March 1, 2018: Describe your walk by adding a comment below
Each time you go out and make observations for this project, describe your walk by adding a comment to this post. Include the date, distance walked, and categories that you used for this walk.
Suggested format:
Date. Place. Distance walked today. Total distance for this project.
Categories.
Brief description of the area, what you saw, what you learned, who was with you, or any other details you care to share.
Comentários
3-1-18. Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 3.3 miles today, 910.4 miles total.
Categories: graminoids, lichens, epiphytes, birds
Took my last walk in the south part of Sainte-Anne today before our move to Belfond this afternoon. I walked up to Bellevue and the cock farm, then out to the cemetery on a counter-clockwise loop by the highway. I decided to look for the categories that never once came up on the random category generator for the entire first 7 weeks here. I found several new sedges and also some grasses, especially out by the cemetery since I don't think I've looked for grasses out there before. I also found 2 new-to-me plants, one with a white flower and Sonchus-looking leaves up by Bellevue, and another with blue flowers near the cemetery. By the cemetery I saw several mockingbirds. I also saw a few waxbills, but they seemed to be flying individually rather than in the large flocks that they were flying in just a few weeks ago--breeding season? When I returned to the highway loop from the cemetery I came face to face with the roadside mower. Uh oh--not conducive to graminoid searching! If only I had taken the other way around the loop, I probably could have stayed ahead of him. When I got down near the agricultural fields I saw a sorry sight. The green heron was sitting beside the ditch in the freshly mowed short grass, in full view. It wasn't physically harmed, but it was clearly stunned, bewildered. It barely reacted when I approached with my camera. It just stared straight ahead at the short grass, as if to say "WHAT. happened. to my habitat???"
3-2-18. Belfond, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 2.1 miles today, 912.5 miles total.
Categories: fruit, birds
I walked a new highway loop this morning starting from our new apartment in Belfond. This was a favorite route when we first came to Martinique a few years ago. I walked up through the top end of Belfond to the dirt road between two agricultural fields. The road connects to the highway, and then to the roundabout with the mill where my other highway loop was. We had the rainiest weather of our entire stay here today. I guess it was nothing compared to what you folks in the northeast got today, but still rainy enough to make me leave my good camera at home. I searched for fruits that I could recognize, so I collected Tabebuia, white leadtree, blackbead, and Gliridia. I also found an interesting Ipomaea in fruit, but I don't know if it can be recognized without the sepals. Along the route I captured a few cattle egrets with the point-and-shoot. And the African land snail that crossed my path. The roadkill of the day was the Martinique anole.
3-3-18. Belfond, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 3.1 miles today, 915.6 miles total.
Categories: (fungi) arthropods, birds
I took a brisk walk around Belfond this morning, including a loop through the Pointe Marin neighborhood which I don't think I've visited before. I also walked past the sewage treatment plant in hopes of seeing the flock of cattle egrets that used to sit on the edges of the "pools". No sign of the egrets there, but the pools seem to be supporting some sort of green life form. I don't think they've been stirred in a while. The road above the sewage treatment plant was filled with Gliridia in bloom, which was filled with Antillean crested hummingbirds and bananaquits. Also a few mockingbirds. I visited a few other side streets in Belfond, then found myself on the dirt road before the farm fields. The road is quite scenic and peaceful and I can't seem to get enough of it. At least, for right now. We'll see if I feel the same way in a few weeks. I did an out and back up and down the dirt road and managed to catch a few butterflies hanging out on the Ipomoaea. My random category of the day was fungi, but I had trouble finding any, even lichens. I guess I should take that one off my list for here since fungi, while certainly present, aren't a sure thing to find.
3-1-18. Rahway River Park, Rahway, NJ. 1.5 miles today, 232.5 miles total.
Categories: lichen, green in winter, birds, fruiting
I ended up walking in three different spots in Rahway Park. First was by the restrooms, but this is also a picnic area and very worn down. Mostly there was just beech and sweetgum both growing lichen, and then lawn weeds (including one I didn't recognize).
Next was a loop around a pond next to the river. There was more variety here, though it's still very heavily used. The honeysuckle was leafing out. The squirrels were quite tame. And there were two red eared slider turtles sunning themselves, the first turtles I've seen all year.
As I was leaving I spotted a much less heavily used section of the river and walked along the bank there. This had a larger selection of the usual pond edge plants and a very bold red winged blackbird.
3-3-18. Watchung Reservation, Summit and Berkeley Heights, NJ. 2.25 miles today, 234.75 miles total.
Categories: lichen, fungi, green in winter, bark, buds, fruiting,
I walked in the Reservation where I both went to day camp as a young child and worked as a counselor while in college. The path was extremely muddy, but there were not many newly fallen branches or trees, despite last night's big windstorm. I passed a rock that we would tell a ghost story about when I was a counselor. Then I found the old lean-tos I'd spent one night in 40 years ago, and the two-seater outhouse that went with them. The plants were mostly standard winter plants for me, with one exception: I found alternate leaved (pagoda) dogwood, the first recorded in NJ, and I found it by the golden canker (which I'd never seen before). So exciting, and all thanks to your posts.
3-4-18. Belfond, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 3.4 miles today, 919 miles total.
Categories: birds, new-to-me plants
Our friend who is visiting joined me on my walk this morning, so I took her on a tour of the highlights of Belfond, including the Pointe Marin neighborhood loop, the farm road, and even a brief visit to Nevertheless Rd. We were walking fast, so I mostly shot birds, including some Carib grackles, cattle egrets, an Antillean crested hummingbird and a gray kingbird. We also saw the green heron, still sitting where I saw it the other day, quite exposed in the short grass by the ditch. I found one new-to-me plant with small white flowers along the stem. Actually, I think I saw this one a few weeks ago, but I still don't have a name for it. The roadkill for the day appears to be a large arthropod, perhaps one of the infamous local centipedes.
