Basha Kill

Today was my first shift up at the Basha Kill as a Nature Watch volunteer.  Who knew just how much fun volunteer work could be!  I really believe that everyone should volunteer to help with something.  How much better would this world be if we all helped in some way?  Pick your passion and go for it, the rewards are far greater then the time and effort you put in.  The Basha Kill is now becoming my newest obsession, everywhere you look there are birds.  I can't wait to get up there again. 

Reward

I was being super lazy today and never got up the energy to walk the dog until just before 4pm today.  The expected rain has started to fall so I grabbed a rain coat from my car and headed up the trail.  I love being in the forest when it is raining.  It feels so peaceful.  I was going to cut the hike short as it was raining harder and for some reason I just continued on.  When ever I get out there I never want to leave.  I walked to the back side of the pond and suddenly the sun came out, it was still raining and I thought to myself, I'm going to get a RAINBOW!  I hurried along on the trail and soon as I got closer to the end of the pond I saw it peeking out of the trees, there it was!  A gorgeous rainbow!  I ran down the hill and onto the field, and enjoyed a magical moment.   It was just amazing!  After I watched the rainbow disappear I headed back to the trail and guess what was in the tops of all the trees.....YES....the Wood Warblers!  Like clockwork they have returned! 

Eagle

We got some very sad news last night about a good friend.  Today while chatting on my cell phone  parked on my clients private road, about this person,  a Bald Eagle began circling over.  :-)  Nature is always there for me.  My hubby got good news,  so happy for us, but so deeply deeply sad for our friend and his family. 

I heard tonight that the owlet I found a month back is about to fledge, I hope to get out and see him! 

Toads!

I took Monty up to Cascade Park after the rain started.  I was a little annoyed at myself that I had waited all day to get out to the park, especially since it's Earth Day.  Well....I'm so happy I waited!  I had the park to myself, as it was starting to pour.  Soon as I stepped out of the car I could hear the toads calling.  We did our walk around to pond, and when we got to the trail closest to the lake,  I started seeing Toads everywhere!  At one point I was watching  6 pairs in ampluxus all laying eggs.    What a wonderful treat, nature never disappoints me. I was super stressed and felt like it had all poured out of me as I watched the miracle
 of life. 

Snipe!

On Wisner Road!  Both Red Tail nests have females sitting on eggs. Nothing else to report.

Warblers

Yesterday I volunteered at the Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge counting ducks.  It was great fun.  Soon as I arrived there was an Osprey flying over.  Species we counted were Shoveler, GW & BW Teal, Mallard,  Black, Pintail.  There were also couple GB Herons.  FOY Warblers for me, Yellow-rumpted and Prairie.  Heard GB Gnatcatchers.  4 Speices of Swallows flying right in front of us.  Lots of Beaver sign along the river. Later on I heard my first Very up in the Co. Park.

Today I walked a dog up in a field, and what did I hear and see?  2 Meadowlarks!  It's been years since I've last seen one. 

Water Snakes

4 Northern Water Snakes and a Garter Snake up at Cascade Lake.  Dozens of Toads singing.  Northern Waterthrush in several locations.  Beaver sign!!!  So excited, there might be a Beaver back at the lake. 

NAAMP

Last night Bobby accompanied me on my first NAAMP window to collect data.  My territory is in Harriman State Park.  It took a total of 2.5 hours of my time.  I loved it!  Nothing like being outside in the dark looking at the moon, stars, smelling the fresh air and listening to frogs and toads calling in the night. It was a still night, with temps ranging from 55-48.  I was also blessed to hear several woodcock preeting and then doing their arial display.  Wonderful way to spend a evening. 

72 degrees

A squirrel got hit by a car in front of our house,  a TV was there very quickly.  There are huge kettles of them, all just returning home after a long Winter. 

Today over at our land we found 4 Garter snakes.  All were soaking up the sunshine and looked very healthy.

Our Vernal Pool on the land had more then 40 Spotted Salamander egg masses and 2 Wood Frog egg masses.   The most I've seen in the 4  years we've owned it.  I can not wait to live there and be able to walk out the door of my house and be at a Vernal Pool in minutes.

More VP activity

The Wood Frogs have laid their eggs and so have the Spotted Salamanders.  I think that I have a good handle on when the males and females arrive, and the fact that they stay in the Pool for several days after arriving.  We are expecting more rain in a little while and I would expect the females to all leave tonight.  As always a beautiful time alone in the woods.  So peaceful. 

WRNWR

Today I volunteered at the Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge for a couple of hours.  I helped survey a few different  vernal pools. We collected data about each pool while wading through in waders.  I loved it! One of the pools had Jefferson Salamander eggs!  Most only contained Wood Frog eggs.  I even loved it when I got stuck in the mud, fell to my knees and filled the waders with water. After we finished up with the Vernal Pools,  I was taken to a Heron Rookery to check on it. What an amazing paradise.    A gorgeous wet land full of beavers, ducks, turtles and 25 or so occupied Great Blue Heron nests.  Last week two otters were seen there, very exciting for my friend who works at the refuge..  I feel very privileged to see something so amazing, it made my day.  I also saw a flock of Turkeys and Rusty Blackbirds.


