June 2020: Describe your walk by adding a comment below

Each time you go out and make observations for this project, describe your walk by adding a comment to this post. Include the date, distance walked, and categories that you used for this walk.

Suggested format:
Date. Place. Distance walked today. Total distance for this project.
Categories.
Brief description of the area, what you saw, what you learned, who was with you, or any other details you care to share.

Posted on June 1, 2020 02:36 PM by erikamitchell erikamitchell

Comments

June 1, 2020. Coddington Farm, Warren, NJ. 0.25 miles today, 786.75 miles total
category: insects

I didn't have much time tonight so walked in this local park and an historical home and looked for bugs. I found white snakeroot leaf mines, some insect on pine that looked like hemlock wooly adelgids, plantain beetle mines, ants tending aphids on cleavers, ground ivy galls, ants on a peony, a carpenter ant, ants tending treehoppers on thistle, and aphids on garlic mustard.

Posted by srall almost 4 years ago

June 2, 2020. Mountain Park, Liberty Corner, NJ. 0.25 miles today, 787 miles total
Categories: blooming, mines

Today Molly and I walked together and Katie went off exploring on her own at these local ballfields bordering on woods. It was a beautiful evening and lots of people were out. We picked some clovers so Becca could make a new flower crown without poison hemlock this time.

Booming we found: white, red and alsike clover, black medic, hop clover, least hop clover, birdsfoot trefoil, yellow sweet clover, wintercress, field mustard, a big vetch (hairy?) and smooth tare, curly dock, sheep sorrel, dandelion, purple deadnettle, rose, dewberry, thymeleaved speedwell, cleavers, hedge bedstraw, daisy fleabane, orchard grass, and a sedge

critter-wise we found: a black beetle with red pronotum, a planthopper, a dark flying insect that might have been a caddisfly, a dead cranefly (looked like an assassin bug got it), goldenrod stem galls from last year, and plantain leaf beetle mines in both a broad plantain and English.

Posted by srall almost 4 years ago

June 3, 2020. Washington Valley Park, Bridgewater, NJ. 0.5 miles today, 787.5 miles total.
Categories: blooming, insects

I took a brief walk around the main parking lot in the center of this park in the afternoon, mostly looking for leafmines, but blooming I found deerberry, which is unusual for me, plus some sedges I don't know and red sand spurrey.

As to critters: there were tupelo leaf galls, a flower longhorn, ironwood galls, beech galls, an american carrion beetle (with no carrion in sight), a wierd gall in blueberry leaves like a light colored indent from a (human)finger, oak shothole mines, maple ocellate galls, a goldenbacked snipe fly, a katydid nymph, a couple ants, and plantain leaf mines.

In the evening Katie and Molly and I walked in the same park at the western edge. They ran ahead but I looked for blooms and insects (until it started really raining). Blooming were several sedges, oxy-eye daisy, cinquefoil and arrowwood (an unusual one for me). Not many critters, though, just elm cockscomb galls.

Posted by srall almost 4 years ago

It's great to hear of your adventures out and about! Your leaf miner finds are amazing. I've been looking at leaves a lot this month. I've found leaf galls, but no mines so far. I need to train my eyes to look. I'm way behind on processing photos. It's on the top of my list, but I just haven't gotten there yet.

Posted by erikamitchell almost 4 years ago

June is usually where I lose the race to post what I find, and I end up posting them in December. But there's so much out there to look at I don't want to be stuck behind the computer!

Posted by srall almost 4 years ago

June 6, 2020. Kantor Park and Morristown Rd., Gillette, NJ. 0.5 miles today, 788 miles total
Categories: blooming, insects

Molly and I walked at Kantor through swampy woods along the Passaic River, and then later I walked along the edge of the road by the railroad crossing.

Unusual finds at Kantor were Gray's sedge and whorled loosestrife plus some lawn mushrooms. The creeping Jenny was also blooming very prettily. And by the RR tracks I found a rose that might have been Carolina or sweetbriar, neither of which I see often.

Posted by srall almost 4 years ago

June 8, 2020. Sons of Liberty Park, Liberty Corner, NJ. 0.75 miles today, 788.75 miles total
Categories: flowers, mines, galls

Molly, Katie, and I went up to this quirky park with woods and pond (owned by a man who posted a hand painted sign of the pledge of allegiance at the corner of his property to protest the building of a nearby development). Katie went around on her own but Molly walked with me.

Interesting finds included jetbead, stargrass, sawfly larvae on a grape leaf, marsh bedstraw, beardtongue, comfrey, moonseed, early blue violet leaves, and lots and lots of leafmines.

Posted by srall almost 4 years ago

June 9, 2020 Red Hill section, Warren, NJ. 0.5 miles today, 789.25 miles total
categories: leafmines and flowers

I noticed I'd never posted anything from this neighborhood so drove up and parked and walked a bit along a somewhat overgrown and mucky section of various people's lawns. I passed many walkers. I'm a bit of a sight, in my boot, with a broad brimmed hat, walking slowly and taking photos of "nothing". Two little girls rode by on bike and scooter and on the way back the younger one said "what is she doing?" and her sister told her, "taking photos of cool things, like snakes." I'd have loved to have found a snake, but the most interesting animal was just a deer.

Part of the road was a dead end without even a driveway, and growing out of a crack right in the middle of it was a big mullein plant. I found lots of sedges and leafmines and what might be oregano, plus Rorippa and, oddly, a wild-looking lungwort, the second one I've seen in woods looking like it was not planted there in town.

Posted by srall almost 4 years ago

June 12, 2020. Chimney Rock Park, Martinsville, NJ. 0.25 miles today, 789.5 miles total
Categories: flowers, leafmines.

Molly and Katie and I went to this local park today because Katie wanted to go draw in the woods and I knew where there was an ancient picnic table completely surrounded by woods and brush. Someone had covered it in graffiti since the last time I was there, but it was probably an improvement as I doubt it's been painted in decades.

I found an English plantain with some kind of issue, which made it grow a rosette of leaves just below the flowerhead, like giant bracts. Weird. There was a flea beetle on milkweed, an Agrilus beetle on rose. Plus I found catalpa in bud (Katie thinks the name Catalpa bignonoides is the funniest scientific name ever, but i think this was C. speciosa) and an actual privet that wasn't border privet, for once. They are blooming now, so I try to get privet photos wherever I go.

