February 2022: 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
2/1/22. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3800.2 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow
And the temperature went back down again overnight. I had to walk in the morning today because I had errands in the afternoon. Although the temperature continued to rise all day, at 9 AM when I went out, it was down around 3F. So there were no arthropods walking around. I managed to find 2 dead honeybees, though.
2/2/22. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3802.2 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow and bingo
We had a true heatwave today, with the air temperature up around 38F. The snow temperature was 32F, of course. I found a calyptrate fly, several Trichocera flies, an ecclosion (?) of winter stoneflies (I limited myself to shooting the first 10), and 26 dead honeybees. I also started collecting photos for bingo. I got a black cherry, an evening primrose, a Christmas fern, some Bazzania liverwort, and a wild cucumber.
2/3/22. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3804.2 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow
As the big winter storm approached today, temperatures stayed above 32F, near 36F. We had sleet and cloudy skies when I went out. I managed to find a single Trichocera fly and 7 dead honeybees.
2/4/22. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3806.2 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow
We finally got our snow, about 10", mostly overnight. By afternoon when I went out, the town plows had been by, and Peck Hill had been plowed as well (as a class 4 road, the residents have to hire their own plow service). The temperature had sunk back to -8C, though. That is right about the minimum for finding arthropods. Indeed, I found 2 brown Tetragnatha spiders, both on our driveway. They were moving quite slowly. When I returned up the driveway an hour later, they had barely moved 2' from where I first found them. I wonder if the arthropods that I find on snow aren't so hale and hearty after all, but are more like those dead honeybees. Perhaps a certain percentage wander out and then die. But then, I rarely find dead arthropods on the snow, other than the honeybees.
2/5/22. Wheeler Rd & Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 4.5 miles today, 3810.7 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow and bingo
This morning I met up with my 4 friends for our regular Saturday morning walk. We walked the length of Wheeler Rd, which is a quiet dead end road on the south side of Calais. The road was quite quiet today, with another 4" of fluffy snow that hadn't been plowed yet. I kept my eye out for red maple and mullein for my bingo card but didn't see any. Plenty of sugar maple and mountain maple, but no red maple. I found a basswood full of yellow-bellied sapsucker holes to shoot, and a long dead beetle as well.
In the afternoon, I took my walk up Peck Hill. The temperature was too cold (-12C) to find any live arthropods, but there were 2 dead honeybees. And I also found a small red maple leaf on top of the snow, one for the February bingo card.
2/6/22. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3812.7 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow
Overnight the temperature was back to -10F, but by this afternoon when I went out, the air temperature was up to 20F. The snow surface temperature was a few degrees cooler, though. Peck Hill had been recently plowed when I got there, but I managed to find a dead honeybee on top of the snow beside the road. No other bugs.
2/7/22. Norwich University, Northfield, VT. 3 miles today, 3815.7 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow and bingo
I had to run some errands today which took me to the Norwich University Campus. I used to walk here every day back when I was taking classes. Today I headed out through the student parking lot, across the railroad tracks, and down the trail towards the Dog River. Fortunately, someone had been there before me, cutting trail, since I didn't have snowshoes or gaiters. Along the river, someone had been skiing, but another person had already post-holed through the ski tracks, so I didn't feel too too guilty about adding a few more boot holes to the ski tracks. I found some honeysuckle galls, inspected the bark on the mountain ash tree, photographed the buds and spines on a hawthorn, and collected some Japanese knotweed and a quaking aspen for my bingo cards. Just as I spotted a winter stonefly on top of the snow I got a phone call with a request from my husband to run another errand, so I had to turn around before reaching the river. After I finished the errand, I decided to walk up Paine Mountain on one of my old favorite routes up Stagecoach Rd across from the campus. However, I found the access trail blocked by a Stop sign, posted private property, general public prohibited. Bummer. I guess now that the trails are being maintained by the university, they aren't open any more.
2/8/22. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3817.7 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow
The temperature was pleasantly warm today, about 35F with mixed sleet falling when I went out. Apparently, that wasn't ideal conditions for arthropods since I didn't find any crawling on the snow. I was lucky to find a Trichocera fly that landed right in front of me. I also counted 68 dead honeybees. That's a bit too much for individual photos, so I moved them into 5x5 grids for a single group photo by the side of the road.
