5-19

Today Herb Robert was starting to flower. And both pink and white varieties of Tartarian Honeysuckle - that aggressive alien invasive shrub - were bursting into bloom.

John

5-17

Clintonia AKA Bluebead Lily (pictured) is in flower. Also in flower are Downy Yellow Violet, Japanese Barberry, Wild Sarsparilla and Bog Chickweed.

John

5-14

Another wave of avian migrators have returned: Baltimore Orioles, Great Crested Flycatchers and Bobolinks.

In the woods, pink moccasin flower is starting to bloom.

John

5-12

On Black Mountain today early low blueberry, Striped Maple and Star Flowers were in bloom. At home the Common Cinquefoil flowers opened; last year's first cinquefoil was flowering on 4-30!

John

5-9

On the east side of town, Celandine was flowering today. Closer to home Cuckoo flower was open. And the Canada Violets (pictured) were a foot tall and far showier than I expect any violets to be.

John

5-8

Henbit, Rose Twisted-Stalk, Mountain Fly Honeysuckle, Wintergreen and Field Pennycress were in flower today.

Also, and new to me, Fringed Polygala AKA Gaywings, a member of the Milkwort family bloomed. As the picture shows, this is a truly unique little lifeform!

John

As I drove home from South Newfane, I slowed down getting on the South Newfane bridge and noticed hobblebush in bloom.

5-6

A few Elderberry bushes and cherry trees opened flowers today.

In shady ledgy sites, early saxifrage and columbine (both shown) were at their peak.

Black and White Warblers hitched round the trunks of riverside trees. And six-spotted green Tiger Beetles flew up the path ahead of me.

John

5-4

A male Ruby-throated Hummingbird visited our Andromeda bush this morning, ignoring the nearby feeder!

John

5-3

Ovenbirds and Common Yellowthroats accompanied me on my walk today.

Pennsylvania Bittercress and Garden Currants were both in flower. Kidney leafed Buttercup (not shown) were also starting to open.

And I put up my hummingbird feeder; any day now our Ruby-throated Hummer will be back!

John

5-2

One patch of squirrel corn was in flower this morning. I also snapped a picture of this fungus: a thick-stalked false Morel I would guess. Along a brook I scared up a Northern Water Thrush. It was an interesting walk, and by the time I got home my shoes were yellow with pine pollen.

John

5-1

Downy Serviceberry, aka Shed bush, and Marsh Marigold, aka Cowslips, both shown, were in flower today.

Also in flower were Golden Alexanders, Smooth Yellow Violet, Cypress Spurge, Dutchman's Breeches and Wild Oats.

Kingbirds and Yellow Warblers are back and I had a reliable report that a Baltimore Oriole was seen.

John

4-30

Today Trailing Arbutus and Dwarf Gingsing were in flower on Black Mountain.

While hiking there, I also found a new patch of Spotted Wintergreen, perhaps 10 plants. The world is full of surprises!

John

Add to that I saw elderberry, blood root, trillium and leeks in all their glory.

4-29

Pictures continued.

John

4-29

The flowering season is in high gear. Miterwort, wild ginger, blue cohosh, spring

beauties, wild starwberry, toothwort and hobblebush were among the species that I saw blooming for the first time today. See more pictures on next blog. John

I heard my first warbler- at least one that I can identify--the black throated green warbler.
I was in a meadow in Guilford and the sounds resounded. I could identify the yellow common throat, red-wing black bird, etc, but the wonderful moment was went a Canadian Goose flew only 30 feet overhead and I could hear the whir it made when its wings were flapping.

4-28

It was a day of heat, humidity and thunderstorms: growing weather. Bluets appeared in my lawn along with both white and purple violets. Wood anemone shone white in the woods where just days ago there was snow. And (in Brattleboro) Dutchman's Breeches were flowering.

The avian rolls also gained at least one new member: Gray Catbirds!

John

4-27

There was a massive influx of avian life swept north by the warm winds of the last 24 hours: blue-headed vireos, palm warblers, yellow-rumped warblers and house wrens among them.

Trout Lilies brightened the forest floor today. And Sweetleaf graced the swamps.

Tiny sky-blue butterflies danced and flitted over all.

John

4-26

When I got home at 4 pm there was a kettle of 13 hawks - mostly broad-winged - over my field. In an hour and a half I saw 121 raptors: 1 merlin, 1 red-tailed, 3 turkey vultures, 2 ospreys, 2 bald eagles, 2 peregrine, 69 broad-winged, 8 kestrels, 1 northern harrier, 4 red-shouldered, 6 Coopers, and 22 sharp shinned hawks.

The haze and heat that created the thermals to get the raptors aloft also triggered a dragonfly hatch.

John

4-25

This morning a few rather anemic looking Jack-in-the-Pulpit were flowering along a roadside seep with their feet in running water.