Posted by srall almost 4 years ago

June 13, 2020. Farmstead Park, Basking Ridge, NJ. 0.5 miles today, 790 miles total
Categories: flowers, leafmines, galls

Molly and I walked this old farm by the river. I found lots of leafmines and she helped me find galls as well. Interesting plants included lizard's tail (unfortunatly not blooming) and hedge-hyssop, plus cuckooflower and trumpet creeper.

Posted by srall almost 4 years ago

June 15, 2020. Bedminster, NJ. 0.25 miles today, 790.25 miles total
Category: white flowers.

Molly and I went for a drive through Bedminster, which is extremely wealthy farm country, and then along a wooded river (and finally, accidentally, straight through the middle of the president's golf course; luckily he'd left town the day before). We stopped at various pull outs and photographed what we could find. At the very first stop I pointed out the window and asked Molly if she knew what the white flowers were (meaning the gray dogwood shrub) she said, what, the white clovers? We got out and proceeded to also find blooming in this one spot: foxglove beardtongue, Japanese honeysuckle, border privet, hedge bedstraw, Philadelphia fleabane, English plantain, ox eye daisies, and a brand new plant for me: seaside brookweed (Samolus parviflorus). All 9 of which had white flowers. So it became a joke and at every stop we looked specifically for the white flowers (though I still had my eye out for leaf mines as well).

The only other white flower we found was daisy fleabane, but there was an Allium I don't know and a forget me not, both of which were almost white. And a lot of yellow clovers and very purple vetches.

Posted by srall almost 4 years ago

June 16, 2020. Warren, NJ. 0.5 miles today. 790.75 miles total
categories: blooming, leaf mines

I dropped Becca at the dentist today and then walked through a nearby field while waiting for her to be done. Then in the evening I just needed to get away from everyone for a bit and drove up the road across from me and walked along the brook (normally I'd have walked, but my foot is still sore). I was surprised to find highbush blueberries with fruit already blue (though not quite ripe). There were lots of leaf mines especially in oak and birch at the first location, and buttercup, violet , and mustard at the second. Plus only the second iNat record ever of a particular leafmine in Virginia creeper.

Posted by srall almost 4 years ago

June 17, 2020. Hoffheimer Trail, Warren, NJ. 0.5 miles today, 791.25 miles total
categories: flowers, leaf mines

Molly and Carl walked with me after dinner at the old, abandoned grotto and an artificial pond here as the light was fading. We found a very placid frog that let us scoop it up before freaking out and hopping away. There were black raspberries with fruit but still red. There's and escaped patch of Deutzia here and it was in full bloom, lovely in the dusk. I saw the first open yarrow flowers of the year. There was Krigia, which I've never seen here before.

I was hoping for bladderwort flowers as I'd found the leaves last fall, but no luck. They aggressively remove the "pond scum" here and must have pulled it as well. It's the only record of any bladderwort in our county.

Posted by srall almost 4 years ago

June 18, 2020. Delaware and Raritan Canal, South Bound Brook, NJ. 0.75 miles today, 792 miles total
category: flowering

Molly and Carl walked with me after dinner again this time along the (very crowded) canal. I've been here many many times but had not seen the little leaf linden blooming before. I was hoping for salsify, but there was no sign of it. I did find a milkweed leaf beetle. And then down on the riverbank a whole swath of blooming water willow (Justica americana) a new flower for me and the first record in NJ not on a huge coastal river. Very neat looking flowers.

Posted by srall almost 4 years ago

June 20, 2020. Lord Stirling Park, Basking Ridge, NJ. 0.5 miles today, 792.5 miles total
Category: blooming

Molly and Carl walked the Great Swamp boardwalks with me this morning, though Molly soon went off on her own, and Carl finished up alone. Carl spotted 5 snakes (3 while with me, one of which I actually photographed, a garter snake). I spotted what turned out to be escaped coriander, something I'd not run into before. They also had green and gold and Indian pinks in their garden, which I'd not seen in "real life" before. As far as actual wildflowers go the only surprise was a single flower of sundrops. But it was a lovely walk nonetheless.

Posted by srall almost 4 years ago

I've just noticed we are over 100,000 observations in the project, wow!

Posted by srall almost 4 years ago

Woohoo on the 100K observations! Who wooda thunk?

It sounds like you've been getting out quite a bit. I love your leaf miner walks. Did you hear that Charley Eiseman is giving a webinar on leaf miners on Wednesday? If you're interested, you need to register at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_tOA3peW6TB6JUzQBJ_fImQ. Charley is also giving a 2-day in person workshop in Montpelier in August. I just signed up!

Congrats on the seaside brookweed and water willow! Too bad about the missing bladderworts. And I've never seen lizard tail, cuckoo flower, jetbead, or Indian pinks (or even heard of them, except for cuckoo flower). Did you find out more about the English plantain growth. Now I'm going to have to become a plantain inspector.

Posted by erikamitchell almost 4 years ago

6-22-20. Miller Lane, Martinsville, NJ. 0.25 miles today, 792.75 miles total.
Categories: flowering, leaf mines

I had intended to walk by the local reservoir today, but unfortunately the park was closed as someone had just drowned (no one is allowed to swim there, but it doesn't stop people). At any rate, I drove to the other end of the park and walked briefly there.

Smartweed (low), thistle (creeping), and pepperweed (Virginia) were bloooming. I found mines in thistle (two kinds), plantain, and deertongue grass. Also a cute jumping spider.

Posted by srall over 3 years ago

6-23-20. Island Beach State Park, Seaside Park, NJ. 0.5 miles today, 793.25 miles total
Categories beach plants, shells

We drove to the beach this afternoon to celebrate a belated Father's Day. I was still in my boot (for the plantar fasciitis) so did not swim. But I stopped by the changing rooms to look at the plants, and we collected some shells on the beach.

Beach plants included: bayberry, spotted knapweed, beach plum, rugosa rose, seaside goldenrod, beach pea, and what might be rush skeletonweed (a new one for me).

Shells included: scallop, jingle, surfclam, mussle, blood ark, oyster, coquina, and jackknife clam.

I also shot herring and laughing gulls and some terns.

Posted by srall over 3 years ago

6-24-20. Pompton River, Wayne, NJ. 0.25 miles today, 793.5 miles total
Categories: blooming, mines

I had to recertify as a CPR instructor, by teaching a proctored class up in Wayne. I got there early and walked along the marsh on the banks of the Pompton River nearby. It's been amazingly dry lately and even the area where the water plantain was growing was dry and hard.

