Maine Big Night # 1

 My first ever Maine Big Night! I know...what was I waiting for all these years?

But, the important thing is I am now involved! Involved in helping with the conservation of migrating amphibians during mating season, that is! Why the rain poncho, you might ask! In order to observe amphibians on the move, it has to be raining, with an outdoor temperature of near or above 45F.

Mrs. Baker, kindergarten teacher extraordinaire!

I joined my friends Billy and Shannon on this adventure. They always come up with grand ideas for adding excitement to life involving nature. You will notice that Shannon is wearing the required reflective vest and headlamp. We also have to have a flashlight as well.

We went almost to the end of the dirt road section of Browns Point Rd., in Bowdoinham, to be near an active vernal pool. We had signed up for this spot figuring it would be a good one with only farmland and a few houses. This is where we will make our observations from now through May 15th, on warm, rainy nights. By the way, a vernal pool is a seasonal pool of water that usually fills with runoff from melting snow in the forest. Areas with forests and other wetlands are also good sites.

Mrs. Baker is looking for frogs and salamanders on the road.

Site locations are 500 feet of road on either side of the vernal pool, so we walked back and forth on the road for about an hour. Our headlamps illuminated the road as we searched for frogs and salamanders who were crossing it to get to their favored wetland to mate and lay their eggs.

We sighted our first Wood Frog at 9:24pm in a light drizzle. Isn't he gorgeous? Look at his coloration. Wood frogs are identified by the dark mask located behind each eye and a white line above the lip. Click this LINK to hear the call of the wood frog, and to learn more about them. And, don't forget the University of Maine Wood Frog Fact Sheet!

The second wood frog sighting was at 9:30pm, and it was lightly raining by that time. I found this wood frog interesting in that it had all of this white debris stuck to its back.

Let's take a closer look. Could they bits plant debris from hopping through the woods?

Our last wood frog sighting was at 9:57pm. Here you see Billy holding the wood frog using powder-free nitrile gloves. Since amphibians often have a nice, slimy coating of mucus on their bodies, we didn't want any hand lotion or other chemicals to be absorbed by their skin.

Billy opened his hands to show me the last wood frog of the night. He is a beauty, but do you see what I see? Let me zoom in for you...

UPDATE: #1 IS JUST A SHADOW AND A PLAY OF THE LIGHT. (No parasites. Yay!) I see something on the upper side of this frog, and I cannot figure out what # 1 might be. # 2 is probably a fir tree needle that has turned brown.

Here is my data sheet from the Big Night.

Ice Out Data 2000-2022

Ice Out Definition: the disappearance of ice from the surface of a body of water (such as a lake) as a result of thawing.

I call Ice Out when the main body of Caesar Pond as well as the south cove are both ice free. Consistency is the key over the years.

Here are the Ice Out dates for the last 22 years for Caesar Pond. Do you notice any patterns related to climate change?

March 27, 2022

March 27, 2021

March 22, 2020

April 16, 2019

April 20, 2018

April 16, 2017

March 13, 2016 (Strongest El Nino in 18 years)-Warm winter-earliest ice out date.

April 18, 2015

April 15, 2014

April 6, 2013

March 20, 2012

April 17, 2011

March 18, 2010

April 9, 2009

April 19, 2008

April 20, 2007

March 26, 2006

April 11, 2005

April 8, 2004

April 16, 2003

March 31, 2002

April 22, 2001  Latest Ice Out Date

April 8, 2000

Ducks and Geese on Caesar Pond!

Yay for open water on Caesar Pond! The ducks and geese have arrived for the start of the spring season. I dashed down to the pond today to grab a few photos. Of course, my subjects were on the opposite side of the pond from me, so I had to use maximum zoom which gave fuzzy photos, but that's okay. At least I can document the first waterfowl on the pond for this year. 

I was so happy to see several Common Mergansers swimming about. This is a female.

And, here is a male Common Merganser spreading his wings.

I was thrilled to see a male Common Goldeneye on the pond as well. I did not get a photo of a female.

Here is a group of mergansers (two females and one male) along with the male Goldeneye (far left).

And, I would be remiss if I didn't include a photo of a few of the Canada Geese (of which there are about about a dozen on the pond) over near the beaver lodge.

Oh wait, there are also a plethora of Mallards happily quacking and swimming on the pond as well.

And, here are the approximate locations of the ducks and geese. The geese were farthest away near the beaver lodge.

Mourning Doves all fluffed up

After the snow, we had a cold, and windy day. A large flock of Mourning Doves came in to feed. They were all fluffed up to ward off the cold. I liked this photo showing that both the chest feathers as well as the feathers down their backs were fluffed to the max!

Then, there were these two lovely, fluffy doves braving the cold!

We were supposed to get a trace of snow...

This is what a trace of snow looks like! Ha! Local TV meteorologist got his prediction a bit wrong! Luckily, Drew says that it is the fluffiest snow he's ever seen! 6" and counting at 6am.

Snow Total Update: We have now received 54" of snow this season, thus far.

Snow...

We received 6.5" of snow today, which brings us to 45.5" thus far. We are matching the last two years around this date. And, these were very low total years. On years with lots of snow we would have somewhere between 60"- 95" by now.

A brief flash of springtime in winter

It was a pretty morning with the temperature at nearly 60F. There was lots of evaporation happening at the snow surface which made for patchy ground fog. Drew dropped me off at the dentist office and headed out to walk his favorite hidden gem of a trail in Topsham. It runs along a creek which adds to the mystique.

He said that it was so gorgeous this time of morning and he photographed it from a few different angles as the light changed each time he passed the creek.

The shafts of light were stunning as they beamed down through the trees.

In contrast to this beauty, was our walk on the Hix Small Cemetery Road yesterday afternoon. Talk about MUD! I am so glad we don't have to drive on this road during mud season!

As we were not wearing YakTrax, we decided to give the forested road to the cemetery a miss as it was rather icy. We sure have enjoyed these past couple of warm days before going into the deep freeze of the weekend.

Mother Nature's Cubism

I was walking down our path to Caesar Pond when I came upon slick ice that was blocking my way.

As I looked down upon it, I saw that it had a somewhat fractured appearance all over its surface.

So, being me, I stepped on it and the surface bent under my foot, but didn't break. So, I stepped off it and kicked it to see what would happen. Lots of cubes of ice! Sooo cool!

Here is one cube that broke off from an edge area.

And, here is Mother's Nature cubism artwork, with a little help from yours truly, as the sun was setting!

Birds, birds, and more birds!

Blue Jay in a snowstorm

We love our birds! The feeder has been busy dispensing food to a huge flock of goldfinches, bluebirds, blue jays, as well as the resident mourning doves, chickadees, brown creeper, titmice, red-bellied, downy, and hairy woodpeckers. 

The bluebirds are still flocking with a smaller subset of the large flock of goldfinches. They are not appreciating the cold weather that we have and only come in to feed on the warmer winter days.

Lately, we have been seeing our resident brown creeper on the bird feeder tree. He sometimes flies to the feeder and gathers seed from the ground.

When the sun comes out, the temperatures plummet. This gorgeous blue jay was enjoying the sunflower seeds.

And, then was puffed up to ward off the cold.

Weather

 As of this point in winter we have only had 39" of snow. And, look at the week to come. We are now oscillating between winter and springtime weather. This translates to rainy snowstorms, followed by super cold temps, followed by melting, which translates to layers of ice buildup. UGH. And, we still have the rest of February and March to go. Here is what this next week will bring us. Crazy!