Salamander

Well, I’ve neglected this blog rather terribly over the past few weeks. Time to pick up the pieces and try to get back on track. I’ll start with a simple report on spring activity around the farm over the past few days.

BIRDS:
I guess the main event has to be the Long-eared Owls that Don spotted over in the pine and poplar woods across the fields from the barn on April 20th. He spotted one, and then a second with the first a bit later in his walk while circling back along the trail the way he had come. Since then, we see one of them very frequently. It is like a sentinel up in one or the other of two pine trees along the trail. I’m quite sure that the other must be on a nest in a nearby pine which has very dense branches, but I don’t wish to disturb the birds, so we’re keeping out distance.

April 29th, Don saw a Brown Thrasher over in the same section of woods.

Around April 27th, I noticed the first Tree Swallows wheeling back and forth over the fields. It was such a welcome sight. On April 30th, while walking across the fields towards the barns, I thought I could see some Barn Swallows tearing across the skies along with the Tree Swallows. When I got to the barn, I saw a swallow sitting perched on one of the window sills, and the Swallows in the sky could be seen well enough to see the little scissortails on the Barn Swallows. It always seems to me that once the Barn Swallows return, that means that summer has come to the land.

Robins are everywhere this year. We must have quite a few nests just in the trees around the house. I can’t look out a window witout seeing a robin sitting on a tree branch.

A pair of Mourning Doves has also been very conspicuous around the gardens for the past week or so. They move around together, always perching side by side to preen, and occasionally preening at each other.

Lynda says that the Northern Harriers are back in the brush at the back of the farm this year. They have been there for years. Last summer, I saw them occasionally. Nice to know that they have returned.

FROGS:
The Spring Peepers have been calling sporadically throughout this unusually dry spring we’re having. Last night, their calling was very strong when I stepped outside to look for moths around the front porch lamp at around 9:30 p.m.

After telling Fred Schueler that I didn’t think we had any Chorus frogs around our place, I actually did hear a couple here and there at the back of the farm in the areas where there is much willow and dogwood growing in soggy soil in the spring.

Wood Frogs could be heard clacking at 3 or 4 points along the old drainage ditch in mid-April. I put on my tall pair of rubber boots and slowly waded along looking for egg clusters around April 15th or so. I did manage to find a couple of clusters, but certainly nothing like in past years. I’m quite sure their numbers have been in decline for at least 5 or 6 years — just based on general observation. It may have a lot to do with a lot of disturbance happening about 1000 feet further along the ditch. The frogs always seemed to come from that direction in the springtime, but I don’t hear them so much anymore.

Last night, I heard very strong toad trilling coming from the wet poplar woods across the road from our place. Always such a nice sound.

MAMMALS:
The Red Fox continues to be seen occasionally. Cottontail rabbits are very conspicuous this year with at least 3 being seen hopping and cavorting around together on the back lawn late one afternoon a few days ago. Sabrina made a dash after them — all for show as she doesn’t actually chase anything. The lot of them disappeared down the trail that leads into the stand of Tamaracks and White Pines. I was back in there a couple of days ago and noticed that one Tamarack has been quite badly chewed around the trunk by a Porcupine. Don saw a Porcupine at the back of the farm on April 30 — he said it was just a few feet up a Poplar tree, feeding on new buds. This morning, I saw a Raccoon ambling across the backyard around dawn. The Coyote have been vocal on recent nights and I find their scat in conspicuous spots along the trail. A couple of weeks ago, while out for a walk with Sabrina, I heard a lot of canine growling coming from the area of the woods around the small apple orchard. I didn’t bother to investigate as I didn’t want to chance Sabrina getting bitten by whatever it was that was growling. I suspect it might just have been some rough-housing Coyote. Deer have been around, but we’re not seeing them as often as in past years. I’m not sure if they’re just staying closer to the back of the land, or whether there are less of them around this spring. A couple of days ago, I found a small Shrew of some sort on the trail. I do find them frequently as something kills them and then just leaves them uneaten.

INSECTS:
Activity is heating up. Singles and pairs of Spring Azures have been everywhere around the farm over the past week. I’m also seeing various micro-moths in the Meadowsweet around the fields. Night moths are beginning to show up at the porch lamp on many evenings now. I see the odd larger moth back in the fields during the day — mostly nocturnal moths that are disturbed when Sabrina and I walk the trails. Yesterday, there was a Comma of some type in the front herb garden — couldn’t get close enough for a good look to ID it. About 3 weeks ago, I saw a Milbert’s Tortoiseshell over along the edge of the woods. Over the past few days, I’ve seen a couple of Mustard White type butterflies active on sunny afternoons.

Lots of Ellychnia corrusca Diurnal fireflies on the bark of many trees around the farm. A couple of days ago, I took some very poor photos of a Twice-Stabbed Lady beetle moving about on the lichen growing on a small Poplar. If I’m going to find one of these beetles, it seems that that’s the place to look for them.

I’ve come across quite a few Carrion beetles on Coyote scat and on “unknown objects” that I’ve found along the trails.

Bumblebees seemed to show up about 4 or 5 days ago and now I’m seeing them quite frequently. On April 30th, I watched one very large yellow and mostly black bumblebees as it went from flower to flower on a Salix on the edge of the woods. Yesterday, A bumblebee behaved aggressively towards me when I was walking along the east side of the house. It always seems that there’s a bee that decides to become territorial about that one spot in our yard for awhile each year. The other “bad place” is by the big sliding door on the studio building. Some years, you can barely open or close the door without being accosted by a very feisty bumblebee.

I found many newly hatched Tent Caterpillars in the small trees and bushes along the drainage ditch on April 28th. Looks like there might be a bumper crop this year.

Ant hills all seem to be quite active this year.

Hornets, wasps, hoverflies, and bee-flies all being seen pretty regularly over the past couple of days.

WEATHER:

The weather continues to be fairly mild to warm. Days ranging anywhere from 50 to 65 with the odd day up in the low 70s (and yes, I still “think” in farenheit). In all, this has been a very dry springtime and, while the new grass is coming up now, things have a bit of a dry feel to them everywhere you go. There are few areas of the farm where it’s too wet to walk at the moment — which is actually pretty unusual for late April or early May — more like conditions would be in late May or early June. Should be interesting to see what kind of spring and summer this shapes up to be.

All for now. - bev