2/9/22. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3819.7 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow
The temperature was about 40F when I went out today under clear skies. I found a dead carpenter ant and 4 dead honeybees. A Trichocera fly landed on the snow in front of me. Just when I thought I wouldn't find any crawling arthropods at all, I came across another emergence of stoneflies, and counted 10 of them.
2/10/22. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3821.7 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow
This afternoon the temperature was 35F when I went out, with mixed sleet falling. The scorpionflies were out, and I found 4 of them, plus a single brown Tetragnatha spider and 6 stoneflies. The headcount for honeybees today was 6.
2/11/22. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3823.7 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow
Today the temperature was mild again, about 40F when I went out with cloudy but clearing skies. I found a small entelegyne spider, a scorpionfly, a Trichocera fly, 10+ stoneflies, and 5 dead honeybees.
2/12/22. #10 Pond, Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 4.9 miles today, 3828.6 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow, bingo
This morning I met up with 3 friends at #10 Pond for our weekly walk. I was playing bingo and managed to find mullein, daphne, apple, Porella platyphylla, white cedar, and striped maple. It was a lovely walk beside the pond with pleasantly warm temperatures (above 30F, anyway).
In the afternoon I went for a quick walk up Peck Hill to check for bugs. I almost caught a Trichocera fly who land on the surface of the snow, but it got away before I could shoot. On the other hand, I found over 135 dead honeybees, a record, sadly.
2/13/22. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3830.6 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow
This afternoon the temperature was a bit cooler again, near 20F with some gusty winds and clear skies. I didn't find any arthropods crawling on the snow, but I found 4 dead honeybees. I think 2-3 of them might have been out yesterday but I missed them on yesterday's count. I was looking for Clematis to continue with my bingo card, although yesterday's finds gave me bingo on the county card.
2/14/22. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3832.6 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow
Today the temperature was cold, 8F, and blustery under mostly sunny skies. I wore my cloth mask just to keep warm. I ran into a neighbor at the top of Peck Hill, and we walked back down the hill together. The footing was quite treacherous, since the warm temperatures over the weekend had melted the surface into ice. All we found for arthropods was 2 dead honeybees.
2/15/22. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3834.6 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow
The temperature was a bit warmer today, near 20F, but still not warm enough for live insects. I found 5 dead honeybees by the bee tree. Peck Hill was quite icy, but the surface of the snow is almost crusty enough to walk on, so I mostly walked up on the banks was I navigated back downhill on the ice.
2/16/22. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3836.6 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow
The temperature this morning when we got up was 0F, but it warmed rapidly throughout the day. After lunch when I went out, the air temperature was 33F, but the snow surface temperature was a little cooler at -1.5C. There was a stiff breeze and mostly sunny skies. I didn't have much hope of finding any bugs, so I shot our turkeys when they wandered down the driveway to watch me calibrate the weather stations. Up at the bee tree I found 5 dead honeybees, but no live critters. The upper part of Peck Hill is quite an icy nightmare to walk on, but it will probably just get worse as the week goes on.
A graph of temperature vs number of bees would be fascinating I think I wish there were a way to put a camera inside the hive and see why they leave and die. Or do they die inside and get kicked out, already dead? Plus it would be reassuring to see that there are still live bees left. I mean 135 in one day, wow. (and how sad). I wonder, too if the same temperature in december has a different effect than in February. At any rate, your insect tallies are fascinating.
2-1-22. Watchung Lake, Watchung, NJ. 0.5 miles today, 1187.5 miles total.
Today we had a bit of snow on the ground, and only the main loop around the lake was plowed, so I wasn't able to get close to the shore. But the usual geese, mallards, ring billed gulls, and black vultures were still present. Two plants I don't remember seeing here before were switchgrass and (I think) dark green bullrush.
2-2-22. Warren Municipal Park, Warren, NJ. 0.75 miles today, 1188.25 miles total.
Some snow still on the ground, but not even over the tops of my shoes. I was able to walk farther than I had in a while, with more comfort. I made it back to a little marsh that I've only visited once or twice before. Interesting finds included hazel, with catkins that had forked, oddly. I wonder if some pathogen causes this? I also found water starwort I didn't know was here, and, sadly, yet another mature ash killed by emerald ash borers (and subsequently debarked by woodpeckers).
