New Hampshire Nature Notes
by Eric Orff

Toads and peepers dominate the night sounds in a sea-saw fashion.

Wednesday 05/10/2006

For much of the latter part of last week into the weekend it was the American toads that dominated the night sounds I hear through my open windows. But the last couple of nights the cold rainy weather has silenced the toads and the spring peepers again rule the nights. How a ten or fifteen degree change in temperatures can change the complexion of the night. One is a summer-like evening and the other a cool damp regression into spring.

The high temperatures and blazingly sunny days of last week has worked wonders on the trees, shrubs and flowers. Many of the shrubs are in bloom and nearly leaved out. My lilacs are just about to bloom and over on the coast at my office they already are in bloom. The hillside are as gorgeous now with pastel colors of green as any fall scene. Life is bursting forth from every stem and twig as well as the earth itself it seems.

One observation stands of the last few days stands out for me this spring. That is adult grass hoppers. Many are the bright green ones. Grass hoppers normally lay eggs into the soil in the fall and as far as I know all the adults are killed off over the winter due to the cold. Not so last winter. I have been encountering numbers of the brilliant green adults. These are the ones I usually see later in the summer, more like August. Usually only the eggs survive the winter under ground then hatch into larvae and nymphs in the spring as it takes a while for the young to transform into adults. But here and there I am see adult grass hoppers. Most are very lethargic and can only fly a foot or two unlike their great casts into the hot August humid air. I would think these are a real bonus for the wildlife that dine on insects. I have seen the local crows searching the fields. I can't help but think they are keying into this strange spring forage. It's been a very weird year all round.

My trip to Great Bay on Friday with my son Adam yielded not a bite from a striper. But the day on the water was perfect even without a fish. The air was calm and warm, and best of all, we were the only fishermen out that day, save for a couple of lobster boats coming into port by mid day. It was like a summers day, but without the summers boat traffic. Imagine the whole sea to yourself for a day. So we soaked in the sun and silent sea. Adam reminisced about the days and nights he spent along our coast in the NH Marine Patrol. Storm tossed seas, foggy seas, star lit seas all came to his mind as we cruised from the mouth of the river south and up into Back Channel.

I was down towards the coast again this morning helping to plant some of the 3,200 shrubs on a department property to create better cottontail rabbit habitat. It was back breaking work bending over to jab the planting bar into the very wet marine clay soil to open a slit into the sod and then to shove a bare rooted dogwood into the ground and tamp the edges to clasp the young roots. Rewarding on-the-ground work that will change the landscape and help perpetuate a species. Life just seems more subtle these cool misty days. It was good to feel and smell the wet spring soil.

ld begged to go with us Saturday to the lake. But today she got her turn. And only one of us four caught a fish...Katie. A nice fall fish. Katie's first fish ever by herself. She wouldn't let go of her rod the half hour or so we fished; Then her bobber dunked under water. She was a bit intimidated by the actual fish. But a bed time call from Amy has me convinced that Katie is hooked on fishing. She kept saying" Mummy didn't catch a fish. Daddy didn't catch a fish. Papa didn't catch a fish. Katie got a fish." all afternoon and evening long according to my daughter.

I did see my first woodchuck of the season over at the Yeaton farm this morning. I have documented my first and last woodchuck sighting of the year since I was 12. In fact that was my only recording of wildlife sightings before I began to keep a daily diary in 1977. Some where in a little note book I have recordings of sightings from the early 1960's. I wonder if global warming has influenced these sightings. The local fields are turning greener by the day. Tree buds are swelling. Spring is truly here!