A Variety of Wildlife Visit the Beaver Pond

There's been a great variety of wildlife species visiting the beaver ponds these days. Everything from Coyotes to Ruffed Grouse have been showing up at irregular intervals.

White-tailed Deer are among the most common visitors to the ponds

A Coyote comes down the path and checks out the beavers' latest engineering effort 

A Fisher showed up a few times this week

A large buck came by at night

Catbirds were common at the beaver ponds until they migrated south

A young buck comes up right alongside the camera

Beavers enjoying a late afternoon siesta 

A Green Heron skulks by the camera

A Red Squirrel scampers up the lodge-like construction on the bank

A rare visit from a Rusty Blackbird

Recent Comings and Goings at the Nature Preserve

A male Rose-breasted Grosbeak samples an apple blossom

Lots of things have happened since my last posting. For the songbirds, migration wrapped up and nesting has begun. Flowers are still blooming, though not so many in the woods. Here are a few of the pictures that I managed to get:

A male Scarlet Tanager sings at the border of the old woods

A male Baltimore Oriole - the species is not as common as it used to be

Swainson's Thrush was singing in the old woods for about a week

Swainson's Thrush hunting insects by the creek on a cold morning

Seldom seen during migration - Gray Cheeked Thrush - having a wing stretch 

The Great crested Flycatcher - looking for a tree cavity to nest in

A Yellow-bellied Flycatcher - another north bound migrant

Rose-breasted Grosbeak stops at the post for some sunflower seeds

A female Hooded Merganser has been seen frequently on the beaver ponds

A male Common Merganser stretches his wings

Male and female Wood Ducks

A Coyote stops to see who entered the field - it's just me

A Male Bobolink sings in our high brushy meadow

An adult Tree Swallow takes a look out the door

Young Tamarack pine cones start out purple

Bitternut Hickory Tree in bloom

Golden Ragwort grows in wet shady places

Ohio Buckeye in  bloom along the trail side

Pitch pine with new growth and the beginnings of new cones

White Baneberry in the old woods

Native Red Columbine

Dwarf Delphinium - only one plant bloomed this year

The Red Eft or Red-spotted Salamander

A Dazzling Display of Forest Wildflowers

Red Trillium had a good showing in the old woods

It was impossible to keep on top of everything as it happened this spring. The wildflowers in the old woods had gotten off to a slow start, but then unseasonably warm temperatures at the onset of May caused everything to explode out of the ground. Leaves also came out almost overnight and transformed naked winter-like tree tops into a shady canopy.  The earliest wildflowers like Spring Beauty, Hepatica and Bloodroot enjoyed an extended bloom time, while virtually all of the second wave blooms were much shorter lived.  

Large-flowered Bellwort with its unusual drooping and leaf-like flower

Trout Lily also known as Dog-tooth Lily

Toad Shade - some years it's the first to bloom - this year it's way down on the list

Toad Shade Trillium flowers sometimes have green petals 

One of our rarest flowers - Rue Anemone

False Rue Anemone

Jack-in-the-Pulpit is enjoying a long blooming period despite the warm weather

Red Trillium at the height of its power

Close to the ground and often missed - Wild Ginger flowers

Wild Ginger 

One of the last Bloodroot flowers to keep its petals 

Spring Beauties 

Dutchman's Breeches were rare this spring

Twinleaf bloomed for a very short time

Round-leaved Yellow Violet

White Sweet Violet

Long-spurred Violet

Goldenseal

White Trillium in all its glory

Foam Flower

Miterwort or False Bishop's Cap

Moosewood or Northern Striped Maple

Scarlet Elf Cup - a Fungus

Fiddleheads of the Christmas Fern

Fiddleheads of the Long-leaf Beech Fern

The forest's official greeter