Out to the Farm : )

I have been dying to get out to the farm (family property in Mesopotamia) ever since the minute I left last. I totally wish that I could live out there because it is definitely where I belong. If everything goes as planned, I will be living out there in a few years. I need to get some jobs after college to start paying off some loans, and then I can think about a building loan for my house!!! It's going to be so amazing! Living amongst the Amish, but I'm going to be and environmental friendly homesteader. I hope that over time, I can help my neighbors to have a greater respect for nature. Oh yeah and the picture is me doing one of my favorite chores on my future homestead : )

The list of opportunities for me at the farm is endless and SO EXCITING : )  The property has passed down my mom's side of the family for I don't know how many generations, and I know that it will one day be in my name, which I plan on putting a conservation easement on it and keeping it in the family. I think it will be great to take the land back to it's farming roots, I will have a smaller-scale garden, a greenhouse, chickens, I will forage for many things and occasionally hunt...I will be almost entirely self-sufficient and the remainder of my needs will hopefully be fulfilled within the community. I think that localizing economies and trade is one of the best ideas to help save the planet from the craziness.

Anyway, I could go on all day, but I must tell a few stories about my wonderful time in Amish country. I met my parents out there Saturday late afternoon, and took a nice walk through the woods. Immediately I recognized the unfamiliar song of a Chipping Sparrow in a small open field between our yard and the woods. This is a small bird paradise here, and in a month it will be filled with the songs of Common Yellowthroats, Yellow Warblers, Blue-winged Warblers, Indigo Buntings, and more. Add to these the songs of the American Redstart, Cerulean Warbler, Hooded Warbler, Carolina Wren, and many more coming from the woods just beyond the small field, and the Spring harmony is at it's finest. I play a game where I try to see how many birds I can tally when I wake up before I even get out of bed...just by listening to the songs. Beginning to understand why I love this place so much?

Continuing my walk along the Eastern treeline, there is a large corn field adjacent. I began hearing the sound of a flock of blackbirds in the distance, and I unconsciously assumed that they were Red-winged Blackbirds and maybe some Grackles. When I got a bit closer, I realized that I was hearing Rusty Blackbirds! There were so many that it was hard to pick out an individual call to focus on, and the Red-wings were loudest. Rusty Blackbirds aren't really a common sight, I usually spot them about this time through May every year, maybe a few times a year. This time was awesome though, there were at least 60 birds plus some RWBBs and a couple Cowbirds mixed in. I've never seen more than 10 at a time before. I really wish that I could have gotten a photo to put up, but they are very skittish. Oh and by the way, I love them because of their bright yellow eye, and their awesome call that sounds like a cassette tape being rewound and played...you know like a yak bak or scribbling or something. So cool. I recommend trying to seek these guys out! They prefer wetland areas (like other blackbirds) but can be found really anywhere blackbirds are found. Gotta listen for them though.

The rest of my walk was nice as well, but moving on, I had dinner with my parents around sundown when I came back to the cabin, Mom had it done soon after I came back. Gotta love Moms : )  After a little Jam session with some Eagles, Elton John, and Marshall Tucker Band, we went to bed, and I was ready for a morning hike.

I woke up at sunrise and the Cardinals, Carolina Wren, Song Sparrows, Chickadees, Titmice were singing through the walls of the cabin. I ate a piece of triple berry pie for breakfast and headed out. Oh!! The Carolina Wren started building a nest with his mate in our outhouse last July. Pretty funny. Anyway, he finished it this Spring, and it looks SO COOL. I keep forgetting to get a photo of it. But I also haven't managed to photograph the bird yet anyway so I will have to do a bit on them soon...

My general destination on this walk was to make it to a place that I call Waterthrush Falls. Haha, it's located in Cerulean Gorge and it's so pretty. It is named Waterthrush Falls because many a Louisiana Waterthrush dance and forage along the slate bedrock in the creek. Did I mention that the Louisiana Waterthrush could be a candidate for one of my favorite songbirds? I love them! I plan on studying a nesting pair this year so hopefully I will have some good observations and photos in a couple months! I expect them to return in a week or no more than two weeks. Can't wait! Here is a photo of a bird from last year. I will get better ones this year for sure!

