New Hampshire Nature Notes
by Eric Orff

Already by 9:00 am the day has warmed significantly. It's pretty quiet this morning as I cock my ear to the open window. I can still hear the bubbling call of the house wren. Not much else. Oh but are the nights coming alive with crickets. The two adult tom turkeys that wandered through my yard yesterday afternoon have lost that "lusty" look. Well maybe lusty if you are a hen turkey. But their heads were drained of the bright red white and blues of a couple weeks ago. Yes the breeding cycles for lots of our birds is near the end for this year. Most parents are way too busy raising the clutches they have already hatched. A few birds will go on to hatch another batch but those will be far fewer than just a few weeks ago. 

 

It just seems that everything is a bit late this year. I looked back at a few past NH Nature Notes from this week and see that I actually was picking some cucumbers by now. Not the case this year. My garden has struggled all spring. Three plantings of corn have all pretty much failed and I'm still waiting for some results of my second bean planting. The cucumber seeds that I replanted a week or so ago have spring from the ground. Now, perish the thought, it will be a race against an early fall frost whether this late effort will yield some cucumbers to make pickles. Really late pickles.

 

I'm surprised with all the turkeys I have had around here all winter and spring that I have not seen a single hen with a brood of polts nearby. I have seen other away from here. But none nearby. Where have they disappeared to? My deer sightings are few as well. Nor have I spotted a snake in my travels walks and or while gardening. I may have to do some serious snake hunting to get some sightings in. Not today with temps approaching 90 degrees. I'm thinking a swim will be in order this afternoon. 

 

But I do have some gardening to get done this late morning before the worst heat of the day. I even bought a small package of corn seeds yesterday afternoon. Now to rototill and get them in this morning. I have always been an eternal optimist. I like thinking positive. So I can envision that right of the stalk sweet corn as I type. So gotta go to the garden now!