March and April, 2021

Here we are, already on the first day of summer as I write this! Spring is always a busy time, and this year's spring was indeed busy, but it was also wonderful. Unlike last year's chaotic spring (oh, 2020), this year's past few months have been relatively smooth, at least around here. We've had a fairly even transition from snowy frozen winter into warmer weather and rain and sun. And I've been able to wander outside and keep up with a lot of the plants and animals in our yard, meadow, and woods as their populations have grown and shifted. I played a game where I tried to know the name of every plant (native and non-native alike) as it flowered on our property this spring, and I made it all the way to the end of May before I had to admit defeat! (Maybe next year I'll make it even further.)

I have a bunch of sights to share from the past few months. This post will cover only the months of March and April (May and June will come later). It's time to go back to snowy days!

We must have had a big boom in our population of Meadow Voles over the winter, because the melting snow in March revealed lots of these rodents' nests in the meadow (and later, extensive tunnels across the ground, damaged plants, etc.). Here's one of the Meadow Vole nests and its perfect melted circle in the snow on March 11:

Big flocks of migrating Snow Geese and Canada Geese crossed the sky -- heading North -- fairly frequently in March. This flock of Snow Geese passed overhead on March 9:

Also on March 9, I saw this Red-tailed Hawk with what looked like a very full crop (I guess somebody found a big meal):
 

On March 21, I was surprised to see a Pileated Woodpecker clinging to our little suet feeder! I'd never seen one of these big birds at our feeders before, and I guess this setup doesn't look super comfortable:

April 11 was a big amphibian night (it was rainy and warm), and we saw Spotted Salamanders and Red-backed Salamanders galore (but no good pictures of those awesome amphibians), plus a couple of big Pickerel Frogs that I didn't recognize at first because I'd never seen them during breeding season before:

Lots of Spring Peepers were also out and about on the night of April 11, including this little peeper who perched on our doormat:

And this peeper who posed nicely on the blue background of our front door:

This was a great spring for flowers! Here are several pristine Bloodroot flowers in our front yard on April 14:

And female Spicebush flowers on the same day and only a few feet away:

Here's American Golden Saxifrage (Chrysosplenium americanum), also on April 14, and a totally new plant for me. These flowers are no more than tiny rings of orange dots, and I only thought to look closely at these plants in the pond in our woods after I read about these flowers in another blog (thanks, Saratoga Woods and Waterways!):

I found this next flower in the protected public land across the street from our house (which I've learned is especially rich in spring wildflowers!), rather than on our property. But I was so thrilled to see these Sharp-lobed Hepatica flowers, which I haven't seen up close in many years! Here's one of these beautiful purple flowers on April 19:

This patch of the woods had lots of white hepatica flowers, too, and I thought these were just as beautiful as the purple ones:

Back in our woods, I was super excited to find our first Red Trillium blossoms (after noticing what I thought looked like trillium leaves in previous years), right next to the path. This picture is from a rainy April 29:

To round out a few more April sightings, here's a very handsome White-throated Sparrow on April 19:

And here's a quite early Garter Snake (also on April 19) who sat perfectly still on the forest floor while I pulled up an invasive honeysuckle bush nearby (notice the large red Velvet Mite on the right as well):

A Common Raven stopped by several times to pull chunks off of a road-killed Raccoon across the street from our house, so we had front row seats for its shopping trips (perhaps it was feeding a family nearby?). Here's the raven visiting on April 22 (yes, that's snow):

Throughout March and April, our trail camera let us see some goings-on in the woods. Here's a compilation of a few video highlights from those months:

1. A Raccoon feeling for critters in the small pond in our woods.
2. Two Virginia Opossums walking together.... I've never seen two opossums at the same time before, so I wonder whether there might have been some thoughts of mating.
3. For a few days in April, I happened to set up the trail camera in what turned out to be a White-tailed Deer's bedroom, and I ended up with many, many videos of deer sitting around and chewing. Here's one of those videos.
4. Also from the deer-bedroom set, there's this video of the sleepy deer standing up, walking next to the camera, and audibly yawning. I think it's really cool to get to hear a deer's yawn.
5. At the fallen-log spot that was so productive last summer, a Long-tailed Weasel.
6. A beautiful Gray Fox.
   

 

And that's March and April! May and June are up next!

Hooded Warblers and More at Bent of the River

The newest wave of migrating birds has now reached Connecticut, and my visit to the Bent of the River Audubon sanctuary this morning was definitely colorful! Male Baltimore Orioles, Indigo Buntings, and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks all made appearances, and I was happy to get to see all these gorgeous creatures for the first time this year. The sudden explosion of diversity in May really is amazing!