Blooming were pineapple weed, clover (white, alsike, yellow sweet), chickweed, forget me not, trefoil, hdege bindweed, and marsh bedstraw. There were also a lot of sedges, rushes, and grasses in fruit

I found mines in goldenrod, a sedge, poison ivy, stickseed, garlic mustard, jewelweed, deertongue, and Bidens.

I also saw rough oak bullet galls, a skeleton that seems to be raccoon, a zabulon skipper, grape galls, a rush gall, deerfly eggs, and a pair of turkeys on the way back to the classroom.

Posted by srall over 3 years ago

6-24-20. Tallman State Park, Sparkill, NY. 0.5 miles today, 794 miles total
Categories: blooming, mines

I met Sandy @sadawolk and walked at Tallmann State Park today, driving up and down the Palisades Parkway on the way to and from (and stopping briefly at several spots there as well). It was a beautiful day and so much fun to walk with someone else who knows their plants (and doesn't mind stopping every two feet)!

Blooming I found: white clover, heal all, smartweed, fleabane, sanicle, enchanter's nightshade, chickweed, elder, avens, blue-eyed grass, creeping jenny, speedwell, and medic (at Tallman) plus knapweed, cat's ear, milweed, st. john's wort, peppergrass, campion, dandelion, geranium, pink, swallowwort, cinquefoil, knotgrass, pimpernel, plantain, sorrel, trefoil, pinappleweed, motherwort, purple flowering raspberry, and venus' looking glass on the way to/from.

Leafmines I found in: goldenrod, hophornbeam, jewelweed, white snakeroot, goldenrod, dock, and plantain at Tallman, and enchanter's nightshade, reed, garlic mustard, plantain, mock orange, daisy, and burdock on the way.

We also saw beech leaf disease at Tallman, unfortunately. It's so far only in Ohio and here in south eastern NY, but it's supposed to be heading our way. I think every beech we saw was infected, with almost no entirely normal leaves. Very sad.

Posted by srall over 3 years ago

6-27-20. Cushetunk Mountain, Lebanon, NJ. 0.75 miles today, 794.75. miles total
categories: blooming, leaf mines

Molly and I walked up the wooded hill here on the side of Round Valley Reservoir, then a little ways along the powerline clearing. It was sprinking and very hot, almost like swimming as the air was so thick.

Blooming I found: clover, honewort, plnatain smartweed, avens, sanicle, black snakeroot, wild yam, enchanter's nightshade, yarrow, loosestrife, trefoil, pink, fleabane, daisy, dogbane, crown vetch, and purple milkweed.

I found leafmines in goldenrod, false solomon's seal, poison ivy, hog peanut, Aralia racemosa, white wood aster, enchanter's nightshade, and rue anemone.

I also found: a cluster of sawfly larvae in that classic s-shaped posture on hornbeam, a bright orange wasp with black wings, maidenhair fern, a beech fern, and something that had rolled the tips of several fern fronds,.

Posted by srall over 3 years ago

Your leaf mine collection this summer is quite impressive. It has inspired me to take some closer looks. I haven't heard of this beech leaf disease. I'd better read up on it. I'm finding aphids on all the beech leaves around here. I guess that's precursor to the beech bubble bark disease or whatever it's called. Really scary showing up to a park and finding it closed for a drowning!

Posted by erikamitchell over 3 years ago

6/1/20, Pekin Brook Rd, Calais, VT. 1.7 miles today, 2542.1 miles total.
Categories: birds

This morning I took a walk along Pekin Brook Rd heading west. I found robins, yellow warblers, red-winged blackbird, grackle, indigo buntings, alder flycatcher, gray catbird, blue jay, Canada goose, black-capped chickadee, veery, starling, mourning dove, phoebe. Much better luck out in the open than in the woods the past few days. I’m starting to learn where the birds are, and where they aren’t.

Posted by erikamitchell about 3 years ago

6/2/20, Tucker Rd, Calais, VT & Marshfield Pond, Marshfield, VT. 3.6 miles today, 2545.7 miles total.
Categories: birds, blooms

This morning I took a bird walk along Tucker Rd but only found a robin, at least for birds. On the other hand, I found the common columbine in bloom, and the tiny patch of showy orchis in full bloom. Every year I pray that the road crew doesn’t disturb it doing some dastardly road maintenance since it is practically in the road bed. It has survived another year! I also found a soldier beetle larva, and a white-striped black moth. Road kill were a dragonfly and a toad.

In the afternoon I took my kayak out on Marshfield Pond while my husband road his unicycle along the railroad bed road (it’s a real road that used to be a railroad bed, so it’s quite flat). I found Aronia, Labrador tea, leatherleaf, mountain holly, wild calla, chokecherry, mountain maple, bluebead lily, bunchberry, and wild sarsaparilla in bloom. I also found tadpoles, a beaver, and a kingbird.

Posted by erikamitchell about 3 years ago

6/3/20, Moscow Woods Rd, Calais, VT & Sodom Pond, Adamant, VT. 2.4 miles today, 2548.1 miles total.
Categories: birds, blooms

This morning I drove up to the East Calais post office and took a walk along Moscow Woods Rd. I found robin, mourning dove, red-winged blackbird, kingbird, flycatcher, black-throated green, and chickadee. Blooming was dame’s rocket.

In the afternoon, I took my kayak out on Sodom Pond while my husband unicycled Sodom Pond Rd. I found mallards, spotted sandpiper, red-winged blackbird, great blue heron, loon, wood ducks. Blooming along the pond were variegated pond lily and red osier dogwood.

Posted by erikamitchell about 3 years ago

6/4/20, Pekin Brook Rd, Calais, VT & Ricker Pond, Groton, VT. 4.2 miles today, 2552.3 miles total.
Categories: birds, blooms, herps,

This morning I took a bird walk along Pekin Brook Rd heading east. I heard plenty of birds, but only shot a flycatcher, red-eyed vireo, robin, blackburnian warbler, and a mourning dove. Plus some wild turkey chicks that I found in the bushes by their call. Those loud unhappy turkey baby calls, I remember them so well from when we were raising turkeys. Blooming was mountain ash, while the serviceberries have formed green fruits. I found 2 live red efts in the road, 2 dead ones, and a dead garter snake.

In the afternoon I took my kayak out on Ricker Pond in Groton while my husband rode the Groton rail trail on his unicycle. I found robin, loon, bald eagle, song sparrow, kingbird, green frog, painted turtle, and beaver. Insects were tiger swallowtails, fish spider, Melandrena bee, Andrena, and nomad bees. Blooming was Aronia. Budded up was great rhododendron.