I think that my photos of Waterthrush Falls explain what isn't needed to be said, it's just a magical place...the heart of my sanctuary really. I must say though that I love how dynamic streams and floodplains are, every year so many things change. This falls looks different every year. There is also a big Hemlock that uprooted and fell off the slope along the creek this past month. It will be interesting to watch this new gap on the hillside's ecosystem develop over the next years!

If you want to see more photos than the ones I put on here, they are on my Flickr page (there is a link on the side of this page). I think this entry is already somewhat lengthy, but I must also quickly mention a few things about my trip to the Grand River Wildlife Area. (which is just down the road from me)

It's always interesting there, I usually head over to the old fishponds on Norton Lane, and there are many birds (waterfowl etc.) and herps to be seen here! The Leopard Frogs were calling with the Spring Peepers, but I could not locate one for a photo : (  I will try harder next time I promise! Bird highlights included; Green-winged Teal, Ruddy Duck, Lesser Scaup, Ring-necked Duck, Northern Shoveler, American Wigeon, Bufflehead, 2 Bald Eagles, and these beauties!!!

Trumpeter Swans! They are a listed state endangered species. Historically, they have been over-hunted and their wetland habitats been destroyed. Seeing these big beautiful native swans is always a treat. Every time I've ever seen them, it's been a pair, many of which have tags on their legs and collars on their necks. It was nice to see this pair without. They make a wonderful trumpeting sound (unlike the annoying honk of a Canada Goose in my opinion) and I love hearing them : )

I wish I could have photographed more waterfowl in the gorgeous blue water, but they are all very skittish. GRWA is open to public hunting, and shotgun shells line the dikes between the ponds. These ducks don't take any chances (though if I had a gun I could have popped a few lol). I was down low looking for frogs for a while and some teal flew right over me. Good thing I only shoot with my camera : ) Not the best photo, but at least you can see a GW Teal drake in flight right??

Well I need to go to bed so I will end with a few more photos of wildlife that I found at GRWA. If you ever get a chance to check it out, I would recommend it!

Oh, one last thing to mention, I saw some tiny sprouts of wildflowers. Hopefully in a week I will be posting photos of them on here because I will have made it back out to may sanctuary to see them : ) I anticipate Bloodroot, Hepatica, Spring Beauty in numbers, and some other misc. as well!

New Places Make Me Happy : )

Wow, I've really been living it up for the past week.  I've been on Spring Break at KSU and I also am currently in a transitional phase between my last job and my new job at Cuyahoga Valley NP, so I haven't worked this past week either.  Just been enjoying beautiful Ohio every minute of every day.  Bird-watching every day!

For my internship at CVNP, I will be collecting data from many different wells in some of the wetlands in the park.  Basically what that means is that I will be spending 20 hours a week hiking in the park and GETTING PAID!!!  Lucky me : )  I went out Wednesday for a training run on the routes and the methods of data collection.  It was a wonderful day, while I was "working" I kept a tally of the birds that we came by and I had a solid list by the end of it!  We saw a big garter snake, lots of painted turtles, an eagle, a pair of Cooper's Hawks, a Phoebe, a Mockingbird, and a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker among many others.  I can't even imagine how distracted I'm going to be when May comes around and warblers and other birds are EVERYWHERE...hopefully I don't get fired for forgetting to do my job haha.

Yesterday, Rob and I decided to go canoeing down the Cuyahoga.  I've never been on that river before, it was definitely an interesting ride.  We did about 6 miles from the North end of Kent to Munroe Falls.  It was pretty cold yesterday and the wind was blowing directly against us for a good bit of the ride.  The rapids in certain spots near downtown Kent were pretty intense and a bunch of water came into the canoe and soaked Rob!!  I felt so bad, I made him sit up front (I didn't think about getting drenched)!  Needless to say, it was a chilly ride...fun though : )  We saw some herons, Mallards, Turkey Vultures and a Red-tailed Hawk gave us the pose of a lifetime in the perfect sun (you know one of those poses that only happen when you don't have your camera).  We made it out alive and warmed up, so it was a good experience.  I think that we will wait until it's warmer until we go into the river again...

