May 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
5/1/22 Plainfield Rail Trail, Plainfield, VT. 3.4 miles today, 4017.3 miles total.
Categories: bingo and bugs
This afternoon my husband and I drove to Plainfield so he could ride the rail trail on his unicycle while I wandered about looking for insects. The weather was warm and sunny, and we were in short sleeves for the first time this season. There were quite a few walkers on the trail on the trail. with me. I walked as far north as we got yesterday walking south, then headed down the side trail towards the covered bridge. I stopped when I got to the upper field, though, since I was out of time. I didn't find nearly as many spring ephemerals as I remembered seeing here in past years. There were no spring beauties blooming, and I found only only 1 painted trillium, which wasn't in bloom yet. The leatherwood, on the other hand, was in full bloom. I wondered if I was the only one noticing all the leatherwood blooms today.
Bingo finds for the day included: Galium molligo, thimbleberry, red-berried elder, wall lettuce, American elm, black ash, Japanese knotweed, greater burdock, Tatarian honeysuckle, wild ginger, black raspberry, and painted trillium.
5/2/22 Tucker Rd and Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 3.1 miles today, 4020.4 miles total.
Categories: birds and bingo
I started the day this morning with a bird walk along Tucker Rd, hoping to find the savannah sparrows I had seen there last year (success!). Other finds included a cardinal, some song sparrows, goldfinches, blue jays, a ruby-crowned kinglet, a mourning dove, and a red squirrel. Some hunters came by in very loud slow-moving pick-up truck. As soon as they ambled around the bend, a turkey began calling behind them. Smart turkey!
In the afternoon I took a short hike up Peck Hill hoping for some more bingo finds. I collected red clover, Canada yew, hop hornbeam, Vinca minor, broad-leaved dock, and orpine. I tried out my new camera and was able to get some great liverwort photos, but the camera didn't do so well with the flock of pine warblers near the farm field--no telephoto.
5/3/22 Pekin Brook Rd, Calais, VT. 2.2 miles today, 4022.6 miles total.
Categories: birds and bingo
This morning I walked along Pekin Brook Rd heading west looking for birds. I saw a belted kingfisher, 5 mallards, a ruby-crowned kinglet, some goldfinches, some chickadees, some starlings in the puddle by the horse field at the end of Jack Hill Rd, some song sparrows, and a crow. I recorded a winter wren. I also found some bishop's weed for my bingo card.
5/4/22 Sodom Pond Rd, Adamant, VT. 1 mile today, 4023.6 miles total.
Categories: birds
Rain was threatening when I went out this morning, but I drove to Adamant anyway for a bird walk. I found a cardinal, some geese, some ring-necked ducks, a ruby-crowned kinglet, some chickadees, some blue jays, and some red-winged blackbirds. I also recorded the loon, a bittern and some spring peepers. I looked for the Virginia rail, but it didn't show its face today.
5/5/22 Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT, and Hubbard Park, Montpelier, VT. 2.1 mile today, 4025.7 miles total.
Categories: birds, bugs
This morning I walked up Peck Hill looking for birds. The sun was shining brightly, even early in the morning, which was a welcome sight. I found 2 belted kingfishers, a broad-winged hawk, some pine siskins, some goldfinches, some chickadees, some red-winged blackbrids, a song sparrow, a robin, and some starlings. I recorded a blue-headed vireo, a yellow-rumped warbler, a black-throated blue warbler, and a white-throated sparrow.
In the afternoon, I met up with Eve and Ed near the frog pond at Hubbard Park for our bug walk. We wandered up the hill to the ball fields in hopes of finding the Colletes inequalis bees that live in the infield. Success! We also found some strawberry weevils and a Celastrina ladron that posed on the back of Ed's leg.
5/6/22 North Branch Nature Center and Elm Street Cemetery, Montpelier, VT. 1.9 mile today, 4027.6 miles total.
Categories: birds, bugs
This morning I drove down to the Nature Center for the first guided bird walk of the spring migration season there. The leader today was Sean Beckett, and there 17 other birders. Phew! We saw some goldfinches, song sparrows, and a house wren, and then my camera battery ran out. I managed to shoot some Dutchman's breeches, star-flowered Solomon's seal, ninebark, and a clematis gall on the Nature Center property.
My husband and I were back in town later in the afternoon after a doctor's appointment in Burlington. While my husband attended a Zoom meeting from the lawn of the library using their Wifi hotspot, I took a walk up to the Elm St. Cemetery to look for plants and bugs. I found some wild Norway maples, Japanese quince, lungwort, and lamium. I also found an Andrena bee, a small black and yellow wasp, a Ceratina bee, and a Colletes.
5/7/22 Chickering Rd, East Montpelier, VT and Chickering Bog, Calais, VT. 4.5 mile today, 4032.1 miles total.
