Signs of spring were simply everywhere last Tuesday as we hit the trails with the Tuesday Morning Group. It was a mild morning, with a cloudless blue sky - perfect conditions for seeing what spring had unveiled so far.
The recent warm weather was doing its thing for the trees: many flower and leaf buds were swollen and ready to burst. Some have already bloomed - missed by most of us!
We were delighted when we found this chickadee excavating a possible nest cavity along the trail.
It was only topped by a second chickadee doing the same about 20 feet away! I was able to catch this one with a mouth full of sawdust that it had removed from the cavity and was about to spit out.
We didn't find any forest flowers in bloom yet, but the trout lily leaves were up.
Looks like some recent visitors decided to memorialize their visit on our bridge. We hope this is not a sign of a trend that is coming back.
We had a fair-sized group this day, which included two young lads who are very much into nature and birds. They were quite keen on looking for all the birds Gary pointed out to the group. Yellow-rumped warblers and golden-crowned kinglets were among the day's finds.
These painted turtles were out sunning themselves on a log in the Reflection Pond.
We recently had an Eagle Scout candidate out to work on his project: a scenic overlook for the fen near the grasslands.
We put it to good use this morning. Well done.
Bluebirds and tree swallows are staking out the nest boxes on the grassland. They would soon be in for a surprise (see next blog).
And there was plenty of evidence of winter hardships suffered by the local rodents. We don't mind, though, when it's the non-native plants that they girdle.
Spring is definitely showing her stuff around the property now. Sunday night we had a woodcock walk planned (cancelled due to rain)...another spring event. And later (April 23 and 24) is our Night of the Amphibians, when we go looking for frogs and their friends. Come on out and join us!
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