Today was a wonderful day.  It was rather cold, but the sky was my favorite : )  When I'm not pollinating flowers, I am a serious cloud-watcher, and when the sun is faintly covered by a white sky with blue and big fluffy clouds (sorry, not scientific at all cumulus??) I am really happy. Here's a picture explaining what I mean : )

Anyway, this shot was taken in Hampton Hills Metropark, near the Southern end of Cuyahoga Valley.  My new friend Ana took me here, and it is a really gorgeous place.  I have high hopes that there will be some great Spring wildflowers in a few weeks, and migrating/nesting songbirds to follow!!  I shall be back to see.  We had to take a quick peak at the Heron rookery on Bath Rd. before leaving, and I took a photo of a pair sprucing up their nest.

Ana had to work at 5, so that left me more time to go explore some place else.  I went back to Mogadore, and I finally explored an area that I've wanted to for a while.  After making my way through very dense undergrowth for a while, I discovered that the Buckeye Trail runs though where I was trying to get to!! This trail instantly became one of my new favorite spots, I'M SO EXCITED!!!!

Ok, so to explain it better, I love Mogadore Reservoir in general because it's close to my house and the birds are great.  I get to watch Osprey and Bald Eagles daily depending on the season. I heard my first Osprey back to Mogadore today!!!  I had previously spotted my first Osprey of 2011 last Sunday at East Branch Reservoir.  So exciting!  Besides big raptors, there are good waterfowl, and migrating songbirds to be seen at Mogadore.  I haven't experienced Spring migration at Mogadore yet, but Fall was great so I can't wait to see what birds turn up now through May!

The section that I finally got into today is along the Northeast area of the reservoir.  The forest bordering the reservoir is mainly Red Pine which I think is very interesting.  Walking through this area, I feel like I am in Florida.  Well I guess minus the fact that it was below freezing today!  The pines are pretty much self-pruning, where the branches and needles are really only at the tops of the trees.  There are many down trees with beautiful bright green moss all over them and ferns are everywhere.  There is also thick shrubby undergrowth and many climbing (vine) species.  It is definitely unlike any other habitat that I've seen in Ohio.  I know that there has to be an Osprey nest somewhere around here and this year I WILL FIND IT.  Here's a photo of an opening in the woods along the path that I discovered!

Hmm, I think I am about done writing for now but I will mention lastly the waterfowl that I saw at the Reservoir...Ring-necked Ducks (many), Lesser Scaups (8-10), Bufflehead (5-6), Canada Geese, Wood Duck (2), and this beautiful Pied-billed Grebe who I like very much : )  He was bathing and preening in the late sun today just before it set...ahhh lovely day

Quick Recap of a Great Weekend...

So, I keep feeling overwhelmed with this blog (not really I guess).  If I go a couple days without writing an entry, I have too much to talk about when I come back on.  I will try to summarize the highlights of my adventures from the last couple days.

I came home to Mentor lasr Wednesday and have been here ever since.  Thursday was a gorgeous day, and while many people were out drinking green beer and eating corned beef, I was in the woods : )  I visited the Mentor Lagoons with Chris in the morning, North Chagrin Reservation through the afternoon, and then Veteran's Park until evening. I watched the sunrise and the sunset, and almost every minute in between I spent outside. Those are my favorite kind of days : )

The Lagoons in the morning was great.  The sunrise over the marsh was so beautiful, and by the time Chris and I got out to the beach, it was getting really warm out.  Flocks of blackbirds and Robins were enjoying the sun too, as they were just flying up and down the beach, doing nothing that I could see, but embracing the day! Also, Red-breasted Mergansers floated in between ice chunks on the lake.  The males were really amped up that morning and the head bobbing and scooting across the water never let up. They were really showing off, and the females being followed around could care less...kinda like our species ; )

While watching waterfowl, two Cooper's Hawks surprised me by flying out of the woods, one after the other, over the lake then back to a tree on the forest's edge. I just love Cooper's Hawks so I was excited, and the male also let out his "kek kek kek" call. Love is definitely in the air for many species now!

