September 7, 2011

No activity observed around Lake Wicwas that can compare with the recent moose sighting, but there is plenty going on this week.  First, all the rain has brought the lake level back up to flood levels; as of today, the lake level at the dam is 12 inches above normal, with a mad rush of water going over the dam and on to Lake Winnesquam.  All of the streams are flowing rapidly, pouring more water into the lake, but it should hold steady if we don't get more rain tomorrow.  I ran up to the beaver dam on the blue trail in the Hamlin area, and the water is right at the top of their dam with a bit of water flowing over, but it is holding so far.

All the rain has created an absolute boom in the mushroom crop.  There are large fields of them everywhere, including some of the largest mushrooms I've seen here, in addition to some with brilliant colors.  I'm glad I don't like to eat mushrooms; otherwise I'd be tempted to pick some, which is dangerous because many edible mushrooms have very similar looking poisonous counterparts!

When it stops raining, the spiders come out to hunt - I just happened to be looking at the web of a black and yellow garden spider when a insect flew into it, and I got to see the home owner come down and eat the large bug alive.  It detects the arrival of its prey by sensing the motion of something struggling in its web, and it comes down to see what it caught. 

Black and Yellow Garden Spider

Lunch Time

It's not the variety of spider that wraps up its prey and saves it for later, but rather it just eats it when it's fresh and tasty! You can just make out the body and wings of the fly in the spider's mouth in the picture above.

An unusual sighting was finding an adult eastern newt on the forest floor - these are commonly seen in the water, with the less mature red variety usually seen in the woods.

Mature Eastern Newt

Immature Eastern Newt

I have heard the plieated wood pecker calling a lot recently, and found this evidence of its work, with the telltale large wood chips scattered about.

Also, our loon chick continues to grow and gain its independence.  We have seen it spending time by itself, with its parents nowhere to be seen.  But after a while, an adult comes by to check on it, and the chick swims quickly to join its parent.  It kind of looks like it is getting its first opportunity to take the car keys and go out for a cruise on the town by itself!

I recently heard from a fellow nature watcher who lives near the top of Arbutus Hill.  She reports that there is a two-year old bear cub in her vicinity!  She also has seen a fisher cat, and lots of coyote - something I have seen only once near the lake - perhaps they like the habitat farther up on the hill.  She has also observed lots of deer, particularly near the apple orchards.  Thank you so much for reporting on what's happening in your neck of the woods!  (No pun intended.)

September 5, 2011: Moose!

This morning I had a great encounter will a good size bull moose!  I was running near the edge of the lake when I noticed waves on the water, but it was calm and there were no boats around.  Then I heard splashing like waves breaking on the shore.  That was followed shortly by crashes in the woods, and then a soaking wet moose climbed up out of Lake Wicwas right in front of me.  The red dot on the tree is five and half feet above the trail;  with its head up, the moose must be seven feet tall!

Moose, complete with antlers

He detected my presence, but after scoping me out for a minute or two, he walked along the trail in front of me. 

Wet from the lake

He went off the trail in a bit, and I continued running along the trail, expecting the moose to continue west toward the marsh where Chemung Road passes between Lake Wicwas and the swamp south of the lake, where I waited.  And sure enough, it came out of the woods and crossed the road right in front of me.

He clearly saw me, as we watched each other, but it wasn't spooked until a car came along and scared it back into the woods.  He has a small set of antlers, but I expect they will grow larger in the coming weeks, and will be good size by the start of the fall rut.

Knowing it would continue on its intended journey, I waited, and soon it came back down into the lake and waded across the cove, munching on the lake vegetation as it went.

It swam and waded up along the eastern shore of Loon Point, climbing up onto land just before the first house, and probably walked right along Loon Point road.  I went on my way, figuring I had bothered it enough.

It was my best moose sighting at Lake Wicwas ever - they really are majestic animals.

August 27, 2011

Today was the calm before the storm - a beautiful, calm, peaceful day - the complete opposite of what Hurricane Irene will bring to Lake Wicwas tomorrow.

I caught a glimpse of the sun shining through the trees just after sunrise.

Someone has already started to lower the lake to provide a larger reservoir for flood control, and the lake is down about six inches.  It looks like that will be corrected soon enough....

The beech trees are having a good crop this year, as there are many nuts around the bases of the trees.  This is good news for the black bears, as beechnuts are one of their favorite foods.  Look at the trunks of the beech trees to see if there any claw marks where a bear has climbed up to collect the nuts right off the branches.  The first acorns have also started to fall.

The foxes are also enjoying the summer harvest, as their diet has turned mostly vegetarian, giving the mice a chance to build up their population for the winter feeding season.  The fox scat is showing evidence of lots of seeds and berries.

But some animal is still killing for its meals.  I found this collection of coarse gray fur on the ground;  it's not clear what animal it came from, or what the event was, but it looks like something met its demise at this spot.

The water in Lake Wicwas remains very clear, although the surface was covered today with thousands of black flying insects.  The fish were having a feast this morning, but by afternoon the insects were all dead.  Kayaking today revealed many hazards to boat props, mostly near the shore: leftover logs lost during logging many years ago that are floating back up to the surface. Beware!

