New Hampshire Nature Notes
by Eric Orff

Ducks, geese and a whole truck load of turtles.

Thursday 04/20/2006

Wednesday well into the night seemed like such a perfect summers day and evening; Weather-wise, at least. It was such a clear perfect day and the night sky was full of stars and satellites for a while.

I did manage to get some more field work in this week and ticked off another waterfowl survey plot from my "to do" list. I have a great list of to do's this time of year. From just keeping track of the practically daily wildlife changes to my annual nesting waterfowl surveys and sunrise grouse and turkey surveys, then evening woodcock surveys. So some days I end up working from a half hour before sunrise to a half hour after on surveys, plus the getting to there time.

But Wednesday's waterfowl survey was a mid day one which put me down into Londonderry about noon after a stop at HQ in the morning. The warming day had a nice breeze that was welcomed by 1:00 pm or so when a few black flies suddenly appeared. This particular one kilometer square plot is right along the Londonderry/ Windham border and is smack dab in the middle of a development. Except for the wetlands which can be observed by driving into the devolvement then skirting some very nice houses, which have all been built since I started this survey close to 20 years ago.

I generally approach the wetlands from some type of cover, even a nice pine will do. I start glassing the water well before I am near it to try to pick out any movement, or ducks before my approach puts them to flight before I can ID them. Then I use plenty of patients to observe each wetland. It really takes at least a half hour of studying each wet area before you feel that most of which is there has been recognized. It is amazing how camouflaged a duck can be, even in seemingly an open marsh. There is lots to see in a beaver pond if you have the will to wait and see it all. But that is my job. Not bad at all!

Here's what I saw in my 2 plus hours of observations:

Site #1 on the northern edge of the plot:

One hen wood duck and three males in tow = 1 pair
3 drake mallards bunched together = 1 pair
1 pair of wood ducks = 1 pair
2 great blue heron
3 painted turtles
1 snapping turtle
1 garter snake ( I expected to see my first snake of the year, and did)
I heard 1 cock pheasant crowing
The cattail plants had grown over a foot this spring out of the water in places
Red maple flowers were falling
5 clumps of wood frog eggs in a vernal pool right behind a house
2 different piles of raccoon droppings by den/look-out trees
The forest understory is greening up quickly.

Site #2 right along the Londonderry/Windham town line:

1 pair of geese = 1 pair
2 separate male wood ducks = 2 pairs
a group of 3 mallard drakes = 1 pair
46 painted turtles on logs sunning themselves
A few black flies
Skunk cabbage well up
Wetlands in a low water stage for spring
Spring overall in a very advanced stage for mid April

I did have a Friends of the Suncook River meeting this evening in Pittsfield which gave me a look at some deer as I headed home after 8:00 pm.

Plus an evening walk with my neighbor had a sky full of satellites around 9:00Pm We saw 7 in less than a half hour.

Despite the fact that lawns, fields and even forests seem to be greening up earlier than usual, a planned prescribed burn in Bear Brook State Park for Thursday has been postponed and may be canceled due to the drought conditions we are in. Unless New Hampshire gets some rain soon, it looks like our annual effort to improve wildlife habitat by fire will be put off for another year. We need rain desperately. The vernal pools and wetlands sure do too.