Categories: birds, spring ephemerals
I started my day with my first visit of the season to Chickering Rd, my very favorite birding spot. I was enjoying the lovely Saturday morning all to myself, when a guy with a ridiculously loud trailer drove down the road around 6:40AM. He got right to work with his bobcat pushing log around at the new logging area. I guess the property along the road that was up for sale last year got bought by someone who is clearing the land, either this guy or someone who hired him. Ugh! I hope the disturbance doesn't chase the birds away. Even with the racket from the heavy machinery, I managed to hear my first Nashville warblers of the season, plus some black-and-white warblers, ovenbirds, bluejays, chickadees, nuthatches, robins, and red-winged blackbirds. I also a sandpiper together with a goose at the upper pond at the end of the road.
After breakfast, I met up with 4 friends at the Chickering Bog parking lot for a hike out to the bog. I always look up a visit to the bog in early May as a chance to see all the spring ephemerals along the access trail. For me, that's the highlight of the trip, the highlight of the year. But my friends seemed a bit goal-oriented today, more interested in actually getting to the bog than pausing to enjoy the flowers. In bloom today were bellwort, wild oats, red trillium, and Dutchman's breeches. We also found some blue bead lily (not quite blooming today), lady fern, maidenhair fern, beech fern, and interrupted fern. I chased some blue bottle flies. We found some deer scrapes and deer truffles in the mossy boreal forest patch close to the boardwalk.
5/8/22 Pekin Brook Rd, Calais, VT, and Kettle Pond, Groton, VT. 6.6 miles today, 4038.7 miles total.
Categories: birds, bingo
I took advantage of it being Sunday to go on a walk along Pekin Brook Rd this morning. There was very little traffic, but the few vehicles on the road were all traveling too fast. Still, I managed to record some ovenbirds, and I saw some chickadees, yellow-bellied sapsuckers, yellow-rumps, black-and-white warblers, blue jays, a mourning dove, a broadwing hawk, a raven, some crows, a wood duck, and some redwings. I also caught sight of a solitary sandpiper in the duck pond in front of the farm at the corner of George and Pekin Brook.
In the afternoon, my husband decided he wanted to try riding his unicycle all the way from Ricker Pond to the Park and Ride in Plainfield, 17 miles. He figured it would take him 4 hours, which would give me a longer time to walk. I decided to take advantage of the longer walk time and did a circuit around Kettle Pond, my first time all the way around the pond in quite a few years. It was Mother's Day, and there were several family groups with young children out walking the trail as well. Funny, a family hike in the woods is a very common way to spend Mother's Day, but I've never heard of the whole family going out for a hike on Father's Day.
I managed to record a Wilson's warbler, a blue-headed vireo, and a yellow-rump today. I also found some starflowers in bloom, some blue bead lilies, great rhododendron, black locus, bracken fern, and painted trillium for my bingo card. I also found a big patch of ice along the trail at the back of the lake, with some red maple leaves on it.
5/9/22 Tucker Rd and Butterfield Rd, East Montpelier, VT. 2.3 miles today, 4041.0 miles total.
Categories: birds, bugs
This morning I drove down to the south end of Tucker Rd for my bird walk in hopes of at least hearing the savannah sparrows that I found there last year. I was successful in that search, and also found some white-throated sparrows, ovenbirds, song sparrows, yellow rumps, red-winged blackbirds, chipping sparrows, black-and-white warblers, cardinals, and a tufted titmouse. I noted that the field at the south end of the road seemed to have higher water than usual. Maybe the beaver have been exceptionally active.
In the afternoon I drove out to Butterfield Rd in North Montpelier, stopping first at the dam in North Montpelier Center to see if I could find the white poplar I'd seen there last year. Indeed, there were plenty of white poplar seedlings just above the dam. I then walked the short length of Butterfield Rd to check on the Oriental bittersweet that I had seen there and shoot some pollinators. I also found some ants and spiders in the road.
5/10/22 Chickering Rd, East Montpelier, VT. 2 miles today, 4043.0 miles total.
Categories: birds
This morning I took a leisurely walk along Chickering Road looking for birds. I heard and saw surprisingly few this morning. I managed to catch some ovenbirds, a parula, some chickadees, and some robins. I also heard the call of a bird that I knew I should recognize, but the call didn't come back to me right away. "I think I can, I think I can," the bird called. Finally, I remembered that was a common yellowthroat, the first of the season for me.
5/11/22 Sodom Pond, Adamant, VT. 2.1 miles today, 4045.1 miles total.
Categories: birds
This morning I drove down to Adamant to check on the water birds. I began with a walk up Quarry Rd, past the house that Jerry the state trooper sold to a new couple from Texas. There was heavy equipment in the yard there, well drillers, by the looks. On Quarry Rd I heard a parula, a yellow-rump, and some ovenbirds. The only birds I saw on the pond were some geese. At the very end of the road I was treated to a chorus of wood thrushes singing loudly quite close to the road. I returned back to Adamant where I found some yellow warblers, the first of the season for me, around the pond, and lots of common yellowthroats. I also found some goldfinches, chickadees, blue jays, crows, and a mourning dove. Across from Ruth's house right downtown I saw big muddy tracks crossing the road, like human bare feet, but shorter and wider--bear!
