Monthly Weather Update-April

April seemed to be a rather cold month. The average high was 51.9F. and the average low was 33.3F. We were 1.1F below average for the high and 0.3F above the average for the low temp. I guess my brain just seems to want warmer weather for April!

Nature Connection Pyramid

I saw this great poster recently and thought I'd share it here. It is a great reminder for adults and children alike. In fact, many doctors are now prescribing "outdoor time" instead of drugs for people with depression. Geez, it took them long enough;-) Check out the Children & Nature Network and Nature Kids (on Facebook) for lots of great research and ideas!

Yellow-rumped Warbler

A flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers flew into our neck of the woods today. The subspecies that we have in Maine is called the Myrtle Warbler. It is found from Canada's boreal forest down to the eastern U.S. in summer, and in the south in winter. In looking at the Cornell Lab range map, they may winter along the coast of Maine as well!

I was able to photograph a few of them as they perched, supped, and flew around. Note the patch of yellow on the rump!

This is a male due to the black auriculars, the bright yellow patch of feathers on top of his head, and the bright white throat.

I love the black and gray patterning on his back. These warblers migrate here for the summer. They are eaters of insects...yay! Let's hope that they love mosquitoes;-)

We are still in the 30's in the morning hours

The temps will warm up soon. But, for now we have to endure early morning temperatures in the 30's. And, check it out...we might actually see a bit of sunshine today! That is a rare event during springtime in Maine!

Stump Garden and other flowers

Here is my main stump garden with all the crocuses in bloom. Soon, the giant hyacinths will bloom along with a continuous series of spring bulbs. I can't wait to see what the next few days, and months, will bring! By the end of summer, the entire garden will be filled with all sorts of perennial flowers. Such fun!

There are a few small tulips getting ready to open in the garden to the north of the front deck stairs. They are some of my favorites and are so hardy.

And, the star magnolia has it first blossom in the process of opening.

There are a multitude of buds in different stages of maturity on the tree. They will bring such beauty and a glorious, lightly perfumed fragrance to the backyard.

Just a few birds

Red-bellied woodpecker

I have a Sibley Guide to Birds book published in 2000. I think I need me an updated copy! 

Red-bellied woodpecker

It shows that Red-bellied woodpeckers are rare in Maine, when, in fact, we see them at our suet feeder all the time now that global warming as warmed up our state! I think these are Drew's favorite woodpeckers.

I think that Canada Geese are my favorite pond-dwelling birds. 

I always know that spring has sprung when I hear the geese honking as they come in for a landing after ice-out has occurred. We have quite a few geese on the pond at the moment.

Common Merganser male and female

We also have some ducks, none of whom I have gotten a close look at yet. These mergansers were swimming near the north end of the pond. I had a difficult time capturing a photo of them (hand-held) at such a far distance, at my maximum camera zoom. But, at least you can tell the species;-) I came home from the pond just before the sky started spitting rain.

Boating season has begun!

Well, boating season has begun. Drew put the dock in and brought the Pond Prowler over to the pond.

After I took this set of photos on Friday afternoon, we became socked in with fog and drizzle all weekend long.

Spring is here...finally!

Well, spring has truly sprung. All the snow is gone from the front yard.

And, there is just a bit of snow in the backyard!

The first violets have bloomed next to the house.

The magnolia tree has flower buds that look like they are close to opening!

The rhododendron took a hard hit from the winter weather, although the leaves below the snow line stayed fresh looking. Rhododendrons are resilient and it should bounce back! I hope;-)

The wood shed has wood left over from the season. So we'll be more than set for next year once Drew starts moving wood over from the wood pile.

And, the crocuses are in bloom!

Florida bird watching from Mom's easy chair

Carolina Wren (the only bird of the bunch that I do not see in Maine!)

I visited with my mother over April vacation. We had a great time, and more importantly a fabulous bird-watching day from the comfort of her TV room. Admittedly, the photos aren't great as they were taken through a screen door, but at least they give us a record of our sightings for this day.;-)

Incoming!! An Indigo Bunting flew in as a male cardinal occupied the bird bath.

We were playing a tense game of Gin Rummy when Mom shouted, "Look at the bluebird!" Well, look we did. It was an indigo bunting hobnobbing with a cardinal!

Such a pretty sight! At times, there were two cardinals together with the indigo bunting
at the bird bath!

After the birds flew off, I got my little point and shoot camera and waited until they returned. 

Indigo Bunting and Parula Warbler share the bird bath

Then, I snuck up to the screen door and did the best I could to photograph the birds that visited the bird bath in a 30 minute period. At first we thought that the parula warbler was a bluebird, but upon looking a the photos, we saw its white wing bars which told us that we were mistaken.

Indigo Bunting and Tufted Titmouse

Yowzer, what a great day! As you can see, the Indigo Bunting was the star of the show as it was so accommodating to other birds.

Catbird

One of my all time favorite birds is the catbird.

Goldfinch and Tufted Titmouse

Of course, in Maine, we also have an abundance of goldfinches, cardinals, catbirds, and tufted titmice just like in Florida! But, I have only seen one parula warbler in the 19 years we have lived in Maine, and we usually see one indigo bunting, fleetingly, per year! Carolina wrens are more southern birds, although they have been rarely seen in Maine.