Your trip to Watchung Reservation sounds like a lot of fun, especially the lean-to's and the outhouse. And the alternate-leaved dogwood--what a find!
3-5-18. Club Med, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 2.9 miles today, 921.9 miles total.
Categories: birds, prickly, unintentional plants
I've been looking over the maps of Sainte-Anne and noting how there are no observations out on the Club Med property on Pointe-Marin. While it it is a closed gated community, I heard recently that they can't close the beach because the waterfront belongs to everyone. Apparently, even private property owners don't the land between the water and the high tide mark. I decided to test that theory today and see just how far I could walk through Club Med without getting turned around. Voila--I walked the full length of the beach, all the around the point to where the sand disappears into a clump of mangrove. Along the way, I kept an eye out for unintentional plants. I found buttonwood, portia tree, dodder laurel, beach she-oak, a sedge, and a rush. I also saw a spotted sandpiper and an Atlantic ghost crab. Once I left the property, I found some castor oil fruits for the prickly category and some weedy opuntia at the edge of a parking lot. I also caught a Lesser Antillean saltator and a mangrove cuckoo down by the sewage treatment plant.
3-5-18. Washington Valley Park, Martinsville, NJ. 2.25 miles today, 237 miles total.
Categories: green in winter, lichen, fungi, moss, bark, buds, fruit
I walked over the "mountain" today (it's a bit over 600 feet high, 400 feet above the base) to get to a section of the park I've not walked in before, as there's no legal place to park nearby. This was between the measuring station for the reservoir and the artificial hill top berm from the basalt quarry. There was some ground lichen which was interesting, as I rarely see that in NJ. On the way back there was a short section along the side of the road, and a car with two women in it turned around just to offer me a ride. Apparently I need something that clearly says "hiking" more than just my camera.
Brave of you, walking through the Club property. It always bugs me when private spots like that are inaccessible. In NJ at least no one can own the rivers, either, so you can go through anywhere you can get to in a kayak. And we have the public beach law, too. I've used that down the shore a bit.
3-6-18. Belfond, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 3.3 miles today, 925.2 miles total.
Categories: invertebrates, roots, birds
As I headed out towards the farm road at the back of Belfond this morning I chanced to meet with a local man and his daughter who were also out exercise walking. I walked the entire length of the farm road with them and managed to just about carry on a conversation in French as we walked. French is, by far, the most difficult language I have ever attempted to learn. While we walked, the man gave me the names of some of the animals we were seeing. Juma for the mules by the roofless barn. Escargot for the African land snails. Which are apparently good eating, boil 'em up good with garlic and eat them! We saw some common waxbills but he didn't know the name in French or Creole, so he just called them "greve", which I think means warbler. For roots, I found some Gliridia along the highway. I think it might be fencepost Gliridia. That is, farmers cut down Gliridia trees and make fence posts with them. The fence posts grow back into trees. I guess that makes them planted. Except, the tree part was unintentional. After the fence posts grow into trees, the farmers return and harvest all their wood again (coppicing, essentially) and turn the trees back into fence posts. Anyway, that's my best guess why the highways here are commonly lined with Gliridia. The fields are edged with Gliridia, and the highways run along the edges of the fields. For invertebrates, I had the escargot, rusty millipedes, and butterflies. Out on the highway I racked up a lot of dead frogs, as well as a large mammal (wandering goat?). Closer to home I found a dead cane toad in the road.
3-7-18. Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 3 miles today, 928.2 miles total.
Categories: buds, birds
I got to join the baguette brigade this morning, the stream of morning joggers and walkers dashing down the trails with a baguette under the arm. Since we moved out to the 'burbs, the bakeries are now almost a mile away instead of right around the corner, so if we want fresh bread for lunch, morning is the best time to get it in order to beat the heat. To get to town, I headed first through Belfond to the farm road, then down the highway past the gas station and up into town. On the way back, I came straight home along the beach road, taking time to peek into the mangrove swamp at the bottom of Belfond. I searched and searched for leaf buds without success, but I found quite a few flower buds, including Merremia aegyptia (fuzzy buds), jujube, a shrub with flower buds and long ash-like fruit at the same time, a yellow Ipomoea, a mimosa, and butterfly pea. I caught some Carib grackles, a tropical mockingbird, and some cattle egrets. I also found a frustrated black-faced grassquit chasing the image of an equally frustrated black-faced grassquit in a car mirror. They just wouldn't give up!
3-6-18 Harry Dunham Park, Liberty Corner, NJ. 1.75 miles today, 238.75 miles total
Categories: lichen, green in winter, buds, fruit
I walked across a park with lawn and young specimen trees with the most amazing (for NJ) collection of lichens I've seen. Then along a road and overgrown stream bank where I saw the usual suspects plus cup plant, which was interesting. Back along the edge of a marsh and into some wet woods where the most interesting item was a trio of dachshunds being walked by a woman pushing a carriage that was clearly meant to carry dogs.
No walk today as we got 10 inches of snow and dangerous numbers of fallen limbs. For about two hours there you could hear several limbs breaking a minute from the surrounding area. But we are fine and amazingly still have power though everyone around us is out.
I love the frustrated grassquit (I also love their name).
3-8-18. Belfond, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 3.1 miles today, 931.3 miles total.
