Late afternoon in the woods can be really awesome. I went to Naugatuck State Forest today, and by about 4:00 the woods were getting pretty dark, especially with all those towering conifers:
Beneath the trees, Red-breasted Nuthatches were clambering all over fallen branches and cones, reminders of our recent storms:
I've really gotten attached to these little birds, and I'm going to miss them and their funny constant squeaking when they decide to leave our woods again (hopefully not until spring):
I guess I'd better get in as much Red-breasted Nuthatch time as I can while they're still here!
As the sun sunk below the trees, a pair of Mallards drew patterns of light on the pond's surface:
And in the last moments of daylight, I looked up to see a shadowy figure watching from high in the trees:
Oh, it has been far too long since I last saw a Great Horned Owl in these woods! I took a few steps toward the creature, and then I looked up again... and it was gone. But, really, even the briefest glimpse of an owl makes for a totally awesome day.
Like I said, late afternoon in the woods can be extremely cool.
I have a growing suspicion about a particular patch of woods that I walk through whenever I visit Naugatuck State Forest: I suspect that somewhere in that patch, there is always a Great Horned Owl hidden among the tree branches. I have no proof for the "always" part of that statement, but it is true that the double-handful of times I've seen Great Horned Owls now -- including the nest this past spring -- it's been in this exact same small part of the woods. I now feel, every time I walk past this area, that a pair of yellow eyes may very well be watching me from not too far away, but the owl is so well camouflaged that I don't usually see it.
The only reason I do see the owl -- if I see it at all -- is usually because it either outs itself (by flying around and calling loudly, for example), or because another animal points it out to me, which is what a passing crow did yesterday morning. (The crow really just flew up, landed in the owl's tree, pointed its beak at the owl and said "Hey, there's an owl here!", and then flew away again.) Yesterday, my normally-unseen observer was tucked a little ways back into the forest, but once I knew where to look (thanks, crow!), I could clearly see him (or her) through the bare branches of the trees:
Oh you, with your saucy owl glare. :P I love hanging out in the owl's woods, because every once in a while I get to actually see the owl!
While I was looking at the owl, a pretty female Yellow-bellied Sapsucker was hopping around in the branches above my head, and I had fun watching her as well:
These little woodpeckers are so cool, and not just because of their wacky-sounding name. I like the messy spotted pattern on these birds, so different from the more clean-cut black and white spots of the Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers I see more often around here. You can tell this is a female because she has red only on her head -- male Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers have red throats as well:
The "yellow-bellied" part of this bird's name is something of a puzzle to me, although maybe this individual just wasn't showing that color particularly well. When she flew onto another branch, I did see a bit of yellowish coloring on her lower belly, which maybe sort of counts:
Last winter, a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker drilled its characteristic machine-gun rows of holes into a tree in our yard, and the dripping sap actually froze into long icicles (sapcicles?) -- I wonder if I'll see something like that again this year.
The owl and the sapsucker were the animal highlights of yesterday's walk, but I did see some other cool things as well. The ground pine -- a type of clubmoss (Lycopodium sp.), and not pine at all -- is looking pretty and decorative and doing its reproductive thing in scattered spots around the forest floor:
And since it was so cold, I got to see some lovely frost formations, which stuck around all morning. I think these dried fern fronds look especially lovely with their frosty outline:
And how cute are these super-fuzzy dewberry leaves:
With frosty mornings like this, I think winter might be just around the corner!
Today's discovery: animals make really weird noises.
I was walking my normal loop through the Naugatuck State Forest this morning when a loud screeching call started echoing through the forest. It didn't sound like anything I'd heard before -- not like a hawk or a Blue Jay, which are the normal screamers around here. I thought it might be mammalian in origin, perhaps an agitated carnivore... which didn't make me very eager to get closer, I must say. But then the source of the sound moved, and it was now coming from above. I looked up into the trees above the path, and there, perched on a branch and very actively looking around and making that crazy sound, was a Great Horned Owl.
Great Horned Owls are the owls that make the classic "hoot-hoot" sound, usually at night, so I have no idea what this fellow was up to. I've read that juvenile Great Horned Owls make a screeching sound, but this creature's well out of the nest, so I don't know if that's a suitable explanation.
Here's a video I took of this owl making its crazy call -- I didn't think it would be post-worthy at first, but YouTube magically removed all the shaking, and now it's like a real video! The audio's quite soft, and you'll have to listen past the Blue Jay calling constantly in the background, but there's some cool stuff there. Also, if you right-click on the video to watch it on YouTube, and then enlarge it to full-screen, you can actually see the owl's mouth opening as it calls. The call right at the end is the best:
I just love owls, and any day I see one is immediately a best-day-ever. I wonder if this individual was part of the family of owls that was nesting in this same area earlier this year.... Be well, big fellow, and I hope your screaming got you whatever it was you wanted! Speaking of strange sounds in the woods, I've been hearing this hollow wood-block sound for a while now, but it wasn't until today that I finally found its source: an Eastern Chipmunk. Here's another video -- again, you'll have to turn up your volume to hear the sound (my camera doesn't have a great microphone, as I'm learning):
Apparently this is a sound that chipmunks make when there's an aerial predator in the area, and in fact, right after I saw this guy, a small falcon zoomed across the path (chased by a Blue Jay... what tenacious birds). I've already learned to recognize that persistent bird-like cheeping that chipmunks make, but I had no idea these little mammals could produce this strange sound as well. There's always something new to learn!