I also saw this very rare bird species at the south end of the lake.

August 21, 2011

This weekend brought in some classic late-summer weather to Lake Wicwas, with foggy mornings, warm, humid afternoons, and even a late day thunderstorm.

Foggy August Mornings

Dawn over Lake Wicwas from Crockett's Ledge

This was after some heavy rains earlier in the week which brought five inches of rain, bringing the lake back up several inches above full level.  Rather nice for this late in the summer.

After not seeing many deer this summer, on one of these foggy mornings I came across a whole herd of them.  I walked right past where they must have bedded down over night without seeing them.  It wasn't until I stopped to look at something on the ground, and then started walking again, that three or four of them sprung up from the low growth in the field and bounded off into the woods back where I just came from.  It was just a flurry of brown rumps and white tails.  If I were a predator, I wouldn't have known what to chase.  And then 50 yards later, entering the woods on the other side of the field, another two or three took off up the hill in the other direction.  Finally, 20 minutes farther down the trail, I spooked another off into the thick woods - who knows how many other animals watched me walk by and never revealed themselves.

On the other end of the animal spectrum, there were lots of frogs enjoying the humid weather.  One pickerel frog has been enteraining Linda all summer in one of her gardens.

Pickerel Frog

Plus I found a green frog sitting half submerged in a small pond.  The green frog has really bright green spot on its nose - this was my first chance to get a picture of one of these amphibians.

Green Frog

Here are a few more fungi to add to last week's collection, including one of my favorites, the Indian Pipe, which popped up this week.

Indian Pipe

And here was a cute yellow caterpillar to brighten up the day:

I also have started to see more ominous signs of late August, and what comes thereafter.  There are only a couple of stray branches on weak trees, but it's a sign....

And the humidity of August continues to bring intense sunsets!

August 21, 2001 Loon Update

We had several good opportunities to observe the loons this weekend, as they made the rounds each morning.  The loon chick has just about become a juvenile.  It has molted almost all of its baby fuzz, and has taken on some of the markings of an adult, although with much lighter shading on the darker markings. 

Looking Adult-like

Only a few tufts of baby fuzz left to molt

And it is behaving a lot like a teenage too.  It seems perfectly happy to lounge on the lake surface while mom or dad goes off to work, diving again and again for food, just watching until dinner is brought to the table (I hope my kids aren't reading this  ; ).  Although, I do have to say, today, it did quite bit of diving as well, though I never saw it come up with a fish.  And like a teenager, it is getting almost as large as its parents - when you see it alone on the surface at a distance, its hard to tell whether its an adult or not.

Waiting for dinner

We did see the adult come up from one dive with a good size perch.  It spent a few minutes playing with it on the surface, dropping, and recapturing it before swallowing it down.  Maybe it doesn't like the feel of a live, flapping fish down in its stomach!  The juvenile seemed to know it wasn't for him/her, as it never even approached the adult when it came up with this one.

Watching a big fish

We did not see the entire family together at all this weekend - there was always only one adult with the juvenile, but we have no idea if it's always the same parent, or whether they are sharing responsibilities.

Wave Goodbye!

August 14, 2011

There was a large flock of amphibious mammals out on Lake Wicwas this weekend.  They seemed to congregate in the late afternoon at the south end of the lake, and then travel in a somewhat fragmented group up the lake and around Bryant Island, and then regroup on the eastern shore of the lake.  Yes, the big event this weekend on Lake Wicwas was the 2nd annual paddle regatta!  It was another fabulous event, with lots of people from all around Lake Wicwas participating.  It again started near the boat launch, with kayaks, canoes, and boats of various sizes and shapes paddling around Bryant Island, and returning to our gracious  hosts on the east shore of the lake.  As there was last year, we enjoyed great food and drink, interesting company, and learned lots about what is happening around the lake.  Many thanks go to those who arranged and hosted the event!

Some of the vessels

The Committee Boat

 

There were multiple generations of families, from  young to young-at-heart, and lots of fun.  We even invited the loon family, but they decided to keep to themselves.

Somewhat less known, there was also a wonderful wedding celebration on the lake this weekend, with a fantastic new couple, and friends and family from as far away as Virginia.  The weather for both events was perfect, and eveyone had a great time.

As for quieter things going on around the lake, the mushrooms have the action right now.  Here's just a sample of what you'll find around the lake at the moment.  The speed at which these grow is amazing - they can be just poking out of the ground in then morning, and by afternoon they can be 4 inches high.  That is, of course, if the chipmunks, squirrels, and slugs don't eat them first.

Do you remember the hobblebush viburnum blossoms from May 14th? 

May 14, 2011

Here's what those blossoms have turned into:

Hobblebush Viburnum

Oh - and there were also two fishing tournaments on the lake this weekend;  a large one one on Saturday, and a somewhat smaller one on Sunday.  Good thing Chuck was busy this weekend, so there were some fish left for them!