Welcome to Ohio!

Whew. The move is over! I have now left the east coast behind (goodbye Connecticut) and arrived in northern Ohio, where we'll be living until June. And now that we're here, I feel like I can gush a bit about our new (temporary) home. This place is amazing, and I anticipate many, many interesting sightings here in the months to come. Just wandering across the few acres of this property, there's woods, fields, a creek (and a bigger river off the property but still in walking distance), plus fruit bushes and trees. I'm sure I'll be driving to check out some parks and other areas while I'm living here, but mostly I plan to take huge advantage of the nature right outside my door. What a change from our tiny yard in Connecticut!

And the creatures are already proving just how different this place is. On our very first day here, a bedraggled Luna Moth showed up on our back door. I've mentioned recently how much I love huge moths, and I don't think I've ever seen a Luna Moth alive in the wild before. So even tattered as this creature was (it's missing entire chunks of its hindwings) it was an incredibly special sight indeed (photo courtesy of Paul):

When I found this same moth sitting on the ground later, I took the opportunity to get a little closer. Such an amazing and gorgeous creature! (It flew off soon after I took this next picture.)

The birds around this house are similarly fantastical. Baltimore Orioles and Scarlet Tanagers are downright common here (at least right now), along with the more familiar Blue Jays, Black-capped Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, and Northern Cardinals. Eastern Phoebes are pretty much always perched on one fence post or another:

A bold House Wren hopped through a nearby tree and shook itself while I was exploring the field on a recent damp afternoon:

And how about these dramatic storm clouds today:

Oh yes, I am going to enjoy this place immensely. Welcome to Ohio!

Ode to a Red Cedar

We're now packing up our last boxes and getting ready to say goodbye to the apartment where we've lived for the past four years. There have been some cool things about this place (my garden comes to mind), but there's only one thing that I've really loved about it, something I don't think I'll ever quite be able to duplicate, and that's the two Red Cedar trees outside the windows. These trees have been the stage for many of my blog posts over the years because -- even sandwiched as they are between two houses -- they attract an amazing variety of creatures, giving us close-up (just feet away) eye-level views of visiting and resident birds (and more!) in every season. Seeing and identifying Yellow-rumped Warblers in these trees in our first year here was one of the things that got me really paying attention to and learning more about birds.

I'm going to miss living next to these trees very much. So to try to remember what it's been like to live here for the past few years, here's a compilation of all the posts I've made featuring these trees and the creatures they've brought to our windows, season by season. (Plus one new sighting that I haven't had a chance to post about yet.) This isn't everything we've seen here, of course, just everything that's stuck around long enough for me to photograph it. Dear Red Cedar trees, thank you for everything, and I only hope future human residents appreciate you as much as we have!

In spring:

• Migration brings unusual and fancy visitors through the Red Cedar's branches, including Yellow-rumped Warblers (Mar 2012), Pine Warblers (Apr 2012), sleek Cedar Waxwings (Apr 2013), and brilliant Palm Warblers (Apr 2014).

 

• On some soaking rainy day in late April, orange-tentacled aliens (actually cedar-apple rust galls) appear (Apr 2012).
• Sleepy Chipping Sparrows rest on these branches (Apr 2011).
• And molting American Goldfinches forecast warmer weather (Mar 2014).

In summer: 

• The year's new youngsters show up to explore this part of the yard, including
  baby Tufted Titmice (Jun 2011) and teenaged Northern Cardinals (Aug 2013), while some parents -- like this scraggly Black-capped Chickadee (Jul 2013) -- show signs of wear.
• With our window feeder next to these sheltering trees, resident seed-eating birds come in for especially close views, including Black-capped Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, and Downy Woodpeckers (Aug 2013).