Categories: birds, prickly
I walked a new road through Belfond this morning to get to the farm road, then up the farm road to the highway and down to the beach. I checked out the little parklet by the beach for the first time. I generally don't go in there because it isn't mowed and has knee-high grass and often drunks. No drunks this morning, and not many unintentional plants, but there was a snowy egret in the ditch. Since I was looking for prickly, I was delighted to find a few strands of sand bur amongst the other unmowed grasses in the parklet. Other prickly plants for the day were a cactus (four-sided), and an Acacia. A favorite bird for the day was a Carib grackle sitting on top of a welcome to Sainte-Anne sign that featured a drawing of a large bananaquit that actually looked more like a grackle than a banananquit.
At this point, it's hard to get my head around 10" of snow. We are very thankful to have missed the latest storm. We know all too well the sound of limbs falling. We're usually the first to lose power and phone in our neighborhood and the last to get it back. A good year to be on sabbatical! Hope you're able to get out hunting plants again soon.
3-9-18. Belfond, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 2.9 miles today, 934.2 miles total.
Categories: bryophytes, birds
When my category generator gave me bryophytes today I decided to head down along the beach in hopes of catching some bryophytes amongst the beach spray. I took a meandering route through central Belfond and then Pointe Marin to get there. I found a few tiny mosses in the ditch and one on a rock. No luck finding bryophytes out in the Pointe Marin neighborhood. I managed to get a penned dog nervous, though, who woke up the neighbors. I found some Carib grackles out there and a Zenaida dove. I walked the full length of the beach from Club Med to the drainage ditch at the parklet, inspecting every tree for bryophytes. No luck until almost the last tree. That one was between the shade of a building and the water. On the building side, beyond the full force of the ocean spray, I saw something green on a trunk. With my clip-on phone lens I found it was a liverwort, a ropy one sort of like Mylia anomala, but not as organized, and the tree was fully alive (Mylia tends to grown on downed rotting logs). I caught a glimpse of the snowy egret in the ditch in the parklet, but no luck finding any bryophytes there. The road kill of the day was a Tetrio sphinx moth caterpillar (I think). I also saw a live Tetrio caterpillar on a wall in Pointe Marin, about 6" long.
3-10-18. Belfond, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 2.7 miles today, 936.9 miles total.
Categories: buds, birds
One of our house guests joined me for a bird walk this morning, so I led him through the birding highlights of Belfond. First we walked through central Belfond past the elementary school and poked our heads in at the mangrove swamp. We managed to flush a green heron from the swamp, but I wasn't able to get any photos. Then we walked past the sewage treatment plant where we saw 5 cattle egrets roosting over the big pool. We also saw a few more cattle egrets across the road in the field with the cattle. We saw some green-throated caribs in the Belfond "natural area" (posted as such, outside the other patch of mangrove swamp). Further up the road we saw a purple-throated carib at a hummingbird feeder, and then an Antillean crested hummingbird perched in a tree. We heard a mangrove cuckoo but didn't see it. We walked up the farm road, where we saw common waxbills and about 20 swallows of some sort (I got photos, but I'll have to wait for the experts to ID them). We completed the loop by walking the bike path along the highway. No sign of the green heron in the ditch today, or the shiny cowbirds. I got a few buds today, I think on some Gliricidia and a white leadtree. I also found a Passiflora foetida in bloom, what a delight! Our guest spotted a puffball (giant type?) beginning to puff up on the edge of the farm field, and I managed to chase down a few butterflies on the farm road (the small white one and the medium yellow one with orange spots). And a rusty millipede. Road kill of the day was a very flat common opossum, recognizable only by its bare tail.
3-10-18. Washington Valley Park, Martinsville, NJ. 1.25 miles today, 240 miles total.
Categories: lichen, buds
We still have about 6 inches of snowpack, frozen pretty solid, but still soft enough to fall through every other step or so, plus where there is running water at all there's mud. So instead of walking today I broke out the snowshoes. The snow covered nearly everything but I took some pictures of buds and of course lichen was visible. I'd not used snowshoes over muddy brook crossings before, but they worked very nicely.
On the way to the park I spotted a bluebird, but didn't get any pictures. On the way home I passed and unusual roadkill so turned around and went back to take pictures. It turned out to be a mink, which I've never seen before.
3-11-18. Belfond, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 3.2 miles, 941.1 miles total.
Categories: birds, opposite leaves
I walked up the farm road this morning and then out to Les Anglais. I wish I could find out more about the name Les Anglais. In any case, the road there is very pleasant for walking. It was paved within recent memory, but is well cracked and pitted. Still driveable, but reminds of a VT Class 3 road. On the way up the farm road, I found more common waxbills and tropical mockingbirds. Also a rusty millipede. Up on the road to Les Anglais I caught a glimpse of a mongoose, but the only photo I got just shows a brown blur. I had a grand time looking for identifiable plants with opposite leaves. I tried to restrict my search to just plants with flowers or fruits, and I found quite a few. There was the Tridax daisy and the jujube tree. And the weed with the long flower spike (like common plantain, but longer), with tiny purple flowers on the end. And the similiar long spike with blue flowers. On the way back from Les Anglais, the view was terrific over the water. I chatted with a local woman walking down to the highway to catch a bus to church. Then, on the way back down the farm road I saw 2 mongoose together and nabbed them before they slipped back into the tall grass.
Hard to imagine you still have 6" of snow! Enjoy the snowshoeing! A mink roadkill? That's one I've never found. So sad!
3-12-18. Belfond, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 2.7 miles today, 943.8 miles total.