2-3-22. Mountain Park. Liberty Corner, NJ. 0.25 miles today, 1188.5 miles total
Rain today, on top of slushy snow, so I didn't go far, mostly because I didn't want to slip and wrench my knees. This was the edge of a parking lot by relatively new ballfields (20 years now). One of the parking lot trees had both a whole collection of dead spotted lanterflies (nearly all have been eaten or otherwise disappeared by now) and half a dozen small (Psyche casta?) bagworm cases. And crawling across the parking lot (alas, not on top of the snow) was a cutworm caterpillar. I though of you, Erika.
2-5-22. Finderne Wetlands, Bridgewater, and Round Valley, Lebanon, NJ. 1.5 miles today, 1190 miles total
Two big walks today! First I explored down in the marsh next to a pond I've passed many times, but this was the first that the ground was frozen enough to let me get close. There was a very cool hanging basket nest in a lilac here (not quite an oriole nest; I don't know what it was), Some kind of gall on black willow that reminded me of ash flower galls, a great big freshwater mussel, and lots of wood-ear type fungi.
Then near sunset I drove out to Spruce Run. It was so pretty with the evening light making everything golden. There's a whole stand of big toothed aspen here, an unusual tree for me, and some fasciated Chinese bush clover. On the way out I saw a red tailed hawk, but it was too deep in the branches of a tree for me to photograph.
That was an interesting observation about the forking catkins on the hazel. I've never seen anything like that. And funny that you should mention that a big-toothed aspen is uncommon for you and mention the Chinese bush clover in the next phrase. I see big-toothed aspens every day, but I don't think I've ever seen a Chinese bush clover. And congratulations on the caterpillar on the snow! Great find!
2/17/22. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3838.6 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow
This morning started off with lots of rain that immediately froze and made all surfaces even more icy. By lunch time when I went out, the air temperature had risen to +9C, but the snow temperature was still about +0.2C. The morning's ice layer had mostly melted in the sun (although it was gray and overcast all day), but become quite treacherous in the shade. I found 10 more dead honeybees and a single winter stonefly.
2/18/22. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 1.5 miles today, 3840.1 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow
We had freezing rain this morning, followed by dropping temperatures. When I went out in the afternoon, the air temperature was down to 20CF, with the snow surface temperature about the same. I didn't have much time for walking, and the ice was formidable, so I only went as far as the bee tree. I found 37 dead bees, many of them frozen into the icy crust on the surface of the snow. That suggests that their flight time is early morning. It was quite difficult to pry them up in one piece to pose them in grids for the group photo.
2/19/22. Cranberry Meadow, Woodbury, VT & Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 4.5 miles today, 3844.6 miles total.
Categories: bingo & arthropods on snow
This morning I met up with 3 friends at Nelson's Pond for our regular Saturday morning hike. We parked at the Nelson's Pond fishing access and walked up the road around Cranberry Meadow. Heavy snow started to fall just before we started and continued during our entire walk, making for a very scenic morning. I found Clematis and highbush cranberry for my town bingo card, although I was actually in the town of Woodbury. I think the bingo game doesn't check if you found the items in the specified locality, just if you found them in the specified month. There's not much I can do there--I think they will show on my town card as soon as I upload them.
In the afternoon I went for a walk up Peck Hill. In an ordinary year, conditions would have been ideal for finding arthropods, about 28F, just after heavy snow. But as usual, I didn't have much luck today. I found a single stonefly crawling on the snow, plus a single dead honeybee, who couldn't have died long before I got there, or it would have been covered in snow. As I was walking the first part of Peck Hill the town plow truck came up behind me. I stepped aside onto the VAST trail to let it pass. It turned around at the schoolhouse (a one room schoolhouse that was converted into a private residence at least 50 years ago) 100' in front me. After it passed again on the way back to Pekin Brook Rd I stepped back out onto Peck Hill Rd and boom--down I went. With the 3" of fresh sticky snow removed, all that remained was glare ice. After that I picked my footing much more carefully.
2/20/22. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3846.6 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow
The temperature was about 20F when I went out this afternoon. The snow had had a little more time to attach to the ice, so the footing was every so slightly better. Still not many arthropods, though. I managed to find a single stonefly by the stream and 5 dead bees.
2/21/22. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3848.6 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow
I'm slowly accepting that this is just not a good year for arthropods on snow. I think it was too cold and too dry for too long. Today the temperature was up to +8C when I went out, and the snow was quite mushy. I found a single dead honeybee, and 10+ stoneflies by the stream. Since they live in the stream, they probably weren't affected by the dryness.