5/12/22 Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT and Hubbard Park, Montpelier, VT. 2 miles today, 4047.1 miles total.
Categories: birds
This morning I walked up Peck Hill listening for bird. I recorded an ovenbird, a winter wren, a cardinal, a black-and-white warbler, a Nashville warbler, a yellow rump, a parula, a black-throated green, a chestnut-sided, a song sparrow, a blue-headed vireo, a blue jay, and a red squirrel. I also managed to shoot a robin, a red-winged blackbird, a mallard, a white-throated sparrow, some Canada geese, and a cowbird. I also found a dead toad in the road.
In the afternoon I drove in to Montpelier to attend a friend's birthday party at Hubbard Park. After the party, I took a short walk around the stone tower area listening for birds. I recorded a pine warbler, a black-throated green, a hermit thrush, and a chipmunk.
5/13/22 Pekin Brook Rd, Calais, VT, Dog River Fields, Montpelier, VT and Saint Augustine's Cemetery, Montpelier, VT. 2.9 miles today, 4050.0 miles total.
Categories: birds, bugs
This morning I took a walk along Pekin Brook Rd looking for birds. I recorded an ovenbird, a white throated sparrow, a cardinal, a chestnut-sided warbler, a blue-headed vireo, a veery, and a Nashville warbler. I managed to shoot a blue jay, a song sparrow, a crow, some starlings, a red-wing, some chickadees, a goose, a mallard, a great blue heron, a phoebe, a goldfinch, and a black-and-white sparrow.
I had errands to run in town in the morning, so I packed a picnic lunch which I enjoyed on the banks of the Dog River by the Dog River field. I also shot some bees at the field, and recorded some song sparrows, yellow warblers, chestnut-sided warblers, and some American toads. I also shot some fish in the river, a redstart, a catbird, and a grackle, and noted some fresh beaver damage on a large ash trunk.
After lunch I drove up to St. Augustine's Cemetery to meet Eve and Ed for our weekly bug walk. We had a terrific time hunting bees and other bugs in the unmowed grass of the cemetery. It seems the city was dependent on prison labor to mow the cemeteries in town, and the prison labor is still not available due to continuous Covid outbreaks in the prison. So the cemetery wild flowers have a third year of reprieve from mowing. We found lots of bees, a tiger beetle, a grasshopper nymph, and some mating craneflies.
5/14/22 Lightening Ridge Rd, Calais, VT, Marshfield Pond, Marshfield, VT, and Groton State Park, Groton, VT. 4.6 miles today, 4054.6 miles total.
Categories: birds, bugs
I started my day this morning with a walk along Lightening Ridge Rd looking for birds. The log landing along the road was active today, with a logging truck getting loaded well before 7 AM. I recorded an ovenbird, a song sparrow, and a black-throated green, and managed to shoot a chestnut-sided warbler. I also found a false morel mushroom at the bottom on our driveway on my way back up the hill.
In the afternoon, my husband and I drove to Marshfield Pond for a picnic lunch on the pond in our canoe. The air was thick with black flies. We paddled past the beaver dam and then let the canoe drift while we dined. The wind took us all the way down to the other end of the pond, where I heard a scarlet tanager and an alder flycatcher.
After lunch, my husband took his unicycle out for a spin down to Plainfield, while I explored the trail marked Marshfield cliffs on the map. Instead of cliffs, I found a skeet shooting area with lots of clay pigeons, and then my camera battery ran out. On my phone, I recorded a black-throated blue warbler, an oven bird, and a chickadee. I also shot some wild sarsaparilla, some bees, beetles, and flies in dandelion and colt's foot.
Down in Plainfield while I was waiting for my husband to arrive, I wandered in the cemetery, where I recorded a warbling vireo and a house wren.
5/15/22 . Pekin Brook Rd and Longmeadow Hill, Calais, VT. 3.8 miles today, 4058.4 miles total.
Categories: birds, spring ephemerals
This morning I decided to take advantage of light Sunday morning traffic to walk along Pekin Brook Rd heading east. A light mist was falling when I went out, but the weather report predicted only occasional showers, so I headed out anyways. I recorded some ovenbirds, a red-winged blackbird, a common yellowthroat, an indigo bunting, and a northern parula. I also found a millipede in the road and shot some honeysuckle and waterleaf for my bingo card. I didn’t get very far, though, before the mist turned to rain. I waited under a tree near the spring for the rain to let up, but when it didn’t I decided to turn around and head home early. I began walking faster and faster as the rain got heavier. I made it to the bottom of our driveway, but just as I got to our tractor shed, the skies really opened up, so I ducked in there to wait out the deluge. The rain finally let up after 15 minutes, leaving deep gullies in our driveway. It was the heaviest rainfall we have seen so far this year.