• During occasional (or, in recent years, more than occasional) heat waves, panting House Sparrows (Jul 2011) and Black-capped Chickadees (Sep 2012) hang out in these branches trying to keep cool.
• Titmice bathe and forage here as well (Aug 2012).
• This summer, these trees have become a daily relaxing parlor for a couple of Gray Squirrels. Usually, these squirrels doze on separate branches, but a few days ago, they settled onto the same branch for a grooming session:

Fall is a huge time for these trees:

• These branches become a prime insect-foraging spot for songbirds on their southward migration. The wide variety of birds I've seen here include American Redstarts (Sep 2012), Red-eyed Vireos and Magnolia Warblers (Sep 2012), Yellow-throated Vireos (Sep 2013), Northern Parulas, Black-throated Green Warblers, and Cape May Warblers (Sep 2013), Red-breasted Nuthatches and Ruby-crowned Kinglets (Oct 2012), Blackpoll Warblers (Oct 2012), and Golden-crowned Kinglets (Oct 2012).

A Cape May Warbler in September 2013

• The biggest draw for these trees, though, comes from their crops of berry-like cones that ripen in October. One of these trees is male and the other is female, and perhaps their closeness helps to optimize pollen dispersal and cone production on the female tree. Tons of creatures seem to love these things, and we end up with a festival outside our windows. Feasting animals include Northern Cardinals, American Robins, and Gray Squirrels (Oct 2011), Northern Flickers (Oct 2012), Cedar Waxwings (Oct 2013), Yellow-rumped Warblers (Oct 2012 and 2013), huge flocks of Fish Crows (Oct 2013), and Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers (Oct and Dec 2013).

A feasting Yellow-Rumped Warbler in October 2013

• Fall visitors to the window feeder include Carolina Wrens (Oct 2013) and Black-capped Chickadees and Dark-eyed Juncos cleaning up seeds dropped on the rooftop (Dec 2013).
• Assorted other sights include White-breasted Nuthatches (Nov 2011) and Blue Jays that make funny sounds (Sep 2012)

In winter:

• Adorable birds look even more adorable as they forage among the Red Cedars' snow-covered branches, including House Finches (Dec 2013), Black-capped Chickadees (Jan 2013), Dark-eyed Juncos, Northern Cardinals, and Tufted Titmice (Feb 2013), and Northern Mockingbirds (Mar 2013).
• Several birds continue to clean up the remaining cones from fall's bounty, including Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers (Jan 2014), Yellow-rumped Warblers (Jan 2014), and European Starlings that have gradually (Feb 2012) won me over (Jan 2014) to their crisp newly-feathered beauty.

• Snowfall brings crazy bird activity at the window feeder (Dec 2013).
• The cedar trees serve as part of a highway for our acrobatic Gray Squirrels all year, but the leafless maple tree next door makes the squirrels' dramatic approaches and leaps easier to see (Feb 2011).

And the year starts over again with spring. Red Cedar trees, you are the best, and I hope you will continue to enliven this place for many years to come!

Two Final Visits to the Connecticut Shore

Well, it's happening. In one week, I will be moving to northern Ohio and leaving Connecticut behind, probably forever. I was in Connecticut because of graduate school, and now that's done, and it's on to new professional endeavors in new places. Ohio is in fact a temporary location for us -- my job there is just a one-year position -- but the change is a good one. I'm very, very excited about all the new things we'll see, the place where we'll be living (much more on that later), and the job. But, of course, I'll miss many things about Connecticut, which has been my home for the past six years.

I'll be doing a few wrapping-up posts over the next week to properly say goodbye to Connecticut. (Don't worry, the blog is coming with me to Ohio.) One part of Connecticut that I will definitely miss is the shore. So during my final visits to Silver Sands State Park this morning and last Thursday, I was sure to thoroughly appreciate the creatures that I'm not likely to see again for quite a while.

It always feels special to see Clapper Rails in these marshes, and I was very happy to see one preening itself out in the open this morning. I don't know if I will ever again be in a place with Clapper Rails as bold and readily visible as those at Silver Sands State Park, and I will miss these birds for sure:

Snowy Egrets are very common here, and I took the time to admire these gorgeous birds this morning:

As a special shorebird bonus, a couple of American Oystercatchers lit up the shoreline this morning with their flamboyant beaks:

And a lovely Spotted Sandpiper scrambled over rocks at the water's edge last week:

The Piping Plover family has dispersed from their nesting area by now, and I was lucky enough to come across one of the juveniles in this park last week. I know it's one of the fledglings from the nest I was monitoring because of that distinctive injured leg:

This bird was moving and foraging well on just the one leg, and it flew away just fine. I have no idea what happened to this bird when it was a baby, but I'm heartened to know that it's made it this far. The more Piping Plovers surviving out there, the better. Fare well, lovely little bird, and best of luck!

