The ponds at Naugatuck State Forest were positively raucous with amphibian activity when I visited there yesterday afternoon. Hooray for spring! Spring Peepers were calling their piercing calls from all around the water's edge, but even though I looked and looked for these tiny frogs, I couldn't see a single one. They must have been very well hidden under the grasses and brush! Well, whether I could see them or not, they were definitely there:
(The bird flying around in the above video is a Song Sparrow who every few minutes added his voice to the Spring Peeper cacophony.)
While I searched for peepers, a Pickerel Frog leaped out of hiding. I wish I would see these fancy frogs more often:
In the pond's shallows, the water was practically roiling with Red-spotted Newts:
And just a few feet away, in a small pool, Wood Frogs were making their quacking-croaking sounds. When I got near, these frogs went quiet and did their best floating-leaf impressions, just drifting across the water's surface:
So many amphibians, and I love them all! There were already many clusters of Wood Frog eggs in the pool, along with cloudy masses of (probably) Spotted Salamander eggs. I keep hoping to come across a Spotted Salamander on my walks, but so far these awesome underground creatures have stayed hidden.
Although yesterday's walk was (as usual) lacking in terrestrial salamanders, I did happen upon another creature that's usually hidden away underground: a mole cricket!
This bizarre insect (I think the species is a Northern Mole Cricket, Neocurtilla hexadactyla) was wandering across the muddy ground next to a pond, and it very helpfully froze as soon as it knew I'd seen it. I've only ever seen a mole cricket once before, and that was a dead and mangled individual, so I was super excited to get to check out this guy (or girl) close up. What an amazingly weird animal!
I love those claw/spade-like front legs, so perfect for digging, and I'm intrigued by those alien tube-like structures down its back. From what I've read, I'm guessing these are modified hind wings; I've just never seen anything like them before. The mole cricket was big, too, maybe around two inches long.
The mole cricket eventually decided it'd had enough with the photo session, and it pushed its way under a wet leaf:
Ah, snug as a... mole cricket in a wet leaf. (Can you see the antennae sticking out in the upper middle of this last picture?)
Other sights from yesterday's walk included 20 Common Mergansers on the open water, drifting in large groups from one end of the pond to another:
Common Mergansers show up at these ponds around this time every year before they move on to their breeding areas. I'm always happy to admire the elegant females:
And tuxedoed males:
The Skunk Cabbage blooms are showing off their gorgeous colors and patterns, as usual:
And look, green leaves unfurling! I guess spring really is here!
I was happy to return to Silver Sands State Park this morning for the start of a new season. As I have for the past two summers, I'll be monitoring this beach again for Piping Plovers and other potential nesting shorebirds this year. This will actually be my last summer in Connecticut -- big changes are coming in the next few months -- and I plan to take full advantage of my proximity to the Long Island Sound while I still can.
Today was a perfect beach day: warm and sunny, and with plenty of spring-like things to see. I'm assuming these Ring-billed Gulls were feeling appropriately amorous, judging from their strange balancing act (which was accompanied by loud calls but no actual mating as far as I could see):
Behind the marshes next to the beach, a few Red Maples were just starting to bloom, looking particularly dramatic against the bright blue sky:
A pair of Mourning Doves walked right past me on the path. I've never noticed the splash of iridescent gold highlights on these birds' necks before, and it's kind of amazingly pretty:
(How is it possible that I've been keeping this blog for more than three years now, and this is the first time I've posted a picture of this common and placid bird? Mourning Doves clearly deserve more of my attention.)
In the fields at the back of the park, many of the bushes and trees had been stripped of their bark up to a couple of feet off the ground:
And a few minutes after I stopped to look at the bare trees (and to watch a couple of American Robins tussling in the grass), the culprits came bounding into the open:
These rabbits must have gotten hungry with all the snow we had this winter, but at least there's always bark to nibble, and they seem to be thriving now! A few of these creatures were chasing each other in and out of the underbrush, and I felt lucky to get to watch these wild bunnies being so active.
As I was driving out of the park at the end of my visit (no plovers yet), I came up behind a curious trio of pedestrians on the shoulder of the road:
Wild Turkey crossing:
How crazy and cool that we have these dinosaur-creatures just wandering around. Oh, you strange and awesome bird:
All in all, this morning was quite a wonderful start to a new season of beach visits. Hooray for warm weather, sun, and sand!
