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".

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!