2/22/22. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3850.6 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow
This afternoon the air temperature was once again above freezing and the snow surface was mushy. There was still nothing crawling on the snow, not even any snowflies today. I found 17 dead honeybees at the bee tree. But I also heard my first robin of the season. I tried to record it, but it was too far away. I did manage to record a brown creeper singing, the brown creeper song that I had heard of the season.
2/23/22. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3852.6 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow
The day started off sunny and warm (near 50F), but by the time I went out after lunch, the temperature had dipped below 40F, with growing wind. I was delighted to find my first woolly bear of the year, crawling in the mud at the bottom of Peck Hill, but I didn't find any other critters, not even a single dead bee. Peck Hill itself was rather slippery, with thick glistening ice through the steep shaded part.
2-6-22. Helmetta and Thompson Lakes, Monroe, NJ. 0.75 miles today, 1190.75 miles total
Today Carl and I drove to this, the northernmost part of the pinelands and walked by two ponds, a zoo, and a spring. The next day I was doing some reading for a class and there was an article about the habitat restoration at Thompson Lake, and here I'd just visited, all unknowing.
Relatively unusual finds included red chokeberry, senna, velvetleaf, buttonbush, seedbox, leatherleaf, bugleweed, Virginia St. Johnswort, groundnut, swamp rose, and swamp loosestrife.
2-7-22. Delaware-Raritan Canal, South Bound Brook, NJ. 0.5 miles today, 1191.25 miles total
I walked the canal, mostly because this is where the very earliest weeds often flower. I was looking for (and failing to find) whitlow grass, but both bird's eye speedwell and common groundsel were (technically) in bloom. Sure had to look closely to tell, though. There was also an ivy leaved speedwell I'd not noticed here before, and a different stem gall on swamp rose.
2-8-22. Victor Crowel Park, Middlesex. 1 mile today, 1192.25 miles total.
This was the longest walk in a while, somewhat accidentally, as there was a neat bamboo forest that I saw up ahead and wanted to explore a bit. I also found split gill mushrooms, doghobble (planted), Lamb's quarters with enough leaves left to see they'd had a fungal infection, lots of huge river mussels, and, oddly, an entire coconut!
2-9-22. Lincoln Ave. Park, Manville. 0.75 miles today 1193 miles total
I went here because someone had mentioned that silver maple twigs have a distinct scent to them and I knew there were many here, plus a whole lot of unmowed wildflowers. I did find the scent thing was true. But then I heard a startling noise, and a whole flock of what turned out to be sandhill cranes flew right overhead! Only the second time I've ever seen them and the first time in flight. Very exciting.
2-10-22. Bucks Garden, Far Hills, and Willowwood Arboretum, Chester, NJ. 0.75 miles today, 1193.75 miles total
I was in search of winter aconite today. I'd remembered whole drifts of it at Buck Gardens, but there were only a few. But they were blooming, as were some snowdrops, on a protected hillside. Just as I was leaving I found Christmas rose as well. Then, up the road a ways to Willowwood, looking for (and finding) winter-blooming witch hazel. They had one little aconite plant in bloom as well. Too early for anything else.
2-11-22. Washington Valley Rd., Bridgewater, NJ. 0.25 miles today, 1194 miles total.
Squad duty today, but it was beautiful in the late afternoon, and I managed to walk along a relatively wild section of a main road, in between calls. Probably the most interesting thing here was some linden viburnum, plus some sycamore seedlings. Still, it was nice to get outside.
That must have been fun to read the article about habitat restoration and have recent firsthand memories. Were any of the plants that you saw mentioned in the article? I can't imagine finding blooming plants in February. It's great that there are some for you to go out and find. I had heard about silver maple twigs having an unpleasant odor, making the odor one way to differentiate them from red maple twigs. What do you think? Could that be a reliable trait? Way to go on the sandhill cranes! What a magnificent sight that must have been! As for the coconut, if only it were warm enough to sprout...
2/24/22. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3854.6 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow
The sun was out today, and our little greenhouse on our deck warmed up enough to open the door to the house. When I went out in the afternoon, I expected the temperature to be warm, but instead it was -5C, both in the air and on the surface of the snow. I didn't find a single insect on my route, not even a dead honeybee, so I had to content myself with a photo of the turkeys milling about in the yard when I got home.
I think separating maples by scent might work, though I can't always reach a twig to sniff.
2-13-22. Washington Valley Park, Bridgewater, NJ. 0.5 miles today, 1194.5
We got about 5 inches of snow overnight. Katie and I walked at this local park, looking for birds. We mostly just saw blue jays, but the snow was very pretty.