After breakfast I drove out to Longmeadow Hill to meet my friends for our Saturday morning hike, which we had postponed until today. There were 3 of us today. We had a lovely walk looking for wild flowers and listening to birds. I recorded a red-bellied woodpecker (quite uncommon this far north), a black-throated blue warbler, hermit thrush, black-and-white warbler, winter wren, and a scarlet tanager. We also found miterwort, small flower buttercup, downy yellow violet, mountain maple, and bluebead lily. I found galls on alternate-leaved dogwood, a red eft, and a spring peeper. When I got back, I found I had also picked up a dog tick during our walk.
5/16/22. Tucker Rd, Calais, VT and Dog River Fields, Montpelier, VT. 2.8 miles today, 4061.2 miles total.
Categories: birds, arthropods, roadkill
This morning I took a walk along Tucker Rd looking for birds. I found a chipping sparrow, an indigo bunting, a wild turkey, a robin, a yellow-rumped warbler and a black-capped chickadee. I recorded a northern parula, an indigo bunting, a common yellowthroat, a chestnut-sided warbler, a white-throated sparrow, a catbird, an ovenbird, and a black-throated green warbler. Roadkill this morning were a garter snake and a toad. I checked on the showy orchis. It was budding but not yet in bloom.
Later in the morning I drove down to Montpelier to meet Eve and Ed for our weekly bug walk. The dandelions were in full bloom on the infield of the closest ball field, but the mower was zooming around the field, so we took some time to shoot the bees on the dandelions while they were still there. On the dandelions we found mining bees, Lasioglossum, common eastern bumblebees, honeybees, bot flies, and root maggot flies. Out on the sand flats we had a great time chasing tiger beetles. Other finds for the day included bog leafhopper, Sepsis flies, box elder bug, click beetles, leaf beetles, dogwood calligrapher beetle, bronze jumping spider, weevils, green striped grasshopper, furrow bees, cornsilk fly, and cucumber beetles. A favorite of the day was a giant bumble flower beetle that swooped in. As we all tried to get some photos, I forgot to move slowly and poked it. When I poked it, it flew off before we all got the photos we wanted. Whoops!
5/17/22. Chickering Rd, East Montpelier, VT. 1 mile today, 4062.2 miles total.
Categories: birds
This morning I started my day with a bird walk along Chickering Rd. I saw a robin, a bluejay, a catbird, a common yellowthroat, a mallard, a red-winged blackbird, a rose-breasted grosbeak, an ovenbird, and a magnolia warbler. I recorded a song sparrow, an ovenbird, a common yellowthroat, a Nashville warbler, a chestnut-sided warbler, a black-and-white warbler, a white-throated sparrow, a black-throated-blue warbler, a golden-crowned kinglet, a northern parula, a chipping sparrow, and a black-throated green warbler. The red efts were out in force--I found 32 live ones and 4 dead ones squished by cars. I also found a dead garter snake in the road.
In the afternoon my husband and I drove up to Joe's Pond for a walk/unicycle ride on the rail trail, but just as we arrived, the skies opened up with rain, so we ended up driving home again without even stopping to see a single dandelion in the grass.
5/18/22. Adamant, VT and Marshfield Cliffs, Marshfield, VT. 5 mile today, 4067.2 miles total.
Categories: birds and insects
This morning I took a walk through Adamant looking for birds. I started by heading up Quarry Rd up until the gate to the theater, then came back and wandered Sodom Pond Rd to the Calais/E. Montpelier town line. I recorded a magnolia warbler, a black-and-white warbler, an American bittern, a northern parula, a common yellowthroat, and a blue-headed vireo. I managed to photograph a starling, a Canada goose, a yellow-bellied sapsucker, a flycatcher, a blue jay, a red-winged blackbird, a kingbird, a song sparrow, a grackle, a turkey vulture, an American redstart, and a phoebe.
In the afternoon, I drove up to Marshfield Pond with my husband. While he rode his unicycle along the rail trail, I took a walk through the woods towards the Marshfield Cliffs. I found some bluets, white faces, chalk-fronted corporals, baskettails, and a stream cruiser (all dragonflies), several kinds of flies, including a variable duskyface, a Lonchaea, a globetail, a fen fly, some wood flies, a snout fly, some balloon flies, and a greater bee fly. Plus some mining bees, nomad bees and mason bees. The striped maple was in full bloom, and I found some amphibian eggs in a vernal pool along the trail.
5/19/22. Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 4069.2 miles total.
Categories: birds
I started the day this morning with a walk up Peck Hill. I recorded a yellow-rumped warbler, an ovenbird, a northern parula, an American crow, a yellow warbler, a hermit thrush, a black-and-white warbler, a chipping sparrow, a house wren, a magnolia warbler and a common yellow throat. I didn't actually see many birds, but I managed to shoot a robin, a turkey, a crow, a Canada goose, and a morel mushroom.
