New Hampshire Nature Notes
by Eric Orff

Summer seems to be here to stay.

Friday 09/24/2004

Another week of above normal temperatures and perfectly blue skies. Other than Ivan soaking us a bit last week, we've had about the best stretch of weather we have had all summer the last couple of weeks. And that Ivan, unlike most hurricanes that head off into never-never land in the North Atlantic, he took a sharp right turn headed south along our coast and deluged Florida again. Even today he is flooding Texas. Go figure. Maybe he'll head back this way in a week or so once he has given the South a second nasty punch. We'll hit him with a frost or cold front and tear his heart right out this time.

So, the summer-like temperatures have kept the crickets singing well past many yearsat this time. The night air is still filled with their sounds. Although most of the migrating birds seem to have vacated our skies. The grackles and cow birds have been massing this week though. But they typically filter through in October sometimes turning my lawn black with their numbers.

I have still been seeing a few frogs and toads and I pulled a beautiful yellow spotted salamander out of a cellar window well the other day. I hope others are checking theirs too, to free the critters trapped down the pits. I increased the lip of mine a year or so ago trying to keep most things out and it does seem to be working. You need about a 6 or 8 inch lip above ground to keep the toads out. Obviously a frog can still jump into mine but it seems to be shallow enough so they can jump out. Not so with toads.

The local flock of turkeys continues to forage for crickets and grasshoppers in the nearby fields. Now there is a huge source of protein that is lost to these giant birds once we have a hard frost.

The alewives seem to still be dimpling the Suncook River daily, although there were far more dimples last week. I haven't been to the hydro stations in several weeks to see how they are keeping their promise to allow downstream passage. I certainly hope and expect they are!