New Hampshire Nature Notes
by Eric Orff

As I type today a cardinal outside my office window calls as if it were spring. And his melodious "Pretty, Pretty, Pretty" has me thinking it is a beautiful spring-like day. Seems like things are melting today more than since winter really set in in early February. Hard to remember that winter actually came late with snow with no appreciable snow on the ground until into February. And luckily it is the shortest month. Oh, the warmth of this late February sun is, I'm sure, even more appreciated by the calling cardinal. Other birds have become more vocal in the last week including a Carolina wren and a white breasted nut hatch. I had mistakenly not been using my Cornel Bird Lab Merlin bird calls app. A few minutes ago, when I had it listen a minute or two the screen showed nearly a half dozen birds calling here in my back yard facing the Suncook River. So, throw in a crow calling and blue jay yapping about something and a chickadee. Now, mind you, I have not yet heard yet the spring call of a chickadee Guess I need to be listening better.

 

I have been watching retired Boston weather reporter Tim Kelly. I recommend him as he has a very smooth way of telling me in a very understandable way just what weather we are having right now, and why, and what will be happening over the next week or more. Check out his daily YouTube posts for the best weather reporting around.  

 

Until this week I had not seen nary a turkey feather here at my house, even though I have been casting food on my back lawn since November pretty much every day. Maybe five days ago, four turkeys showed up to check out my offer. It includes a 50/50 mixture of whole corn and chicken scratch. Heaped out plentifully is a daily application of sunflower seeds and a big cup full of dried worms to add to the buffet. And any suitable kitchen offers. By days three from my first sightings, I was counting at least thirty turkeys swarming my offer. A couple years ago I was going through over a bag of grain a week. It is so exciting to me to see all these turkeys knowing I had a small part in restoring them over the years while I was a wildlife biologist at the NH Fish and Game Department. Yes, I had some turkey days. Most often early on I was the turkey sprinkler. Turkey biologist Ted Walski would capture them along the Connecticut River. My job was to release them at his chosen spots. My first release was right near where I live. In January1979 I released eight or ten turkeys on Upper City Road in Pittsfield near the Barnstead line. I still sometimes stop at that same exact spot to recall the turkeys taking flight as I opened the crates that day bring turkey back to town for the first time in probably 200 years or more. Now turkeys abound in about every town. Good job Ted!  Glad I could help you. 

 

For the first time in years, I'm thinking nearly a decade, snow machines have been traveling past my house in numbers over the weekend. I remember last year not a single one went by and I think none did in 2023 either. Hope this gives our local snowmobile clubs a boost that is overdue. It's the local club volunteers that keep access to all the trails open and pretty much maintain them. We need our local clubs. 

 

Breeding season is well underway for many NH critters. From foxes and coyotes and skunks and owls, the march to spring is well underway. Now is time to really start paying attention to the out of doors. Even if it is a just a step outside on your back steps to pause and listen, day or night. 

 

Get outside. Be Wild! Live life on the wild side of NH.