Nearby this Ranunculus - which I tentatively identified as Hooked Crowfoot - also flowered. The ranunculus clan, buttercups and crowfoot, includes about 101 species just in the northeast and north central states according to the Peterson's Field Guide! The differences are subtle!!

John

Mrs. Cardinal was gathering the peeling bark of Heptacodium (7 Sons Flower tree). This beautiful ornamental blooms in late September/October.

4-24

The spore bearing fertile stalks of Field Horsetail are up. The green "Horsetail" will come up later on a separate stalk.

And Chickadees were excavating a nest cavity in a rotten stub this morning working in shifts even as I took this picture.

John

4-22

Trillium is starting to open. This one - complete with pollinator - was alongside Camp Arden Rd.

And the first of the violets is open, the Round-leaved Yellow Violet. While tiny and obscure they are harbingers of violet species to come!

John

4-21

Daphne, a naturalized escape shrub, is starting to flower.

John

Wild leeks! A carpet of green at Putney School.
Blue cohosh unfolding.
Trillium budding.

Where's your favorite place to find wild leeks?
Email me at cheryl.wilfong at gmail.com

At Esther Falks there was a field (in the woods) of hepatica in bloom and the trout lily leaves are out. Catkins are bursting from poplars along 91

4-15

In the warmest of micro-climates a few Myrtle (AKA periwinkle, vinca minor) flowers can be found. Myrtle is an almost ubiquitous garden escape.

Ospreys are back. So are broad-winged hawks.

False Heleborine has thrust up 2 inches of green above the riverside mud.

And, I saw my first Bumblebee of the season today!

John

4-14

A few Hepatica blossoms are open!

John

4-11

Red Efts are out and about. I moved two off the road this morning. One Cabbage White butterfly was flying. Daffodils are starting to bloom. And, it's Tick season - one was crawling up on my sleeve today. So goes the season.

John

There are many sights that signify that spring is here. Last night I heard one of the first signs. The wood frogs were quacking in the vernal pool on the East-West Road near Black Mountain. We crossed Jefferson Salamanders and Wood frogs although an equal amount had been killed before we got to the site. However, many wood frogs had already made it and there was a cacophony of wood frog mating calls.

2-10

Bright yellow alien Colt's Foot bloomed today, just hours ahead of the native Bloodroot.

In a vernal pool near Camp Arden Rd. Wood Frogs were "quacking."

I saw my first Garter snake of the year - unfortunately it was roadkill.

And Angle-wined butterflies are flying. Angle wings which include commas, question marks, Milbert's Tortoiseshells and Mourning Cloaks overwinter as adults. The one I saw today was probably a Question Mark.

John

4-8

Tree swallows are back!!

John

4-7

Suddenly there are White-Throated Sparrows under my bird feeders.

And female Brown-headed Cowbirds have joined the males of that species. Cowbirds are brood parasitic. She will perch quietly in a tall tree observing where birds of other species nest. When the time is right she will lay her eggs in those nests. That is the extent of cowbird parenting.

John

4-6

This morning as I walked through the woods, Veeries and Hermit Thrushes - two species I had not been seeing earlier this spring - rolled ahead of me in a fluttery rusty-backed thrush wave.

John

4-5

This morning started with winds from the east and east-northeast.

Robins by the thousands, Blackbirds by the tens of thousands, geese, ducks, a pair of Loons - waves of birds were moving north with the storm. By 11 am the winds switched to NW, stalling out the migration. Along a quarter mile stretch of the West River eight to ten Phoebes bobbed and swooped. Fields were full of Robins and Flickers. At my feeders the Junco flock quadrupled and several Fox Sparrows joined them. Two Northern Harriers teetered and circled just above the trees. A Merlin powered through the wind. For the next two or three days I will be spotting new species that came north this morning: first sightings of the spring. Favorable wind brought today's pulse of migration north. Birds don't waste energy flying into a headwind. With the next south wind many of them will be gone.

John

4-1

The neighborhood mink hunted through my yard today sending the birds and squirrels into nervous fits. Unfortunately it refuses to pose for a picture.

John

3-31

Despite the impending nor'easter a pair of Bluebirds was busy stuffing nest materials into a bird box in my neighborhood this morning. They'll put that project on hold for a few days.

Two male Brown-headed Cowbirds showed up under my bird feeders. The females will show up in a week or two.

And along the West River a Belted Kingfisher rattled off downstream when I disturbed him.

An April snowstorm may seem like a setback to us, but to wildlife tomorrow will be just another spring day.

John

3-28

This evening a Woodcock was "peenting" in the field along Green Mt. Camp Road. I've been listening for them for at least a week. My records for the last twelve years list their return as early as 3-10 and as late as 3-29.

