Back in Connecticut, with a new toy

I'm back! For a little while, anyway -- we're leaving again on Friday for an Exciting Adventure Oversees.... Look for potential blog posts about that later!

For now, though, I'm back to visiting my normal Connecticut haunts for a couple of days, and also playing around with the new camera I just got as a gift. (Thanks, Grandpa!) It's an SLR digital camera, and much more high-tech than the pocket-sized point-and-shoot variety I've been using for the past few years, which means that I've got some major learning to do! For example, I now have an actual zoom lens, so I don't have to take pictures through my binoculars anymore... what a crazy concept! I'm sticking with as many automatic settings as possible for now, and I'm having fun experimenting and getting the hang of the new machine. (And experimenting means varying picture quality, so bear with me during my learning phase.)

So I took the new camera out to the Naugatuck State Forest this morning to check on the plants and animals there. As I expected, everything has definitely changed in the 13 days since I was last there, not least in the flowers that are blooming.

The Pink Lady's Slippers are fully open and even starting to look a little worn. I only saw a few of these plants today, but I was very happy to find them.

The Mayapple blossoms are open and gorgeous, and I saw one plant that has already started to set fruit. Mayapple fruit is one of those wild foods that I've always wanted to try but never been able to -- when I was growing up in western New York, we had Mayapple plants everywhere, but the fruit always mysteriously disappeared before it ripened. From what I hear, though, it's sweet and delicious, so I'm going to watch these plants carefully as the season progresses and see if I can't finally get a taste.

These white-flowered plants were growing in a patch along one portion of the path, and when I bruised a leaf it smelled faintly like anise (i.e. licorice). My best guess is that this is Aniseroot (Osmorhiza longistylis), a native plant. It could also be Sweet Cicely, another anise-smelling plant introduced from Europe, but these flowers and leaves seem to match the descriptions for Aniseroot more closely, so I'll go with that.

This is Morrow's Honeysuckle, another invasive (non-native) species, and I'm deeply conflicted about it. I have such great nostalgia for this honeysuckle, since I spent my childhood pinching off its flower ends and sipping the nectar, which is delicious. But it's a "bad" plant, banned in Connecticut. Delicious... bad... gah, so confused!

There were a bunch of small animals out and about today as well, giving me a chance to practice with the camera some more.

The zoom lens was perfect for letting me get really "close" to this Bullfrog without startling it into the lake. (These guys are so awesome.)

Same with this American Painted Lady -- I love the detail of the shimmery scales on this creature's wings.

This cute little toad (either American or Fowler's, I'm not sure which) hopped across my path and showed me his (or her) bright yellow hand. I don't think I've ever noticed this feature on toads before, and it made a nice spot of color on the brown/gray forest floor.

I also saw a couple of really pretty damselflies, and even after a good bit of research I still have no idea what species they are:

As a side note, I was a crazy person today and decided to go to the woods at an insane hour in the morning, much earlier than I usually get up. Mostly, I wanted to test the idea that birdwatching is best done in the time just after sunrise. My conclusion: not really. I did hear a lot of birds, but not significantly more than I usually hear later in the morning or in the afternoon, and I didn't see very many at all. (Of course, that could have more to do with the whole leaves-on-the-trees thing.) So it was an interesting experiment, but since I've been tired all day today as a result, I don't think I'll be taking part in dawn woods excursions very often. :P

I'll try for another woods-walk tomorrow -- I need more practice with the camera before the next big trip!

Kingfishers and slinking mammals

I see a Belted Kingfisher almost every time I go to the woods. He (it's usually a male) swoops low over the water, calling loudly, and is always on the other side of the lake from wherever I am. Today, however, was different: I saw a kingfisher, but a female this time, and sitting not too far away. And strangely enough, she actually sat still long enough for me to take a few pictures.

This is probably the best picture I'm ever likely to get of such a high-strung bird. You can tell this is a female Belted Kingfisher because she has that orange-y coloring on her sides -- this is one of the few species of bird (and the only one that I know of) where the female is actually more colorful than the male. Isn't she pretty, with her wild stand-up hairdo and gigantic beak perfect for catching fish? :)

I saw something else at the woods today that I've never seen before: a medium-sized brown mammal, of the weasel-ish variety, loping along the shore of one of the lakes. Here's an extremely blurry picture of the creature -- it's running to the left, with its tail sticking out behind it (and a Common Merganser looking on):

And here I thought there were too many people and dogs frequenting this area for furry things like this to be around, let alone to show themselves! From the color and the length of the tail (and the habitat), my best guess is that this is an American Mink, and I've certainly never encountered one of these creatures before. What a cool and totally unexpected discovery!

Here are some other assorted finds from today's adventure:

This pretty butterfly landed in my path and didn't stay around long (hence the blurry picture). I believe it's an American Painted Lady (although it could just be a regular Painted Lady).

Here's Dwarf Cinquefoil. This flower is a little abnormal in that it has six petals instead of the usual five. But oh well, things like that happen sometimes.

This is Japanese Barberry, an invasive species. From what I've read, these plants can really take over wooded areas, but fortunately I only found this one bush here.

And here's another new violet! This is one I just learned about because it recently showed up in two other nature blogs I read (Saratoga Woods and Waterways, and You Hike the Giant, too!): it's an Arrow-leaved violet (also called Ovate-leaved violet, Viola fimbriatula), which can be identified by its fuzzy-furry leaves and stems, and leaves that are oblong rather than heart-shaped. I just love the colors and patterns on those flowers. :)

I'll close this post with another bizarre fungus, one that I don't have a name for. These growths are about the same size, shape, and color as acorn caps, and kind of cute: