First Measurable Snow of the Season

We had a nice little snowstorm overnight and into today that left us with 4.5" of snow. The snow was super wet and heavy so it stuck to the trees and piled up on the bird feeders and benches. 

The pine boughs were heavily laden with snow causing them to bend dramatically and sometimes to just break off. We heard many sharp cracks of sound as this happened in many directions throughout the storm. 

The leaves of beech trees even held onto the snow...

As did the oaks. These trees hold onto their leaves into next year in a process called marcescence. But, that is a topic for another post. 

We enjoyed looking into the forest and seeing the contrasting brown of the tree trunks and branches with the white of the snow. So much intricacy in patterning with all the interwoven branches at every level and depth into the forest.

Over at Caesar Pond, I watched as the wind began to increase and some of the snow was shaken from branches. What a gorgeous sight!

It is so pretty on the pond with everything snow covered; even the sides of the trees got plastered! The white of the snow in contrast with the different colors of lichens always catches my eye.

Wandering and Pondering over at Caesar Pond

Today was a great day to poke around over at Caesar Pond. First, I went to our deeded access put-in to check out the state of the ice on the pond. There is a very thin layer of ice which covers the entire south end of the pond.

I love seeing the feathery ice crystals forming in new ice. If you look closely, you can even see lots of tiny air bubbles throughout.

Then, I went to the south end of the pond as that is where I generally find icicles hanging from the plants that are found at the water's edge. This shows evidence of wind blown water and quick freezing as we did have a good bit of wind from the north and temps down in the upper teens overnight.

Later in the afternoon, we did a family walk at the wildlife management's public put-in to see what was happening at the north end of the pond. And, it sure is different here! Look at the open water along the eastern shore of the pond.

Drew was thinking that the shoreline looked more open than it had since yesterday. Then, he spied why! A beaver was hard at work last night. There were lots of tiny branches and stems of tiny trees that were gnawed on besides this large tree!

Lastly, we came upon this pine cone attached to a branch on the ground. I had a few ideas of what it was in looking at the rough pattern of the wood on the branch. And, one of my guesses was correct. It is an old, and weathered, Pitch Pine cone attached to the branch with the tiniest of stalks. Did you know that these trees produce pitch and turpentine that used to be used as resin materials to maintain wooden sailing ships? Cool...

First Snow of the Season!

Yay! We've got snow! A teeny, tiny bit of snow that did not stay around long, but it was pretty nonetheless. 

On our morning walk, I found some snow still in evidence in shady parts of the forest. Here is snow on Northern Red Oak leaves.

Partial Solar Eclipse-October 14, 2023

Today was a success in viewing the partial solar eclipse. In Bowdoin, Maine we had about 16% of the sun covered by the moon and even though there were lots of clouds, the sun was able to present itself often enough for me to get photos up to the maximum coverage and beyond. Note that I used my Nikon P-1000 camera with a solar filter to take my photos. 

Here is a picture from time and date.com that shows the timing of the partial solar eclipse in Bowdoin, Maine.

And, here is my first photo of the event showing the Sun before the eclipse begins, at 12:25pm. Note the three sunspots on the surface of the sun.

The beginning of the eclipse became visible in this photo at 12:57pm. The first little nibble by the moon!

The moon is getting more bold and thinks that the sun is super tasty at 1:01:54pm. As you can see, the clouds are starting to move in, and in fact the sun played peek-a-boo for the entire event.

At 1:05:19pm, the sun was again displayed in a clear sky. The bite is expanding.

Five minutes later, at 1:10:28pm, the moon is starting to get more bold and the bite is bigger due to Cookie Monster joining in on the fun!

At 1:20:53pm the clouds parted enough for me to grab this shot and we are getting closer to the maximum.

And, finally maximum eclipse has occurred at around 1:28pm.

Here is one of my favorite photos of the Sun and clouds at 2:02:45pm. So much of the later part of the eclipse was cloud covered for large portions of time.

As we neared the end of the eclipse, the clouds gave me so many chances to snap some dramatic shots. Here is one of my favorites at 2:30:19pm. By the way, I did not rotate the photo. The moon kept moving and changing position during the partial eclipse.

Here is the sun nearly at the end of the eclipse event, at 2:35pm, before getting totally obscured by cloud cover. I couldn't get a focus lock on the Sun as it was just too cloudy at this time.

Loon Update

We ended up with three loons on Caesar Pond and no mating activity. A neighbor alerted me to the fact that her daughter saw a dead loon. I went out to check and could not find it. It may have been eaten by a predator of some sort as I did wait several days to check (too much wind for my boat to run up against.)

Barred Owls Yackety Yacking for a good hour

 The Barred Owl... aka Hootie Owl...aka Yackety Yackety Owl... This mated pair put on quite the show tonight. They called back and forth to each other for at least an hour. One was in the trees at the south edge of our yard and the other was just across the street. Then, after about 30 minutes, one flew to the north side of the yard while the other flew into the back woods. They started out with a version of the typical "Who, Who, Who Cooks For You!" call and then proceeded to do what I call their wild chatter. It is crazy awesome to listen to! Enjoy this tiny snippet of their conversation.

Two new forest plants for my life list!

 

We have been taking weekly walks at Center Point Preserve, in Bowdoinham, and have been following the changes in the springtime plants as the season unfolds. On May 10th, eagle-eyed Drew spotted the closed flower bud of a species that we hadn't seen before. I photographed the plant and identified it using two apps on my phone; Leaf Snap and Seek. Both apps told me that the plant was Polygala paucifolia, also known as Fringed Polygala. This flowering plant is in the Milkwort family.

One week later, on May 17th, we noticed Fringed Polygala all along the side of the trail in sunny spots. This time, the flowers were open. We could see how appropriate another common name for this flower is: Bird-on-the-wing. Doesn't it look like a bird is flying? So gorgeous!

The other flower that is new to us is in the lily family of plants, the Painted Trillium, Trillium undulatum. What an incredibly stunning flower! We only saw this one on May 17th. What are the characteristics that you look for to find a trillium? How many petals? 3. How many big leaves? 3. And, the stem is 8"-20" tall.

Then, on May 23rd (today) we saw them everywhere in the woods! Some were near the side of the trail while others were further off the trail. I counted around 60 trilliums during a quarter mile of our walk. Once you know what to look for, you see so many more! They live in cool, moist woods. How many do you see in this small section of the forest? Note that they don't all have flowers yet. I count 7.

Rain Barrels in a new location

Since we had a metal roof put on the house, we haven't had gutters. In the past, the rain barrels would be filled from just a quarter inch of rainfall collected from the roof and running through the gutters. I had thought that we couldn't use rain barrels anymore and we stored them away. Then, a few days ago, I decided that those rain barrels would be of use as I saw a drip line in the soil, below the roof line, from the last 6.5" monsoon that we had several weeks ago. So, I put the barrels out smack dab in the middle of the drip line. And, sure enough, we captured enough water from last night's 2.5" gusher of rain to fill each rain barrel with about 49 gallons of water! Yahoooey!

Morning temp is 32.6F...What????

 

We have a fire in the woodstove because the outdoor temperature dropped to 32.6F overnight. Crazy! What the heck, it is May 18th! I awoke to a lovely warmth in the house as Drew built a fire in the woodstove. We will be repeating this weather tomorrow morning as well, with possibly even colder temperatures.

Last night we covered the garlic, and I brought in the tray housing the milkweed seeds as two of them have actually sprouted.

Loons are amazing underwater swimmers

I was able to spend a few hours on the pond, and half of the time was spent communing with the mated pair of loons that has called Caesar Pond "home" for this summer season. Enjoy this video of my time with them.

I started out by scouting all the islands at the sound end of the pond, to see if any were suitable nesting sites, as that is where the loons have nested in the past. But, the islands were beaten down too much by winter and the 7.5" of rain we had in a 30 hour period last week.

I love the loons and they are so relaxed around boats before nesting season. 

The loons swam toward the south end and spent a few minutes with me before heading north. I spend the next hour puttering around the perimeter of the pond and eventually made it to the north cove. By that time, the loons had gone back to the middle and south portions of the pond.

I parked myself in my favorite spot, near the beaver lodge, to eat my breakfast. Eventually, the loons joined me and proceeded to dive and swim all around my location. The water is shallow there and I was able to watch them zip around underwater right next to my boat. They are incredibly fast swimmers and I often could not keep up visually with where they were. I was enthralled by these magnificent birds. Soon, I will be buying an underwater Go Pro knock off camera to try to get some better footage from underwater!

The first hummingbird and white-throated sparrows have arrived.

Our first ruby throated hummer arrived yesterday to stake out his territory. We only saw him briefly then, and have only seen him a couple of times when he flew to the front feeder to sup on some sugar water, today. In the past, the first male has buzzed us as we gardened to let us know that he had arrived. This male is not as communicative yet!

After the hummingbird flew off, I turned my attention to a white-throated sparrow (white-striped variety) with bright yellow lores (tiny feathers between his beak and his eye.) What a beautiful bird! I love the rich brown coloration of the wing feathers.

Two loons on Caesar Pond

 At 10:35pm, a cacophony of loon calls erupted on the pond. Up until now, there has only been one loon (presumably a male). I am wondering if the female has just arrived! I'll be taking a look-see tomorrow! I am so excited!

First bumble bee of the season

I happened to be walking around admiring my early blooms when I heard the familiar buzzzzzing sound of a huge bumble bee, flitting from flower to flower, gathering pollen and feeding.  This would be a new queen gatheirng food for her new colony. She would have overwintered underground and survived where  others in the colony had all died off. If you want to learn more about queen bumble bees, check out this Northern Woodlands article, "Queen Season: Bumble Bees in Spring". And check out this BBC video, "Clever Queen Bumble Bees."

2023 Maine Big Night - Season Total Tally

2023 Maine Big Night - SEASON TOTAL TALLY for L1-Bowd: Our location was near the pond on Lewis Hill Road.

American Bullfrog - 4 Alive

Pickerel Frog - 23 Alive, 1 Dead

Spring Peeper - 144 Alive, 8 Dead

Northern Two-lined Salamander - 1 Alive

Spotted Salamander - 16 Alive, 1 Injured

Wood Frog - 1 Dead

2023 Maine Big Night # 7

 May 4th. Maine Big Night # 7 was a bust. Again, I think it was too cold. The evening temperature was 46F. Only 1 dead Spring Peeper was found as the sky lightly sprinkled rain.

2023 Maine Big Night # 6

 May 2nd. Maine Big Night # 6 and I played hooky yet again. One of our team went out and spotted 1 Bullfrog, 2 Pickerel Frogs, 4 Spring Peepers, and 1 dead Spring Peeper.

Rain Storm for the record books

WOW!!! We got 6.5" of rain in a 30 hour period! It was insane with downpour after monsoonal downpour!

The roads were flooded, but our area got off easy as very few roads actually washed out. We ended up getting a month's worth of rain in this event.

2023 Maine Big Night # 5

April 30th. Maine Big Night # 5 was one for the record book, at lease weather-wise. It was a crazy weather night with howling wind, driving rain, and fast flowing water.

We had a tough time seeing the amphibians through the rain and wind. Needless to say, I did not take any photos as I had enough trouble trying to keep my phone from getting soaked as I tabulated data from my teammates. We only spent 75 minutes ferrying amphibians across the road in the direction they were originally going. Water was running down both sides of the road and the pond was very high. We found 1 tiny Bullfrog, 1 Pickerel Frog, 15 Spring Peepers, and 1 Spotted Salamander.

