New Hampshire Nature Notes
by Eric Orff

Got ducks? and Up to my waste in water in a swamp at noon.

Thursday 02/03/2005

One thing is for sure, no two days are ever alike when you are a wildlife biologist. There is no "average" day, although I expected today to be one.

I set out this morning to knock off some more of my inland waterfowl survey work. Besides flying the mid winter coastal survey, since the 1950's, the Fish and Game Department has been conducting mid winter inland waterfowl census checks since 1988. Simply because we are now finding at least a couple thousand mallards over wintering within New Hampshire.

For example, last winter biologists tallied 3,466 ,mallards, 427 black ducks and 847 Canada geese. In 2000 the mallard count peaked at 7,107 and that same year black ducks hit their high of 809. Both mallards and black duck numbers have been on a gradual increase since the inception of this survey in 1988. Goose numbers have been on the upswing too topping out at 1,367 in 2003. There is a great deal of variability because of the differences in the winters over time. A mild winter typically has more wintering waterfowl staying in state. Although no doubt the numbers have also increased because we locate new places to count ducks and geese each winter. Probably these have been wintering areas that we just had not discovered yet. If you know of any flocks of wintering ducks or geese shoot me an email of the exact location and a count. One of us can see if it is a place we already check or will add it to our list.

I hit the jackpot on my first stop at the route 3 double-decker bridge over the Suncook River in Suncook this morning. By my estimate ( there were too many for my usually two, two, two count) I figured there were 800 mallards, 160 geese and 35 blacks. This is compared to the more normal 350 mallards last year. A thick layer of corn was on the ice as well as bread. I think this is attracting birds from quite an area, especially this week with the near zero temps freezing every thing else up

I headed down the East side of the Merrimack River making a few stops at the usual places as I progressed south. I ended up near the Little Cohas Marsh in Londonderry and decided to check the duck nesting boxes there as I typically do to combine trips when ever possible.

The duck boxes at Little Cohas have been on this marsh since the early 1950's and I have checked some of them, or all of them since 1965. I grew up adjacent to this marsh and added my own boxes in 1965. It is a treacherous "swamp" with lots of channels and currents that make duck box checking hazardous. Today was to prove it again.

I arrived at the first boxes which used to be a long hike when I first put them out along a tributary on the south end of the marsh a couple decades ago. Now a development on Buckingham Drive brings me to within a hundred yards of the first box. I was dismayed right off when I could see at least two of the boxes had been vandalized. One was completely missing from it's iron post and the other was in many pieces on the ice. So fairly recent damage. I checked what I could then went back to my truck for a replacement box. The new boxes are put together with screws so I'm in hopes it will resist damage unless some one brings out a tool to destroy them with.

Just as I arrived at the first box to replace and stepped in back of the iron post the ice suddenly gave way leaving me instantly in water up to my waste. Plus as I plunged through the ice while grabbing at the iron post my hand was gouged leaving me in waste deep water dripping blood from my hand. Not a pretty sight.Well, I just pulled myself out and got to work replacing the box. I did take the time to stand on a piece of the old box to better distribute my weight. The second box was uneventful. Save for by then my legs had gone from being tingling cold to being totally numb. I usually wear wool pants but didn't today so the jeans were very cold by the time I left the ice in an hour or so. The heater on my truck was pegged on high the whole way home. I turned my hot tub to "boil" when I got home and warmed up a bit. Now I'm headed out tonight to give a lecture at the Beaver Brook Association in Hollis. Never a dull day!