May Stream Sampling

This is the 10th year that we have been stream sampling for the Four Rivers Watershed Watch. We started when my oldest son was 12 years old. This was the first year for my fourth and youngest son. The weather was perfect and no mosquitoes. The water level in the stream was lower than I expected as we have had above normal precipitation.

New Box Turtle

I spotted an eastern box turtle on our smallholding that I had never seen before. It was smaller than a full grown adult. He or she was very shy and would not take a peak and allow me to observe the eye color. The plastron showed no indentation, so perhaps it is a female.  

Egg Toting Wolf Spider

This female wolf spider was seen carrying her egg sac in one of my garden beds, where I often find them. They love the leaf litter and devour springtails to their heart's content.  She was quite small, so I am thinking she was of the genus Schizocosa.

Bluebird Update

The four fledglings are only a few days old.

Bluebird Eggs

This is the first clutch of bluebird eggs this season. 

 

Year of the Cicada

This is the year for Brood XXIII periodical cicada which emerge every 13 years...genus Magicicada. Shown above are the empty nymph exoskeleton on a burr oak.

 I rather enjoy the sound of the annual cicadas...particularly in the morning. On the other hand....the periodical cicadas....their deafening and never ending buzz can be unnerving.

After slicing open a small tree twig with her ovipositor, the female cicada lays her eggs in the open wound. The shear quantity of egg deposit sites will result in some damage to the outer small, thin branches of the trees. Over the summer, I watched a rather large pin oak, drop a good number of twigs. Very young trees can receive significant damage as happened to an apple seedling that I had planted last year.

Shown below is the emergence range of Brood XXIII for 2015.

First Sign of Scarback

Just a place to document the first sighting of Old Scarback...our long-lived eastern box turtle.

Small Hornet's Nest

This is the start of a hornet's nest on the light fixture at our front door. It is likely a bald-faced hornet (Dolichovespata maculata)....also known as an "arial yellowjacket"...though I did not wait around to see exactly who showed up. This home was removed for the safety of those that dwell in the home to which it is attached.

Fence Lizard Part Deux

A month after seeing that early fence lizard, this one was seen sunning itself on the brick on the house. This one was closer to average size.

Early Fence Lizard

This was the earliest that I have ever observed a fence lizard. Also, one of the largest. A light coating of mud obscured its already subdued markings. It was lethargically warming its blood in the spring sunshine and not a bit interested in budging.