Today was a beautiful day, warm and bright, and perfectly appropriate for the first day of spring! To celebrate the turning seasons, I went for a walk in Naugatuck State Forest this afternoon. I was hoping, when I set out, that the mid-50s weather and the rain-soaked ground would bring out the Wood Frogs, but I saw no signs of amphibians yet. Ah well, there's plenty of time to meet up with these creatures in the weeks to come. In the meantime, there were lots of other things to see in the woods!
As soon as I arrived, I was greeted in the parking area by a flock of American Robins feasting on cascades of bittersweet berries (the introduced Asian plant species, I believe):
Now that the ground is soft and mostly snow-free, I would expect the robins to be hunting for food there. But I guess these birds still like their fruit, too:
The bodies of water in this park are still mostly iced over, but the melting edges made some cool-looking paths through the ice:
And who should be in one pond's melted corner but a trio of Hooded Mergansers! This seems to be quite the week for Hooded Mergansers, after my other relatively close viewing a few days ago. Well, I'm always happy to see such awesome birds! The trio included two males, who were (of course) gorgeous:
Hello, Mr. Merganser, with your funny head.
There was quite a bit of chasing and stretching and preening among the two males, who were probably hoping to impress the single female. I guess it's getting to be that time!
I also love how, for all their elegance in some poses, the males can look downright frumpy when those hoods go down:
And I have to say, as awesome as the males are, I'm kind of obsessed with the female Hooded Merganser right now. How beautiful is her auburn hairdo?
What a glamorous lady:
I spent a long time with the mergansers, but there were lots of other cool sights as well. This orange fungus looks like it's about to explode out of this tree.
And this sleek Sharp-shinned Hawk perched up high with its songbird meal (looking like it had two tails):
What a wonderful day in the woods. Happy first day of spring!
We've had American Goldfinches visiting our yard all winter for the first time this year. (They found our feeders in the fall.) These dainty little birds are delightful all the time, of course, but right now they're making me especially happy, because the males are changing into their summer costumes. Spring is on its way!
This guy has bright yellow feathers among the gray and brown, the beginnings of a black crown, and an almost-all-orange beak. This is such a drastic change from the plain grayish-yellow outfits these birds wore a month ago, and different again from the sleek and brilliant costumes they'll have by next month! I'll be excited to see these birds in their summer finery in the weeks to come. Right now, though, I'm loving these in-between patchwork suits. :)
Whew!! I've been cooped up inside for several weeks now, working toward a huge deadline. But now the deadline has come and gone, the work is done (yay!), and I can finally get outside again for some relaxing wanderings in the woods. And how perfect that this new freedom has come just in time for some really great spring-like weather!
It was gorgeous yesterday morning when I visited Osbornedale State Park. The animals were definitely feeling the onset of spring, too! So much of the park was just the same as when I visited here at the end of February last year; aren't seasons amazing? A male Northern Cardinal was singing jubilantly from the tallest trees:
Male Red-winged Blackbirds were all over the place, calling and flashing their bright shoulder patches:
A tiny Golden-crowned Kinglet fluttered around in the woods, checking out the sap flowing from a tree trunk:
Mmm, sap:
I love how the same place can be so similar from year to year, but there's always something new to see. The Eastern Bluebirds I met here last year were absent, but dozens of American Robins were foraging in the stubbly fields:
I'm happy to see Dark-eyed Juncos while they continue to hang around for another month or so:
I was also very happy to meet a few Fox Sparrows under the trees; I think these birds are super pretty, and I only see them every once in a while:
An Eastern Chipmunk watched me from high up in a vine-covered tree:
Happy almost-spring, little mammal! That's quite the fortress you've got there, and a lovely throne.
My favorite surprise of the day was a trio of Hooded Mergansers in a small melted corner of the pond -- two fancy males and a plainer female. These birds are so much like perfectly carved and painted statues, it's amazing:
Those are some really awesome costumes, especially when the males decide to raise their hoods:
Female Hooded Mergansers are also very pretty, of course, with their own funny fancy hair:
I am definitely excited for the many more spring happenings soon to come!
