Although spring peepers and upland chorus frogs, and the occasional low croaking call of a pickerel frog, have been calling off and on for several weeks now, they are in full force at this time. Today, I was able to get a handful of photos of pickerel frogs and one shot of a bullfrog. The other two species, the tiny peepers and chorus frogs, proved elusive. Here they are. Come on out a see how many frogsRead more
Posts filed in: Spring
Geese are in the House and Martins are on the way
First spotted on Sunday, February 8, the two geese in the photo have returned. Every February they drop in. It’s the same two geese. It’s usually within the first or second week of the month that we first see them. February is also the month that purple martins enter the scene. They start showing up in southern Texas and Florida in early January, or even late December, but it’s not until February that they get anywhere near ourRead more
Bluebird Update 6/10/14
Things are moving along, albeit slowly. Three nest boxes are still empty, but progress is being made, all through the efforts of bluebirds. The nest at the Cow Pasture, which held four eggs last week, still holds four eggs. The female flushed from the box as I approached the pasture, she looks to be incubating. This nest was started more than two weeks ago, the eggs laid over one week ago. If all goes well, there will be four nestlings nextRead more
Swallows Return with Family
If you remember back in March, I reported that Northern Rough-winged Swallows had returned from their southern winter quarters and were zooming around the Wetlands. I also mentioned that they nest nearby and that they sometimes bring their young to our Wetlands for flying lessons, lessons on how to catch their preferred food, flying insects. The swallows did so this week. For the past few days I’ve been watching as the parents dip, dive, and whirl about the Wetlands, catching insects onRead more
Bluebird Update 6/3/14
While some of the bluebird families which fledged young over the past few weeks were out learning how to survive life in semi-suburban Durham, others were busy starting new nests. Four of our six nest boxes here on the Museum’s 84 acres are empty, awaiting occupancy, the other two have been claimed by bluebirds. The bluebirds in the nest box at the Cow Pasture fledged their young sometime during the week of 5/13 – 5/20 and a new nest wasRead more
Hooded Merganser Nest
Unfortunately, the mergansers in the above photo do not reside in our Wetlands. I saw a report on the local bird listerv that a couple of broods of wood ducks and one merganser brood was seen at Sandy Creek Park on the south side of Durham. The park is located at the end of Sandy Creek Drive on the northwest side of the intersection of Hwy 15-501 and Durham-Chapel Hill Blvd, just shy of 8 driving miles distance from theRead more
Did you see that?
Here’s some of what you missed if you haven’t been walking our trails here at the Museum lately. This first item is something that I’ve missed for the past five or six years here at the Museum, a damselfly. Azure Bluets have probably been in our Wetlands long before I arrived here some six years ago, but I have not, until now, seen one close enough to identify it as such. Dragonflies continue to emerge from their watery, prepubescent homes inRead more
Bluebird Update 5/27/14
Although none of our six nest boxes contains nestlings, nor even eggs, there is still exciting news to report. A new nest has been started, and the last remaining nest which held birds is now empty. The Cow pasture nest box now contains a second bluebird nest. Perhaps we’ll see eggs by next week. All the other nest boxes, Bungee, Sail Boat Pond, Amphimeadow, Picnic Dome, and now Butterfly House boxes, are empty. The Butterfly House nest having fledged its four youngRead more
Out and About
Just some sights from the past week. First spotted by Michelle Kloda as she headed off to Build it! Bamboo one day last week, a Trapdoor Spider. Trapdoor Spiders spend most of their time in a hole in the ground waiting for prey to come walking by. They build a hinged, silken lid to top off the hole which they pop open to reach out and grab any unsuspecting prey that wanders by. Tiny mites caused the growths on theseRead more