New Hampshire Wildlife News
by Certified Wildlife Biologist, Eric P. Orff

New Hampshire Nature Notes
by Eric Orff

Winter is Back in New Hampshire for 2025 after a few Years Missing.

Friday 01/31/2025

Well, seems like a good old-fashioned winter as I gaze out my home office window. And don't we have some ice due to two separate arctic blasts over the past month twice dipping into the below zero numbers. Finally, Lake Winnipesaukee has pretty good ice over the lake like we haven't had in several years.  A swivel of my head here from my office has me staring at an ice-covered Suncook River. A first in at least three years. In fact, last winter the Suncook and Merrimack Rivers remained ice free all winter. It's nice to have ice. And even a bit on our coastal rivers and the bays of Great Bay for some winter smelt fishing not seen in a decade.
 
But I'm here to tell you Spring is on the way. Just yesterday I saw a whole flock of American robins in some crab apple trees near the Nashua City Library. OK, Robins are NO longer a sign of spring as they were for me over most of my nearly seventy years living in New Hampshire. Here's my guess as to why beginning in the 90's we started seeing more and more "winter robins". It was kind of evident in where I saw the big flock of robins in Nashua yesterday. Food. Birds migrate to seek food to survive. And usually only as far south as needed to stay on the edge of feeding and the ever urge to get back north to nest and carry on their population. My guess it was the explosion of Malls and Office Parks around the 80's into the 90's. Yesterday the robins were eating an abundance of crab apples. Drive into most any NH mall or office park and there you will see rows of ornamental crab apple trees. Often laden with fruit and there may be some robins about all fall and winter long. That's my guess as to why we now have winter robins. Other guesses? 
 
But there is no doubt that spring is underway. February is mating season for a whole host of NH wildlife. Coyotes, foxes, raccoons and the list goes on. There is little doubt that you will catch a whiff of a skunk come Valentines Day. Yes, love is in the air, it just happens to smell like a skunk. For skunks and coyotes, it takes a couple months of gestation before the young are born. Foxes fifty days and woodchuck 32 days. So mating season for much of the wildlife we regularly see is now underway and let's not forget that owls will be hooting it up too as mating time peaks for them too very soon. Birth for many of these animals happens in April. With deer and moose to follow in May.
 
Yes, our longer days means wildlife activity will be picking up day by day, well, make that night by night. 
 
A couple hours ago, for the first time in at least two years, the snowmachine trail that passes right past my house had a groomer working the trail. Mind you, there's maybe two or three inches of snow on the ground for them to work here in town. Snow is predicted for this afternoon and tomorrow morning. Light snow, I think. Not a good coating that would really bring this trail to life. With a warming New Hampshire a little snow is way better than NO Snow like last winter. I hope we get enough to soften the trails up a bit. 
 
All in all, really not much of a winter so far. Luckily enough artic blasts to give us safe ice across the state. 
 
Get outside! Be wild. Live Life on the Wild Side of NH.

Previous Note

2025-01-12
New Hampshire is Just Dancing with Winter This Year.

read the note

Next Note

2025-02-16
It May Only Be a Drip. But Spring has already Started to Flow.

read the note


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