Angry Birds and Cautious Turtles (and more)

After that ridiculous heat wave we just had, I was happy to get back out to the Naugatuck State Forest this morning. Not all the creatures there were happy to see me, though!

At one point, I must have accidentally gotten too close to a nest, because a pair of Ovenbirds started flipping out, flashing from bush to bush, raising their bright orange mohawks and yelling at me. I couldn't resist taking a few pictures of them while they were so close (even if they weren't sitting still), but I soon left them in peace again and went on my way:

 

  
This creature wasn't exactly thrilled at my presence, either:

I happened upon this Painted Turtle right next to the path, in the process of digging a hole (or covering one up) with her back legs. I say "her" because I'm almost certain this must be a female in some stage of the egg-laying process. (I have to wonder, though, is the area next to a path really the best place to bury eggs?) She kept her head neatly tucked into her shell, and I made good use of my zoom lens before leaving her to her business. Such a pretty lady:

Everything else I saw today seemed more or less ambivalent toward me. This male Rose-breasted Grosbeak (perhaps the mate of the female I saw in this area a few weeks ago?) was singing calmly from his perch in a tree:

This weird-wacky bug (some sort of fishfly, Chauliodes sp.) was just sitting on a leaf -- it was something like two inches long, what a monster!

And of course the dragonflies were everywhere, doing their own thing. I actually managed to identify another one of these creatures today -- this is a Calico Pennant:

I just love the stained-glass-window effect of its wings in this next picture:

I can't close a post without mentioning some new flowers as well. The pretty little Partridgeberry blooms are just starting to open, creeping along the forest floor:

And the summer full-sun flowers have a new companion, this Daisy Fleabane:

I saw a lot of fun things today, and I'm glad that the weather decided to cool down. Here's hoping we get a nice long break before the heat gets too intense again!

A family of fat things

For a while now, Paul and I have been watching a Groundhog that lives in our neighbor's yard across the street. We lovingly refer to it as our "fat friend," or sometimes "the fat thing," because of its overall dumpiness.

Today, I was looking out the window and I saw more than one creature moving out there.... As it turns out, our fat friend is a girl, and she has babies! We saw three little fat things toddling around at one point, but they kept popping in and out of the rocks, so there might have been even more of them out there. Can you find all three babies in this next picture?

Sooooo cute! I couldn't stop taking pictures of their chubby little faces.

The mother was doing something interesting, too -- she kept running to the bushes in the back of the yard, and returning to the rocks (and her burrow) a few minutes later with mouthfuls of... something:

I'm not sure what she was carrying, or what she was doing with it, but whatever it was (garbage?), it was going into the burrow to make her family happy.

Of course, now I'm in a bit of a quandary. Groundhogs can apparently do damage to the foundations of buildings with their digging, and this family definitely has a burrow right next to, and probably under, our neighbor's house. We've seen the momma Groundhog many times, and she's pretty bold, so it's hard to imagine that the people living in the house don't know she's there. If they don't know, however, I feel like I should probably tell them... but at the same time, I don't want the creatures to get hurt, and I'm not sure what the general attitude towards animals is around here. I think I will mention it, though, the next time I see our neighbors -- it would probably be better for everyone if the Groundhog family moved somewhere else, even if that means we won't get to watch them anymore.

We love you, fat things!

Back in Connecticut again

Yesterday I celebrated my return to Connecticut with a trip to the Naugatuck State Forest, and once again, the woods looked completely different from when I was last there ten days before. The ferns are huge and covering the forest floor, some of the vernal pools are all but completely dried up (poor little tadpoles, will they survive in the damp muck until the next rain?), and the insects of all kinds were out and about (including the flying, biting kind, unfortunately).

The spring flowers are just about all gone, and the summer flowers are opening. These Ox-eye Daisies and bright yellow Hawkweeds (either Field or Pale Hawkweed, I'm not sure which), both non-native species, were bringing some cheery color into the open areas:

These flowers were keeping close company with plain but pretty Common Yarrow:

In the woods, Maple-leaf Viburnum shrubs were blooming everywhere:

And in the shade near a stream I found this Yellow Stargrass, which I don't think I've ever seen before:

Here are a couple of butterflies that sat still long enough for me to take their picture, first a cute little skipper of some sort (I'm not sure of the exact species):

And this Red-spotted Purple (I think the name might make more sense if I'd seen the undersides of this creature's wings):

There were quite a few different types of dragonflies and damselflies zooming around, but I've only managed to identify this one -- a Chalk-fronted Corporal:

And on a raspberry leaf, I found this surprisingly pretty Forest Tent Caterpillar (a pest sometimes, but apparently not every year):

I did see some birds as well, including my first Indigo Bunting of the year (so pretty), and a Great Crested Flycatcher (a first for me) -- no pictures of these guys, though. This Wood Thrush did pose for me in the underbrush, however (don't you just love those spots?):

And I watched this Red-eyed Vireo doing some serious acrobatics to get a meal -- it looks like hanging upside-down from a leaf got him or her a nice insect-y mouthful here:

As I was leaving, I found one last treat -- the Wild Strawberries are almost perfectly ripe:

I saw tons of these plants blooming a couple of weeks ago, but this was the only collection of ripening fruit I found today. A lot of the strawberry plants have been shaded out by other plants (mostly Poison Ivy), so I don't know how much of the fruit is actually still there. I'm just hoping I'll be passing by when some of these berries are ripe. (And I'm dreaming up schemes for how I might be able to get some of these seeds into my garden....)

