New Hampshire Nature Notes
by Eric Orff
Silence, total silence right now.
Friday 07/11/2014
How quickly our bird song filled spring slips away. I heard not a bird as I sat on my front deck in the sun this morning eating my cereal. Nary a jay or crow or even the gurgle of the local ravens was to be gleaned from the air. I still have tree frogs at dusk with an occasional call to remind me that time does slip by so quickly. And here it is summer is half over. Soon enough the crickets and katydids will announce the waning weeks of summer. Time was supposed to slow down when I retired from my full time career at Fish and Game. Now I find it is only me that has slowed down. Time even more out of my grasp to hold it sway.
The bouts of rain including last weeks hurricane has kept our Suncook River and local streams brimming with water. My garden sure has appreciated the rain. I have not watered it in over a week. Local hay fields remain beautifully green as are most lawns. More like May conditions that mid July.
I spent the holiday weekend at camp in Maine for our traditional family gathering. Hurricane Arthur passed directly overhead Friday night delivering a deluge of rain bringing the lake level up an inch an hour it seemed by Saturday into Sunday. It sure reminded me just how important our lakes and wetlands are at buffering such a deluge of rain, absorbing the excess to be released slowly down river over the coming days. It sure didn't dampen our spirits for the holiday and by Saturday evening the sun made a welcomed return. Even the bullfrogs croaked ever more happily it seemed welcoming the sun's warm rays surely more than us. Hey, when you have to count on the sun to warm you and get your blood flowing you have got to be pretty happy after two day of rain. Even if you are a frog.
Wildlife certainly is in abundance right now. No doubt great numbers dot our landscape, but it seems they remain well hidden from me. I've seen a few deer and some turkeys, but not a brood yet. Yes plenty of ducks including some broods. From just hatched fish fry to tad polls, fawns and frolicking fox kits life abounds right now!
