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.