I'm starting to figure out that April, May, and June are some of the busiest months of the year around here! Between work (especially in April and early May), gardening (yay!), and other time-sensitive outdoors tasks (the Garlic Mustard battle continues...), this is the third year in a row when I've let nature sightings accumulate on my computer for most of these months, which means I end up making a big summarizing blog post after spring has finished. So here we go!
After three years living on this property, I'm getting a pretty good sense of what's normal around here in terms of wildlife. So instead of providing a comprehensive summary this year, I'll share some highlights of especially exciting or new-to-me sightings in our yard, meadow, and woods. There have been a lot of wonderful surprises in the past few months! (Even with just the highlights, this is going to have to be two posts!)
Mammals
The trail camera has continued to provide an amazing glimpse into the goings-on in our woods, including views of several mammals that we almost never (or actually never!) get to see otherwise. One of the coolest results from the trail camera this spring was the first confirmation that we do indeed have Bobcats in our woods! It's so exciting to see a wild feline up close (even remotely) as it traveled our trails, and the wild canines (Coyote and Gray Fox) that also made close-up appearances on the trail camera are super amazing, too. Sightings of a Virginia Opossum and a troupe of Raccoons were nice bonuses. :) Here are some cool mammal video clips, all from April and May:
Birds
Several birds have made their homes on our property this year, and there's been plenty of nesting drama. Our Eastern Phoebe pair is going for two broods again (same as last year), and they're doing a fantastic job so far. After starting a mossy/muddy foundation for a nest above our front door in April, the female Phoebe changed her mind and built a nest in the rafters of an old shed on our property instead. Here she is bringing nesting material to her construction site on April 24:
This shed is pretty run-down, and it's not really weather-proof, but I suppose it keeps enough of the rain away to protect a nest. We were worried about birds hitting the windows in this shed, so we hung up some branches and other random items to block the glass, and that seems to have worked. It was cool to see the phoebes swooping through this doorway, making themselves at home -- I'm glad someone's making good use of this old building!
The first Phoebe egg appeared on May 3, and by June 8 the five (or so) babies were looking alert and just about ready to leave the nest:
While the first brood was still in the shed, the female phoebe went ahead and built her second nest over our front door. Feeding and incubating two broods simultaneously must be a lot of work, and these two birds sure seem to make a great team! Here's one of the parents (probably the male) feeding two still-needy youngsters from their first brood on June 27 on top of a trellis in my garden:
And here are the new arrivals in the second nest on July 3 (that third egg hatched sometime after I took this picture):
Yay, phoebes! A pair of Black-capped Chickadees claimed one of our nest boxes (which are theoretically for bluebirds) and built a lovely nest of moss, grass, and fur by the end of April. Here's one of the prospective chickadee parents peering out of the box on April 24:
But then in early May, a male House Wren arrived and pulled apart the chickadees' nest, emptying out the box for his own use. Sigh, poor chickadees. I saw chickadees working on nests in a couple of spots in tree limbs around the property later on, but I don't know if any of those other spots have been successful either. Being a cavity-nester seems like a really rough time! Here's a chickadee at one possible nest hole in the woods on May 10:
I wasn't especially happy about the male House Wren's arrival, even apart from his destruction of the chickadees' nest. House Wrens are native birds, and they're really cute and gregarious (plus, they're a species that I hadn't seen breeding on our property yet)... but I've also read that House Wrens are very aggressive, and they sometimes attack other birds' nests in their territory, even when they already have a nesting spot of their own. I was worried that the House Wren would hurt the Tree Swallows who were starting to nest in the other box right nearby. Here's the male House Wren depositing tiny sticks into the now-empty nest box on May 17 -- I love how these birds always approached the nest hole from above, swinging down over the rim of the roof:
For several days, I tried to deter the male House Wren -- or at least keep him busy -- by removing the twigs he kept bringing to the box. But he was very persistent, and soon a female House Wren joined him, and then an egg appeared in the box, and that was it, the box was definitely theirs. They ended up with eight little speckled eggs in their nest:
On June 19, those little eggs started producing tiny proto-birds:
And here's the whole fuzzy family at four days old, on June 22:
The adult House Wrens always kept a very close (and noisy) watch whenever I checked their nest box:
Close enough for a portrait, even:
Meanwhile, the Tree Swallow pair built their lovely feather-lined nest and raised their babies in the other box. Here's the male keeping watch while the female brings nesting material to the box on May 17:
I love having Tree Swallows as a consistent presence in the yard while they're nesting. Also on May 17, I was able to grab some pictures of these beautiful birds while they hunted for flying insects (and kept an eye on me) against blue skies over the meadow:
Everything seems to have turned out OK, and the House Wrens and Tree Swallows have all fledged successfully. I'm glad these two bird families were able to be amicable neighbors, and I'm happy that our nest boxes helped to add a dozen or so insect-eating birds into the world this spring. The Tree Swallows have now departed, but the male House Wren is still hanging around and singing, even though his nest is empty.... I wonder if there's still time for a second brood this year. (Going into next year, I'll need to decide whether I'm going to try to deter House Wrens from using our nest boxes again. There are a few other things I can try, so we'll see how it goes.) This spring's nesting season has brought a couple of other complete surprises as well. Field Sparrows usually pass through our property every spring, but this year a pair of these little birds stuck around and raised a nest of babies somewhere under the vegetation in the meadow. I never saw the nest, but I saw the adults carrying food and acting agitated when I was nearby. I've read that Field Sparrows usually avoid nesting in areas near human habitation, so I feel super lucky that these two birds chose our little meadow for their family. Here's one of the adult Field Sparrows on May 16:
And, wonderfully, a pair of Great-crested Flycatchers decided to build a nest in a cavity in the old apple tree next to our driveway. Again, these are birds who have passed through our yard only occasionally in past years -- usually at treetop level -- so it was amazing to see them around nearly constantly, hunting in my garden, and so on. Here's the female flycatcher with a beakful of nesting material, ready to deposit it into the cavity on June 17:
And here's her mate keeping watch:
These seem to be tough birds. On June 27, I saw one of the flycatchers sitting on a power line in the rain, and a Mourning Dove landed practically on top of the flycatcher. There was a tussle, and the flycatcher came away with one of the dove's feathers:
Tough as they are, though, the flycatchers' nesting attempt didn't work. On July 1, I watched as a chipmunk emerged from the flycatchers' cavity and dropped an egg to the ground. Ugh. Nesting in cavities really seems to be a rough situation, and incredibly risky. Honestly, though, I'm surprised the flycatchers made it so far into their nesting attempt in the first place, since I see chipmunks and squirrels in that tree so frequently. The Great-crested Flycatchers left our yard after that. I hope they're able to find a new and better nesting cavity somewhere else. :/
There's more to share, but that's enough for one post! More coming soon.
I'll get to the fox in the title by the end of this post, but first I'll share some sights from what has felt like an especially long first part of spring. I'm sure some of the reason why early spring has felt so long is the fact that I'm now home all the time, and every day seems like an extension of the last. But spring also started pretty early this year, and it sure is taking its time to progress. On the night of March 19, a Spring Peeper showed up on our doorstep as if to say "Hello, it's spring now!" and we heard choruses of these little frogs starting up the next night. This was way earlier than last year, when I didn't hear or see any Spring Peepers until April 5. Here's a picture of this year's early spring herald:
Also on March 19, I was surprised to see Ramps pushing up through the leaf litter in our woods, again a good two and a half weeks earlier than last year:
Wood frogs also got an early start this year, gathering in the pool in our woods and making their quacking sounds way back on March 13 (compared to April 6 last year). Here's one of these frogs floating in the pool on March 26, and staying silent as long as I was there:
While some of our plants and amphibians got an early start, the birds arrived back in our yard this year pretty much right on schedule. It's so wonderful to see so many birds again after they've been absent all winter. I was happy to admire this handsome Song Sparrow up close on March 27 as it and a few of its fellows sang from various corners of our property:
On the morning of March 30, I woke up to the wonderful discovery that our pair of Eastern Phoebes had returned -- they seemed confident and comfortable hunting insects from our back deck, so I am assuming that they're the same pair who has nested at our house for years. Welcome back, phoebes! The male spent some time sitting right outside our bedroom window and loudly announcing his presence:
On April 13 -- amid soaking rain and soggy ground -- I watched the female phoebe gather mud and moss from our yard and fly it up to her usual nesting spot above our front door. The weather hasn't been great for nest building since then, and she hasn't made much progress yet, but it's a start:
On March 27, the Silver Maple tree next to our house looked beautiful in full bloom and backlit by the afternoon sun:
And on the same day, I came across a White-tailed Deer who wasn't expecting to see me emerge from the woods:
The deer got some impressive height as it bounded away:
On March 30, a male Wild Turkey displayed for a few foraging females in our meadow:
White-throated Sparrows have been stopping by our yard in recent weeks, and this brightly-costumed individual looked just too perfect in the midst of a forsythia bush with its emerging yellow flowers:
A couple of Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers have been hanging around the yard as well. Here's the male on a pine tree that bears the marks of many past sapsucker visits:
These birds have made such interesting patterns on this bark, and the resulting textures provide such a wonderful backdrop for the bird himself:
A storm last night brought a few inches of heavy, wet snow. When I woke up this morning, I was surprised, first, by the white stuff covering every surface (this isn't very spring-like!), and then surprised again by the rusty red animal moving through the white meadow. A Red Fox!
We see foxes only rarely during the day (much more frequently at night on the trail camera), and this fox was quite close to the house, so this was an exciting event indeed! What a treat to see this animal so close and just doing its thing. (Please pardon the blurriness of many of these pictures, which I took through windows.)
The fox criss-crossed the meadow and yard, clearly on the hunt:
About half an hour after I first saw the fox, I spotted it again in the meadow, and I witnessed a successful hunt: A precision pounce into a clump of snow-covered grass, and the extraction of a plump vole. Hooray, good job, fox! We have a robust vole population in our yard, if the extensive tunnels throughout the grass (which were exposed when the winter snow melted) is any indication. The fox then moved back through the meadow and yard, stopping at a couple of spots on the way to gather something... which turned out to be more voles that it had caught and cached while I wasn't watching! That's quite a haul!