2-14-22. Washington Valley Park, Martinsville, NJ. 0.5 miles today, 1195 miles total
I went to see if I could find the Virginia saxifrage here as I've been asked to collect it when budding for a research project. Much of the patch I remembered is buried under feet of debris from the flood in September, but I did find a little bit, with no sign of buds. There was also lots of sign of emerald ash borer damage on the large ash trees, and I found a rose I wasn't sure of, but am told is Carolina.
2-16-22. Passaic River Park, Millington, NJ. 0.5 miles today, 1195.25 miles total
A brief walk along the wooded river bank here today. Nice weather, but not much in the way of plant surprises. This is one of the few places I reliably find spring avens.
2-17-22. Gregg Park, Bayonne, NJ. 0.75 miles today, 1196 miles total
Category: birds
I walked at this bay-side, urban park today looking for birds. Mostly I found gadwalls, with some black ducks, Canada geese, and mallards, plus ring-billed gulls and house sparrows. There was a poor goose with a chunk of snow fence entangled around its beak, head, and neck. Someone else had spotted it and called the park rangers a half hour before who said they'd be sending help, but it did not arrive while we were there.
2-19-22. Frost Valley, YMCA, Frost Valley, NY. 0.25 miles today, 1196.25 miles total
We were up in the Catskills for the weekend, but, unfortunately, my knee was not particularly happy. Saturday was very icy, and then 3 inches of snow fell over the ice, which made things quite slippery indeed. Yaktrax helped some. Between the lodge and the dining hall were several different kinds of crabapple trees (judging from the size of their fruit) being eaten by juncos and blue jays, plus a lot of dog rose with mossy rose galls. St. John's wort is also a lot more common here than at home.
2-20-22. Frost Valley and vicinity, NY, 1 mile today, 1197.25 miles total
Today I walked with Katie around a pond, helped catch a herd of 18 horses that escaped, and drove to several nearby trailheads to take photos around their parking lots (as I didn't trust my knee on the trails themselves). And managed to step on some snow covered ice and fall flat-out on my face, thankfully landing in more snow without injury. There is vastly more yellow birch here than I ever see at home. All the beech trees have bark disease, they don't even look like beeches to me. I'm getting better at sugar maples ID by bark, we don't see a ton of big ones at home, either. Script lichen is common here and easy to ID, but there are also a lot more lichens that I don't know. I saw hobblebush, which I've never seen in NJ, and its buds were starting to open with little petioles on the still-folded leaves.
2-22-22. Green Acres Park, North Plainfield. 0.75 miles today, 1198 miles total
I walked around the pond here, surprised to see that even here, well away from the river, there had been extensive flood damage, pretty much obliterating a hundred year old spring. But the skunk cabbage here was blooming! The first native flower of the year for me. Otherwise not much of interest. I saw geese, both kinds of vulture, plus some blue jays I couldn't photograph.
The Virginia saxifrage projects sounds like a terrific excuse for getting out to visit the park. Meanwhile, I hope your knee continues to improve. It certainly is no fun trying to negotiate ice with a bum knee. As for the skunk cabbage, I'm so jealous! We are far north of the skunk cabbage zone. Not that it would be blooming around here in February, with over 12" of snow still on the ground.
2/25/22. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 1.5 miles today, 3856.1 miles total.
Categories: arthropods on snow
We were promised a lot of snow today and got some, although not the full foot we were told to expect. By the time I went out after lunch, the temperature was 18F with heavy snow and 6" on the ground. My husband plowed the driveway just before I went out, and the town truck plowed the road, right up to the schoolhouse on Peck Hill. Even the upper part of Peck Hill had been plowed, which was not good, because the footing would have been much more secure with the snow still on. With just 1-2" of snow covering several inches of smooth glare ice, it was simply impossible to climb Peck Hill. I couldn't even walk along the snow banks on the edges because that just pushed lots of fresh snow back onto the freshly plowed road. So I turned around after the farm field. There were no bugs to be found, not even any dead bees. The turkeys were waiting for me in the front yard when I got back home, so I shot them instead.
2/26/22. Taylor Farm Rd, Plainfield, VT. 2.3 miles today, 3858.4 miles total.
