The Nature Corner

Nature Notes ~ April 2010

4/22/10 HAPPY EARTH DAY!! ****************************************************************

4/19/10 Yesterday afternoon we spotted a rainbow! Got a few pictures - will post one soon!

****************************************************************

4/14/10 A glorious week! Spring at its finest - sunny, cool (but not at all cold) and the landscape popping with color. :)

**************************************************************** Tomorrow we will attend our April Nature Club meeting - looking for amphibians in the vernal pools of spring. ****************************************************************

4/7/10 Just spotted the same "new" bird we saw on Easter Sunday - looked kind of familiar but definitely not a regular. Looking him up in the field guide, he appears to be an Olive-Sided Flycatcher. We had one here a few springs ago (a post is here somewhere in my archives) so he must be a migrant at this time of year.

************************************************************** Much excitement here today - the street sweepers are in the neighborhood! **************************************************************** Very warm today - 85 for a high. Everything is really popping now with all this warmth after all that rain. It's so exciting to watch spring unfold! **************************************************************

4/1/10 April at last! March was the cruel month this year ... let's hope April takes pity on us. We're expecting some warm sunny days coming up - which will be a wonderful break from all the rain and rawness we've had. We had flooding again Tuesday night - and from the sounds of it, so did every one of our neighbors. The water table is just too high - there's nowhere for the rain to go except into our homes.

************************************************************** The forsythia is about to burst into bloom - my eyes, drawn to the patches of yellow along the roadside, tell me this, as do my spring allergies! **************************************************************

Nature Notes ~ Early March

3/4/10 The boys and I have lots of backyard bird news to share ... pictures too. We think we might be detecting signs of an early spring! ****************************************************************

3/2/10 The boys and I have lots of backyard bird news to share ... pictures too. We think we might be detecting signs of an early spring!

****************************************************************

Nature Notes Early February

2/10/10 Snow on the way today ... about 8 inches forecasted for our area. The birds are getting an early start at the feeders ... ****************************************************************

2/5/10 We're dodging quite the bullet up here in New England. There's a *major* storm moving into the mid-Atlantic region, bringing a foot or more of snow this weekend. We'll just see flurries and cold temps ... but we'll have our shot at significant snow mid-week.

****************************************************************

2/1/10 Cold, bright and blustery on this first day of February. Wondering what the Groundhog will see (or not see) tomorrow?

****************************************************************

Nature Notes from Mid-January

1/19/10 Lots of snow over the weekend! At least 6 inches, maybe more. It's snowing softly this morning again ... and everything's coated in white. So beautiful. ****************************************************************

1/17/10 We've been having a January thaw here these last few days (temps in the mid 40s). I spied a few robins along the side of the road - what a heartening sight! Snow on the way tonight, though - 3-6 inches by Monday morning ...

****************************************************************

1/14/10 So incredibly cold here this week - slight "warm up" (if you want to call it that, lol) this weekend. Temps may get up into the lower 40s. Lots of snowcover, but bright sunny skies. Typical January weather for New England.

************************************************************** Starting a unit on "ice" with Earlybird ... a post on that soon. ************************************************************** By the way, I've started updating The Nature Corner again - TNC is my blog for archiving these Nature Notes - a personal almanac of sorts. It's in dire need of sprucing up, but for now at least it's current again. The link to TNC is on the lefthand sidebar here - just a bit further down. **************************************************************

Nature Notes at New Year's

1/5/10 Like a winter wonderland here! Lots of snow on the ground and it's cold cold COLD this week. The birds are beautiful to watch ... we are finding lots of interesting tracks in the snowscape. :) ****************************************************************

1/1/10 Happy New Year! Did you see the sunrise this morning? Oh, it was so very lovely. :) Here in New England we're bracing ourselves for a big weekend storm ~ as much as a foot by Sunday night!

****************************************************************

12/25/09 Christmas morning dawns bright and cold. A clear day ahead ... rain's on the way for the weekend.

**************************************************************** We have ourselves a white Christmas this year ... thanks to the remains of last weekend's storm. :) ****************************************************************

12/20/09 One day shy of the Winter Solstice and we're hit with a BIG Nor'easter! Several inches of snow on the ground now ... and with a cold week predicted, it will surely be a white Christmas in these parts. :)

****************************************************************

Nature Notes ~ End of August

8/28/09 Expecting Hurricane Danny to cross our path sometime this weekend. Mostly just rain and some wind - nothing too bad. ****************************************** The cicadas are busy these days, filling the thick summer air with their song. ****************************************** Our Shakespeare roses are blooming nicely as are the heavenly blue morning glories. The sunflowers are spent, having been picked over by the birds. ******************************************

Nature Notes ~ Early May

The Merry Month of May has arrived! Everything is vivid spring green and all flowering pink and white. Frothy, feathery greens. Daffodils still and dandelions dot the grass. ****************************************** Cherry tree is blossoming, so time to watch for orioles and warblers. ****************************************** Spotted the first dragonfly on Saturday! ******************************************

Nature Notes ~ Earth Week

Happy Earth Week! Go hug a tree! :) ****************************************** A female brown-headed cowbird is in our tray feeder right now. She and her mate return every spring. ******************************************

Nature Notes ~ Mid-April

Gorgeous spring week here: highs in the upper 50s and sunny. Today we might hit 70 degrees! ****************************************** Just spent several minutes trying to photograph an enormous woodpecker at the feeders. I have to look him up in the bird guide to be sure of his id but he visits rarely - and is so skittish. I took pictures from where I sat at the table (through a window and window screen) so who knows if the pics will come out. But I knew if I tried to get up close to the window he'd vamoose. ****************************************** Blooming now: forsythia, crocus, daffodils, dandelions, a few flowering trees. ******************************************

Nature Notes ~ Early April

Street sweepers are circling the neighborhood - another clear sign of spring! :) 

******************************************

Gray skies, light rain - becoming heavier through the day. Opening Day has been postponed till tomorrow.

******************************************

So much happening in Nature just now, I can barely keep up! We've had nightly visits by a skunk (scrubbing around under the birdfeeders) and found skunk scat in the same area. One night we woke to terrible screeching in the woods - and only because we've heard it before at this time of year did we not panic - we think something was mating. The mourning doves are acting all frisky with each other - we found a freshly hatched egg beneath the stand of pine trees out back. I say fresh because there was still - don't read this if you are squeamish - bloody membrane inside. Definitely a dove egg, from a quick google search. A family of blue jays comes to the spruce tree every day - the babies are larger and fluffier than the parents and squawk like crazy for food. The juncos are still around as of this morning, but their days are numbered here. These snowbirds will head north pretty soon. Oh, and the goldfinches! So many goldfinches at the feeders these days; they're feathers are turning vibrant yellow. We can hear the peepers in the woods daily now. Our vernal pond is teeming with life. Crocus is all over the yard and my mum's daffodils are in full bloom. Trees and bushes are covered in buds, looking ready to burst. Temps. have been on the cool side (high 40s through mid 50s) with an occasional day near 60 degrees. On the milder days we'll see a lazy wasp float by and OH! Yesterday we had a bright orange butterfly flit through the yard. :)