Posted by erikamitchell about 3 years ago

6/5/20, Chickering Rd, East Montpelier, VT & Sodom Pond Rd, Adamant, VT. 2.1 miles today, 2554.4 miles total.
Categories: birds, amphibians, insects

This morning I took a walk along Chickering Rd looking for birds. I found song sparrow, mourning dove, white-throated sparrow, goldfinch, chickadee, robin, kingbird, mallard with ducklings, red-winged blackbird, tree swallow, olive-sided flycatcher, and chestnut-sided warbler, plus 10 red efts in the deep woods section of the road.

Later in the morning my husband and I drove down to Adamant so he could unicycle Sodom Pond Rd while I met up with my 2 friends for our weekly bug walk. My friends were interested in seeing dragonflies, so I suggested meeting here at the corner of Sodom Pond, a section I call Dragonfly Alley. In early June, it has swarms of dragonflies. My friends loved it, but actually, although there were indeed swarms of dragonflies, the diversity was rather limited. We found common baskettail, bluets, hordes of chalk-front corporals and an eastern forktail. Other finds were Nabis, aphids, aster tree hopper, Hobomok skipper, spotted thyrus moth, geometer moth, mustard white, sweat bees, two-spotted bumblebee, black and green dialictus sweat bee, musoid flies, eastern calligrapher, Platycheirus fly, Limonia cranefly, asiophegina fly, bee fly, Anasimyia fly, Athous productus beetle, Asian lady beetle, brown leaf beetle, clavate tortoise beetle, golden tortoise beetle, ragweed leaf beetle, winter fireflies (mating), leaf beetles, Eriocampa beetle, Sumitrosis inaequalis, striped cucumber beetle, Donacia beetle, billbug weevil, Plateumaris beetle, Pyractamena lightning bug, Plateumaris beetle, Agonum beetle, dogwood leaf beetle, chrysanthemum lace bug, pirate wolf spiders, jumping spider, goldenrod crab spider, Tetragnatha spider, harvestman, Trochosa spider, dog tick, great tiger moth caterpillar, and Haploa caterpillar. Birds by the pond were Canada goose, red-winged blackbird, turkey vulture, and hairy woodpecker. Blooming along the road was silverleaf cinquefoil.

Posted by erikamitchell about 3 years ago

6/6/20, Lightening Ridge Rd, Calais, VT. 0.8 miles today, 2555.2 miles total.
Categories: bird, insects

This morning I took a walk along Lightening Ridge Rd looking for birds. The birding was great, and I managed to shoot chestnut-sided warbler, flycatcher, downy woodpecker, robin, northern flicker, chipping sparrow, red-eyed vireo, chipping sparrow, goldfinch, black-and-white warbler, phoebe, gray catbird, indigo bunting, song sparrow, chickadee, cedar waxwing, and brown-headed cowbird. I also found a tricolored bumblebee, a golden ground beetle, and a red eft. Road kill today was a ring-necked snake.

Posted by erikamitchell about 3 years ago

6/7/20, Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT & Adamant, VT. 3.3 miles today, 2558.5 miles total.
Categories: birds, insects, bryophytes

I started this morning with a bird walk up Peck Hill. There were lots of birds around, and I managed to find blackburnian warbler, robin, blue jay, kestrel, starling, red-eyed vireo, wood duck, pileated woodpecker, goldfinch, pigeon, song sparrow, and cedar waxwing. I also found a Pseudopolydesmus millipede on the road.

After breakfast I went down to Adamant for my weekly birdwalk. I found song sparrow, robin, crow, crackle, eastern kingbird, ruby-throated hummingbird, red-winged blackbird, hairy woodpecker, and mourning dove. I also found common eastern bumblebee, swallowtail, chalk-fronted corporal, perplexing bumbee, Pyrobombus, multicolored bumbee, Lasioglossum, and Agonomum beetles, as well as painted turtles and a red eft. Road kill was a frog.

In the afternoon I returned to Adamant to work on my moss class homework. I drove up to the end of the public portion of Quarry Rd to visit with a boulder that was fully exposed to sun. On this rock I found Hedwigia ciliata, Ulota hutchinsonia, Schistidium apocarpum, Brachythecium, Dicranum fulvum, Radula complanata, and Dicranum montanum. The rock also hosted quite a few arthropods. I found crab spider, wolf spider red velvet mites, and a harvestman.

Posted by erikamitchell about 3 years ago

6/8/20, Pekin Brook Rd & Camp Rd, Calais, VT. 3.1 miles today, 2561.6 miles total.
Categories: birds, insects

This morning I took a walk along Pekin Brook Rd heading west. I found blue jay, chickadee, song sparrow, starling, grackle, red-winged blackbird, robin, wood thrush, veery, flycatcher, robin, phoebe, Canada goose, and mourning dove as well as an ebony jewelwing and a white-tailed deer.

In the afternoon my husband and I went up to Maple Corner to pick up our CSA share. After the pickup I took a short bug walk along Camp Rd while my husband rode the road on his unicycle. I found chalk-fronted corporal, baskettail, clubtail, crescent butterfly, Rhagio fly, golden tortoise beetle, mottled tortoise beetle, aster treehopper, Chalepus walshii, harvestman, six-spotted orbweaver, Zadontomerus bee, and a blue-black spider wasp. I also found a kingbird.

Posted by erikamitchell about 3 years ago

6/9/20, Tucker Rd, Calais, VT & Eagle Ledge Rd, Worcester, VT. 6.2 miles today, 2567.8 miles total.
Categories: birds, amphibians

This morning I took a birdwalk along Tucker Rd. I heard quite a few birds, but the only ones I shot were crow, raven, robin, goldfinch, and brown-headed cowbird. Blooming today were oxeye daisy and common columbine.

In the afternoon I worked on some homework for my online amphibian course. The assignment of the week was to look up local towns in the Vermont amphibian atlas to check for any data gaps. I noted that there were few amphibians listed there for Worcester. In particular, there were no photos on record of bullfrogs. I figured I knew exactly where to look for bullfrogs in Worcester, out Eagle Ledge Rd. Eagle Ledge Rd is currently a dead end road into wilderness. At one point historically it connected through to Elmore. But a beaver pond sunk the road, which gets no town maintenance, and the town actually forbids any motorized traffic on the road, other than for the few people who own cabins out there. It’s essentially an unofficial park, with a few scattered basic hunting cabins that are open seasonally. There are several ponds along the road and the rest is wetlands, with a steep hillside on the east draining into the wetlands. I walked here a bit a few years ago, but I wasn’t able to visit it at all last year when I was sick.