Categories: sedges, birds, butterflies
I headed through central Belfond this morning and out to the sewage treatment plant where I found 3 cattle egret perching above the big tank. Then I checked out the mangrove swamp and spotted a green heron, although I didn't get a photo. I did get a photo of a snowy egret in the swamp. I then walked the loop to the highway and down the farm road back to our apartment in Belfond. I caught several butterflies along the farm road; I think they were Eurema. I also saw 2-3 melodic birds that looked yellowish on the farm road--maybe yellow warblers? Along the route I found about 5 different kinds of sedges, including 2-3 large Cyperus and 2 Carex. One of the Carex was the kind with the white button head that likes to grow in grass lawns.
3-11-18. Chimney Rock Park, Martinsville, NJ. 0.5 miles today, 240.5 miles total
categories: buds, flowers, fruit, lichen
I went snowshoeing again, as the crusty snow is still with us. Only had time for a half mile, so I walked in a very uninteresting part of a local park, as I don't iNat there often (it's mostly lawn). The elm was blooming, though, and I found black knot I'd never noticed before. There's a huge patch of red cedar here that was probably 25% damaged by the snow.
3-12-18. Midvale and surrounding roads, Warren, NJ. 1.25 miles today, 241.75 miles total
Categories: birds, flowers, lichen
Still snowy, not much time, so I walked around a local neighborhood that I'd heard still had no power. I think they'd actually just gotten it back as there were no trucks in the area, no down wires, and lots of neatly cut wood from fallen trees. Most of the trees were the invasive Chinese elm that has taken over this neighborhood. Lots of broken Callery pear, too. But also white pine and silver maple. I saw a lot more birds than usual, including a flicker, which I don't think I've managed to photograph and post to iNat before.
3-13-18. Belfond, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 2.6 miles today, 946.4 miles total.
Categories: entire leaves, birds
As I was heading through Belfond this morning I met the same older local man and his developmentally disabled daughter who I walked with last week. We headed up the farm road together and then down the bike path along the highway, chatting in French. The man, who told me he was a retired farmer, said that my French has improved since last week. Phew! I'm on a roll at last. I think I actually used (or attempted) some past tense today. I shot a few common birds as we walked, lots of cattle egrets, a Zenaida dove, and a carib grackle. I also shot a snowy egret in the ditch along the highway. For entire leaves, I found a Passiflora, an Ipomoaea marginata, a white flower on a vine with trifoliate leaves, a small city weed with white flowers along the stem, something that looks like a version of puslane, and something that really looks like Galium. I topped off the walk with a feral cat and a Martinique anole. No dead meat today.
It's amazing to hear that you still have snow, and that the elms are blooming in the snow. Getting out in such weather is tough! Congrats on the flicker!
3-13-18 April Drive and adjacent streets, Martinsville, NJ. 2.5 miles today, 244.25 miles total.
Categories: buds, lichen, cones, birds, green in winter
We got another two inches of snow this morning, and the girls had a delayed opening. They've already taken two days from spring break, as we used all our snow days. Just about everyone finally has power (we only lost ours for 15 minutes). My poor sister in Boston has another foot and a half of snow, and it's still coming down.
I didn't want to trudge through snow, so I walked in the neighborhood west of my house, in the street, as there are so many branches down very few people managed to get the sidewalks shoveled. About a third of them managed to drag their wood to the curb, though, in the hopes that the town will come by and chip it as they did back in 2011 after Hurricane Sandy. (Potential chipping, along with the cancelled recycling pick up is the big topic of conversation on Facebook here.) At any rate, this meant there were tons and tons of lichen-covered branches to check out, and I got to work on my identification by buds (and cones). As expected, a lot of what came down was conifers and pears. Silver maple was probably next most common. and it was blooming. The Chinese elm has not made it to our house, so also not past it to this neighborhood. There was also a lot of cherry with black knot. I saw another flicker. They must be common here, just not interested in my feeders.
South facing slopes that were at least somewhat screened by trees have already melted to bare grass. I have a spot or two of green in my yard as well. Then there's a patch of daffodils that pushed their leaves up through the snow just in the past two days. The forsythia is swelling, ready to go at any moment. There's a melted spot where two crocuses have come out. I'm so ready for spring!
I spent much of the afternoon sawing up broken and dead arborvitae. We have a hedge of it out front, which the deer got to about three years ago, so all the bottom bits are dead. So I'm trimming out the dead while cutting out the broken, and have created an enormous pile of brush.
3-14-18 Bridge St., Somerville, NJ 1.75 miles today, 246 miles total
Categories: green in winter, blooming, lichen, animals.
After a meeting in Somerville I went for a walk with no real plan and ended up at an old cemetery. The snow has melted here, out of the "mountains", except where there are piles. They also lost far fewer limbs. This is a kind of junky neighborhood, so there were a fair amount of lawn weeds. The cemetery itself had no weeds whatsoever, but there were lichen on the gravestones. The far end was a bit of a slope with a few gravestones from the late 1800s, and the fattest groundhog I've ever seen. It disappeared down a hole right beside one of these old gravestones, which was a little horrifying.
We had flurries today but very gusty winds and had another branch fall, onto my car (but again, not breaking anything). I am so ready for spring! I saw red maples blooming today, which is new. Also snowdrops, crocus, hairy bittercress, and groundsel.
We also had 6 of my college-aged daughter's high school friends over, baking pies for pi day (3-14) and they were all making a big fuss about all the birds at my feeder, especially the goldfinches.
3-14-18. Belfond, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 1.3 miles today, 947.7 miles total.