On my way home I stopped to check on two suspected Red-tail nests, BOTH had birds sitting on eggs!  What a day!

Photo by Matt Zeitler

Mourning Cloak

Mourning Cloak, Nymphalis antiopa. Our first butterfly to emerge after the long winter.

Spotted Salamanders

Spermatophore

Spotted Salamander

The last couple of days I've made multiple trips up to the Vernal Pools in the County Park.  Last night we went up in the pouring rain and spent 2 hours looking at Salamanders.  Beautiful creatures.  There were also Wood Frogs and Spring Peepers out.  Today there are more Spermatophores and only one additional egg mass.  I think that  the Spotteds we saw last night were males, and that the females are also in the vernal pools now after a night of rain.  I expect they will start laying eggs tonight after the cover of darkness.  I heard my first Water-thrush! 

Tree swallows

As I drove past Greenwood Lake this afternoon, there were Tree Swallows flying all over the place!  It was a rainy cold day, so I'm sure that is the only place they could find food today.

 I went with my son today to take him for his first Helicopter Flight lesson, he has decided that is his career direction!  I had a great time.  So wonderful to see him so excited.  My oldest son is still in NZ living life to the fullest.  He has had an incredible 7 months there now.  He is off to AU soon, and then to TN to work as a.....white water rafting guide!  After that....Peacecorps.  My 2nd son is working for a solar power company.  I couldn't feel any prouder then I do at this moment. 

My favorite creature on earth besides dogs!

Gorgeous female.  So happy to see my first turtle of the season! 

Red Shoulders

4 Red-shouldered hawks flying over Cascade Lake this afternoon. They were doing a Arial ballet.  I expect it's last years pair and their young.  So exciting they will be nesting there again.  Phoebes calling.  Turtles sunning. Perfect day for a walk in the woods.  I ended up doing my loop 2x as I dropped something and had to return to the park to find it, only to finish my 2nd loop and see it hanging on the fence.  Someone was kind enough to leave it.  I love my town.

Spring has sprung

If there were a couple of weeks that I could magically slow down time to a slow crawl right now would be that time.  As the earth begins to awaken again after a long snowy Winter, each and every moment contains something precious that it makes me want to get out there and see it all.  I could spend all day outside exporing.  The days are just not long enough. Every Spring I become ten years old all over again.  I heard my first Phoebe while up on a hike in the County Park!  The skunk cabbage are blooming.  There are Spermatophores in one of the Vernal Pools I monitor.  The other two pools are still mostly still covered with ice.  It is in the low 50s today....just glorious out.  Later while walking a client dog that lives out in the valley.....SPRING PEEPERS!!!!  Happy Dance!  Let the Herping begin!

Pseudacris crucifer

Nature Watch Volunteer!

I attended my Nature Watch Volunteer Training Class for the Basha Kill Area Association yesterday.  So incredibly excited to commit myself to volunteer time teaching the public about the Bald Eagle and Osprey nest.  Getting my volunteer time to attain my Master Naturalist has become a very rewarding personal pursuit.  I love being in classroom learning about Nature.  Finally schooling that feeds my soul.  After the program we drove to the boat basin and there where several eagles on the ice.  My heart swelled with joy.  I love love love what I am getting to do with my life now.  Amazing how the whole world  has come back into focus for me. There is life after parenting.  I am so happy. 

The large flocks of Blackbirds visiting my feeders have migrated north.  Most of my White-throated, Am Tree Sparrows and Juncos have all dispersed.  There are flocks of hundreds of Robins in all the fields.  We still have Snowy Owls out in the Black-dirt region.  I will try for them later on today.

It's still Winter.....

Snowy again

Well I finally caught up with the Snowy Owl again last night!  What a amazing creature it is.  My friend Matt took these two photos, he saw 4 just before this one, so there are now a total of 5 out there in the Black Dirt.  I stayed past dark and was rewarded with 4 short-eared owls flying over and around us.  A lone Woodcock also flew over!  Wonderful start to my weekend.

Hundreds of Blackbirds are around.  I went out for ducks this past week and saw Wood, Ring-neck and Gadwall.  The chipmunks are all up.  We still have some snow on the ground, today it's very warm so it should be melting soon.  So hopefully Spring Peepers in a few days!  Lots of Hawks out and about.  Two Owls hit by cars last night.  Both on County Route 1.  They both flew off. 

I signed up for yet another volunteer opportunity.  I will be taking a training class to become a Nature Watch volunteer at the Basha Kill.  I will be teaching the public about Eagles and Osprey.  There are nests up at the Bash, and they supply spotting scopes to show the public the birds.  I'm excited.  Today I took my NAAMP quiz and I passed it!  I now have my driving route and it's GREAT!  It takes me into Harriman State Park!  I will have hubby go with me on my 4 nights of monitoring.

Spring Equinox came in at 1:57pm on the 20th.  My *baby* turned 20 on the same day.  Where has the time gone?  I am for sure heading into a new part of life, and I am really enjoying it.  I love my dog walking/pet sitting work and all the nature volunteer opportunities I have signed up for.  

