New Hampshire Nature Notes
by Eric Orff

Another two weeks and another full circle

Monday 01/05/2009

How quickly things can change around here. Just before Christmas I wrote about the Suncook River freezing completely over from my view at my house. And it looked like the ice was here to stay for the winter. This was just after we had gotten nearly two feet of snow in days apart storms on the 19th and 21st. But by Tuesday the 23rd the Suncook River had opened up again with hardly any ice to be seen. Then on New Years eve the temperatures dropped to near zero and the river overnight refroze completely.

My son Adam and I along with son-in-law Derek and two granddaughters ice fished on the 29th in Concord on 3 to 5 inches of ice. Not great ice for that matter as it was now ice. But by the 2nd the ice at a pond near here had a good solid 6 inches of dark ice for ice fishing. And we have had freezing temperatures since then. So by now most of the lakes and ponds should have pretty good ice.

I live on a major snow machine route with the trail actually going past the front of my house up the road 60 feet past my house before it heads back out onto the old RR bed. Not much traffic on the route this year even when we had good snow conditions. Unfortunately the screwed up river since it changed course has washed out two significant bridges over tributaries. What a mess we have had since the river changed course and it seems to worsen over time. There are estimates of over a $100,000 to replace just one of the bridges over the Little Suncook River to get the trail back open.

Not much for wildlife this last couple of weeks with the snow and then frigid temperatures. My bird feeders need daily filling to keep the local birds content. I have a big flock of blue jays at my feeders this winter. Over a dozen at a time. And quite a flock of pine siskins as well. My crows are back on occasion but don't stay long. I have heard a raven once in a while. They usually don't come this way though they have nested at my friend Ricks a mile down the road for over a decade.