Today I brought my husband out to show him the possibilities for unicycling and mountain biking. We rode our mountain bikes out to the beaver pond, which I figured might be the best place to look for a bull frog. But to my surprise, the beaver pond was gone and the road continued ahead. But I stopped there anywhere and began hunting for frogs. I found a green frog and a pickerel frog at the site of the old beaver pond. Then we turned around and headed back. I found 9 red efts along the road, 2 green eastern newts in roadside puddles, some spotted salamander eggs in roadside puddles and some minnows. I also found Donacia beetle, white-margined burrower bug, cabbage white, yellow-banded bumble bee, and water strider, plus an olive-sided flycatcher and phoebe. Road kill today was a red eft and a toad.

Posted by erikamitchell about 3 years ago

6/10/20, Pekin Brook Rd, Calais, VT. 1.5 miles today, 2569.5 miles total.
Categories: birds, blooms

This morning I took a walk along Pekin Brook heading east looking for birds. I found -phoebe, pigeon, robin, red-eyed vireo, song sparrow, common merganser, flycatcher, veery, kestrel, and house wren. Blooming were tufted vetch, oxeye daisy, mountain maple, dotted hawthorn.

Posted by erikamitchell about 3 years ago

6/11/20, Chickering Rd, East Montpelier, VT. 1.3 miles today, 2570.8 miles total.
Categories: birds, amphibians

This morning I went out to Chickering Rd for my birdwalk. I had a great time looking for birds, and shot song sparrow, robin, cedar waxwing, a ruffed grouse chick in a tree, red-winged black bird, and olive-sided flycatcher. The deep woods section of the road was loaded with red efts. I managed to find 29 alive, plus 1 dead. Other roadkill was a toad, a hobomok skipper, and a garter snake.

Posted by erikamitchell about 3 years ago

6/12/20, #10 Pond, Calais, VT, and Adamant, VT. 2.6 miles today, 2573.4 miles total.
Categories: birds, insects

This morning I went up to #10 Pond for a bird walk. Earlier in the season I had seen oodles of warblers up there, especially yellow-rumped warblers. But today there was hardly a bird, and hardly any warblers. I found a double-crested cormorant, a chickadee, and a robin. I extended my walk by going up Mirror Lake Rd, a dead end road rising above the pond, and managed to find a scarlet tanager to add to the list. Insects at the pond were tarnished plant bug, mayfly, hobomok skipper, and a cutworm caterpillar. Road kill was 2 toads.

In the afternoon I met up with my two friends for a masked bug walk through downtown Adamant. We started at the church and slowly made our way down to our friend’s house who has magnificent gardens. The bugging was quite rich today. We found little black caddisflies, Asian lady beetle larvae, brown leaf weevil, black firefly, winter firefly, swamp milkweed leaf beetle, Pyropyga beetle, six-spotted tiger beetle, spotted lady beetle, carpenter ants, honeybee, common eastern bumblebee, Lasioglossum, green sweat bee, ligated furrow bee, black-and-gray leafcutter bee, sawflies, Pyrobombus, Andrena bee, velvet mites, zebra jumping spider, wolf spider, chinch bugs, tarnished plant bug, Sehirus cinctus bug, twice-stabbed stink bug, Melanoplus grasshopper, marsh flies, leafminer flies, eastern calligrapher, Thaumatomyia syrphid fly, Conylostylas patibultaus, fenflies, falsehorn flies, crescent butterfly, metallic coleophora moth, white-banded toothed carpet moth, eastern forktail, harpoon clubtail, aurora damsel, and prong-gilled mayflies. I also shot a Cooper’s hawk and a robin.

Posted by erikamitchell about 3 years ago

6/13/20, Lightening Ridge Rd, Calais, VT. 1.5 miles today, 2574.9 miles total.
Categories: birds, insects, road kill

This morning I walked up Lightening Ridge Rd looking for birds. I heard lots of birds, but only shot a few: robins, blue jay, yellow-rumped warbler, house wren, red-eyed vireo, and ruby-throated hummingbird. I found forest tent caterpillar and bicolored sallow caterpillar in the road. Road kill was a red eft, a hairy-tailed mole, and a common garter snake.

Posted by erikamitchell about 3 years ago

6/14/20, Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT & Stillwater State Park, Groton, VT. 2.6 miles today, 2577.5 miles total.
Categories: birds, insects

This morning I took a walk up Peck Hill looking for birds. I found phoebe, chickadee, Blackburnian warbler, wood duck, northern flicker, cedar waxwing, robin, red-winged blackbird, yellow-bellied sapsucker, goldfinch, tree swallow, blue jay, barn swallow, hairy woodpecker, mourning dove, and many more than I heard but didn’t see. Road kill was a hairy-tailed mole.

In the afternoon, my husband and I drove up to Groton so that he could unicycle the rail trail and I could work on my homework for my online moss course. This week I went looking for mosses on woodland boulders. Of course, I also got distracted by insects. Since the state campgrounds were closed for Covid, I took advantage of being able to walk into Stillwater State Park and their campsites by the lake. Usually, only campers are allowed in. But since the campground is closed, there is free access to walkers. I took some weather measurements on the sandy beach by the lake and saw a loon. Then I chose a boulder for moss study in the deep shade. I found some liverworts and Schistidium on the boulder, but noted that like other plants here in Groton, there isn’t a lot of variety. So let myself get distracted by insects. I found Rhagio fly, variable duskyface, little black caddisflies, brown leaf weevil, Asian ladybug, Isomira beetle, winter firefly, Anthanomus beetle, wooly alder aphid, little wood satyr, arched hooktip moth, white-marked tussock caterpillar, Olethreutes micromoth, six-spotted orbweaver, rolled-wing stonefly, and Pyrobombus. I also found a snowshoe hare with its head missing lying in the road. Not quite roadkill. I wonder what killed it.

Posted by erikamitchell about 3 years ago

6/15/20, Pekin Brook Rd & Camp Rd, Calais, VT. 4.2 miles today, 2581.7 miles total.
Categories: birds, insects, road kill

This morning I took a walk along Pekin Brook Rd heading west looking for birds. At the farm on the corner of George Rd I found some pigeons, a phoebe, a robin, a red-eyed vireo, and a flock of cedar waxwings. Further along, I found redstart, indigo bunting, flycatcher, yellowthroat, yellow warbler, song sparrow, white-throated sparrow, northern parula, and red-winged blackbird. I also found a cutworm caterpillar and a northern amber bumblebee. Road kill was a garter snake.