So a great trip overall, despite the increasingly gross weather. (It was in the mid-80s when I was in the woods yesterday, and the weather forecast is calling for high-90s by Thursday.... Yuck!) It's good to be home!

Scandinavian sights, Part 3: Geirangerfjord

We didn't get to see many more animals or plants up close on our trip, but I can't close my account of Norway without showing a little of Geiranger. It's no wonder this fjord is so famous, with views like this:

We spent the whole day of our stay here ooh-ing and ah-ing at the landscape, and this alone would've pretty much made the whole trip worthwhile.

The scenery was gorgeous, and the wildlife was cool, too. There were eagles soaring over the fjord (I didn't manage to get any clear pictures of them), and smaller birds flitting around in the trees. This cute White Wagtail was nice enough to pose for me in Geiranger village while we were running (literally) from one scheduled excursion to another:

And the mountainsides were carpeted with wildflowers. I was particularly struck by these luminous Eurasian Bunchberry blooms (Cornus suecica):

While in Geiranger, we took a bus right up the side of the fjord, to the top of one of the neighboring mountains, Dalsnibba, 1500 meters above sea level. As we drove higher, all the greens and blues of the lush forests below were gradually replaced with browns and purples, grays and whites. The clouding skies (and even a snowstorm) made this seem even more like an alien world:

The only wildlife we saw up here were mosses and lichens, making furry purple coats on the rocks. When I look at this picture, I can't help seeing a sleeping creature, half buried in the snow:

Paul and I agreed that we could've easily spent another couple of days in Geiranger and never gotten bored -- we passed several walking trails in the mountains just begging to be explored, but of course we didn't have time. But maybe someday we'll return. Norway is definitely a place worth visiting, and I would gladly take a chance to go back!

Scandinavian sights, Part 2: Walking Mount Fløyen in Bergen, Norway

OK, so we did get to do a little woods-walking on our trip after all. :P We spent a day in Bergen, Norway, and while we were there we took a tiny train up to the top of neighboring Mount Fløyen, then walked the mile or so back down winding paths through the woods. I know it's strange for me to post pictures that have buildings (and people) in them, but this will help set the stage -- the little building at the very top of the ridge is the train's destination, with Bergen's streets in the foreground, and all that forest in between:

And this forest was just beautiful:

Everything was all moss and leaves, and every surface green. The trees were positively shaggy with all that extra growing stuff:

I could've walked these woods for hours, but our time was limited. We did get to see some cool (and of course, completely new to us) wildlife while we were there, though!

This is one of the first birds we noticed when we got to the top of the mountain, a Great Tit (a relative of our chickadees and titmice):

This fellow was puffed up and singing loudly, and since neither Paul nor I knew what this bird actually was at the time, we called it by its song -- I'm guessing this is probably the only time anyone's ever said the phrase, "look, there's the Beepoo-beepoo again."

We saw another Great Tit further down the mountain, this one closer to us and less conspicuously gregarious:

Here's another bird that seemed to be pretty prevalent, and we saw it a few times -- a Chaffinch:

As a side note, I love that I can now put some bird faces (as it were) to formerly mysterious names -- I've heard the word "chaffinch" before, and probably read it in books, but never had any idea what such a bird would look like. As it turns out, it's pretty crazy-looking! Nice color combination, bird!

Here's a bird whose face I did know from pictures and illustrations, but which I'd never seen before in real life -- a European Robin: (and what a wonderfully shaggy tree it's chosen for its perch)

This Eurasian Blackbird was flitting from ground to rooftop, singing a surprisingly beautiful song for such a plain bird:

And it wasn't all birds in the forest, either. We were impressed by this big slug by the side of the path (possibly a Spanish Slug, which is apparently invasive):

There were flowers everywhere as well. I don't know what this flower is (I haven't been able to find an online source for identifying Norwegian wildflowers), but I love its delicate purple stripes:

(Updated 6/6/11: It looks like this is actually Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum), a species of geranium that's originally from Europe but which has naturalized in North America as well. Thanks for the ID help, hikeagiant2!)

It was a while into our walk before we realized that something felt a little strange about the Norwegian woods: We'd seen plenty of birds, but no mammals -- no squirrels or chipmunks or any of the other scurrying critters that are so ubiquitous in North America. In fact, we didn't see any mammals on our whole trip.... The internet tells me that squirrels at least do exist in Norway, so maybe it was just chance that we didn't see any, or maybe they're not as prevalent as they are here.

In any case, this was a great part of a fantastic trip. Have I mentioned that Norway is awesome?

After we left Bergen, our next stop was the famous fjord at Geiranger, but that's a post for another time! (Which is to say, tomorrow.)