5/20/22. Long Pond, Three Corners Pond, Myles Standish State Park, Plymouth, MA. 5.1 miles today, 4074.3 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants, galls, arthropods
This morning I explored some of the trails near the cabin on Long Pond where we are staying for the week. I recorded some familiar bird calls from home, including song sparrow, eastern phoebe, ovenbird, wood pewee, and yellow warbler, as well as some new-to-me songs of Carolina wren and red-bellied woodpecker. I shot a catbird, some Canada geese, a pine warbler, a titmouse, a yellow warbler, a song sparrow, a ruby-throated hummingbird, a hairy woodpecker, great blue heron, and a Carolina wren.
After breakfast, my husband and I drove over to Myles Standish State Forest. While he rode his unicycle around the trails, I headed down to 3 Corner Pond, inspecting all the plants along the way. Lifers for me today included bird's foot violet and pine barren goldenheather. While I was down at the pond, I heard a large mass of small people approaching. Of the hundreds of acres of park, they made a beeline right to my spot beside the pond. They turned out to be a school field trip of 5th graders looking for nature, specifically birds. I mentioned to one of their teachers that there were some dragonflies mating by the side of the pool, but the teacher said quite confidently they wouldn't be interested in that. I thought maybe some of them might be interested, I mean, how can 11-year-olds not be interested in critters having sex in the woods, especially when a crazy woods woman with a giant camera told them all about it. But I was quiet and they went away without waiting to hear my story. I found several different species of galls on choke cherries, some ants, some corporals, a tiger beetle, a bluet, and a yellow-washed meterranthis moth.
In the afternoon I took a walk up to the pine barrens, a habitat I had never explored before. I found lots of insects up there, including some flies, a Brachys beetle, an Andrena bee, and Phyciodes butterfly. I found more bird's foot violets and some pine barren goldenheather.
On our way back to the cabin, we stopped in downtown Plymouth to pick up some lobster rolls. While my husband was in the restaurant waiting for his order, I wandered along the pier and shot some common weeds including Japanese knotweed and procumbent pearlwort, and I also shot some house sparrows and a laughing gull.
5/21/22. Long Pond and Halfway Pond, Plymouth, MA. 5.2 miles today, 4079.5 miles total.
Categories: plants, arthropods, galls, leafminers, birds
I started off the day with a bird walk up to Halfway Pond from our cabin on Long Pond. I recorded a phoebe, a catbird, and ovenbird, a wood pewee, a song sparrow, a titmouse, and a morning dove. I also managed to shoot a goldfinch, a hairy woodpecker, a kingbird, a cardinal, several catbirds, and a hummingbird.
After breakfast my husband had a meeting with a student, so I decided to see how many species I could find just in the area of the cabin. I found a blooming rhododendron, blueberries, American holly, pink lady's slipper, Virginia creeper, poison ivy, beech, sassafras, brocade moss, ghost pipes, whorled loosestrife, Atrichum moss, alternate-leaved dogwood, chickweed, fox grape, greater plantain, burning bush, white pine, intermediate wood fern, columbines, black tupelo, bittersweet nightshade, red oak, striped wintergreen, white oak, Nabis, Oriental bittersweet, wild raisin, starflower, mugwort, glossy buckthorn, Japanese knotweed, sweet vernal grass, common cinquefoil, greater celandine, black medick, beech drops, northern bayberry, sheep sorrel, multiflora rose, roundleaf greenbrier, sensitive fern, pokeweed, blue toadflax, curly dock, poison sumac, orchard grass, Japanese barberry, garden yellow rock, Queen Anne's lace, and tree clubmoss. I found galls on blueberry, oak, and beech erineum mite. For arthropods, I found native bees, common eastern bumblebee, sawflies, brown stink bugAmerican copper butterfly, winter fire fly, alderfly, blue corporals, red damsel, eastern forktail, green-striped grasshopper, six-spotted tiger beetle, carpenter ant, ichneumon wasp, isopod, some beetles, and a big dog tick on my leg when I got back.
In the evening my husband and I took the canoe out for an excursion around Long Pond. We found willows, winterberry, three-way sedge, red cedar, and fetterbush.
5/22/22. Long Pond and Halfway Pond, Plymouth, MA. 2.5 miles today, 4082 miles total.
Categories: plants, arthropods, galls, leafminers, birds
This morning I walked again from Long Pond to Halfway Pond looking for birds. I recorded eastern phoebe, ovenbird, savannah sparrow, tufted titmouse, baltimore oriole, black-throated blue warbler, blackpoll warbler, and black and white warbler. I managed to catch a robin, Carolina wren, catbird, song sparrow, Canada goose, mallard, blue heron, red-winged blackbird, grackle, mute swan with chicks, tufted titmouse, kingbird, blue jay, yellow warbler, chickadee, cedar waxwing, and belted kingfisher. The blackpoll warbler was a surprise since they are supposed to be a more northern, mountain species. The only gall for the morning was alder tongue gall while the only insect was an alderfly. Plants included Clethra, evening primrose, mullein, eleocharis, wintercreeper, and ground ivy.