Categories: birds, entire leaves
I waited out a few rain showers this morning, which left me with a bit of a late start for my morning walk. I like to finish by about 7:45AM, before the sun starts heating things up. I'm not at all a morning person, but I'd rather deal with early mornings than trying to walk in the heat. So I stuck to Belfond today since my time was short. I headed across Belfond Heights (Haut de Belfond), then down past the sewage treatment plant and the school before looping back through the center of Belfond to our building again. I caught a flock of common waxbills, a carib grackle checking out the tank at the sewage treatment plant, and a cattle egret watching the cow that was tied up across the street from the school. The other day, the farmer I met on my walk explained that all the big fields and flocks of cattle that we see on the island are owned by bekes, the descendants of the white slave owners, and there is very little opportunity or money for ordinary people to get some land. I'm guessing that's why we see cows tied up in grassy areas by the side of the road or in vacant lots like in front of the school. If someone wants to keep a cow and doesn't have land, they have to keep it somewhere. At least the cow I saw this morning wasn't lonely--it had 2 cattle egrets keeping it company. Back at our apartment, I found our neighbor's bird feeder overflowing with bananaquits. It's amazing to me what people put in their bird feeders here--pure sugar, straight out of the bag. Yet, that's exactly what the bananaquits are looking for. For entire leaves, I had a portia tree, a euphorbia, and a street weed with prominent white central veins and alternate leaves.
Great to see you're finding so many lichens. I looked hard for lichens in the cemeteries here, but no luck. Not a single one. Maybe they don't have stone-growing lichens here. Or maybe the graves get cleaned too often. Some weeds growing up between the stones, but lichens.
Maybe cows eat the lichen off the gravestones!
Actually I mostly just find crusty ones on graves, like sidewalk firedot and candleflame.
3-15-18. Anse Noir, Martinique 0.3 miles today, 948 miles total.
Categories: things with wings
We made another trip out to Anse Noir this morning to pick up our houseguests who were staying there for a few nights. I had hoped to get a bird and plant walk in, but there was too much else going on. I managed to get in a short walk around the yard. This was in an Airbnb property behind Domaine de Robinson where our other friends stayed. We had stayed at this Airbnb a few years ago and the birding in the yard was simply wonderful back then. Today the birding was so-so. Maybe it was too late in the day by the time I got started (9:00), or maybe we were facing the wrong direction, away from the hummingbird feeder. Still a beautiful location, nonetheless, and I also managed to "catch" a butterfly.
3-16-18. Belfond, Sainte-Anne, Martinique 3.2 miles today, 951.2 miles total.
Categories: epiphytes, birds
I headed out through Belfond Heights this morning to the farm road, then up to the road to Les Anglais. Along the way, I passed several flocks of common waxbills. Plus the usual black-faced grassquits and Carib grackles. On the farm road, I flushed a pair of small yellowish birds. This was about where I saw what I thought were yellow warblers the other day. I wonder if they are resident yellow warblers, or something else. Maybe Caribbean elaenias? While looking for epiphytes, I found a big thick black fluffy lichen on a palm tree. It reminds me of the lichens I found in the mountains in Oman. I also found a liverwort on some tree roots. I think it might be the same liverwort that I found on the beach the other day, but this was along the road to Les Anglais, on the other side of the highway, very far from the beach. On a wet hillside, though.
I love the lichens that remind you of ones in Oman.
No walk for me yesterday, as my foot hurt, and none today because of rescue squad duty. I think the feet are sore from standing on uneven ground cutting up all the fallen wood. I'm hoping they will be up to a good walk tomorrow.
3-17-18. Belfond, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 2.7 miles today, 953.9 miles total.
Categories: blue, birds
I decided to hit the birding highlights today on my travels through Belfond. I started off through Belfond Heights, then turned down by the sewage treatment plant. I peeked in at the mangrove swamp (nobody showing their beaks there), then wandered down the beach road in search of the wild chicken family. I found them inside the municipal campground, turning over fallen leaves right outside someone's tent. The tent occupants must have been amused. Not. At 6:15 in the morning. I continued on up the highway to the roundabout, then returned to Belfond via the farm road. In the highway ditch I found not only the snowy egret who lives in the ditch, but also the green heron. The egret was jumpy when I aimed my camera at it, but the green heron just sat there quietly, as if it were hiding behind tall grass, which alas, is still quite short. On the return down the farm road I came across a mongoose that began squeaking at me like a kitten. I wonder if that was a "get-away" warning, like a beaver flapping its tail. After a few minutes, the mongoose scurried up the road, but not before pausing to look back at me over its shoulder. I didn't have a lot of luck with blue, but I did find a couple of day flowers and a purple-blue weed.
Hoping your feet feel better tomorrow, ready for a walk on the wild side!
Unfortunately the feet are not better, and the only exercise I got was helping to further cut up fallen wood. However, nearly all the cutting is done, now it's just dragging it all to the brush pile. In cutting and stacking what fell we came upon three poor little juncos who must have been roosting in the top of one of the big arborvitaes when it fell. All three were dead .
3-18-18. Point Marin, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 2.6 miles today, 956.5 miles total.
Categories: opposite, birds
I walked past the sewage treatment plant this morning, then took a brief tour out to the Point Marin neighborhood, followed by a visit to the Club Med beach. In Point Marin I came face to face with a mangrove cuckoo--quite a thrill! It was barely 2 feet away when I noticed it. I had been too busy seeking opposite leaves along the ground. When the cuckoo saw me stop, it flew to a branch about 6 feet away. We looked each over well, then it moved a little deeper into the mangrove swamp. Out in Club Med I didn't find very many unintentional plants that I didn't catch last time through the property. Except...for a little euphorbia growing just above the tide line. I also found another euphorbia today between some concrete slabs that looks different from the Euphorbia hyssopifolia that I found the other day. Other opposite leaved plants included a lovely stand of Tridax daisy and the same blue weedy flower that I shot on the farm road yesterday when searching for blue.
Sorry to hear about your feet! May they heal quickly! Such a sad story about the juncos.
3-19-18. Belfond, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 2.7 miles today, 959.2 miles total.
Categories: red, birds
I walked down through central Belfond this morning, checked out the mangrove swamp by the school, then headed up past the sewage treatment plant to the farm road. As I was walking up past the mangrove swamp I came face to face with another mangrove cuckoo. Like yesterday, the cuckoo flew a few feet away, then paused to check me out. I've heard them a lot on my walks, so maybe they're not that uncommon. These last 2 have been about 4-5' off the ground when I found them, so maybe that's where I should be looking when I hear a cuckoo call. I also spotted a Lesser Antillean saltator on the road past the sewage treatment plant. I've been surprised at how infrequently I've seen them this year. They seem to be very shy birds, especially if there is no fruit around in the trees for them to peck at. As I walked along the ditch by the highway, I saw not one but two snowy egrets in the ditch. No green herons, though. For red, I found a Martinique anole on a red wall, a grass with a few red leaves, a Bouganvillea with red flowers that seemed to have escaped from somewhere, and a sea almond with lots of red leaves. The sea almonds seem to be dropping their leaves right now, perhaps coming into a dry season.
3-20-18. Belfond, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 3.1 miles today, 962.3 miles total.
Categories: trees, birds
The skies were quite overcast when I left the house this morning, and it began raining almost immediately. Fortunately, I noted the clouds and took an umbrella. Just above the sewage treatment plant, I met the farmer and his daughter, making their usual Tuesday morning loop around Belfond. I joined up with them and we walked up the farm road, out to the highway, and then down the beach together. The farmer told me the local French names of the beach trees, including sapin Noel = beach sea oak, raisin de la mer = beach grape, ammand = sea almond. All tres util! We also saw a few birds along the way, including Carib grackles, zenaida doves, and Lesser Antillean bulfinches.
3-21-18. Belfond, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 2.7 miles today, 965 miles total.
Categories: fungi, birds
I headed out once again under overcast skies through central Belfond to the school and paused to check the mangrove swamp across the street. I heard a green heron in the swamp but couldn't make out more than a wing move as it skittered away. I was glad that I paused yesterday to get a photo of the evening primrose-looking weed on the edge of the lot by the swamp. It was in full bloom with bright yellow flowers as well as fruit and quite lovely, but I saw the mowers getting their gear ready. This morning I found the lot completely shaved down to almost bare dirt, with no sign of the yellow flowers anywhere. But much easier to walk through the lot to examine the trees on the edge of the swamp. From the swamp I walked up Club Med Rd to the highway and looped back to the farm road. I found 2 snowy egrets in the ditch by the highway today, as well as the usual gaggle of Carib grackles and black-faced grassquits along the way. On the way down the farm road I managed to chase down 2 white butterflies (I think the large one was a Southern white), but couldn't catch up with the yellow one. Fungi are surprisingly hard to find here. One would think that with a moist tropical climate, fungi would be everywhere. Maybe they are, but if so, they're hard to see. I found 3: a small white polypore on a dead log, a plant eating fungi that consumed a weed in a street planter, and a green scaly lichen on some tree bark.
3-22-18. Belfond, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 2.1 miles today, 967.1 miles total.
Categories: faces, birds
I did a brisk loop around Belfond and the farm road this morning since I needed to get back to see our house guests off to the airport. I found the road kill of the day almost at the foot of the driveway, a smushed cane toad. The faces of the day were all in trees, several in Gliricidia trees along the farm road. And one in an Albizzia tree near the Belfond connector road. Along the farm road I "caught" a small blue butterfly. And out along the highway, I found two snowy egrets and the green heron. I probably would have walked right past the green heron without seeing it. Except, one of the snowy egrets was hunting right beside the heron, so that's how I noticed it, standing right in plain sight on the other side of the ditch.
3-23-18. Belfond, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 3 miles today, 970.1 miles total.
Categories: sedges, birds
I hiked up to Les Anglais Rd today via Belfond Heights and the farm road. I looked long and hard for sedges along the way, but only found 2, a Cyperus along the farm road, and the little white button head sedge in a ditch. I had great luck with birds, though. First, I saw a bird in the marshy area along the farm road. I'd like to think it was some kind of rail. But it was probably just a spotted sandpiper. A little further up the field I think I saw a common ground dove. And then up on Les Anglais Rd, I think I saw a pair of grassland finches. They were quite yellow, like yellow warblers, but they had big beaks. If they were grassland finches, that'll be an entirely new bird species for me. I think that's what I've been seeing sometimes along the farm road--not yellow warblers or Caribbean elaenias, but grassland finches.
3-23-18. Mountain Park, Liberty Corner, NJ. 1 mile today, 247 miles total.
Categories: galls, lichen, fruit, green in winter, bark, birds
I finally got out and walked, basically as soon as I got off duty this evening. I needed to stick to somewhere flat and plowed, so I went to this local park with paved jogging trails through maintained meadows (and ball fields). The new snow is basically melted, but we're still about 1/4 snow covered from the old storm. My foot is getting better but not perfect (which is why I needed flat). There's still so much brush to haul, but the path to the brush pile has 4 inches of crusty snow and I don't want to deal.
I've walked at this park an awful lot and did not expect to find anything new, but there was one tiny section (where they store woodchips) that I'd not actually been in before, and I saw a lot of red-winged blackbirds and mourning doves, neither of which is typical here.
3-24-18. Belfond, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 2.3 miles today, 972.4 miles total.
