New Hampshire Nature Notes
by Eric Orff

A little ice around the edges, but winter held at bay so far.

Thursday 12/28/2006

By last weekend even the smallest of ponds here in Epsom were ice free. These are conditions more typical of early to mid October, not the last week of December. With the new year just three days away conditions seem to be just plain weirder by the day. But wait a minute. Well how about 27 years I mean. I moved into this newly constructed house on July 4th 1979. There was much left to do including cutting enough wood to warm the house that winter. So much of the outside work just didn't get done before winter. As I recall it was on New Years Day 1980 that I raked the stones and debris from my lawn and prepared it to seed. I don't think the ground had yet frozen that year either. So maybe the sky is not falling after all. I mean if this is global warming it started 27 years ago. Not that I don't think we have a serious problem with global warming. But there are also anomalies in the weather. That's what I truly hope this is.

Last even I got home about 4:30 from work and managed to dash off for a quick hike down into Bear Brook for the better part of an hour. Most notable was....the silence. Nada, nothing, not a peep, crow call or even a decent breeze to stir the tall white pines. It is deathly silent in the woods this time of year. And this was right up to last light when much of the year both day and night critters would be about. So even though it is more fall-like than winter-like temperature, no frozen ground, or water, wise, it really is winter in the woods. Although with the cold nights since this weekend the smaller ponds have refrozen. Harvey and Northwood Lakes are totally ice free as of this afternoon went I drove by them. But not a duck or goose in sight.

I am seeing flocks of turkeys regularly and that's about it as far as wildlife. Well, I did count 228 geese in the field across from my office in Durham this afternoon. I'm trying to keep track of these birds as we are scheduled to fly the annual coastal waterfowl survey next Tuesday and I need to think of how I can make sure these birds make it into our annual winter waterfowl surveys scheduled to start next week. I need to figure out where they will be next week. Waterfowl watchers feel free to get back to me with your sightings, especially those away from Great Bay and the coast. The lack of ice is sure to have ducks and geese scattered all over New Hampshire this winter.