5/23/22. Long Pond and Halfway Pond, Myles Standish State Park, Plymouth, MA. 12.6 miles today, 4094.6 miles total.
Categories: plants, arthropods, galls, leafminers, birds
This morning I headed out once again towards Long Pond, hoping to find the blackpoll warbler again. I didn't find the blackpoll, but I recorded an ovenbird, song sparrow, great-crested flycatcher, titmouse, wood-pewee, common yellowthroat, yellow warbler, red-winged blackbird, barred owl, red-eyed vireo, and tufted titmouse. I photographed a cardinal, Canada goose, song sparrow, mallard, chipping sparrow, kingbird, raven, great-crested flycatcher, grackle, and blue jay. Plants for the morning were pitch pine, prostrate knotweed, white bog violet, marsh fern, cranberry, yarrow, St. Johnswort, arrowweed, bladderwort, spotted knapweed, bear oak, witch hazel, black tupelo, and colt's foot. I also found a witch-hazel cone gall.
After breakfast, my husband and I headed over to the state forest where I used my scooter to zoom up to the Grassy Pond trail through the pine barrnes. Up on the pine barrens I was entranced by the continual chorus of towhees and pairie warblers. I also recorded a pine warbler, catbird, and song sparrow. Plants for the morning included meadowsweet (with gall), plantain, bearberry, checkerberry (with very large fruits that I sampled extensively), wild indigo, bigtooth aspen, sweet fern, dandelion, black chokeberry, huckleberry, golden heather, bear oak with galls, trailing arbutus, bluets, bush clover, carpet weed, and autumn olive. Insects this morning included a May beetle, a Brachys beetle, a damselfly, an ant, a bluet (damselfly), a blue corporal dragonfly, a cranefly, a tailed blue butterfly, a spider, a 6-spotted tiger beetle, and a pair of Rhagio flies pairing on my husband's shirt.
In the afternoon I rode my scooter down to Charge Pond and explored the campsites down there, where I recorded an osprey and a hermit thrush. I also found some serviceberries, pinweed, Scots pine, pinesap, bear oak, forget-me-not, silvery cinquefoil and tamarack. Insects near Charge Pond included cellophane bees (on blueberry blossoms), carpenter ants, an eastern tent caterpillar, and a duskywing butterfly.
5/24/22. Long Pond and Halfway Pond, Myles Standish State Park, Plymouth, MA. 4.7 miles today, 4099.3 miles total.
Categories: plants, arthropods, galls, leafminers, birds
I began my morning today with another walk up to Halfway Pond. This time I recorded a tufted titmouse, a king bird, and a scarlet tanager. I managed to shoot a double-crested cormorant, some Canada geese, a black duck, a grackle, a phoebe, a song sparrow, a catbird, a kingbird, an oriole, some black-capped chickadees, a yellow warbler, a pair of bald eagles, and some mute swans. Plants for the morning included starflower, Canada mayflower, cinnamon fern, bellwort, European lily-of-the-valley, greenbriar, he-huckleberry, an escaped cultivated yew, soft rush, leatherleaf, highbush blueberry, bracken fern, and smooth alder. I also found a lovely bright red slime mold.
After breakfast my husband and I drove over to the state forest. I dropped him off at a trail head with his unicycle, then continued on to Rocky Pond for a walk. On the park map they noted a bog up in this corner, so I was excited to see some bog plants. At the parking lot for Rocky Pond there was a sign warning about bees. When I made it down to the "Bog" I had to laugh because I realized it was just another industrial cranberry bog. I was having trouble getting it through my head that in this area, "bog" means an industrial agriculture field, not a wild area with special plants. I decided the bee warning sign was more a no trespassing sign for the industrial bogs. The owners of the bogs can't keep people out since the bogs are on public land, but they can discourage random visitors by scaring them away with bees. I looked very, very hard for bees, but only managed to find a single solitary bee. I waved at the couple who came down to check on the bog while I was there. I recorded a phoebe, a chipping sparrow, a chestnut-sided warbler, and a black-and-white warbler. I shot a towhee, a chickadee, and a grackle. Arthropods near the pond included some carpenter ants, an early Tachinid fly, a blow fly, an azure, a tiger crane fly, an eastern forktail, a red damselfly, a spongy moth caterpillar, a twice-stabbed lady bug, a blue corporal, a sun beetle, an oak leaf-rolling beetle, a June beetle, a blue corporal, a cobweb spider, and a bee fly. PLants included sweet fern, sheep laurel, black cherry, grey willow, mouse ear chickweed, dangleberry, black tupelo, black oak, fetterbush, bayberry, marsh St Johnswort, checkerberry, wood anemone, Pleurozeum schreberi, and apple. I found galls on black tupelo, goldenrod, oak, and bayberry.
