New Hampshire Nature Notes
by Eric Orff

Snow to Sun to No Snow.

Wednesday 02/15/2006

Another quick cycle from spring to winter and back to spring in less than a week. Another roller coaster week. By last Friday and Saturday there was hardly any snow any where in much of NH. The blizzard of Sunday hit this area with a glancing blow of only three inches of wind whipped snow. There was much less north and west of here with southern NH and the coast bearing the brunt of the storm.

I did manage to get out ice fishing with my son Adam and his friend Derek last Thursday before I headed to Worcester Mass. to work the show there. Adam managed to land a small brown trout and Derek got two rainbows. Me, well the trout seemed to like teasing me. One rainbow, which I watched just 4 or 5 feet under me, as it twice ate all the salmon eggs, but the one I had a hook in. This all happened within a couple of minutes of me setting the last of a half dozen tip up in. That trout toyed with me all afternoon. He even gave me a flag once. I have a new plan, two pound test flouro carbon instead of four, and a little bitty tiny little sharp, sharp hook that I bought today to catch him.....maybe. A trout sure can humble a fisherman!

We had a great crowd at Paul Fuller's Worcester Outdoors Show. The locked moose antler display was right in front of the Fish and Game booth. I enjoyed watching tons of folks swarm it all day long Friday and Saturday.

But by today even the fields around the Great Bay region, which had about 10 inches of snow Monday, were showing plenty of bare ground. Here in Epsom I left a somewhat snow covered field across from my house this morning and returned to a mostly bare field this afternoon. There is hardly any ice on Great Bay, except along the shallow coves, and all the rivers are iceless.

My late afternoon/evening hike into Bear Brook State Park was very easy with only an inch or two of snow in the shaded areas. The rivers and brooks have dropped back down to moderate flows. although they are still much higher than most winters. Last fall I was thinking that we would be in for some record spring floods with all the saturated ground. But the lack of snow means there is nothing to melt for a spring flood. Yet. There were several pockets of really warm air puffing into my face in my walk. The southwest facing slopes nearby had warmed the air to at least the 60's when I walked into some of them. They were a tease of things to come. I so love to bask in a mid afternoon hillside this time of year to soak in the sun and smell the warmed earth.

Conditions sure seem ripe for a red winged black bird to be calling. I'll probably step out on to my deck tomorrow morning for a listen. False hope no doubt. Frigid conditions are expected over the weekend after another day tomorrow in the 40's. Good thing as I haven't even started my winter duck box check. I may give it a go next week. Swim or not.

I saw few ducks, but a couple of real large flocks of geese feeding in the cut, and bare, corn fields near the bay mid afternoon today. We have gained an hour of sunlight at days end since December. The rising sun sure does a number on the snow these sunny days. I can't see where this winter has had much of an impact on any wildlife so far. Coupled with a pretty good acorn crop last fall deer, turkeys and just about every other critter should be in great shape come spring. If we don't get a couple of late winter blizzards.