Categories: bryophytes, birds
I headed up Belfond Heights today and out to the farm road under dramatic skies with sprinkles. The sun was trying to rise through breaks in the clouds. I got some great photos of sun beams over the hill. It seemed like the odd sunrise was affecting the birds. They were active, out and about, but stiller than usual. I caught a flock of Carib grackles feeding in the field, a green heron flying away from the marsh at the bottom of the field, and an osprey flying overhead. I also caught a magnificent frigatebird flying overhead, the first from my walks in Belfond. When I got to the highway, I turned at the mill and explored a trail off Nevertheless Rd briefly, then looped back to Belfond. Back on the highway, I found the green heron in the ditch as well as the snowy egret. I found more bryophytes than I thought I would. All mosses, all acrocarps, tiny little things, mostly on rocks or cement. By the mill, I found some mosses on the ruins of some old buildings. I also found some on the trunk of a tree that I have walked by dozens of times. Along with 2 cool ferns! And as I was coming back to Belfond, I found 2 small snails on a tree trunk, shells with actual snails in them instead of hermit crabs.
Sorry to hear about your foot problems! A couple of years ago, I developed some terrible bursitis in my foot from walking on icy snow. I had to stay off my feet for weeks and stay off the snow for the rest of the winter. No fun! Anyway, it's great to see that you're able to do some walking again!
3-24-18. Watchung Reservation, Berkeley Heights, NJ. 0.75 miles today, 247.75 miles total
Categories: buds, bark, fruit, lichen
I walked at the "deserted village" at the reservation near me, choosing a bit of bridle path I'd not walked on that connected down to a paved road I'd done once before, mostly because it was wide and flat and easy on my feet. Not a lot of surprises, but tree buds were easier to do than usual as a number of limbs had fallen from the snow. There was a lovely little elm blooming. The parking lot here was fuller than I've ever seen and I ended up parking illegally at the end of a row. When I got back to my car, someone else had parked even more illegally on the other side of me, so I didn't feel so badly.
3-25-18. Belfond, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 3 miles today, 975.4 miles total.
Categories: toothed leaves, birds
I started my walk through central Belfond today and out to Point Marin before heading up by the sewage treatment plant. I looked long and hard for toothed leaves in Point Marin, but came to the realization that there are precious few unintentional plants out there, even though it's not an upscale neighborhood. I shot a Carib grackle and lizard (Martinique anole) out there, then headed up towards the farm road. From the farm road, I completed the loop back to Belfond along the highway. On the farm road, I shot a few butterflies, a rusty centipede, and a tropical mockingbird. No egrets or herons in the highway ditch today. For plants with toothed leaves I found a tridax daisy and that blue weed with the opposite leaves. I also noted that most plants here seem to have entire leaves. At least, when I'm looking for toothed leaves.
3-26-18. Belfond, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 3 miles today, 978.4 miles total.
Categories: epiphytes, Passiflora, birds
I walked through Belfond Heights today to the farm road, then up to Les Anglais Rd and back. I only saw one new moss that I didn't get the other day, and it was too high up a tree to shoot properly. So "collected" some lichens and a couple of weeds growing through cement, stretching the meaning of epiphytes a bit. I think I found a script lichen and a flat green scaly bark dweller. I also got a specimen of the curly weed that grows on wall faces often with ferns. Passifloras were calling out to be me today--I got at least 3, maybe 4 different species: 1 with larger flowers and fruits (Passiflora edulis?), 1 with fuzzy fruits (Passiflora foetida), 1 with small flowers and fruits (Passiflora suberosa?), and maybe 1 more with very thin leaves.
3-26-18. Washington Valley Park, Martinsville, NJ. 0.5 miles today, 248.25 miles total.
Categories: lichen, green in winter, fruiting, moss, spring flowers.
I walked here as it is close to home and I was short on time, but also because I remembered seeing coltsfoot leaves here last spring and I wanted to see if it was blooming (it's been eradicated from the two roadside patches I knew of). They burned this patch of woods last fall, but I don't think that would have hurt the coltsfoot, as it was all done by then. But at any rate I found one single flower growing on the very edge of the brook here. But in looking for that I also found a ton of a liverwort on the rocks of the brook, which I had never noticed before. Couldn't get very close to it; I will have to see how the photos come out.
I met a man walking a very muscular pitbull (off leash), and we did the small talk about the weather. He mentioned slippery trails, which I had not had any issue with. Two minutes later I fell in the mud (but didn't get hurt). Dropped my camera, but it was also fine (if dirty).
I've IDed a lot of Passiflora for people, but I've never actually seen it in person. Three (or four) different kinds, too, wow!
3-27-18. Martinsville, NJ. 0.75 miles today, 249 miles total.
Categories: lawn weeds, lichen
I walked west from my gym today as I was pressed for time and had not iNat-ed here before. There was a good reason for that, there was nothing to see. A few lichen on two street trees, a few common lawn weeds. That was it. Not even a bird. Lots of traffic, though. Still, I'm glad I made time to get out on an otherwise very busy day.
And I drove by one of the spots that used to have coltsfoot but had none last year, and it's back, yay!
3-27-18. Belfond, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 2.8 miles today, 980.2 miles total.
Categories: white, birds
I met my farmer friend and his daughter this morning down by the sewage treatment plant and walked the loop with him up the farm road, to the highway, and up the Point Marin beach. Along the way, I shot some weeds with white flowers, including a Tridax daisy and cat's tongue. I found white leadtree in bloom and the white puffy flowers with red beans plant. Out along the highway we came across the snowy egret, but my friend called it a cattle egret. I explained to him that cattle egrets have orange beaks and snowy egrets have black beaks, but he was having none of it. He's lived here all his life, and as far as he is concerned, a large white bird with long legs is a cattle egret, and good eating. Meanwhile, it's matoutou (blue landcrab) season, so we stopped to greet quite a few crabbers along the route.