In the afternoon I returned to the pine barrens near Grassy Pond for one last visit before our return home to Vermont. I found a common spring moth, a lesser earwing, a scarab beetle, a duskywing butterfly, a bluet damselfly, a neighborly mining bee, a sweat bee, a Muscoid fly, a dark paper wasp, a crescent butterfly, a Phanogomphus dragonfly, a tufted globetail, a cranefly, a yellowjacket, a bee fly, a Crambus moth, an azure butterfly, a crescent butterfly, a blue corporal dragonfly, a two-spotted bumbebee, a red velvet ant, and an unfamiliar micro moth that turned out to be a Tinagma obscurofasciella, the second record for the state. I also shot a prairie warbler, a towhee, and a bluebird. Plants for the afternoon were black locust, white oak, bear oak, goats rue, pine barren goldenheather, American holly, Canada frostweed, pitch pine, sheep laurel, and gall berry.
5/25/22. Long Pond and Gallows Pond, Plymouth, MA. 2.8 miles today, 4102.1 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants, arthropods
This morning I walked up the trail towards Gallows Pond looking for birds. At first I didn't see many, but I heard birds everywhere. I recorded an ovenbird, a red-eyed vireo, a scarlet tanager, a chipping sparrow, a black-and-white warbler, a tufted titmouse, a common yellowthroat, an eastern towhee, a hairy woodpecker, and a ruby-throated hummingbird. I also managed to catch with my camera a black-and-white warbler, a hairy woodpecker, a towhee, and a hairy woodpecker. Plants that caught my eye this morning included hemlock, Bazzania trilobata liverwort, pink lady's slipper, pitch pine, and white pine.
5/26/22. Lightening Ridge Rd, Calais, VT and Marshfield Cliffs, Marshfield, VT 2.8 miles today, 4104.9 miles total.
Categories: birds, arthropods, galls, and leafminers
This morning I took a very short walk along Lightening Ridge Rd looking for birds. I recorded an alder flycatcher, an indigo bunting, and ovenbird, a song sparrow, and a veery. I managed to shoot a hummingbird, a chestnut-sided warbler, a robin, a song sparrow and a chickadee. I also found an arched hooktip moth in the road and some red nail galls on basswood.
In the afternoon, my husband and I drove out to Marshfield so that he could ride the rail trail towards Plainfield on his unicycle. While he rode, I walked the trail from the railroad bed towards Marshfield Cliffs looking for bugs. I found some bumblebees, some chalk-fronted corporal dragonflies, some whiteface dragonflies and Phanogomphus dragonflies. I also found some sweat bees, a mason bee, a six-spotted tiger beetle, a green-striped grasshopper nymph, a maple leafcutter moth, a crescent butterfly, a silver bordered fritillary, a comma, a winter firefly, some silky field ants. I found pink lady slippers, bluebead lily, carpet bugel, and striped maple in bloom. And I also found some fresh moose tracks along the road.
5/27/22. North Branch Nature Center, Montpelier, VT & Frizzle Mountain, Calais, VT 0.6 miles today, 4105.5 miles total.
Categories: birds, arthropods, galls, and leafminers
This morning I drove down to the Nature Center for the weekly bird walk. There were about 15 other birders on the walk this morning. We saw yellow warblers, goldfinches, robins, song sparrows, chickadees, chestnut-sided warblers, purple finches and a common merganser who flew overhead. I also shot a striped cucumber beetle and a toad.
In the afternoon I went out for a short walk down our driveway. I recorded an ovenbird, a black-throated green warber, a chipping sparrow, a phoebe, and a black-throated blue warbler. I found a Nason's mining bee, a bumblebee, and a Virginia Ctenucha caterpillar. I also found galls on chokecherry and a leafminer on an American elm.
5/28/22. Frizzle Mountain, Calais, VT 0.7 miles today, 4106.2 miles total.
Categories: birds, arthropods, galls, and leafminers
This afternoon I got out for a bug walk along our driveway. I found a muscoid fly, a hovery fly, an Ichneumon wasp, and some ants tending some aster treehoppers. I also found a stem gall on goldenrod.
5/29/22. Lightening Ridge Rd, Calais VT, Chickering Bog, Calais, VT, and North Branch Nature Center, Montpelier, VT, 4111.2 miles total.
Categories: birds, arthropods, galls, and leafminers
I started the day this morning with an early morning bird walk along Lightening Ridge Rd where I recorded a black-throated blue warber, a chestnut-sided warbler, an indigo bunting, an alder flycatcher, a chipping sparrow, a veery, an ovenbird, a brown creeper, a green frog, a house wren, a blue-headed vireo, a black-and-white warbler, a northern parula, and a yellow-rumped warbler. In addition, I managed to shoot a song sparrow, a cardinal, a red-eyed vireo, a robin, an indigo bunting, a hummingbird, a chestnut-sided warbler, a common yellowthroat, a chickadee, a phoebe, a broad-winged hawk, a flicker, and a flycatcher. In the road I found a millipede, a caterpillar, a groundhog, and 2 planarians.
