May Heat Wave

It's been a very unusual week here in Northern New Hampshire. The temperatures were over 90 a couple of days and in the high 80s the rest of the week. It has also been very dry. If the grouse are hatching this week, which would be a little early, the weather has been perfect for them even though its been a little hot to work dogs. We are back to seasonable temperatures today. The heat broke last night with the low in the high 30s and the high today expected in the low 70s. The weather looks good in the 10 day forecast as well, keep your fingers crossed for all those grouse chicks.

Talked to a guy who was out in the woods hiking with a dog and flushed a grouse off nest and then nearby the dog treed a raccoon. There were 11 eggs in the nest. They didn't have a gun or they would have killed the raccoon. Let's hope it didn't find the nest after they left. Years when we have really cold weather during the nesting season we see lots of large broods, 8-10 chicks in super years. When the weather is bad at this time of year, cold and wet, we see really small broods. 2 - 3 chicks. Should the raccoon get the eggs the grouse would probably re-nest with a smaller clutch of eggs.