3-28-18. Point Marin, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 3 miles today, 983.2 miles total.
Categories: red, birds
I walked through Belfond Heights this morning, then down past the sewage treatment plant towards Point Marin. I was quite surprised to see 3 very large tents set up in the gated courtyard of the school below the sewage treatment plant. Everyone here is on a 2 week holiday for Easter, and it seems the local way of celebrating Easter is camping. Especially in Sainte-Anne, since that's where the crab festival will be on Monday. Basically, I think Sainte-Anne is going to be the epicenter of the upcoming holiday. Who knows what it will bring? In any case, there will be lots of campers and few crabs in the swamps. At least, not many blue land crabs, matoutou, since that's the one everyone loves to eat. I decided to hike the Club Med beach again this morning. But first I had to deal with the guard, who was trying to earn his keep by discouraging people from walking. Fortunately, I know the rules, and that Club Med can't keep me off the beach because it doesn't belong to them. Up the Club Med beach I found a cattle egret sitting on the railing of the restaurant, begging for scraps. And Carib grackles staking out their territories on top of the thatched sun shelters. While looking for red, I found a red algae and a coral with red spots. Also some sort of crusty pinkish lichen on a rock. I saw several Grapsus grapsus crabs on the rocks, but no blue land crabs. I shot some Gliricidia flowers and some Tabebuia. The security guard was quite happy to see me finally leave the property.
Glad you at least found some lichens on your city walk. I know that kind of street! There's a few like that in Montpelier. Frustrating when they don't even have weeds in the lawn to look at. No wonder they don't have any birds.
3-29-18. Belfond, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 2.9 miles today, 986.1 miles total.
Categories: grasses, birds
I had a fun time hunting for grasses this morning. I found 4-5 different species before I even left Belfond Heights, a tall grass (1.5 m and more), a Setaria (perhaps), and some Bermuda grass. I walked the farm road where there were even more grasses, since the road goes between 2 cow pastures. A few patches of sand bur there, and I also noted some small sedges that I missed on sedge day, with little tear drop like fruiting heads. I walked along the highway and saw the snowy egret in the ditch. Fortunately, I didn't meet the bull who was also walking the highway. Seth met the bull on his walk there later in the day, and the bull was a bit aggressive. Seth stopped in at the gas station to ask the manager to call the owner, but the guy said he didn't have the number. We get the feeling that our habit of calling the owners of wandering farm animals is simply unknown here and odd to the locals. Anyway, I was glad not to meet the free range bull. I continued my walk up the beach, where I saw the free range feral rooster crowing loudly outside a tent in the camp ground. It was after 7 by then, so I'm sure the camper was up. Out on the edge of Club Med I found some of that invasive Japanese grass that the owner of the campground in Anse Noire showed me. It gets all fluffy and overgrown and has pointy edges that are uncomfortable to walk on. I wonder if that's what the "lawns" are in Club Med.
3-30-18. Nevertheless, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 3.5 miles today, 989.6 miles total.
Categories: landscapes, birds
I had already decided on my route this morning before I checked my random category generator--down to the back of the municipal campground, then out to the highway and up Nevertheless Rd a bit before returning to Belfond via the farm road. "Landscapes" had me keeping my eyes open for how plants (and an invertebrate) fit into the landscape, as well as how to show plants in favorite vistas. I captured Gliricidia here in Belfond along the access road, and kapok on the road to Nevertheless. On the highway, I spotted some beef cattle gathered round the Mimosa species that grows as a knee-high shrub. And out on the farm road, I found some Acacia with cow pasture and ocean in the background. Back in Belfond Heights, I caught an African land snail crossing the road. I also had a good day for birds, with a snowy egret in the highway ditch and 2 green herons. Plus the usual mix of Carib grackles, tropical mockingbirds, and gray kingbirds.
3-31-18. Les Anglais Rd, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 3 miles today, 992.6 miles total.
Categories: landscapes, Lepidoptera, birds
My random category of the day came up "landscapes" again today. For some new views, I headed up to Les Anglais Rd, catching some uphill scenes on the farm road, then some more vistas from the top of Les Anglais Rd. Like yesterday, I tried to put some familiar trees in my landscapes, like Gliricidia, Albizzia, jujube, kapok, and Caelsilpinia. Up on Les Anglais Rd I got another glimpse of a mongoose, and I paused to watch a flock of 5 grassland yellow-finches. What a thrill! Other birds along the way included tropical mockingbirds, gray kingbirds, and bananaquits. On the way back down the farm road, I found at least 3 kinds of butterflies and a white geometer moth.
3-30-18. Dock Watch Hollow, Warren, NJ. 0.75 miles today, 249.75 miles total.
Categories: lichen, green in winter
I walked up to the old quarry near my house and back just to get some kind of exercise in yesterday evening after duty and before the sun set. Not much new to see except lichen on fallen branches. What with a sore foot and all this yard debris to deal with I've done almost no walking. But the good news is that the storm debris is finally done. The wood is loaded in our truck, and we are headed to my husband's aunt's horse farm in Maryland tomorrow for spring break. We are right on the verge of spring here, with forsythia blooming and daffodils just starting; she should be just a bit further along, but that bit is all it takes to really feel like spring.
I love how your "regular" species are so exotic to me. Some day I want to spend a good long time in some other biome, and really get to know things I am not at all familiar with now.
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