A loon has arrived...and so have the peepers and mosquitoes!

 It was a stunning day...We awakened to a loon calling and peepers peeping! Life is so much happier when springtime gets into full swing...Although, the darned mosquitoes are already sucking our blood! For the second year in a row, the mosquitoes have awakened from their slumber before the blackflies. Don't they know that they aren't supposed to start their season until after the blackflies are done with their month of biting? It used to be that blackflies visited us from May to June, and then the mosquitoes would come out. Ugh to Global Warming! Here is an interesting NPR article about how the seasons have changed for blackflies, mosquitoes, and deer flies.

2023 Maine Big Night #1

Maine Big Night is citizen science at its most fun! I am part of a group who is doing amphibian migration monitoring (of frogs and salamanders). Who doesn't like rescuing amphibians, to help them cross roads to get to the other side, so they can reach water for breeding? If you haven't tried it, now is the time!

Before you decide to go out on your own, you must register, do a bit of online training, pass an amphibian knowledge quiz, be savvy of road safety, and sign a safety form. The link is in the bolded first three words of the paragraph above!

We enter data and submit it each night we go out. What are you waiting for? Click the link above and start having some springtime fun while helping to conserve wildlife!

DATA ENTRY for April 6, 2023

Our information tally for tonight was: 

Certified Volunteers: 3 (Laurie,Kathy,Paul)

Volunteers: Start time 9:30pm / Volunteers End time 10:35 for 2 and 11:15 for 1.

Starting Temperature: 42F    Ending Temperature: 43F

Precipitation: Light drizzle from 9:30pm-10:00pm   The road is wet.

Traffic Tally:  11 cars

Species Live: 16 Spring Peepers   

Species Dead:  1 Wood Frog, 3 Spring Peepers

Species Injured: None

And, here are me and my buddy, Kathy, in our gear as we search for salamanders and frogs. We have another principal volunteer for the site, Caroline, who was not able to be with us tonight.

Our new volunteer at this site is Paul, who lives next door to the tiny pond we are working at. I didn't get a photo of him, but he was the Pied Piper of Peepers as he found all of the live peepers who were hoppity hopping in the neighborhood of his driveway which was within our survey zone!

Ice Out on Caesar Pond

Yay! Ice Out has finally occurred today! I was off by 9 days from my prediction of March 27th. Ha! It was slow going as the ice waited until it was super windy earlier in the week, which definitely helps in moving and melting the ice. Here is my Ice Out chart for the last 23 years:

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

Snow Total for the 2022-2023 Season

 We had a pretty good year for snow, after all, with a total of 84" for the season. We often get a good dump of snow in April, but looking a the next 15 days of weather I believe we are done with snow for the season. Below is my snow total chart for the last 23 years. I consider a good year to be 75" or above.

American Woodcock peenting

MaineNatureDiary · 230323 American Woodcock Peenting

 This evening, I went out looking for amphibians for a Maine Big Night survey. That part of the evening was a bust. But, Caroline, my companion for the survey, heard a woodcock peenting. My hearing is not the best, so she had to point me in the direction of the sound. Eventually, I heard it myself and was able to record a short snippet before a car passed by.

It is breeding season for woodcocks, and the easiest way to find them is to listen for the "Peent" call while the males are on the ground. At dawn and dusk, males perform their mating display flight where they spiral upward into the sky, and back down again. Caroline actually heard and saw the display flight of a couple of woodcocks this evening. They display in fields and openings in the forest.

This is one of a couple of photos that I took when we spied a woodcock in our woods in 2005.

Woodcocks eat earthworms and other invertebrates that they find in the soil. They will nest on the ground and it is important for the female to be perfectly camouflaged. Their coloration is key to rarely being seen in the forest. Click here to gain more knowledge about the American Woodcock.

Grackles at the feeder, Red-winged Blackbirds, and Robin Redbreast

Note that this is an old photo as I didn't get a chance to photograph the grackles today.

We saw the first grackles of springtime at the feeder today.

I used an old photo of the red-winged blackbird as I did not get a photo today.

And, red-winged blackbirds flew in with them. I heard a blackbird calling over at the pond. The call of the red-winged blackbirds is one of my favorites and really tells me that spring has sprung.

I also saw the first robin of the season poking around in a small part of the front yard that is free of snow.

Slate-colored Junco

Even though Slate-colored Juncos are supposed to be in our section of the state all year long, I don't see them very often at our feeders during winter. But, one did sit on the railing of our front deck and flew down to a stump. It is a sign of springtime for me.

Ice Out Prediction for Caesar Pond

Here is the state of Caesar Pond today. Good solid ice, but it has been so warm of late that I think that it will be an early ice out.

I have been asked when I think Ice Out will occur on Caesar Pond. Hmmm... Let me ponder that a moment. With all the above freezing daytime temps and sunshine, I am going out on a limb and predict March 27th!

Happy Superb Owl Sunday!

 Isn't it great to have a day dedicated to owls! We love them so much.

I wish that we could see more of them in our woods, but at least we hear the barred owls almost nightly, especially in January-April, as they are thinking about mating and nesting.

I would love to see and hear a Great Horned Owl in Maine, but have yet to have this experience. I will have to settle with having seen this one in Florida while visiting with my mother years ago.

Vegetable Growing Chart for 2023

Yes, it is early, but I am already planning on the vegetables that I am going to plant this summer. I am going to attempt to grow my plants from seed in the basement. But, first I have to have my chart of which veggies to grow and their requirements.