And of course, the warblers have arrived as well. Several Blue-winged and Prairie Warblers were singing all over during my walk this morning, although I only got brief glimpses of these little yellow birds. A male Black-and-white Warbler also showed up to sing his song and creep nuthatch-like around a tree:

I am always amazed by this bird's outfit. So many stripes!

Late in the morning, I got stuck in a battle zone. Two male Hooded Warblers were calling constantly and chasing each other around a group of small trees (jousting over prime breeding territory, I assume). I've only seen Hooded Warblers once before, and that was at a distance, so I was pretty excited at the chance to hang around these birds while they postured and tussled. Again, these are some amazing outfits:

"Hooded" indeed, although this bird's headgear reminds me more of a balaclava. I guess "Balaclava-ed Warbler" is a bit of a mouthful.... In any case, these were some punky birds:

I love all that yellow (and the hood that looks like a beard from below):

Hooray for little birds with loud voices:

Whichever male wins this territory, hopefully there will be Hooded Warbler babies in these trees before too long. More Hooded Warblers, please!

Speaking of making babies, I was happy to see at least one Eastern Bluebird pair setting up their home:

And while the Blue-gray Gnatcatchers were courting when I visited last week, they've now moved on to the nest-building stage. This nest is a nice little cup of lichen and spider webs, which the male and female are taking turns shaping:

That's the male gnatcatcher working on the nest in the above picture, with his severe dark eyebrows. Maybe someday I'll get a picture that shows off these eyebrows and their angry expression especially well, but here's a more placid portrait of this male in the meantime:

Here are a few more assorted sights to round out today's visit. A Chipping Sparrow, mid-song:

A Greater Bee Fly (Bombylius major), looking a bit like a flying pincushion with that pointy proboscis:

And a Red Trillium, already gorgeous but made even fancier with red-striped sepals that I don't think I've ever seen before:
 

May is an awesome month!

Where the Wildflowers Are

Apparently I've been going to the wrong woods for spring wildflowers for years now! Well, "wrong" isn't quite what I mean; I still get to see Trout Lilies and violets and trilliums and other cool things at all my usual haunts. But today I visited the Bent of the River Audubon sanctuary, where I saw tons of wildflowers that are by no means rare in Connecticut but that I've missed entirely until now.

Like, for example, Bloodroot, whose blooms were closed when I first arrived:

But which opened into luminous beacons as the morning progressed:

I think these flowers are even prettier in the shade of the forest floor:

There were Dutchman's Breeches, fancy little flowers dangling over wonderfully frilly leaves:

And carpets of tiny Spring Beauties:

This little flower is definitely worth admiring up close:

I was already familiar with some of the other flowers I saw, but that didn't make them any less awesome. A few Red Trillium plants bore nodding blooms:

I think these are some of our most beautiful wildflowers, and I'm very glad I got to see them again:

I also admired the Trout Lilies, of course, stout dark plants in the sun:

And wispier individuals in the shade:

I don't think I'll ever get tired of seeing these plants:

So yeah, this is a pretty amazing place for wildflowers. And some other early spring sights made this morning's visit even better. A few Northern Rough-winged Swallows are setting up nests in holes in the riverbank:

I had way too much fun watching these birds perform their aerial acrobatics above the river as they jostled for territory:

A couple of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers were foraging at the edge of the woods, and the female got close enough for some pictures:

Pretty bird:

When I caught up with these birds again later, the male was busy putting on a performance. He would fluff up his feathers and stretch his head down:

The female fluttered from branch to branch all around him, and he kept turning to face her. Bird courtship is so strange and interesting:

What do you think, Ms. Gnatcatcher? Is he fluffy enough for you?

In another part of the woods, a few Palm Warblers worked their way through the underbrush:

One of the last creatures to make an appearance during my visit was this large (multi-foot-long) black snake, who wound its way across the path:

At first, I thought this was a Black Rat Snake, but on closer inspection (and after a bit of research) it turned out to be a Northern Black Racer. How cool, a new snake for me! This website gives a good description of the differences between these two species of large black snake; this creatures' smooth scales were the biggest clue about its identity, since Black Rat Snakes have slight ridges on their scales. This snake rattled its tail against the dead leaves to warn me away -- an awesome behavior I'd never seen before -- but my zoom lens let me get a portrait before the snake disappeared into the woods:

With so many awesome plants and animals, I'm hoping to return to the Bent of the River again soon. I'm very curious to see what will show up here in the coming weeks!