A quick stop for one more vole buried in the snow:
Got it:
Groceries obtained, the fox headed off our property, presumably to a den of hungry kits somewhere nearby:
Best of luck with your family, fox. Maybe we'll see you around again sometime!
And here we are, still in the early stages of spring. This morning's snow is now entirely melted again. The Bloodroot flowers in our yard are so close to opening, and they've been stalled at the closed-bud stage for days now. We saw a few Spring Peepers and an American Toad out and about on a rainy upper-40s (F) night back on April 7, but we still haven't had the first big amphibian night yet (last year we saw salamanders and more on the night of April 12). It looks like we'll have a stretch of warmer weather coming soon, though, and spring will certainly continue. I'm dreaming of new-green leaves on trees, flowers everywhere, and May birds.... All of that will be here soon enough. :)
Wow. I think I would describe this past week as... "turbulent." With the quickly escalating world health concerns, several aspects of my work were abruptly turned on their head this week, and many people in my part of the world are facing sudden changes in their personal and professional lives. Amid all the uncertainty, I've made sure to take the time this week to go outside and marvel at the changes happening there. These changes in nature can be sudden and surprising, too, but they're also thrilling, joyous, and wholly positive. Spring is coming! So let's focus on those happier changes for a bit, shall we?
The first flowers of the year appeared in our yard this week. :) On March 10, with temperatures in the upper 60s (F), a patch of newly opened Snowdrops played host to a European Honey Bee, who must have been happy to find the only flowers around:
This is not a native plant, and not a native insect, but it's so wonderful to see flowers and pollinators again after months of winter. And Snowdrops are so whimsical, and honey bees so fuzzy, and the sunlight was so warm and sweet on this perfect spring day:
Yesterday, March 12, a patch of reliably early crocuses added their colorful blossoms to our yard:
And today, I spotted tiny blossoms appearing on our American Hazelnut bushes, the first native plants to bloom in our yard this year. American Hazelnuts have these long, hanging structures that produce pollen, and also tiny frilly female structures, all on the same plant:
I planted these hazelnut bushes in 2017, and this is the first year they've bloomed. I'm so happy to see the brilliant pink color of these female flowers, just now emerging from their protective buds:
Most other plants around here are still a ways away from flowering, but hints of life are starting to appear.... Tiny nubs have popped up above the ground where I planted Bloodroot rhizomes near the house last year, which gives me hope that I'll see these wonderful white flowers -- or at least their lovely lobed leaves -- sometime in April:
The bird activity is ramping up around here. Red-winged Blackbirds and Common Grackles have returned to the area, and many of our year-round species have increased their singing efforts. A pair of local Common Ravens has become especially vocal, and I have frequently seen the two of them together and heard them calling as they fly over our yard. Yesterday, they got into a dispute with another pair of ravens who must have encroached on their territory, and the four big black birds chased and dove and yelled at each other several times during the day:
Common Ravens are not actually common around here, so seeing four birds in the midst of a territorial conflict was pretty amazing. Here's an image of two of those four birds, flying close together either in support or in opposition, but I'm not sure which:
Today, I saw a pair of ravens gathering sticks from White Pine trees in the woods around our property. It seems like a nest is in the works somewhere out there, and hopefully this means there will be baby ravens later in the year. I have a couple of other sights to share from this past week that aren't really related to spring-time changes. Here's a sleek Hairy Woodpecker (a bird which has somehow never appeared on this blog before now) enjoying the suet feeder, the newest addition to our bird-feeding setup:
And the night of March 10 was warm enough that I stepped outside to take pictures of the full supermoon, first with clouds:
And then alone:
And here's one more spring-time report: Today brought my first Wood Frogs of the year. I heard them calling as I walked down the slope toward the small pool in our woods on this sunny 50-degree afternoon -- what a joyous surprise indeed! More change will be on the way now. I'll do my best to focus on the happy changes in our yard, meadow, and woods, and try not to be overwhelmed by the other less happy changes that may come our way.
For the past week, my trail camera has been watching a corner of the small pool in our woods. The water was frozen over, and I had noticed some tracks on the ice, so I set up the trail camera there, thinking it was possible that a creature could pass that way again. I didn't actually think the camera would see much of anything, but I figured it was worth a try at least. So I was pretty well surprised when I checked the camera today and found several videos of furry passersby, and quite close up, too. I had no idea the ice on this small pool would make for such a popular pathway!
The video compilation here shows: (1) a cautious Eastern Cottontail Rabbit; (2) a Raccoon reaching into the water -- and is it making sounds? (3) two Raccoons, one after the other; (4) a brief appearance by a sleek Red Fox; and (5) a Gray Fox. Judging from how many times they've shown up on the trail camera in these past couple of months, Gray Foxes seem to be especially frequent visitors in our woods. I'd never seen a Gray Fox at all before moving to this house, and I'm very happy to have these beautiful creatures around.
The ice on the pool is now melted, but I'll leave the camera at this spot for a little while longer to see whether any animals still pass this way. I'm very much enjoying these glimpses of the wildlife in our woods!