A couple of Killdeer were running around on the beach this morning. I thought these birds might have also been this season's grown hatchlings, withthose brownish (rather than pristine white) bands on their breasts, but I don't know for sure:

A plump Groundhog was munching away in the flower-filled grass last week:

And this marvelous Blue Dasher dragonfly (Pachydiplax longipennis) posed for a picture:

This morning's insect highlight was a supremely blue damselfly (I'm not certain of the species):

I couldn't have asked for better sights on my final visits to the Connecticut shore!

Giant Moth Visitor

On Tuesday night, I heard something tapping against one of our windows, and I looked up to see that a huge Polyphemus Moth (Antheraea polyphemus) had come to visit, attracted by our indoor lights!
 

(Pardon the poor picture quality.... Low lighting and glare were not helpful, and only my little iPhone camera was able to get any pictures at all.)

What a glorious creature! I looooooove giant moths, and this is the first one I've seen in years! With a ~5 inch wingspan, this creature made quite a sight flapping up and down against the glass. I would have loved to just open the window and let this guy (or girl?) inside, but I don't think that would have been beneficial for anyone. Look at that huge body to match those wings!
 

After about a half hour of fruitless flying against the glass (I'm sorry, friend!), the creature finally moved on. Here's hoping it found a mate and was able to produce a new generation of winged giants!

Assateague Island

After our family-filled Pine Barrens adventure this past weekend, Paul and I continued south to visit some friends on the eastern shore of Maryland. And since we were already in the area, we decided to spend Monday morning in a very cool place: Assateague Island!

My parents claim that I've been to Assateague before, but I don't remember that trip. All I know is that I read the Misty of Chincoteague books when I was little, and ever since then Assateague has been a quasi-fantastical place in my mind, where untamed horses (pony-sized but apparently technically horses) have roamed free for centuries. So the big question on Monday morning was: would we see any horses? Our answer came as soon as we drove across the bridge onto the island! (Yes!)
 

The northern part of Assateague Island is in Maryland, and the southern part is in Virginia, and the feral horses on the two portions of the island (~100-150 animals in each part) are kept separate and maintained differently by different organizations. (The Maryland portion of the island also has a state portion and a federal portion; it's all quite confusing.) In the Maryland part of Assateague -- where we were -- the horses wander wherever they want and are treated with contraceptives to manage the population but otherwise have no human interaction. (In Virginia, the horses get veterinary care and are periodically auctioned away as pets.) These are definitely wild creatures, and we saw signs all over the place warning people not to get too close; these horses bite, kick, trample, etc.

In any case, we saw horses in several places on the island. They foraged out in the marsh:
 

And they grazed in the middle of the campgrounds (this picture has a passing bicyclist for perspective):
 

Hello, beautiful creature:
 

Horses are the famous highlight of a trip to Assateague, but we saw lots of other cool things here, too. I loved walking on this beach; the landscape is so very different from what we have in Connecticut. Who knew beaches and dunes could be so vast:
 

The tracks and tunnels of Ghost Crabs were all over the beach, but we only got fleeting glimpses of these creatures before they dove back into their holes:
 

A male Common Yellowthroat sang out his ownership of a particular area of the dunes:
 

How cool to be in a place where big Brown Pelicans soar by overhead:
 

We went into the marsh fearing the tons of biting insects that we'd heard haunt this island in the summer. Instead we only found hoards of small and beautiful dragonflies, Seaside Dragonlets (Erythrodiplax berenice), a species which has the distinction of being the only dragonfly in the western hemisphere to breed in salt water:
 

Most of the Seaside Dragonlets we saw were these slate-colored individuals, which might have been males or dark-colored females:
 

But there were also several female Seaside Dragonlets with just shockingly bright yellow-striped outfits:
 

What a fantastic creature!
 

It was indeed a successful visit, and now we're back in Connecticut for a few final weeks.... Adventures abound!