In the afternoon, my husband and I went up to Maple Corner to pick up our CSA allotment. We then parked near Camp Rd for a walk together along the cabins of Curtis Pond. We looped back through the woods and returned along County Rd. We found blue jay, red-eyed vireo, crimson erineium mite, Agromyza aristata leaf miner, elm finger gall mite, crescent butterfly, skipper, powder moth, friendly problole moth, red twinspot moth, Xanthorhoe moth, Euthycera fly and Andrena bee. Blooming was yarrow in pink. Road kill was a red squirrel, a flattened bird, and a toad.

Posted by erikamitchell about 3 years ago

6/16/20, Tucker Rd, Calais, VT & Eagle Ledge Rd, Worcester, VT. 3.7 miles today, 2585.4 miles total.
Categories: birds, insects, blooms

This morning I walked up Tucker Rd looking for birds. I found blue jay, chestnut sided warbler, song sparrow, robin, phoebe, hairy woodpecker, goldfinch, and chickadee. The showy orchis is done blooming for the season, replaced by herb Robert.

In the afternoon I returned to Eagle Ledge Rd alone, determined to get a photo of a bullfrog. Last week when we visited, I thought I heard some in a beaver pond along the road about ½ mile in from where the road is closed to motorized vehicles. So I parked just before the road closure, put my kayak on its portage wheels, and wheeled the kayak down the road to the tiny beaver pond. At the pond I had no luck finding the bullfrog, although I recorded some green frog calls. I found red-winged blackbird, broad-winged hawk, pirate wolf spider, frosted whiteface, bluets, belted white face, chalk-fronted corporal, and eastern newt (green). Blooming were round-leaved sundew, northern blue flag, and wild calla.

Posted by erikamitchell about 3 years ago

6/17/20, Pekin Brook Rd, Calais, VT & St Augustine’s Cemetery, Montpelier, VT. 2.7 miles today, 2588.1 miles total.
Categories: birds, insects

This morning I walked along Pekin Brook Rd heading west looking for birds. I found phoebe, magnolia warbler, belted kingfisher, hairy woodpecker, song sparrow, chestnut-sided warbler, veery, cedar waxwing, kestrel, chickadee, goldfinch, mallard, pigeon, and great blue heron. I also found a snipe fly. Road kill was swallowtails (2) and a red eft.

Later in the morning I met up with my 2 friends in Montpelier for our weekly bug walk. We met at St. Augustine’s Cemetery, a quiet cemetery tucked into the woods on the edge of town. To our surprise, the cemetery looked utterly abandoned by landscapers. No mowing at all had been done, by the looks all season. The grass and weeds were thigh high. We were leery of ticks, so our movement was a bit restricted. We stuck to just the asphalt roads through the cemetery. While we were photographing bugs, a police car came through. We smiled and waved with our cameras and they drove off. We found eastern yellowjacket, Rhinusa weevil, click beetles, Asian lady beetle (larva), American rose chafers, soldier beetle, firefly, Cantharis livida beetle, American copper, tawny-edged skipper, large yellow underwing, crambid snout moth, Peck’s skipper, long dash skipper, Olethreutine micro moth, white-spotted sable moth, eastern calligrapher, crane flies (mating), Conylostylus patibulatus, tiger flies, Rainieria antennaepes fly, twelve-spotted skimmer, eastern red damsel, Lasioglossum, ligated furrow bee, green sweat bee, sawflies, New York carpenter ant, Therion wasp, bicolored sallow caterpillar, jumping spiders, harvestmen, and sidewalk mites. I also noted some Polytrichum piliferum moss on an exposed sandy hill. We saw brown-headed cowbird and robin. We also had a magnificent close up encounter with a black and white warbler carrying a worm in its beak. It was the first time my friends had seen a black and white warbler.

Posted by erikamitchell about 3 years ago

6/18/20, Chickering Rd, East Montpelier, VT & Quarry Rd, Adamant, VT. 2.9 miles today, 2591 miles total.
Categories: birds, insects

This morning I walked along Chickering Rd looking for birds. I truly adore this road for walking. It is quiet and has so many birds! There is rarely any traffic besides the occasional walker. I heard many birds but shot just cedar waxwing, common raven, gray catbird, goldfinch, common yellowthroat, tree swallow, and a mallard with chicks. Road kill was American toad (2).

In the afternoon I went down to Adamant to pick up our biweekly groceries at the Adamant Co-op. I took a short bug walk up Quarry Rd. I was quite dismayed to find a utility crew had been through and clear cut every tree and shrub for 20’ under the powerlines, including cultivated apple trees with beaver barriers. Utter destructive nut-cases with chainsaws. Very dangerous. I shot a few birds, but I tried to focus on insects and not the destruction. I found Canada goose, scarlet tanager and robin for birds. Insects were white admiral, crescent butterfly, clouded yellow, spotted thyris moth, artic skipper, eastern forktail, bluet, chalk-fronted corporal, Diotria hyalipennis robberfly, six-spotted tiger beetle, Oncopsis leafhopper, running crab spider, and a porcupine in the bushes.

Posted by erikamitchell about 3 years ago

6/19/20, Adamant, VT. 2.5 miles today, 2593.5 miles total.
Categories: birds, insects

This morning I returned to Adamant and walked up Quarry Rd and Sodom Pond Rd looking for birds. When on Quarry Rd I tried hard to only look up so as not to see all the horrific destruction of the trees. I found song sparrow, robin, gray catbird, phoebe, blue jay, Canada goose, grackle, cedar waxwing, red-winged blackbird, red-eyed vireo, redstart, kingbird, wood duck, pied-billed grebe, mallard, tree swallow, scarlet tanager, chickadee, and mourning dove. Crawling in the road were bicolored sallow caterpillar, winter firefly, and chestnut-marked pondweed moth. I found a large patch of dog vomit slime mold on a chipping pile. And a cow parsnip marked with flagging tape in a line with the cutting—these guys need to learn their plants before tying flags on any old weeds!

Later in the morning I returned to Sodom Pond with my kayak in hopes of identifying more of the flocks of waterfowl I had seen on the water. But by then the waterfowl were safely hidden in the reeds. I just saw one mallard family with chicks that then ducked deeper into the reeds. But I found plenty of dragonflies, including common white tail, lancet clubtail, aurora damsel, chalk-fronted corporal, dot-tailed whiteface. I also found a marsh ramshorn shell (my first, and first for Washington County), and an otter on out on the pond.