John

3-27

Crows have been carrying nesting material into a nearby pine woods.

The sunniest lawn in my neighborhood has a handful of crocuses in bloom.

And a gray fox scavenges under my bird feeders nightly looking for suet crumbs.

John

3-23

Flocks of robins are on every scrap of open field and lawn; among those I saw today one lone Northern Flicker probed and poked through the dead leaves and dry grass.

Along the West River, Song Sparrows were singing.

And in sun-warmed thickets, Lincoln's Sparrows hopped and scratched in perpetual secretive motion.

John

3.23.11 What music to waken my spirits: robins perched in the apple trees in the backyard chirruped before sunrise to welcome the day. I'm sure other birds will soon join their chorus.

3.19.11 While I was out checking hemlocks for the woolly adelgid (count 0 for today!), I came around a giant old sugar maple with sunny side-hill exposure. A fox sparrow attracted my attention by his two-footed scratching in leaves much the same color as it is. Welcome back!

Thursday, I did make a positive identification of yet another infestation of HWA. The count in Dummerston is rising as we all get out there and look.

3-19

This morning in the alder brush next to the West River, a Phoebe tail-bobbed and hawked insects from near ground level.

John

3-18

Waves of life swept north this morning, taking advantage of the strong winds out of the WSW. In 3 hours I saw 594 Canada geese, 8 Snow geese, 12 seagulls, 9 turkey vultures, 4 Red-tailed hawks, 2 Black ducks and 2 sharp shinned hawks.

By early afternoon the wind had shifted to WNW and the migration shut down.

For the next day or two I'll keep a sharp lookout for newly returned passerine species. Lots of songbirds probably moved north on the same weather system. Some will show up at my feeders, others in the woods and fields.

Noreen has reported this morning a Great Blue Heron has moved as far north as the Rt. 142 setbacks, not yet Dummerston - but close!

Avian life forms moving up and down the globe, fueled by brief propitious weather patterns like today's, have a scope and scale and a casual ease that always leave me in awe.

John

3-17

Early this am a small skein of geese moved north high and fast, but within range of my somewhat questionable hearing. It was great listening to them announce their passage.

Several grackles were in the trees along the West River.

A Red-shouldered hawk made its first appearance on the hillside above my house.

This Wooly Bear Caterpillar was crawling across Camp Arden Rd. when I found it. Very early for a wooly bear!

And this beetle crash landed on the snow as I watched. It got airborne again within a minute or two.

It felt like spring to me, and I guess I was not alone!

John

As I opened up my door, I noticed a wasp. A sign, but not the most wanted, of spring.

3-15

On a small patch of bare ground repeatedly scratched over by a dozen wild turkeys the Grouse Locust somehow managed to avoid being eaten. Grouse locust are a kind of Shorthorned grasshopper.

John

3-13

This morning a mink was hunting around my barn and house foundations. Probably it was looking for mice attracted by my bird feeders.

In the afternoon one of my neighbors reported a mangy coyote. I've seen it a few times. Its tail is ropey and it's missing the majority of its fur, yet somehow it survived the winter.

John

3-9

Today the male Red-bellied woodpecker that held a lone bachelor claim to my suet feeders all winter managed to attract a female. I hadn't seen a female red-bellied at my feeders since November.

On nice days they will both work on excavating a nest hole. On cold or inclement days they will both feed. Excavation will take several weeks.

John

3-6

Today along with the starlings and red-winged blackbirds I had one Common Grackle under my feeders.

There was chipmunk scurrying around atop the snow near Green Mountain Camp.

And on the West River, two Hooded Mergansers and one Common Goldeneye bobbed between the ice-bound sections.

John

3-5

This morning 2 dozen or more robins hopped around on the ice in the center of the West River. They appeared to be feeding ... perhaps on stoneflies?

In the sycamores, dozens of goldfinch pulled seeds from the sycamore fruit, the ball-like seed clusters.

John

3-4

This afternoon there was a turkey vulture circling over downtown Brattleboro. The sun must be warm enough to keep carrion thawed!

John

3-2

This morning tow or three Redwinged Blackbirds joined ten or a dozen starlings around my feeders. They were the first I've seen this year. Seeing them was a hint of spring ... when I hear them, it will be a promise.

John

3.01.11 The last few days of snow, followed by sleet and rain have made off-road travel challenging for most mammals - even those on snowshoes. I ventured out this afternoon and soon appreciated what it must be like for deer as every laborious step broke through the icy crust, and every foot-lift brought up a chunk of the frozen surface. I did get so far as to check out the otter's wintering area. Fresh tracks have packed down the entrance to its hole in the bank of the pond and the short path to the open water. A trough in the snow revealed where it moved between another nearby pond and this one probably just before the sleet started on Monday morning.