Wordless Wednesday (Turkey Vulture)
Do they watch us or do we watch them?
Migrant Waterfowl Moving Through Allegany State Park
American Coot with Canada Goose.
Today was my first sign that waterfowl started moving through the Allegany State Park area. Canada Goose have been in the area all summer long (go figure!) and the Double-crested Cormorants have been around for the past month (or two). Woodducks and Mallards . . . where did you go?? But I never expected to find this odd shaped bird swimming in Red House Lake?? . . . . YEAH!! An American Coot!! Lucky the Geese were keeping this Coot’s attention while I was trying to photograph it . . . . I got “fairly” close to it. (more…)
mil•li•pede
A popular Millipede photo I took in 2005.
Millipede
mil•li•pede (noun) or mil•le•pede
a small plant-eating arthropod with a tubular body made up of segments. Most segments have two pairs of legs. Class: Diplopoda (more…)
Northern Slimy Salamander
Northern Slimy Salamander
While out on the Conservation Trail last week, I came across a few Northern Slimy Salamanders under some logs. They are cute little salamanders but think twice before picking them up!! Their skin has a secretion that is very sticky and hard to wash off your hands!! Hello . . . that’s why they call them “slimy” salamanders!! They are identified out in the field bytheir shiny black coloring and white spots.
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Visit by Nature Woman
Closed Gentian
Today Nature Woman (Pam) made a trip out to Allegany State Park to visit and do some hiking! Even though it was cold and cloudy outside . . . . we still had a fun day hiking through the park looking for many fall wildflowers to photograph. (more…)
Osprey
Osprey at Quaker Lake
I get many bird questions when campers are visiting Allegany State Park. Some of those questions asked include “Where is the best place to go birding?” or “What is the rarest bird that can be found in the park?”! But the most commonly asked question “is that an Eagle nest I sw when I enter the park?”! I am always happy to say “those birds called an Osprey”! It is truly sad when these birds migrate south because I will no longer get any of these Osprey (Eagle) questions! It has been a week since I saw my last Osprey and I am starting to feel like our local birds have finally headed south. (more…)
Hide and Bird Seek
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
I have dishes to clean, laundry to do, cat fur to vacuum up, etc . . . . but after dinner I craved the need to find warblers! Who doesn’t have a bazillion of things to do at home?? But, I couldn’t help heading over to Allegany State Park to seek out some birdies (You shocked?). Within the first few minutes of walking along the bike path I heard a Red-Eyed Vireo calling!! The little red eyed freak wouldn’t show itself but did get a quick glimpse of a Magnolia Warbler. I finally gave up looking and continued walking along the path. “Shhhhh, their is a bigger bird in the dogwood”!! I use my bird squeaker that I keep on my camera and what pops up but a Rose-breased Grosbeak!! Hey, I have not seen these guys in a few weeks! “What Up”?? That was enough to scatter not the one but probably 10 Grosbeaks in their! Nope, make that 9 . . . . one of them is a Gray Catbird. (more…)
RUTH ROCKS!
Does this picture look familiar?
The picture above was stolen from “Nature Knitter Blog” (Sorry Ruth)!. But there is reason for me doing so (really there is a reason)! Ok, here is the story! While catching up on everyone’s blog postings . . . . last Tuesday Ruth did a post where she said “No time for a post tonight. See you tomorrow with jelly pictures!” And of course . . . . me being the dumb ass that I am . . . . I say “send a jar my way? Hmmm”!! Then on Wednesday Ruth posted this picture of her amazing Grape Jelly that she made!! I really do need someone to sensor what I type because I was thinking with my stomach and said “Looks like the one on the far left wasn’t filled up all the way. You really shouldn’t save that one so please feel free to send it off this way! LOL!”. O – Ruth . . . . you sure are a sweetheart!! I bet you can’t guess what ended up in my mail box this evening? (more…)
Movement South
Sun Set Along Red House Lake
Every day is feeling more like fall with a few leaves changing color and goldenrods becoming bright yellow. I only had two (maybe three) hummingbirds visiting my hummingbird feeder this morning and couldn’t find any Chimney Swifts this evening (assuming they are all gone now). During the daylight hours there was a migrant Phoebe wondering around the yard. I can’t even tell you the last time I saw an Eastern Phoebe in my neighborhood. As much as I hate to admit it . . . . fall is here and migrants are moving south in full force. (more…)
Dear Mr. Goose
Typically I am ignoring you but finally Allegany State Park is quit again . . . . and well, I am also a little bored. Everyone is back to work and the kids are in school learning things. Swimmers are not running around barefoot on the beach . . . . but I still would like you to stop pooping everywhere (that’s just nauseating). Right now it is just you and me my friend hanging around Red House Beach. Those warblers are too high up in the trees for me to photograph, although I can hear them calling down to me. Mr. Goose, I have a confession to make. . . . I love taking pictures of birds and you’re all I have today . . . . I am sorry that I caught you preening your feathers . . . . I could have waited until you were done prettying yourself up for the camera. (more…)
Chimney Swifts in Allegany State Park
Chimney Swift