Categories: maples
This morning started quite cold again, with temperatures near 0F. I met up with 3 friends at Goddard College for our regular Saturday morning walk. We headed up Taylor Farm Rd, which can often be a bit busy with traffic, but today between the cold temperature and recent snow, it was quiet and quite scenic. I decided to collect maples today, and found mountain maple, sugar maple, red maple, and ash-leafed maple. We all looked for striped maple on the more wooded section of the road but didn't find any. I had Norway maple on my bingo card, and we checked the yard of the farmhouse, but no luck there, just sugar maples.
One of my friend's said that the septic line to her guest cottage froze this week. When the plumber came to fix it, he said that that's been happening a lot this year. He suggested that the cold temperatures without much snow meant the frost goes deeper than usual. I wonder if that's why I haven't been finding many arthropods.
2/27/22. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 3860.4 miles total
Categories: arthropods on snow
This afternoon when I went out the temperature was near 30F and heavy snow was falling. We already had an inch or 2 new snow on the ground. Between that and yesterday's cold temperatures, the footing was a more secure, good enough to make it to the top of Peck Hill with minimal slippage. I found 8 stoneflies and 1 dead honeybee. I was also delighted to find an Entelegyne spider and a snow-shouldered Acleris moth near the base of the wooded part of the hill.
2/28/22. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 1.8 miles today, 3869.2 miles total
Categories: arthropods on snow
Today we had bright sun which gave us a good solar boost for heat through our windows. However, the temperature was still -6C when I went out for my walk. I didn't find any arthropods at all, not even a dead honeybee. At least Peck Hill was still navigable with Sunday's snow on top of the ice. At the bottom of the driveway on my way back I met my husband as he was coming home from work and took a ride back up the hill with him to the house. I meant to shoot the turkeys in the yard since I hadn't found anything else to shoot on my walk but forgot. I hope the game cameras picked up something so I don't get a zero observation day.
2-23-22. Washington Valley Park, Martinsville, NJ. 0.5 miles today, 1198.5 miles total.
A quick walk around the "wildflower hill" today, checking on a different patch of saxifrage (no buds yet). I found leaves from a few spring beauties, and then a fuzzy flower bud (and lots of leaves) of round lobed hepatica. In between, I surprised a garter snake (and it surprised me) which was sunning itself in the middle of the trail. On the way out I met someone coming in who asked if I saw anything "interesting". I always assume these are birders and generally say, not really, though this time I tried to mention the hepatica, but his eyes glazed over. It wasn't until he was well past that I remembered the garter snake, which would have been a much better choice. oh well.
2-24-22. Running Brook Rd., Martinsville, NJ. 0.5 miles today, 1199 miles total
In attempt to not slip in the mud today I tried entering this local park from a totally different spot. For the most part I succeeded. I passed yet another section of boardwalk that had been shifted 20 feet in September's flood. Not many interesting plants here, but a number of fungi and a mantis ootheca.
2-25-22. Chimney Rock Park, Martinsville, NJ. 0.5 miles today, 1199.5 miles total
I was on duty today, so didn't want to go far from my car (or get my shoes covered in mud) so I mostly walked the edges of the newly extended parking lot here. I found grape tumid galls, which was neat. Otherwise, it was mostly lichen.
2-26-22. Ken Lockwood Gorge, Clinton, NJ. 0.5 miles today, 1200 miles total
Moly and I walked in this fading hemlock gorge (most of the trees are dead now, thanks to the wooly adelgid). it's still pretty, though. I was looking for saxifrage but found none. I got to show her the difference between Christmas fern and polypody, as they were growing right next to each other. We found a very old snail shell, some very pretty shelf fungus, some broad leaved sedge, black sooty mold growing on what I assume was dead beech aphids (on beech twigs). But the highlight was a male common merganser, only a few yards away from the trail (in the river).
2-27-22. Round Valley, Lebanon, NJ. 0.25 miles today, 1200.25 miles total
Molly and Katie both came with me today, but I wasn't feeling well, so didn't go far. They walked nearly around to where the trail is closed for dam repairs. I found Asian clams and fasciated Chinese bush clover, but Molly brought the exciting item, what looked like the skull of a pike or pickerel. Very neat. And in the morning, Carl had spotted a pileated woodpecker in the oak tree outside his window, the first I've seen live in our yard.
2-28-22. East County Park, Warren, NJ. 0.25 miles today, 1200.5 miles total
A quick walk down to this old farm pond. I spotted a red bellied woodpecker and a white-throated sparrow, plus some giraffe-spot fungus I'd not seen before.
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