Winter to Summer in 24 Hours

 Wow!  Yesterday the started started off cold and grey and damp, and ended up about 50*F - quite pleasant.  Today we began overcast and chilly, but by noon it was 77*F, and by 4:00 it was 84*F and HUMID!

I had to go into the office today to do some work, and decided to also head out on the trails - primarily to get photos of the prairie three weeks post burn, after rain and warmth.

So, off I went, stopping first to visit my skunk cabbage friends.  Look!  New green leaves have sprung forth from the soggy ground!

And hidden within the modified leaf (the spathe) is the spadix, the actual flowering part of the plant, complete with little flowers.  There were even a few little flies buzzing around.

Reaching the "Dug Pond," which I refer to as the muskrat pond because there is a muskrat lodge out on it, I saw some interesting white "things" sitting on top of the floating vegetation.  What were they?  Some sort of seed pod?  Perhaps a bunch of white berries left over from last year?

Turns out they were snail shells!

Now, some of you may have noticed in last night's photos that the burn was looking significantly less charred.  If you did, then you get gold stars, each one of you!  Yes, indeed the burn is finally showing some green at a distance.  It's amazing what a little rain (okay, a lot of rain, actually) and some heat will do for plant growth.

I thought this was interesting, though.  The part that's really looking green is not the restored area, which is still looking quite brown by comparison.  My educated guess is that this demonstrates just why invasive plants are so successful - they out compete the natives, in this case growing more quickly after a disturbance.  Fear not, though, for when examined up close, the restored area does have quite a bit of new growth coming along, too - just not as significant an amount as the rest of the prairie.

The quaking aspen catkins were looking mighty robust today.  Another example of a flower that we ignore because it isn't showy (and on the ground).

I just love this tree.

I visited one of the coyote dens.  The bits of grass Mickey had placed across the entrance are gone.  Hm.  Activity?  Or merely strong winds?

Here's what I mean by strong winds (that's my hair blowing about):

There were tree swallows galore flying all over the grassland.  Plenty of insects on hand today, thanks to the extremely warm weather.  They were having a feast, and perhaps even enjoying flying on the strong winds.  I watched this pair for quite a while at the nest boxes.

 Might this box become a nest site?

Well...

...maybe we'll keep looking.

I headed next to the glacial pond, where the spring peepers, northern chorus frogs and wood frogs were all in full voice.

Saw a nice pile of painted turtles out on a hummock.  How many can you count?

While I was sitting on a log, enjoying the sounds of spring, I heard a rustle and looked down by my feet.  A large garter snake had crawled out of a tuft of grasses and was sliding beneath my legs...until I moved my hand to get the camera, at which point it did a 180 and zoomed back into the grasses.  I waited patiently and shortly it crawled back up and onto the log.  I noticed its belly was rather large - perhaps it found a good meal in that tuft of grasses at the marsh's edge.

I also saw several dragonflies - they were out and cruising the marsh.  It was as though we skipped spring entirely and went directly to summer today.

The heat was beginning to get to me, though, and I had finished up the bottle of water I brought.  It was time to head back home.

Humid Morning in the Garden

Unable to hit the trails because of low staff numbers, I headed into the butterfly garden this morning to see what might be happening.

The rain from the last 24 hours was sparkling like liquid silver on the leaves of the false indigo, making it an immediate draw for me and the camera.


I am drawn to water drops in a way I cannot explain. One of the things I love about them is how they reflect the world around them, only upside-down and in miniature.

Mr. Snail (or is it a Ms?) was oozing along a milkweed leaf. Their eyestalks always amuse me.

This ladybug was zooming all over the stem and leaves of a globe thistle. She wouldn't hold still long enough to photograph, but I managed to capture this shot just before she dashed out of the frame. I love the striped stem - reminds me of some of the striped pants that were so popular during the '60s/'70s. The color is delicious.

And then there was this guy. I had packed up my gear and was heading inside when I saw him creeping along the pavement toward the front doors.

After several attempts I was able to pick him up and put him on the railing for photographing. This is what he did:

This defensive posture, rearing up and swaying back and forth, is supposed to look threatening. Head on it looks a bit like a snake.

To me, though, it looks more like a manatee or a walrus.

I used to be a member of the Save the Manatee Club, and have several photos of manatee faces, so I am quite familiar with their appearance. This is almost a dead ringer (ignoring the yellow eye spots, of course, for manatees have small, dark eyes).

OH! So what is it? It's a caterpillar of a Canadian Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio canadensis). I had a devil of a time getting an ID on it. Our two caterpillar field guides are pretty basic and this wasn't in it. The closest I could come was the regular tiger swallowtail, except its larvae are green. The rest of the markings (blue spots, yellow eyespots, yellow ring around the neck) were all the same. The field guides say that when young (small) the tiger's larvae are brown, but turn green as they mature. This puppy was already quite mature, so I had my doubts. Two or three searches on-line and finally I found it!

This actually answers a question I've had since late spring when the tiger swallowtails were all over the place. I wasn't sure if we had regular tigers or Canadian tigers. They can be very difficult to tell apart. One of the traits used is size - the Canadians are smaller. But on the wing it is hard to tell. Now we know for sure that Canadian tigers are here in Newcomb, NY!

Portraits of a Snail

One of our staff found this giant land snail in our driveway.

After a quick photo session, I turned it loose in our garden.

It wasn't too happy when we moved it, and retreated into its shell,
leaving its wrinkly foot and eyestalks outside the front door.

Soon curiosity took over and it began to explore.




Snails can actually move pretty quickly when they want to.

My favorite shot - looking over the edge of the leaf.

In this last image the snail was starting to ooze onto my hand and was sampling my palm before deciding if it was safe or not. I could feel the rasping. Hm...I thought the mouthparts were part of the foot. I will have to do some research on snails now.