Later on at North Chagrin, I enjoyed a beautiful hike along Buttermilk Creek, one of my favorite places. My mom used to take us their growing up - great memories. That is when my bird-watching began...I remember seeing my first Pileated Woodpecker their when I must have been about 12.

Anyway, the views were gorgeous, and the creek was flowing well with all of the melt water and streams pouring into it.  I even saw 2 big Rainbow Trout moving along the rocks.  It's amazing how they will go completly out of water as they move through the stream.  Turkey, Deer, and Coyote tracks were apparent along the creek.

Veteran's Park is always great this time of year because there is always a good amount of waterfowl to be seen.  I watched Lesser Scaup, Ring-necked Ducks, Bufflehead, Gadwalls, Horned Grebes, a Pied-billed Grebe, and probably more that I am forgetting.  I captured a Horned Grebe gobbling down a fresh caught Perch too!

I was thinking that the Spring Peepers should be coming out any day now, and sure enough when I went back the next day, they were calling in full force.  It's amazing what a difference a day makes in Spring.

Other highlights of the weekend included; my first Eastern Phoebe of 2011 (which I saw my 2nd today in the Mentor Marsh) at Indian Point. Also at IP, I watched a Field Sparrow singing, along with Bluebirds and others. The biggest highlight in general was the fact that I made it out to my sanctuary (the farm) on Saturday after volunteering with TNC.  It was a great day in general because TNC outings are always fun and I love Karen Adair.

At the farm, I saw my first Towhee of 2011 (even though they have been around) as well as my first Fox Sparrows, AND my first Bald Eagle to be seen in the boundary of our property.  A Carolina Wren was building his nest that he and his mate started last fall, in our outhouse of all places! He was so thrilled that he was singing with nesting material in his bill. Many other birds were seen and heard, and the magic did not stop even on the car ride home. I wanted to drive by East Branch Reservoir to see if the Osprey had returned. I spotted a Bald Eagle perched first, then an Osprey right above him!! The Osprey was mad that the eagle was on his turf, but what could he really do about it?? Eagles are known to pirate fish caught by Osprey, I've seen chases myself multiple times.  While the Osprey was perched nearby calling, the eagle swooped down and caught a fish! Zack and I watched him devour it. What a day for birding!! My favorite species back in Ohio : )

Ok, it's 1:16AM and I am waking up to go out at sunrise tomorrow morning, I need to wrap this up.  I will just say that I saw one of the Mentor Marsh eagles fly over me as I was watching Northen Pike in their breeding pools!! I have never observed these mean-looking fish before, they are HUGE. I couldn't believe that I found them in such  a shallow area so far in from the lake, but I figured that they came in to lay their eggs. One of the fish had it's young alongside it, it was basically attached. The peepers were very loud in certain places along the marsh, and huge flocks of blackbirds (grackles and RWBBs) were pouring in to roost one the evening came. I'm talking 10,000+ birds. It is an amazing experience to be around this many birds, the noise from the calls and the motion of synchronized flight is awesome. I scanned the birds with my binoculars and observed my first female RWBBs of 2011, I haven't detected any until now (they are inconspicuous though). Lastly, I watched a beaver for a while, gnawing on some fresh twigs, another splendid day. I'm going to bed. Gotta do it all again tomorrow...I love Spring Break : )

Oh, and I call this last photo "The End of Winter".

A Friend Said Hello Today...

