little brown specimens left carefully on a log, knowing they were from a mammal, and certainly an aquatic one.

A quick check of the nature guide confirmed my first thought:  Muskrat.  These animals are closely related to beavers in both appearance and behavior, as muskrats also make lodges out of mud and vegetation, but they will also carve dens in the bank of a lake or river.  They will even dig a den into the walls of a beaver lodge!  They can be distinguished from beavers by their smaller size and the fact that they have a skinny, rat-like tail rather than the broad tail of a beaver.  Muskrats eat mostly aquatic vegetation, but will also eat clams, fish, and other small animals.  I once saw a muskrat swimming along carrying a freshwater mussel in its mouth.

Taken in April at 5:30pm, is this a parent bringing dinner home for the kids?

Muskrats leave their scat on logs and rocks just above the water line, and that larger brown mass is from an older visit to that log.

There were other, prettier sights to see on my trip around Lake Wicwas, including geese, loons, and an eagle.

I'm guessing this is Harley.

A couple of geese keep an eye on me.

I didn't see the bald eagle until it flew out of tree as I passed under it, but I was able to catch a picture as it flew down the lake.

As soon as it was airborne the loons started hollering.  The loon I had passed by earlier, perhaps a quarter mile away, was the first to see it - they are clearly paying attention to the sky.  It gave out a loud alarm, and then from far down the other end of the lake a second loon responded as if to say "thanks for the warning, yes I see it coming right towards me."  They continued to call back and forth to each for several minutes.

Unlike an event Dave Thorpe witnessed a few days earlier, the eagle flew off over the lake, not bothering either loon.  But Dave saw a much more dramatic event, where the eagle dive-bombed one loon, flew back up, and then repeated the attack on a second.  In both attacks Dave reported a large splash of water, but he wasn't able to determine if it was the eagle hitting the water or the loon creating a diversion as a means of defense.  Either way, it gives me further confidence that our loon chicks are able to defend themselves.



On an earlier hike up to Arbutus Hill I noticed an interesting hole in the ground.

Not a great picture, but you can see the papery outer layer of a yellow jacket  nest.

It wasn't until I had my face down there that I realized it was a yellow jacket nest that a bear had ripped into to access the eggs, larvae, and any other protein that was present.  I'm always amazed at a bear's moxie to go after a large bee's nest - how many angry stinging insects would swarm it, especially its exposed face and eyes?  I was happy there was only a stray bee crawling around in the nest, surveying the damage.  I didn't stick my hand down there to pull out the leaves that had blown in.


Both of our chicks and one adult continue to linger on the lake, enjoying the end of the fall season as much as I am, while it lasts.

August 31, 2014

As we move past the media-proclaimed end of summer, signs of the harvest season are all around the lakes.  This week I found the remnants of one the most bold and determined acts of obtaining nourishment that the forest offers. 

I noticed a hole the size of a basketball in the ground about six feet off a trail;  I went to determine the explanation.  A foot or two from the cavity was a honeycomb shaped segment of a hornet's nest, which told the story. 

Wood-fiber nest of the Yellow Jacket

Around the hole were more squashed pieces of the nest, and lining the hollow were layers of paper built to form the nest.

The calling card left by the perpetrator further cemented the conclusion.

Bear Scat

A Black Bear had discovered a yellow-jacket nest and decided to make that its lunch.  I can't image how tough a bear must be to submit itself to the torment of an entire, large hornet's nest just for a meal.  There could have easily been several hundred yellow jackets stinging the bear, especially its face and snout.  But it just toughed it out in order to get a protein filled meal of larvae, eggs, and even some wasps. 

The following day there were still a few determined yellow jackets investigating the ruins of their former home.

Searching the Remains

After another day they had all abandoned the site. 

I had noticed that there have been more yellow jacket wasps this year than usual - both in the wild and around our picnics!  The Golden Rod is in full bloom right now, and this appears to be a popular feeding plant for them.

Yellow Jackets on Goldenrod

I suppose they are fattening up too, even if only to feed the bears.  I count six wasps in the picture above - plus another small fly.  This perhaps explains the yellow jacket's color scheme, as they are well camouflaged in the golden rod. 

I would have previously called this a bee's nest, but this scene inspired me to read up a bit on bees, and I learned that yellow jackets, as well as paper wasps, are wasps.  (Hornets are a subset of wasps.)  Wasps are predators, with smooth and slender bodies, and the ability to sting repeatedly.  They will eat pollen, but more often eat sugary plants like overripe fruit, and will kill other insects by stinging them and then feeding their prey to their young in the nest. 

Bees on the other hand - honey bees and bumble bees for example - have fat, hairy bodies and legs which are efficient at collecting and storing pollen.  They also have barbed stingers which cause them to be pulled out of their bodies after stinging something. 

Also on this walk I saw several spider webs glistening in the morning dew, as the spiders are also enjoying the harvest season. 

Two-story Spider Web

They probably would have gone unnoticed if it weren't for the tiny water droplets that had condensed on the webs overnight.

Water Droplets on the Web Filaments

Farther along, beside a marsh, I saw hundreds of these webs.

Had I not seen a few close up I wouldn't have known what these white objects dotting the marsh are.

If you've been following the Osprey tracking site you know that two of our local osprey have left on their trip to South America.  But there is at least one still hanging around Lake Wicwas, and it is also fattening up on the local food supply.

Osprey with a Mid-Afternoon Meal

The shorter days and cool nights are wringing water out of the humid air over the lake in the mornings, and bringing the sunrise back to when it can yet again be observed at a decent hour. 

Morning Mist

Only a few weeks to the equinox now.

Sunrise over Lake Wicwas