After breakfast I returned to Lightening Ridge Rd, this time to walk the Chickering Bog trail with our regular Saturday morning hike group, even though it was Sunday. On the hike we found some red efts, a winter firefly, a click beetle, a carrion beetle, a Harris' checkerspot caterpillar, a raspberry fruitworm beetle, a pair of crane flies, a black-banded orange moth, several elfin skimmers, a whiteface, an arched hooktop moth, a friendly probole moth, a pale green assassin bug, and some katydid nymphs. Out at the bog, the bogbean and pitcher plants were in bloom.
After lunch I drove down to the nature center in Montpelier to meet Eve and Ed for our weekly bug walk. We found some crescent butterflies, Prasocuris beetles, a cocklebur weevil, a divided olethreutes moth, some Roesel's bush cricket nymphs, a goldenrod crab spider, some Haploa moth caterpillars, some earwigs, some maple leafcutter moths, lots of flies, including Sepsis, bot flies, fruit flies, sunflower maggot flies, flesh flies, and crane flies, and lots of hymenopterans, including ants, sawflies, Lasioglossum bees, Zadontomerus bees, nomad bees, and sweat bees. We found galls on box elder, buck thorn, and choke cherry.
5/30/22. Chickering Rd, East Montpelier, VT and Big Deer Mountain, Groton, VT, 6.7 miles today, 4117.9 miles total.
Categories: birds, arthropods, galls, and leafminers
This morning I went for a walk up Chickering Rd looking for birds. I recorded a cardinal, a chipping sparrow, a northern parula, a black-and-white warbler, an alder flycatcher, a common yellowthroat, a white-throated sparrow, a Canada warbler, a Nashville warbler, a brown creeper, an ovenbird, and a blue jay. I saw several red efts, a tissue moth, and a millipede in the road (alive) and a toad and a tiger swallowtail (dead). The only birds I shot were a brown creeper, a red-eyed vireo, a blue jay, and a chickadee.
In the afternoon my husband and I drove out to Marshfield. While he rode his unicycle on the rail trail, I continued on to the North Parking lot in Groton where I got on my electric scooter, which I rode in to the Big Deer trail head. I left the scooter in the blackberry patch by the trail head and continued on up the trail to the summit. On my hike, I shot a twice-stabbed stink bug, a blood bee, a mining bee, a bot fly, a flesh fly, some beetles, some ants, a brown leaf weevil, an Asian lady bug, a e-banded lady bug, a mourning cloak, and a wolf spider. Up on Big Deer summit I came across a hiking group from the Appalachian hiking club, including a good friend who used to walk with us on Saturday mornings. It was great to catch up with her since I hadn't seen her in a couple of years.
5/31/22. Adamant, VT and Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT, 2.9 miles today, 4120.8 miles total.
Categories: birds, arthropods, road kill
This morning I drove down to Adamant for a bird walk. I started with a walk up Quarry Rd, then returned to Adamant Center and walked along Sodom Pond to the East Montpelier town line. I recorded a least flycatcher, a Nashville warbler, a black-and-white warbler, a common yellowthroat, a chestnut-sided warbler, an ovenbird, a winter wren, a Blackburnian warbler, an alder flycatcher, an American redstart, and a mink frog. I managed to shoot a robin, a phoebe, an eastern phoebe, a red-eyed vireo, a mourning dove, a hummingbird, a chestnut-sided warbler, a song sparrow, a flycatcher, a catbird, a red-winged blackbird, a raven, and a kingbird. I also saw quite a few arthropods on my walk, including a hobomok skipper, a baskettail, a common whitetail, a bumblebee, some bot flies, some chalk-fronted corporals, and a Phanogomphus, plus a snowshoe hare.
In the afternoon I took a walk up Peck Hill looking for arthropods. I shot a red velvet mite, a Lygus bug, some sweat bees, a crescent butterfly, some aphids, some ants, some craneflies, a mosquito, a one-eyed sphinx, a salt-and-pepper skipper, some mining bees, a maple leafcutter moth, a stonefly, an Ichneumon wasp, an arctic skipper, a Haploa caterpillar, a northern amber bumblebee, some longhorn beetles, a honeybee, a yellowjacket, an azure butterfly, some aster treehoppers, and a ladybug. I had planned on hiking all the way up Peck Hill, but when I got to the lower part of the climb, which is the most remote part of the walk, a full-sized bear was standing in the middle of the road. I shouted at it, expecting it to run off. Instead, it stood its ground and growled. A mama with cubs in a nearby tree! It refused to let me pass, so I had to turn around early and go home.
Adicionar um Comentário