Not everything in the woods today was noisy, of course, and I saw some cool silent creatures as well. The Red Efts (the terrestrial, juvenile forms of Red-spotted Newts) were out in force today, trundling along the sides of paths in several parts of the forest. (I love these little guys. Love, love, love.) The first eft I saw has the distinction of being possibly the most orange thing ever, as well as the only eft I've seen climbing above the ground (only by a foot or so, but still). Maybe this fallen branch was a handy bridge toward wherever the eft was going:
This eft I saw later in my walk was decidedly browner than the first, but no less photogenic:
Hello, eft creature, what a perfect little newt face you have:
On my way out of the forest, I stopped to hang out with a Common Yellowthroat who was foraging on a goldenrod-covered bank, when a second warbler popped into view. It was a Blackpoll Warbler, a bird I've only seen once before and at a great distance. This one was content to forage close by, within camera range:
In the spring, male Blackpoll Warblers have striking black and white plumage, similar at first glance to a chickadee. But in the fall, both males and females take on this more subdued look. Even without the bold spring markings, however, I think this is one pretty bird:
And I love that olive-and-brown striped back:
It was quite the day -- so many new things to learn, and it's always exciting to see old friends like the efts. The weather forecast is predicting rain every day for the next week, but I'm hoping there will still be a chance to get outside again before too long!
Today was the day of red things in the woods! Here's red thing number one:
Well, more of a bright, blazing orange, really. It's a Red Eft! I haven't seen one of these guys since I lived in New York, something like 13 years ago, and oh, how I have missed them. Love, love, love! Red Efts are actually the juvenile forms of Red-spotted Newts, which I've already seen in these lakes. Newts have three completely separate life stages -- a larval stage where they have gills and live underwater (think tadpoles, but with legs), a juvenile stage where they have lungs and live completely on land (the eft), and then an adult stage when they live in the water again -- how cool is that?
Red Efts are so awesome. Carry on, little fellow!
Red thing number two is this Red Trillium (also called Wake-robin, Trillium erectum):
A bunch of these plants were blooming scattered throughout the forest -- what a glorious color! I actually don't know if I've ever seen a more perfect flower. (Don't mind my fingers in this next picture.)
I have one more story from today's adventure in the woods. When I went to check on the Great Horned Owl family, I looked up into their tree to find that the nest was completely gone -- no sticks, and no sign at all that there was a nest there as recently as three days ago. I probably don't need to say that I was a little freaked out, and quite a bit concerned. It took me a minute or so to work up the courage to go explore below the tree to see if I could find out what happened... I was afraid of finding a collapsed nest and a dead baby down there....
But I did go look, and while I didn't find anything on the ground (besides many, many owl droppings), the change of location got me to look up into the tree again from a different angle, and there was the baby, safe and sound.
I still don't know what happened to the nest, but it looks like the baby's big enough to not really need one anyway. (OMG, and I still can't get over the cuteness.)
So all is well, and crisis averted. It was a good day. :)
I was back at the Naugatuck State Forest this morning, and the baby Great Horned Owl was up and about, toddling around the big nest all by itself:
Baaaaaby! Such a cute little ball of fluff. :D Look, it even has little baby ear tufts, just like its mommy and daddy:
I'm so glad I happened to find this little family -- what a fun thing to look forward to checking whenever I'm in the woods. :D
Here's one of the Yellow-rumped Warblers I saw flitting around yesterday and today. It's a female, and she's not as bright and flashy as the yellow/black/white males, but she's still pretty. She's got that splash of yellow below her wings, and I think you can just barely see a tiny bit of the yellow on the top of her head and on her butt in this picture (look right behind her wing tips). There were a couple of males around as well, but they weren't about to sit still for a picture.
And speaking of sitting still for pictures, the chipmunks are getting bolder as it gets further into spring. This fellow was not only refusing to run away scared, but was actually yelling at me, presumably telling me to get off of his territory -- not exactly the meek chipmunk behavior I've been seeing up to now. I heard more chipmunks yelling ("squeaking" is probably a more accurate term) in other parts of the forest as well -- I guess it's time to stake claims and stick by them!
I made several other small discoveries today, including this little creature who was hiding under a rock in a stream. I'm guessing this must be some kind of crayfish. (Out of curiosity, I searched for "crayfish in Connecticut" on the internet and found out that we have at least seven species here... who knew!) Whatever it was, this creature was very tiny and appeared to be missing a front claw. I wish it luck and a long crustacean-y life.
Last picture: This is a small flowering Red Maple that was growing at the edge of one of the lakes. I love the bright orange/red color of the blossoms, and I wonder if this is the same species of maple that's showing off its deep red flowers in my yard.(I suspect that it is.)