If success is counted as how wet we got, then we were thoroughly soaked and highly successful! By the looks of it, I need to buy a pair of rain pants as my poncho only keeps my torso dry!

2023 Maine Big Night # 4

April 25th, Maine Big Night # 4 was a bust of a night with only one member of our team going out to monitor the amphibians. And, he saw 1 Spring Peeper total! I think the temperature played a role in this poor amphibian showing. The actual temperature was 42F with a feel-like temperature of 38F.

2023 Maine Big Night # 3

April 23rd, Maine Big Night # 3 was eventful. I, unfortunately, played hooky tonight. But, my teammates saw the following species: 1 Bullfrog, 8 Spotted Salamanders, 8 Pickerel Frogs, and 34 Spring Peepers. The nighttime temp was about 48F.

Maine Big Night #2 Video of Spring Peepers Peeping and a Northern Two-lined Salamander wriggling

Ahhhh... Spring...there is nothing like the din of Spring Peepers peeping! But along with frogs, there are the salamanders. One of whom, the Northern Two-lined Salamander, has a characteristic wriggle when disturbed! They can really move fast while not using their legs, and they look like little snakes as they escape. Enjoy!

2023 Maine Big Night #2

 WOW! What a night we had! It was raining and warmer than last time, so the amphibians were really on the move. And, they (mostly peepers) were very vocal. If you want to hear some of the different calls, click on North Woods Frog Call Phenology. Cool stuff!

DATA ENTRY for April 17, 2023

Our information tally for tonight was: 

Certified Volunteers: 3 (Laurie,Kathy,Paul)

Volunteers: Start time 7:30pm / Volunteers End time 9:45.

Starting Temperature: 46F    Ending Temperature: 46F

Precipitation: Light rain drizzle from 8pm-9:15pm   The road is wet.

Traffic Tally:  18 cars

Species Live: 1 American Bullfrog, 12 Pickerel Frogs, 74 Spring Peepers, 7 Spotted Salamanders, and 1 Northern Two-Lined Salamander   

Species Dead:  1 Pickerel Frog, 2 Spring Peepers

Species Injured: 1 Spotted Salamander

Spring Peeper bonanza tonight! Spring Peepers have a characteristic "X" on their backs. They are the most abundant of the frogs that you hear right now! Did you know that they are the smallest of Maine's frogs? Females get up to 1.5" long!

Pickerel frogs are also numerous in our area and it was so much fun to see so many of them. Did you know that Pickerel frogs have toxic secretions? If you handle one, wash your hands before touching other amphibians so as not to spread the toxin! You don't want to inadvertently kill other frogs or salamanders. By the way, the Pickerel Frog's call is like that of a creaking door or a 2-syllable "ee-yah".

I didn't get a photo of the Bullfrog that was helped across the road tonight, but here is a photo of one that I took several years ago. Notice the ridge of skin that runs from the eyes and down around the tympanum. This is a characteristic of bullfrogs as opposed to Green Frogs that have a ridge (dorso lateral fold) that runs from the back of the eye, straight back almost to the vent (cloacal opening) of the frog.

Spotted Salamanders were so big! They were all crossing the road and moving away from the pond, so I can only assume that they had finished breeding. They are our only yellow-spotted salamander. 

For the remainder of the year, these nocturnal beauties can be found hiding under leaves, logs, stones, and in the burrows of tiny mammals. Here we found one under a rotting log alongside a trail in the forest. Remember that when lifting a log you must put it down gently, exactly in the same position as you found it.

We were also lucky to have a Northern Two-lined Salamander crossing the road! It has such a pretty coppery color with its two dark stripes that run the length of their body. Did you know that salamanders do not have lungs? They breathe through their moist skin, which is why they live in creeks and streams, as well as under rotting logs and in muddy areas as they have to stay moist. They are fast and extremely wriggly when they move.