It is really feeling like summer with temperatures in the 80s and even over 90 (but probably not at the lake). This was after a cold spell when people were wanting heaters. Oh, and it is supposed to be cooler at the end of the week.
As summer starts, so does the hatching of baby birds. The ones that are in the lake are very often exciting to see but getting too close to them can cause mortality due to stress. One issue is that people want to get close to take pictures. You need at least a 400 mm lens or longer (or equivalent) to get a good picture. Your cell phone won’t do it unless you get too close to the birds. 50 yards, 150 feet, half a football field, whatever measurement you like is as close as you should get. (Some people say it should be farther…… ) Bird photos that you see on this website have been taken with a 1200 mm telephoto lens and then it is cropped. None of the photos is taken closer than 50 yards. If you see someone getting to close, if you like the birds, say something to them.
Presently, there are baby mergansers out with their mothers. Cuter than the bugs ears. Sometimes, they are on the mother’s back for protection and this is cute, too.These ducklings are probably too large for that.
Loons are starting to nest and you need to stay away from the nests (and hope that the water level doesn’t come up and ruin their nests) and the chicks will be hatched in another few weeks. Initially, the loon chicks will also ride on the mother or father’s back. Please enjoy them from an appropriate distance.
When they get larger, getting on the back stops happening but stress can still kill them. Stay away
At long last, the sandbar on Stamp Act is now seeing boats. Previous weekends were a bit chilly but now the weather is better and even the water is quite warm, the mid 70s in some places around the lake.
Definitely not like this view from the shore of last winter. Cate Island is in the upper left corner. At the same time, you can see the sand that everyone likes to play on.
And last, invasive species have and will change the areas around the lake. The Emerald Ash Borer is here. It came from Asia, probably on packing crates, and has been expanding throughout the east and is now in Wolfeboro. The borers fly over an ash tree, identify that it is an ash tree and then lands to lays its eggs. When the beetles grow, they kill the tree as they eat the layers that allow the tree to grow. They are great food for woodpeckers and affected trees often have their bark to change color. There are other invasive species that we don’t want here and the Asian Longhorn Beetle is one of them. The Ash Borers only like ash trees while the Longhorn Beetle can cause damage to most of our hardwood species. We hope that they don’t get here…… Below are pictures of the bark of affected ash trees.