Ice Out

Ice Out was April 16th. I was in Florida, but Drew checked to be sure that the south cove of Caesar Pond was navigable!

More Snow!

UGH!!! I am so in the mood to garden, but just when we thought it was safe to grab the rake, we get 4" of heavy, wet snow. By the way, the roads were treacherous!

Birds at the feeders

I realized that I haven't photographed birds in quite awhile. With the day so warm, at around 58F, I took the opportunity to lean against the house to photograph a few birds who were brave enough to fly in.

My first bird was a Downy Woodpecker. They have shorter bills than the almost identical Hairy Woodpeckers. And, I looked for the black spots, on the white outer tail feathers, that are indicative of Downy Woodpeckers.

Fox Sparrow

On the ground were a few cute sparrows. This one was a Fox Sparrow.

Fox Sparrow

It spent most of its time right under the bird feeder where there were plentiful sunflower seeds.

Eastern Song Sparrow

Then, I saw a very similarly colored bird, but the markings on its head were different. This is an Eastern Song Sparrow. Not the greatest photo, but a cute bird nonetheless.

A mostly snow-free front yard!

I was so excited to see how much the snow has receded over this last week! It is getting near time to rake the dreaded gravel from the yard. It gets thrown there by the snow plow and the snow thrower throughout the winter. UGH!

Caesar Pond ice is thinning

Looking south from where the dock will be placed

Oh me, oh my, oh...The ice is melting on Caesar Pond and I couldn't be more excited. It will soon be time to put the dock in the water!

There is open water to the north as well!

In fact, I heard geese honking from the far north boggy cove area. This is one of their nesting areas. I am hoping for mergansers, buffleheads, and other ducks to fly in soon, as well!

Maine Land Conservation Conference

Whoo! I spent Friday, April 5th, and the morning of Saturday, April 6th assisting with a presentation at the Maine Land Conservation Conference, sponsored by the Maine Coast Heritage Trust. What a fabulous conference attended by tremendously dedicated people all with a vested interest in land conservation "...to train on best practices in all aspects of land trust work..."

Ken shows a diagram of a FIG Plot

I had the privilege of working with Ken Laustsen, the retired biometrician for the Maine Forest Service, on a field course workshop titled, "Using Data to Explore Carbon Pools on a Forested Acre." Ken is a superb forester and number cruncher, and his goal was to give participants experience in creating a FIG (Forest Inventory Growth) Plot by measuring trees, and to discuss where carbon is stored in forests and how carbon pools change over time. 

We went to the Tardiff Land Trust, on Middlesex Rd. in Topsham, for the outdoor portion of our workshop. Here you see Ken showing participants how to use Biltmore Sticks to find a rough estimate of the height of a tree.

He also showed participants how to use a Diameter Tape to measure the dbh (diameter at breast height) of a tree. After this and other demos, participants measured all the trees above 5" in diameter on the 1/10th acre plot.

On Saturday, Ken discussed the data with participants which lead to very lively discussions about carbon pools.

I got to chat with participants about how I use this data (on a very simplistic level) with my grade 9 science students. They have to design carbon cycle posters for a forested acre, inspired by the Project Learning Tree e-unit, Carbon and Climate (all of which follow a Forest Field Day where I have foresters, a soil scientist, and Ken lead short 25 minute presentations throughout the forest of Thorncrag Nature Preserve, in Lewiston.) Fun, Fun, Fun!

Tick activity temperature ranges

Tick found crawling on my sweatshirt!

My fascination with deer ticks, Ixodes scapularis, continues as we try to figure out how to hike in the woods without coming in contact with ticks during warmer-than-usual-winters. I have come across two reliable studies on ticks.

My first source is from the Journal of Medical Entomology, July, 1995: Lower temperature limits for activity of several Ixodid ticks (Acari:Ixodidae): effects of body size and rate of temperature change.  This article had a good table that gave me information about the Uncoordinated Activity Threshold of the blacklegged tick AKA deer tick AKA Ixodes scapularis (the temperature below which a tick can no longer seek a host in a coordinated manner; and ticks are active if temps. are above this temp. range) - The Uncoordinated Activity Threshold for ticks is as follows: Nymphs = 34.5F,  Females = 41.1F,  Males = 46F. I took the lower numbers in the mean. The Activity Threshold for Ixodes scapularis (The temperature at which all activity ceases and contacting a tick is not possible is as follows: Nymphs = 33.6F,  Females = 33.9F,  Males = 35.9F. I must note that I am not sure about the nymph numbers as the chart was difficult to read, but nymph numbers do not have much variability.

My second source is from the Hindawi Publishing Corporation - Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Infectious Diseases, 2009 - Effects of Climate Change on Ticks and Tick-Borne Diseases in Europe. This article gave me information about a related species of tick, Ixodes ricinus, in Sweden. These ticks can survive a 24 hour exposure to temperature ranges between -2F to 6F. Thirty-day exposure to outdoor high temperatures below 14F can be lethal to a high proportion of unfed nymphs.

Unfortunately, the way our climate is warming, it doesn’t look like the tick population will be decreasing any time soon. But, at least you know that you can traverse the woods safely when temps. are below 32F.

Pot Hole Season is in full swing!

Pot Hole Season is in full swing. It occurs just before and during mud season!