One of my joys of being around Allegany State Park is watching the Chimney Swifts entering chimneys around the Administration Building during dusk hours. These unique birds look almost like flying cigars and are remarkable fliers. You typically hear them chattering before you ever get a chance to see them. Chimney Swifts are constantly flying throughout the day in search of food and can travel long distances. They will roost and nest in chimneys and are historically known to use the hollow trees in the forest for nesting. I sometimes wonder if they are not still doing this in some areas. (more…)
Visiting My Neighbors Spider
Writing Spider
The past week I have found every reason in the book to head over to my neighbor’s house to chat. First day was to discuss how his holiday went . . . . second day was to talk about work things . . . . third day was about the Yankee game that I could hear in the background . . . . ect . . . . but the truth is that all I really wanted to do is to check how his Garden Spider was doing! (is that bad??) These are without a doubt my all time favorite spiders!! (more…)
Bird Searching
Green Heron
This weekend we made some time searching for some birdies! The Osprey continued hanging out around the Osprey platform as many small warblers were peeping along tree tops among the leaves. Cedar Waxwings appeared to be everywhere but it was this Green Heron who really allowed us to get the closest to it. (more…)
Insect Searching
Green Darner Up Close
Between dodge ball and many other fun activities this weekend . . . . we still found a few hours to focus on insects. We headed out to the Bova Area and quickly caught a few butterflies species flying around. They included the Common Ringlets, Pearl Crescents and Eastern Tailed Blue but those dragonflies were what everyone was most focused on. (more…)
Wordless Wednesday
MW putting on a show before watching Happy Feet at the campsite.
Labor Day is about Camping
I hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day holiday this weekend. Of course my little buddy Young Naturalist J’s family and other friends were camping here in Allegany this weekend. They are always soo good to me and did someone say fun? . . . . I will let the following pictures show you how much fun we had!! (more…)
Whale Watching at Cape Cod
Humpback Whale feeding on small fish and plankton.
By Young Naturalist C – This summer I went on vacation to Cape Cod with my family and we decided to go on a Whale Watch on the Portuguese Princess. We started by waiting 20 minutes for the boat to take off towards the ocean. After a 1/2 hour boat ride we finally started seeing the whales and the on board educator was pointing out the whales using the clock system (“Whales at 9 o’clock”). We approached slowly as a few whales were feeding on small fish and plankton.
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Interrupted Fern
by Pam
Even though I’m a major tree lover from the time I could climb them, I also love the large diversity of plants and other living things that grow on and underneath trees, including wildflowers, club moss, mushrooms, moss, lichens, liverworts, horsetails and ferns.
Ferns were just interesting green things I used to appreciate but never really thought about identifying until I took a field botany course and found out identifying ferns is really not hard at all! The best book for identifying ferns is Fern Finder, by Anne C. Hallowell and Barbara G. Hallowell.
This particular book is a guide for native ferns of central and northeastern US and Eastern Canada. There is the Pacific Coast Fern Finder, also.
One fern that doesn’t need keying out is the Interrupted Fern (Osmunda Claytoniana). While I read and learned about this unique fern for my class, I never imagined when I first saw it growing at Allegany State Park in May that it would be as tall as it was at that time. The fronds (“leaves”) can grow up to six feet long! Interrupted fern has fertile pinnae (“leaflets”) “interrupting” sterile pinnae in the center of each frond. There are usually two to four pairs of fertile pinnae with dark brown sporangia when they’re ripe. They wither and fall, leaving vacant spots on the leaf stem after midsummer. Here’s what the fertile pinnae looked like at Allegany State Park on May 26th: (more…)
All Day and Night
Just some Monarchs meandering around the flowers!
I am having a hard time saying this . . . . but I am going to “try” and take a little break from the blog over the Labor Day Weekend (we all deserve a break from time to time)!! (more…)
Tagging my first Monarch
Just Hatched
While Young Naturalist C was in Cape Cod watching Whales and having a good time at the beach . . . . those of us back in Allegany State Park were butterfly sitting her caterpillars/chrysalis while she was off on vacation. Just last Thursday her oldest Monarch Butterfly emerged from its chrysalis (who Young Naturalist C named Lulu) and so I asked her mother if I could tag my first monarch (C couldn’t be around to tag it). (more…)
We Got Goofy Once it Got Dark
I am not sure if words can explain the many strange things that happened once it got dark at the lean-to Friday night. . . . so I will let the pictures and videos tell the whole story!
North Country Trip 2007
Along the North Country Trail
As you know from the previous post that Young Naturalist J, his father (Jeff) and I went backpacking along the North Country Trail here in Allegany State Park yesterday. We started down on the Bay State Road and hiked up to the Lean-To along this section of the trail. The uphill hike wasn’t very fun with temperatures nearing 90F degrees, very muggy and I was bitten up by mosquitoes along the trail. I took everyone along a re-route section of the trail that is being proposed and it only made it harder since it was 0.7 miles off trailing hiking. The original alternative probably would have been a smarter route for us to do. (more…)
Mon@rch's Nature Blog 