Well actually he asked me "who cooks for you? who cooks for you all?" Yep, I ran into a pair of Barred Owls today, much to my delight. I LOVE owls!! I don't really know if it's possible not to love them...Anyway, Rob and I went over to Mogadore Reservoir after class to get a hike in.  I wanted to scope the waterfowl scene mostly, but I'm always looking for what comes my way in nature. Barred Owls are very "friendly" seeming owls, who usually allow a pretty close approach, unlike their evil cousins, Great-horned Owls.  This is one reason to love them.  Plus they have those big dark eyes and they just look friendly.  I'm sure smaller vertebrates wouldn't agree with me.

While admiring a beautiful specimen of Tilia americana (American Basswood), I stopped dead in my tracks after hearing the call.  "Barred Owl!" we quickly turned around and headed that direction.  The male (usually the deeper call) called twice, and then the female called back. Rob and I split up a bit to look around, and somehow I managed to spot one of the birds high up in a Red Pine (presumably the female). From this photo you can get an idea of how well she was camouflaged.

It is very likely that this pair of owls have their nest site selected already (hopefully near where I found them!) and that the female will be laying eggs soon.  Barred Owls do not build their own nests, instead, they use natural (or man-made) cavities, or they will take up an old hawk, crow, or squirrel nest.  Since there are many squirrel and crow nests around here, I am assuming that these owls will adopt one. I can only hope, and I will be checking on them periodically to see if I can't locate the nest!

Barred Owls prefer to be near wetlands. Pre-settlement Ohio was perfect territory for this species, since about 97% of the land was forest, and many swamp forests existed, as well as other forest types which contained streams, ponds etc.  Within swamp forests, one of my favorite early Spring blooming plants is Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus).  We also saw many of these poking out of the mud today.  These can be seen opening up in February even.  In a few weeks, you won't be able to see the ground here because the leaves of this plant are huge and cover the swampy soil.

Yes, that IS a flower inside that beautiful reddish purple shell-looking thing.

The proper terminology for these parts of the plant are the spadix (inside flowering potion) and the spathe (outer shell).  It is always fascinating to come upon a large population of Skunk Cabbage in mid-bloom, because these hardy plants pop up everywhere in the wet soil.  Soon the leaves start bursting out, then by late Spring, the forest floor containing them is transformed. Here are two photos from my property out in Mesopotamia of what it will look like in early April, then early May.

4/11/2009

5/10/2009

Sorry for the wonderful weather teaser, I just wanted to show these photographs!  We have so many things to look forward to, but this full-bloomed green May scene is the climax in my opinion!

Lastly, to end this story up, I will share a photo of the reservoir.  As we came out of the woods, the sky was looking rather beautiful and glowing blue. Two Canada Geese are also seen silhouetted in the photo.

Great Weekend : )

I have a story to tell about today, but first, I had a great weekend. A brief summary; Friday, Brad and I went for a Winter wonderland hike at North Chagrin Reservation. I can't believe that we got all this snow in one night!!!

I mean, I guess this LAST (please!!) covering of the cold white stuff was very pretty, but I'm ready to move on to other pretty things that SPRING has to offer : )  So to get a sneak peak, Chia and I headed down to the Southern half of the state, and left all of the snow and ice behind! Saturday was ridiculously warm! By the time we met my buddy South of the Columbus area, I was in short-sleeves and rolled up jeans. We went out to explore some vernal pools. Without boots, I got into the pools barefoot - yeah, I know, I've been called a hobbit before, it's ok.

sitting amongst calling wood frogs : )

Listening to a chorus of Spring Peepers and Wood Frogs never gets old. Especially after a long Winter. I haven't heard any in my neck of the woods yet, but like I said, I wanted to get a jump start on things further South. We had much luck that day, finding many Spotted Salamanders, as well as some Jefferson, Small-mouthed, and Redbacks. There were plenty of egg masses in the pool as well. Great spot. Here are some photos:

Jefferson Salamander (male)

