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Give me Some Kind of Sign

signs of the season… Read more about Chip. There are so many signs that point to spring it’s difficult to zero in on just a few. Here’s two very obvious bird signals of the change that’s coming. The two geese in the photos below arrive at the Museum’s Wetland each February. I’ve been calling them Lucy and Goosey, Lucy’s the female. I typically don’t name birds, but these two have become so familiar that, well, why not! How do IRead more
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Winter Landscape with Snakes

You might think that at this time of year that all snakes are safely tucked away for the winter, not so. Although I haven’t personally seen any snakes slithering across the landscape here at the Museum (I did see one on New Year’s Day along the Eno River), our resident Red-shouldered Hawk has seen them, at least three that I know of, probably more. While talking with the Explore the Wild Team of Animal Keepers and Volunteer here at the Museum,Read more
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Spring, er, Winter Update

I saw two butterfly species on this second day of February, several Sleepy Oranges and a Mourning Cloak. Spring Peepers have been calling, as mentioned in an earlier post. Today, I actually saw one. Besides the snake being captured by a Red-shouldered Hawk last Friday, Kent (Animal Department) reported seeing what was probably the same hawk catch one in the Lemur Yard on Sunday (1/29/12). From the descriptions given it doesn’t seem as though they were Brown Snakes so, although IRead more
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Let’s not forget the others

With so much talk about herons lately I don’t want to forget the other residents of the Museum’s wild parts. Here’s what some of them have been up to. A few birds… Several turtles… And the heat goes on… And something left over from summer… It wouldn’t be out of the question for those eggs to have hatched. It is very much like spring on this last week of January. The Red-shouldered Hawks were up performing their aerial courtship displays,Read more
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Treefrog caught off guard

Caught out in the cold yesterday was a somewhat emaciated young Green Treefrog (Hyla cinerea). The frog was seen amongst the horesetail growing in front of the Butterfly House. It was apparently lured out of hibernation by the warm temperatures and rain of the night before. This, however, is December and fronts that carry precipitation are usually followed by cold, dry north winds, no kind of weather for a treefrog to be caught hopping around in. This is probably theRead more

Spring at the Museum?

It’s December not April. What’s going on with the wildlife here at the Museum. Ranger Lew saw a Northern Water Snake on Saturday (12/3). Spring Peepers were calling and Yellow-bellied Sliders were out basking in the near 70 degree air of yesterday afternoon (12/6). Neither peepers or basking Turtles are unusual during this time of year though, a few days of warm temps is often enough to bring either of those herps out of hiding, even in the dead ofRead more

Green Darner and Bullfrog

On Friday of last week the weather was unusually warm, as it had been all week. Besides the Autumn Meadowhawks buzzing all over the edge of the Wetlands, as mentioned earlier, I also saw a Common Whitetail. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get a photo of that slightly out of season skimmer. The next day as I walked along the north side of the Wetlands, I saw a Common Green Darner (Anax junius) sailing over the water. Luckily, the big darnerRead more