We’ve been so busy here at the Museum, visitation wise, I’ve not been able to get out this posting until now. I was able to inspect all of the nest boxes as usual on Tuesday morning and here’s the results. Here we go. As of Tuesday (3/29) all nest boxes were active in one way or another. But, there have only been four eggs deposited in the nest, three chickadee eggs and one bluebird egg, the Bungee nest and the WoodlandRead more
Posts filed in: Spring
Spring!
I personally go with March first as the official arrival of spring, the so-called meteorological spring. Even so, some things are happening a bit ahead of time due to the unusually high temperatures we’ve been experiencing. Just this past Monday I saw an eastern tiger swallowtail flying about. Around these parts, tiger swallowtails are butterflies of April, not March. The seventy and eighty degree weather accelerated the emergence of that butterfly, for sure. I thought I’d post a handful ofRead more
Nuthatch Excavation
The small bird in the above photo, with the gray back and wings, white underparts and brown head and nape, is a brown-headed nuthatch. The nuthatch is pausing between bouts of vigorous pounding away (below) at the trunk of a black willow in our Wetlands. Another nuthatch was working these willows at the same time last year. Last year’s pounding resulted in a cavity where a pair nested some twenty feet from the trees this bird now works. It couldRead more
Bluebirds!
It’s that time of year again. Bluebirds have been poking around the nest boxes on our modest bluebird trail here at the Museum, so I decided to get things ready for those azure-backed thrushes. Last week, using 8″ galvanized stove pipe (thanks Kevin), I manufactured and installed new predator guards on the three nest box poles which lacked them. I relocated one nest box due to future construction at the site. And, after receiving a supply of 1/2 pint berryRead more
Spring, Almost
During the past week and a half, spring has been sneaking up on us. In my book, once we turn the page on February, it’s spring. There’s no going back. It’s here. And, over the past week and a half I’ve taken the photos you see here as evidence. The blooming red maple above and the sprouting elderberry below offer the best proof of spring’s imminent arrival. I’ve already mentioned, here in this blog, the arrival of our two Canada geese (theyRead more
Howl, Howl, Howl
Since I last reported on the howling of our wolves, how, up until recently, I’ve heard the male wolf howl perhaps three times over the past year, he has changed his routine. I now hear, and see, him howl on a daily basis, sometimes multiple times each day that I’m here on duty. I’m told, that the female had joined in on at least one occasion within the last few days. So, if you’re out and about in Explore theRead more
Bluebird Update 7.14.15
The last of the active nests has been vacated. The three bluebirds that have been fed and protected by their parents for the past several weeks in the nest box at the Butterfly House, have fledged. They are out in the real world learning how to secure food for themselves, find shelter, and hopefully avoid predators. The only activity in any of the nest boxes is that of spiders and wasps. The paper wasp nest at the Sailboat PondRead more
Preening Green
Pausing to rest, the green heron in the above photo is performing an extremely important job for a bird, preening. Most birds have a preen gland, or uropygial gland, on their back, at the base of the tail just forward of where the tail feathers enter the body. You can’t see it unless you move the feathers aside, but its there. The gland contains an oily substance used to clean and coat the bird’s feathers. The bird reaches back with itsRead more
Looking Down
Sometimes, it pays to look down. There are many creatures going about their lives at ground level. So, while you’re not looking up at the trees or the skies for birds or at the flowers for butterflies and other nectaring insects, keep at least one eye down where you walk, the ground, you might see something interesting. At first, I wasn’t quite sure what the caterpillar in the above photo was. I thought it might be one of theRead more