Jefferson Salamander eggs

I love salamanders, but I love frogs even more. I used to have treefrogs as pets growing up. Raising tadpoles is always a great learning experience too (as a kid or anytime!) Anyway, I went on the challenging task to spot some of the hundred Spring Peepers that I was hearing. I got lucky. Once I located a male by his expanded throat pouch, I sat and watched, and I noticed more and more peepers around! They were everywhere! I must have spotted 10 or more within a 4-foot radius of where I was standing! This beautiful rusty colored male gave me a show:

Another highlight of the trip down South was my first snake(s) of 2011!  Chia spotted them. Two garters right near the den. One slipped back into the den but I was able to photograph the other. He (or she) was a feisty fella who took a snap at me! He had some battle scars and was missing one eye, good luck to him this year!! I took a couple quick shots then we left him alone to enjoy the brief March sun.

Oh, and I guess since I went into a bit more than a "brief summary", I might as well finish by giving a quick list of the waterfowl species that we observed Sunday morning while heading back North through Columbus. We stopped at one of the Metroparks, Pickerington Ponds.  This place had some nice wetlands along with great viewing areas and blind to observe!!!  Species we tallied; Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, American Wigeon, Ruddy Duck, Green-winged Teal (my first!!), American Coot, Horned Grebes (molting and ugly for the moment), Gadwall, American Black Duck, Redhead, and of course, Mallards and Canada Geese. I don't think I forgot any...oh and we did hear and see an Eastern Meadowlark singing : )

Ahhh, What a Wonderful Day...

D
Chagrin Tributary, originally uploaded by DMarcumPhotography.

I decided to get up early this morning so that I would have time to go explore and photograph hopefully the last of the snow for this season. The snow that came down Saturday night was just so beautiful on all of the trees and everywhere, I kicked myself for not getting any photos. I was busy working my horrible job at the Mentor Marsh Nature Center : P

It was a fun day at work, I am working on an informative bird display that will emphasize bird behavior in Spring. Wow, I actually get paid to do this??? Hahaha, living the dream. We also went on a nice walk to look for and interpret tracks in the fresh snow. We had 8 people total on the hike and it seems like everyone enjoyed it. We saw a Cooper's and a Red-tailed Hawk fly by, as well as a group of 5 Tundra or Trumpeter Swans..too hard to ID from the fly-over.

Anyway, my hike this morning was beautiful. One of my secret spots...some of you may recognize it, but I'm not telling hahaha (sorry). I promise I only have like 3 secret spots. 2 of which are within the Grand River and her tributaries, the other within Chagrin's. The sun came out and told Winter that it was time to start melting away. I heard the Song Sparrows singing about it. As I walked along the creek, I continuously stared in awe at the beauty of this sunny morning. The snow was doing that special glistening of every color again.

Hemlock gorges are automatically my favorite habitat type, and if I lived in the wild, that is where I'd live. Everytime there is a creek around, I inevitabley end up in it. Speaking of living in the wild, I have found recently that foxes and I think alike when it comes to choice of path through the woods. We both love walking along ridges of valleys, and I frequently find myself following fox tracks without meaning to. As was the case this morning.

Other than some tracks and some typical birds singing, I don't have much to report as far as wildlife and ecology goes. I took this hike this morning just to get out an enjoy the beautiful landscapes of Winter coming to an end, so I spent more time composing photos than anything else.

After leaving my secret location, I had to head back to Kent for class, which I unfortunately ended up missing (so sad). Since I now had extra time, I stopped by Crystal Lake which is a small preserve owned by The Nature Concervancy. I am the preserve moniter! Yippee! I took a short hike around to scope the place, and discovered 3 hawk nests. None of them appeared to be occupied though : ( I will continue to check for activity...

On the way to my house from Crystal Lake (which is only a few miles down the road) I scanned one of the reservoirs on the side of the road and spotted 6 Hooded Mergansers. 5 males, 1 female. Poor girl. Males were getting rowdy too. I am ready for the ice on all of the reservoirs to melt away so I can go looking for more waterfowl!