Master Naturalist

To say that I'm excited would be an understatement.  Yesterday I took a class at the Hudson Highland Museum to become a Volunteer for the North American Amphibian Monitoring Program.  NAAMP.  I will be monitoring a route near home 4 times over the next few months. During each monitoring night you stop at 10 different locations and record the frogs and toads you hear calling in a five minute time frame.  All your data is entered at the NAAMP website and after your 4th night of data collection sent via snail mail to the coordinator of the project to be checked before your data can be used.  I will also be participating in two other online data collecting projects both on Vernal Pools.  One with the Orianne Society and the other with the DEC Hudson River Estuary Program.  I'm happy that I can finally contribute the data I collect somewhere where it can be used.  I am also happy that I will be attaining my Master Naturalist by the end of this Summer!

Addiction

I have a serious addiction.  No matter what species of wildlife I'm watching, I have a difficult time pulling myself away to do other things.  I could spend all day and night observing animals in the wild.  I would have made a good field wildlife biologist.  Today I'm obsessed with keeping my bins on the flock of Rusty Blackbirds that have visited my bird feeders in my backyard since January 3, 2014.  Today after several days of absence there are 17 eating the corn I have spread on the ground for them and the other blackbirds. There numbers have declined by 85-99% in the last couple of decades and this year there is a study being done to track their migration.  I have been putting my sightings into the data base to help scientist keep tabs on their movement.  Every time I watch one I feel like this could be the last time I ever see one.  I don't take a single sighting for granted.  For more information on Rusty Blackbirds or to participate in the Rusty Blackbird Blitz visit: http://rustyblackbird.org/

This afternoon I'm heading out to find a snowy again.  I know that each time I see one of them, it could be the last time as well.  I hate thinking that way, but with what is happening to our planet, all wildlife are in peril.  I try hard not to focus on the negatives and enjoy each and every gift of a wildlife sighting.  I feel so blessed in this life that I live in an area that I see wildlife constantly.  I don't need to even leave my house.

I forgot to mention, I am all signed up for my Naturalist weekend at the Arnot Forest!  It will take place the first weekend of June.  I will finally have my course work completed for becoming a Master Naturalist!  I still need to do my volunteer hours.  I will be starting that this weekend when I attend a workshop for Project Frogwatch.  I will be going to the Museum of the Hudson Highlands to learn frog calls and be assigned a territory to monitor.   I will be monitoring frogs by their calls in several locations during the Spring and early Summer.  I also found a citizen scientist project that collects data on Spotted Salamanders and Wood Frogs, I will be entering my data on their site as well. 

Woodcock!

Heard my first Woodcock of the season!  We still have a foot of snow on the ground, but are having rain tonight.  Love this time of year! 

We have Blackbirds!

Yes!  They have started to arrive!  Grackle, Red-wing & Cowbirds are at my feeders!  The Rusty's seem to have flown the coop. There are also 4 Fox Sparrow now.   In need to get out and see that snowy owl one more time.

I had a magical experience today.  I was standing outside a store chatting with a friend,  we were just soaking in the glorious sun.  As always I was glancing up at the sky, it was a deep blue with a few fluffy white clouds.  I heard a Red-tailed Hawk call, I looked up at him, and noticed a total of 6 Red-tailed Hawks ketteling together.  Breathtaking.  I truly know WHY I bird, they fill my life with such beauty.

On my birding rounds, I found a Great Horned Owl nest!!!  

I feel good!

I am feeling GREAT!!!!! The best I've felt in 2 years.  I finally got my business up and going, and I love it!  I can not wait to get busy!   I have finally found my calling, something that makes my heart sing!   I can make a difference in this world.  I love love love meeting people and taking care of their dogs.  It is super fun and rewarding.  Why didn't I start this business years ago?  Fear of failure, that's why.  I will not fail because I love what I'm doing. My hubby said I would love this and he was right!

After walking one of my clients, I drove out to the Black Dirt yesterday and again today.  Lots of Rough-legged Hawks.  I went to Skinner Lane for the Snowy Owls and I didn't see them. I did see a skunk each day, and today a mink at Oil City Road!  Lots of Bluebirds and Robins were working the grass that is exposed on the sides of the road everywhere I drove.  We still have a foot of packed snow on the ground.   Later on I got 2 texts that there were  3 Snowys out on Skinners Road!  Oh well tomorrows another day.  While my friends were viewing the 3 Snowy's I was up at Cascade Park immersed in a amazing hike with my pup.  We had the forest to ourselves. It was stunningly quiet, warmer and magical.  The sun was beginning to set. 

On the home front, my flock of Rusty Blackbirds continues.  I've been putting them in Ebird everyday, as they are doing a study on them until April. Today there were 25.  I feel so lucky to have them at my feeders everyday, I will miss them when they migrate.  I hope they remember me next winter.  Weather wise it's been in the teens if not single digits for more then a month now.  Coldest winter ever.  I had my first Red-wing Blackbirds on the 5th.  No huge flocks yet, any day. 

 We have at least 4 deer hanging around in our yard.