Posted by erikamitchell about 3 years ago

6/20/20, Lightening Ridge Rd & Chickering woods, Calais, VT. 3.9 miles today, 2597.4 miles total.
Categories: birds, insects, bryophytes

This morning I walked along Lightening Ridge Rd looking for birds. I began with a quick trip east to check out the farm fields and found a large flock of wild turkey out across the field. Then I retraced my steps and headed west up the road and found blue jay, brown-headed cowbird, robin, cedar waxwing, gray catbird, song sparrow, chipping sparrow, yellow-bellied sapsucker, red-eyed vireo, and phoebe. I saw a white tailed deer, a pair of groundhogs (mother and cub?), and a chipmunk. I also found a trail of sunflower seeds coming out of a driveway and going up the road and some muddy tracks--black bear for sure. Insects of the morning were two-spotted bumblebee and swallowtail. Blooming was thimbleberry. And road kill was a red eft.

In the afternoon I went out to Chickering Bog to do my homework for moss class. Since it was the weekend, I avoided the crowds on the regular trails and boardwalk by taking the side trail and then cutting out to the bottom of the bog, an area that Charles Johnson and Nona Estrin had shown me once during a walk. I think it might be where Charles did his PhD work on bogs. I took some weather measurements at the edge of the bog, then collected some mosses on the bog mat and in the soggy woods near the bog. I found hermit thrush and dark-eyed junco. Pink lady’s slipper, twinflower, cottongrass, bogbean, Packera, brooklime, and cow parsley were in bloom. For mosses, I found Girgensohn’s peatmoss, yellow starry fern moss, fountain apple moss, dotted thyme moss, woollywort liverwort, delicate frn moss, Tetraphis moss, heart-leaved spear moss, and prairie peatmoss. I also found Eurygaster bug, sawfly, Plateumaris beetle, and a rolled winged stonefly. On my way back along the trail I found a pickerel frog and a wood frog with a warty skin condition that made me think it was a tree frog.

Posted by erikamitchell about 3 years ago

6/21/20, Peck Hill Rd, Calais, VT & Kettle Pond, Groton, VT. 3 miles today, 2600.4 miles total.
Categories: birds, blooms, insects

This morning I walked up Peck Hill looking for birds. It was rather foggy this morning, so I wasn’t able to catch very many with my camera, although I heard quite a few. I found yellowthroat, red-breasted nuthatch, robin, phoebe, starling, song sparrow, yellow-bellied sapsucker, pigeon, and goldfinch. Crawling on the road were unadorned carpet, Xystodesminae millipede, and June beetle. Blooming were blue flag and alsike clover. Roadkill today was a swallowtail, a yellow caterpillar, and hairy-tailed mole (2).

Later in the morning I drove up to Kettle Pond in Groton with my husband. While he rode the rail trail on his unicycle, I took my kayak out on the pond. I found a white admiral butterfly, a clubtail dragonfly, 2 bullfrogs, some sunfish, and a loon. Blooming were mountain ash, gray dogwood, Labrador tea, sheep laurel, black huckleberry, black locust, and pink lady’s slipper.

Posted by erikamitchell about 3 years ago

6/22/20, Pekin Brook Rd and Camp Rd, Calais, VT. 3.3 miles today, 2603.7 miles total.
Categories: birds, insects

This morning I walked along Pekin Brook Rd heading west looking for birds. I found woodpecker, phoebe, goldfinch, robin, yellowthroat, yellow warbler, cedar waxwing, and the kestrel that’s been hanging out in the red pine overlooking the farm on the corner of George Rd. He’s been there for about a month now. I also found white-tailed deer and red eft. The milkweed is now budding. Roadkill today was a toad.

In the afternoon my husband and I went up to Maple Corner to pick up our CSA allotment. While he unicycled around Curtis Pond, I did a bug walk along Camp Rd. I found sweat bee, Wilke’s mining bee, oblique-banded pond fly, tawny-edged skipper, crescent, European skipper, white admiral butterfly, bluets, Orius bug, Analeptura lineola beetle, Silpha beetle larva, and a goldenrod crab spider eating a crescent butterfly.

Posted by erikamitchell about 3 years ago

6/23/20, Tucker Rd, Calais, VT. 2.1 miles today, 2605.8 miles total.
Categories: birds, insects

This morning I walked along Tucker Rd looking for birds. This is another of my favorite bird walks. The road is generally quiet in the morning, and it goes through a patch of deep woods before opening up at a small homestead farm with a very unkempt front flower garden that the birds adore. I found robin, turkey, red-eyed vireo, song sparrow, downy woodpecker, indigo bunting, chipping sparrow, common yellowthroat, purple finch, phoebe, raven, and goldfinch. I also found a barred owl feather in the road. Road crossers today were a gorgeous red and maroon spider, orange cutworm caterpillar, and northern pearly eye butterfly. In a sunny patch in the deep woods was a cluster fly lek. Road kill today was a smooshed frog.

Posted by erikamitchell about 3 years ago

6/24/20, Pekin Brook Rd, Calais, VT. 2.4 miles today, 2608.2 miles total.
Categories: birds, road crossers

This morning I walked along Pekin Brook Rd heading east looking for birds. I found song sparrow, belted kingfisher, great blue heron, yellowthroat, yellow-bellied sapsucker, and kingbird, and heard a lot more birds. Road crossers today were a red eft and Feralia caterpillar. Blooming was a wild rose. Roadkill was a toad and a red eft.

Posted by erikamitchell about 3 years ago

6/25/20, Chickering Rd, East Montpelier, VT. 3.3 miles today, 2611.5 miles total.
Categories: birds, blooms, insects

This morning I returned to Chickering Rd for a bird walk. I found robin, catbird, phoebe, chestnut-sided warbler, yellowthroat, sapsucker, chickadee, red-breasted nuthatch, scarlet tanager, and blue jay. I also watched a barred owl dismember a large black bird (crow?) from a nearby branch overhanging the road. I found 4 red efts today in the road, all alive. Roadkill was a European skipper.

In the afternoon I met up with a friend from our Saturday walking group who had invited the group out for a special private hike to see a patch of showy lady slippers. But 2 of us had to work, and a third didn’t think there was anything special about showy lady slippers. So it was just the 2 of us who went out on the hike. I have to admit that I thought we were just going to see some more pink lady’s slippers, but I was glad for the outing with good company. When we got to the bog with the showy lady’s slippers, my jaw dropped—acres of showy lady’s slippers in full bloom, the most amazing floral sight I have ever seen. Also blooming were blue flags, cottongrass, and white bog orchid. Along the way, I also found Pidonia beetle, stonefly, Arabesque orbweaver, common whitetail, and western honeybee. Dwarf raspberry fruits were ripe. Roadkill was a European skipper, again.

