Blue-gray Gnatcatchers usually arrive in the spring before the trees leaf-out and start building nests right away. The absence of leaves, and the fact that they are very vocal when building the nest, makes it fairly easy for people who want to find the nest to actually locate them. The birds are not very loud, [...] Read the rest of this entry »
Topic Posts
Bluebird Update April 19, 2012
April 19th, 2012On April 17, Karyn Traphagen traveled with me on the Museum Bluebird Trail to check on the occupants of our six nest boxes. You may have already seen Karyn’s Tweets and photos on the subject as she took photos of all the boxes that were occupied. There have been a few changes, as you might expect, the [...] Read the rest of this entry »
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New Beginnings
April 16th, 2012While closing the outdoor areas on Thursday April 12, I noticed a small object projecting from the block wall of the Vending Area/Restrooms in Explore the Wild. I at first thought it a wad of gum or candy stuck there by one of the hundreds of school children on campus that day (stuck there by [...] Read the rest of this entry »
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Bluebird Update April 12, 2012
April 12th, 2012I inspected all six of our bluebird nest boxes on Tuesday April 10 and there are definitely some changes to report. The nest that had contained 4 chickadee eggs on April 3 now has 5 eggs and 2 tiny hatchlings. The birds apparently have added 3 more eggs for a total of seven, and, two [...] Read the rest of this entry »
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Firsts
April 11th, 2012Although I’ve been seeing Common Baskettails (Epitheca cynosura) for several weeks now, the one above is the first that I was able to photograph. Again, not the first bullfrog tadpoles of the season (they’re present all year long) but they are beginning to become frogs. Some are showing short hind legs, they’re surfacing to gulp [...] Read the rest of this entry »
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Blooms and Butterflies.
April 6th, 2012Photos of a handful of flowers and leps which can currently be seen as you stroll the Museum’s grounds. And one beetle that typically doesn’t show up till mid-April. Go out and see what you can find! Read the rest of this entry »
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Bluebird Update April 5, 2012
April 5th, 2012We currently have six bluebird nest boxes here at the Museum. All of the boxes were donated by Ken Kernodle and friends back in March of 2010 with the addition of two new boxes installed this year. The boxes were checked as to their current occupancy on April 3 & 4 and were all found [...] Read the rest of this entry »
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Hola, Hyla
April 2nd, 2012Welcome the treefrogs. While I’ve heard an occasional call from both Cope’s Gray and Green Treefrogs over the past several weeks it was last week when they began to make themselves conspicuous to the average herp hunter. Two gray and a handful of green treefrogs were spotted on Thursday (3/29). Both frogs are expert at [...] Read the rest of this entry »
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Snappers and Mergansers, and Migration Notes of Interest
March 30th, 2012At least one pair of snapping turtles have already been seen mating here at the Museum and, as we’ve observed in years past, one of the big Chelydrids was seen basking on a boulder in the middle of the Wetlands soon afterwards. The second half of March is typically the last we see of our [...] Read the rest of this entry »
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