And the woods continue to be awesome -- no surprise there. :D
There were so many exciting things happening in the woods today, and I'm having a hard time deciding what to share first! OK, I'll just dive in.
So apparently I'm on something of an owl streak right now. Today, I decided to walk my usual loop in the Naugatuck State Forest, but in the opposite direction, and that turned out to be a really good idea because it got me into just the right position to spot this:
See the little fuzzy thing on the left? OMG Great Horned Owl baby! (Or possibly babies!)
I can't believe this owl's nest was just right there, and so close to the path -- I don't know how many times I must've walked right by without knowing it was there. The owl I saw the other day was in this same area, so it was almost certainly a member of this nesting pair. I'm so excited to have found this nest, but I'm also a little worried for these guys -- I heard the crows going after the owls again when I was leaving the woods, and with the nest clearly visible from the path, what if people find it and get nosy and disturb it...? I mean, I would hope no one would actually do that, and these are big birds and I guess they can probably take care of themselves, but still, I worry.... Well, I guess there's nothing I can do from here besides wait and see what happens!
I can already tell I'm going to learn a ton of new birds this summer. The migrants are starting to come back and/or pass through this area right now, and I saw at least four different small songbirds today that I'd never seen before.
Of all those mystery birds, I was only able to positively identify this one: a Palm Warbler. There were three or four of these guys all hanging out in one spot, flying around and catching bugs out of the air. I can see why so many people are interested in warblers -- what stunning birds. As it turns out, Palm Warblers live in the very southern United States and the Caribbean during the winter, and they breed in the summer all the way up in Canada. So that means that these birds were right in the middle of their migratory trip when I saw them, and they just happened to stop to spend a little while (a day? a few days?) in this forest. I guess that's probably another reason why people like warblers: it feels like a stroke of luck to see these birds as they're just passing through.
OK, enough bird talk -- on to the herps! I was very happy to see these Painted Turtles basking in the sun, because I wasn't entirely sure whether there were actually any turtles in these lakes. Now I know that there are. :) And they're the first reptiles I've seen this year! Yay!
So spring is definitely in full swing now, what with all the fluffy babies and reptiles and migrants around today. It's supposed to rain for the rest of the week, but I already can't wait until the weather clears up and I can get out into the woods again!
Today, in the woods, I saw my second owl.* It was a Great Horned Owl, and it was gorgeous.
Unlike the Barred Owl I stumbled upon a few weeks ago, I saw this Great Horned Owl only after I started specifically looking for it, so maybe I am learning something about bird watching after all. I was walking through the woods and I heard a group of crows making a huge ruckus up in the trees. I had read online about crows hating owls, and Megan N. had told me a story about spotting an owl once because it was being mobbed by crows, so I started watching for a big feathery predator... and then there it was. The crows chased the owl from tree to tree for several minutes before they finally flew off and left it alone. I was super excited to get to hang out with this guy (or girl) -- I've heard Great Horned Owls calling in these woods before, but they're so good at the camouflage thing, I almost certainly wouldn't have seen this owl if it hadn't been for the crows harassing it. (Sorry, owl, I hope you got some rest eventually.) Sooooo awesome. :D
OK, owls are great, but I saw other cool things today, too. Every time I go to the woods, I check the shallow edges of the lakes for amphibians, and today I had success -- the Red-spotted Newts are awake and wriggling! I love love love these guys (that's three "love"s), and I wish I could've gotten closer to them, but I was pressing my luck as it was, balanced precariously on rocks and leaning over the water to take pictures. There were a couple of times when I stepped just a little bit too far into soggy ground, and I definitely would've been in trouble if my boots hadn't been waterproof (thank goodness for that).
I also saw my first wildflower of the season today (besides the skunk cabbage). It's common chickweed (if I'm identifying it correctly), nothing too exciting since this is a (non-native) weed you can find in yards and gardens and basically everywhere, but still, it's a small something growing and blooming and bringing in the spring. And speaking of flowers, many of the paths I was walking today were flanked with huge swathes of trout lilies poking their mottled leaves up from the ground -- I'm very excited to see what the woods will look like when these flowers are all in bloom.
One last picture for today: I was entranced by this super weird fungus (I assume that's what it is) on this log. I have no idea what's going on here, but it looks almost as if the log were some sort of plaster or ceramic art creation that someone forgot to finish molding and painting. Very weird, but cool!
And once again, the woods are awesome (as expected). Just as I was leaving, an Osprey flew low over my head and across the lake. I would've tried to snap a picture, but unfortunately my in-flight bird photo skills are virtually non-existent -- that's a project for another time!
Footnote:
*Actually, as my mom reminded me recently (and she had photographic evidence to prove it), I did have a close encounter with a wild owl when I was very little -- we found a baby Great Horned Owl in our yard, injured, and a wildlife rehabilitation guy came to take it away. Since I have no actual memory of this event, however, I'm still counting the recent owl sightings as my first real (conscious? documented?) owl-encounter.