Posted by erikamitchell about 3 years ago

6/26/20, Adamant, VT and Hubbard Park, Montpelier, VT. 2.2 miles today, 2613.7 miles total.
Categories: birds, insects, blooms

This morning I drove down to Adamant for a bird walk along the ponds. As I walked along Quarry Rd, I was careful to keep my head up in the trees so as to not focus on the destruction of the clearcuts. I found cedar waxwing, phoebe, robin, veery, blue jay, broad-winged hawk, chickadee, kingbird, song sparrow, catbird, goldfinch, red start, wood duck, pied-billed grebe, red-winged blackbird, mallard, red-eyed vireo, mourning dove, Canada goose, and a grackle. Blooming today were yellow sweetclover, oxeye daisy, and black-eyed susan. Deer were everywhere, and I photographed 3 at close range. Roadkill was a toad.

Later in the morning I met up with my 2 friends for our weekly bug walk. Today we met at Hubbard Park in Montpelier at a small frog pond at the bottom of the park. We didn’t get much further than the frog pond, but we had great fun chasing insects together. We found Condylostylus patibulatus, Platycheirus syrphid, Dolichopodinae flies, Machimus robber flie, long-haired forest fly, Xylotina fly, eastern calligrapher, eastern forktail, clubtails, common whitetail, ebony jewelwing, Lasioglossum bee, honeybee, nomad bee, eastern calliopsis bee, European paper wasp, dark paper wasp, Tenthredo wasp, Zadontomerus bee, banded olethreutes moth, four-lined plant bug, Agalliopsis ancistra hopper, Asian lady beetle, six-spotted orbweaver, Leiobunum ventricosum harvestman. We also found bladder snails in the water, green frogs, and tadpoles.

Posted by erikamitchell about 3 years ago

6/27/20, Lightening Ridge Rd, VT. 2 miles today, 2615.7 miles total.
Categories: birds, road crossers, blooms

This morning I walked along Lightening Ridge Rd looking for birds. I found robin, catbird, chestnut-sided warbler, mallard, yellow-bellied sapsucker, Blackburnian warbler, cedar waxwing, phoebe, brown-headed catbird, hairy woodpecker, song sparrow, ruby-throated hummingbird, and goldfinch. I also found American rose chafers, black firefly, Sunira caterpillar, Cylindoiulus millipede, orange fly, splendid palpita moth, rain beetle, Laphria flavicollis robber fly in the road. Blooming today were meadowsweet, dotted loosestrife, and black-eyed Susan. Road kill was an Aphelorini millipede.

Posted by erikamitchell about 3 years ago

6/28/20, Peck Hill Rd & Dugar Brook Rd, Calais, VT. 2.1 miles today, 2617.8 miles total.
Categories: birds, bryophytes, stream creatures

This morning I took a walk along Peck Hill Rd looking for birds. I found robins, phoebes, kingbirds, yellow-bellied sapsuckers, indigo bunting, and eastern kingbird. The milkweed has started to bloom.

In the afternoon I went up to Dugar Brook to do some homework for my online classes. For my amphibian class, we are trying to fill missing data points from the Vermont amphibian atlas. Calais has not yet had any sightings of a spring salamander and there ought to be some. And I have never seen one in my life. In class we learned that they like fast moving mountain streams. I thought for a bit about where I could get access to a fast-moving mountain stream in Calais, and then remembered that a friend who lives along Dugar Brook Rd had once told me I was welcome to walk along the cascading waterfall on her property any time. So I headed up to her cascades. In the meantime, for mosses class I also needed to visit a wet site to study streamside bryophytes, so I could do 2 field trips in one. For mosses and liverworts along the brook I found Brachythecium rivulare, Bryhnia novae-angliae, Pellia neesiana, Rhizomnium puntatum, Climacium americanum, Fissidens bryoides, Schistidium rivulare, Anomodon, Fontinalis, Conocephalum salebrosum, and Racomitrium. Then I started turning stones in the stream, looking for spring salamanders and other amphibians. I found stonefly larvae, darner larvae, a green frog, some minnows, and finally I uncovered a two-lined salamander. But no spring salamander today. And suddenly I heard a clap of thunder nearby so I dashed out of the bushes and back to my car.

Posted by erikamitchell about 3 years ago

6/29/20, Pekin Brook Rd, Calais, VT. 2 miles today, 2619.8 miles total.
Categories: birds, blooms, roadkill

This morning I walked along Pekin Brook Rd heading west looking for birds. I checked in with the kestrel at the farm on the corner, then found yellow-bellied sapsucker, northern flicker, mourning dove, song sparrow, kingbird, cardinal, waxwing, red-eyed vireo, flycatcher, robins, catbird, and goldfinch. Sweetpea was in bloom. Roadkill was a swallowtail and a red eft.

Posted by erikamitchell about 3 years ago

6/30/20, Tucker Rd, Calais, VT. 1.7 miles today, 2621.5 miles total.
Categories: birds, road crossers

This morning I walked along Tucker Rd looking for birds. I was quite happy to finally get a photo of the noisy raven family that’s been hanging out along Lightening Ridge Rd. I hear them most mornings on my walks, from Pekin Brook to Chickering Rd. There appear to be about 3-4 juveniles and 1-2 adults. They were feeding in the farm field along Lightening Ridge. I also found goldfinch, song sparrow (feeding young), flycatcher, and hairy woodpecker. Road crossers today were a chipmunk, red squirrel, deer, and a red eft. Roadkill was 2 red efts.

Posted by erikamitchell about 3 years ago

6/30/20, Tucker Rd, Calais, VT. 1.7 miles today, 2621.5 miles total.
Categories: birds, road crossers

This morning I walked along Tucker Rd looking for birds. I was quite happy to finally get a photo of the noisy raven family that’s been hanging out along Lightening Ridge Rd. I hear them most mornings on my walks, from Pekin Brook to Chickering Rd. There appear to be about 3-4 juveniles and 1-2 adults. They were feeding in the farm field along Lightening Ridge. I also found goldfinch, song sparrow (feeding young), flycatcher, and hairy woodpecker. Road crossers today were a chipmunk, red squirrel, deer, and a red eft. Roadkill was 2 red efts.

Posted by erikamitchell about 3 years ago

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