I finally got back to "reality" and went to my other to classes for the day. Great day overall, I even had time to ride my bike over to the wetland on KSU property (the one I always mention) and I watched a possum (Virginia Opposum technically) eating a big dead catfish on the side of the pond. I saw at least 5 of these fish dead in the area, they must have froze : ( At least the possum gets to eat! (As well as other scavengers including a Bald Eagle).

 Lastly, I got to see my Mockingbird for the second time in a week on the property, I don't see Mockingbirds too often for some reason, so I always enjoy watching them. Seems he is fond of eating fruits. Ok well I must finish this up and get to sleep I have to wake up at 6:30AM to go out and do some bird-watching in the morning : )

Salamander Hunting : )

I believe that their is fun to be had all year long...and in nature, there is always something new to see in every season. I mean, Winter was cool and all, but I think I can speak for 99% of Ohions and say that it's time for Spring!!! What I'm getting at is that in a way, this weekend kicked of the beginning of a chain-reaction of events that occur in the natural world here in Ohio, and I know REALLY have things to look forward to on a daily basis!

It warmed up into the 50's yesterday with a little rain, so Chia and I decided that it was time to go out salamandering!!! Our buddy Matt met up with us at the Mentor Lagoons...a spot that I frequent year round. There are some nice vernal pools here, and the woods are gorgeous as well. I'm sorry that I didn't take my camera out with me yesterday, but lugging around that bag of bricks on my back EVERYWHERE I GO gets old sometimes. I feel so free when I'm exploring the woods carrying nothing. Plus I can act more like a wild animal : )  Jump higher, climb trees easier, and just manuever quicker in general. If I wasn't a human, I would be a gibbon monkey ; )

Anyway...for a while we didn't have much luck with the salamanders. We had found one egg mass (later to be determined as Small-mouthed Salamander) and plenty of spermatophores stuck to leaves and twigs in the pools. A brief lesson on mole salamander breeding: Mole salamanders spend most of the year underground and under logs...they only come out when it is time to breed (for most species this occurs in early Spring after/during warmer rains). The males will usually get to the pools first and deposit the spermatophores. Females show up later and fertilize themselves with the spermatophores, then lay their eggs. The eggs are stuck together in a gelatinous mass, and the typical number of eggs in a mass varies by species. The babies will be born a few weeks afterwards...I will have a follow up blog on that once it is occuring and I will hopefully accompany my text with some wonderful pictures...I finally ordered my macro lens that I promised myself I'd have by Spring this year : D

No salamanders til this point, but then we had some luck. I was drawn to this huge beautifully twisted and gnarly Silver Maple on a mound of soil in the middle of a flooded pool. After taking my time admiring the structure of this old hollowed out tree (that was still very alive), I looked down and saw beautiful bright yellow spots! A Spotted Salamander was just sitting on the base of the tree not moving at all. Matt and Chia rushed over to get a look at our first salamander of the year. What an exciting moment : ) From here on out, there will be many "firsts" of the year and I am so ready!! Chia got some nice photos of the mac (Ambystoma maculatum) so maybe I can get him to send me a few photos from the day to accompany my blog. Here's one of me in the tree...

Rewinding, before the Spotted, I watched a male Wood Duck leaving from a Maple tree with a nice cavity (I didn't actually see him in the cavity) so I am hoping that he will get a mate and they will nest in it. The spot is jotted down in my mental notebook, so I will keep tabs on it! Other bird sightings included A Cooper's Hawk, a Red-shouldered Hawk fly-over, and some of the usual suspects (Titmice, Chickadees, Cardinals, etc.)

Oooh! I almost forgot! While flipping logs searching for salamanders I found a Hairy-tailed Mole! It was a first for me, I got to watch him run around in and out of a few tunnels for a minute before he disappeared. When I saw it I instantly noticed the odd-looking tail, and as soon as I got to a field guide to identify it, I figured it out. Seeing a new species for the first time is always a memorable and exciting experience  : )  I tried to get Chia over to get some footage of it, but he didn't make it in time.

Matt ended up going home, and Chia and I moved to another section of woods to continue our salamander search. I had my eyes trained down all day, and when I looked up after hearing a cracking noise in front of me, I was surprised to see a male Pileated Woodpecker just chipping away at a tree no more than 20 feet away!!! It was so awesome, you usually don't get that close to them! Once again, no camera...sorry! It is crazy how much of a "photographer" I've become, I never figured that it would be this way but I am always thinking of my next photos or how I wish I had my camera in the rare occurance that I didn't bring it. I try to tell myself just relax and take in the moment, but it doesn't always work that way...anyway...it was still wonderful to watch him so close : )

Speaking of cracking, we heard and saw a pretty large Beech tree fall while we were in the woods! That makes two trees that I watched fall. It's pretty cool. This one was probably about 30" diameter.

Finally at our last pool, Chia's hard work of sweeping his net for hours paid off. He came up with two Small-mouthed Salamanders (Ambystoma texanum). This was the missing puzzle piece because we had found the eggs and spermatophores prior. We wanted to go back out tonight, but the snow pretty much cancelled that for us, so I will be back into the pools as soon as we get more rain : )

Chia and I headed out of the woods just in time for Chris to meet me in the parking lot. Chris and I then headed over to the Zimmerman trail...I just can't be outside enough : )  Since it was almost 5pm, I figured we could go peek around by the Beaver lodge that is over there and see if we could see any action. There are also a pair of Great-horned Owls (possibly nesting) in the area so we figured we might see or hear them too. No such luck though with either. We had a nice little hike, and heard and saw mixed flocks of Grackles and Red-winged Blackbirds, and the best prize for that hike was the resident pair of Bald Eagles perched in one of their favorite areas along the Northwest edge line of the woods along the marsh. They seemed pretty tolerant of us and we watched them for a moment and basically left them alone. It's nice when wildlife cooperates, especially when you don't have your camera. Getting a chance to watch actual behavior instead of behavior in the presence of predators (us).

I think I'm about done writing about my wet day in the marsh, but much more to come on amphibians in the next few weeks!! The way I see it is salamanders, frogs, waterfowl, wildflowers, birds and so on!! From here on out Spring has begun in my book and the fun begins : )  Hopefully you can get out and witness the beauty and nature's seasonal specialties for yourself!

Flooding!

Wet Woods, originally uploaded by DMarcumPhotography.

I haven't posted in a while...I guess I have had a few things to write about since my last post, but no photos to show so I couldn't do it. Anyway, we have definitely had some great advances towards Spring in the last couple weeks!! Hmm let's see, catching up - Turkey Vultures have been back around for a couple weeks now. Red-winged Blackbirds have been coming in since early last week. I have been hearing Song Sparrows on the regular since last week, and other birds like Cardinals, Titmice, and Chickadees have been singing much more than previously too! This is all wonderful : )

After the awesome thunderstorm that we had on Sunday night, we had some serious flooding! Even now, the watersheds are still way high. I went out on Wednesday to check out a heron rookery that is in Kent. Because of the high water in and around Breakneck Creek, I couldn't get very close to the nests at all (it is better not to disturb them much anyway) I wanted to scan the area to get a head count on the herons, and also check to see if any Great-horned Owls hapened to be occupying a nest. They are known to be found using heron nests (among many other nests). The area around the rookery is beatiful, and there were a bunch of woodpeckers around making a racket the whole time I was there. Mallards were also feeding in the flooded woods. I saw plenty of beaver evidence, then the beaver himself decided to let me know that he didn't want me around and slapped his tail on the water at me a couple times! I love beavers : )

 I thought that I wasn't going to be able to see the herons, but for some reason they all flew off the nests at the same time and I was able to get a rough count of about 25 birds (that were flying at least). There are way more than 25 nests. I'm going to go back soon when it isn't so flooded and see if I can get a bit of a closer look. Nesting activity is on the way!

Apparently it is supposed to rain more this weekend, so I hope that it helps thaw out the ground and melt the snow! I'm ready to start looking for amphibians : )