Red-winged Blackbird

Male Red-winged Blackbird

Yes, the Red-winged Blackbirds have been back a few weeks.  Their sounds are welcome to me.  I remember walking the trails in the winter wishing to hear their sounds and now I can.  The male stakes out his territory and tries to get as many females as possible to nest there.  He is very defensive about intrusion.

Female Red-winged Blackbird

They reused nests from the previous year.  They are so protective of the nest that I can tell when I am close to one by noting the bird's behavior.  I stayed away from the nests until I saw a naturalist go near one and invite others to look.  I then captured the shot below of the blue eggs.

Red-winged Blackbird Eggs

These birds have been know to attack people.  They have flown near my head but never touched me.  I usually hear in the news, each season, that someone has been attacked somewhere.

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Spring Peepers

Spring Peeper

The Spring Peeper is a small frog and has a cross on its back.  It is a "chorus frog" common in Eastern US and Canada.

I may have heard of it before I married the kid's mother, but my vivid memory of them comes from sitting in the front yard at dusk with the kid's grandfather.  The pond was about 1/4 mile away and they were loud.  They have a big voice.  I think that he may have told me of their living in the pine trees near the pond but my concept of them for years was that they lived in the pond.

Spring Peeper

My understanding, now, is that they travel down to the pond to mate.  Being amphibians, the eggs hatch in the pond and the tadpoles, or pollywogs, mature there.  When they leave the pond they head back for the forest.

Spring Peeper

The naturalist stated that this is a full grown one.  For such a small frog they have an enormous voice.  Listen to my recording of them done this spring.  It is near the bottom of the page on the "Listen to Sounds" page of my web site.

I made this recording near the pond appropriately named the Frog Pond. 

Recording the Spring Peepers

 

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Spring Is Coming Early

Turtles are sunning themselves.  

Red-eared Sliders

The frogs are quite active also.  I love the frog sounds in the spring!  There is one vernal pool which has mostly Wood Frogs at present.  

Wood Frog

They sound a little like the chicken house sounded when I was growing up.  Take a listen.  It is near the bottom of the page.  

Too me, the most memorable spring frog sound is the Spring Peeper which I will discuss tomorrow.

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Deformed Rock

Deformed Rock

This is another of the rocks I bought last summer.  This one has what I thought were two significant features.  The above shot shows the dark red recessed portion.  

Deformed Rock

I thought these folds most intriguing.  

I have thought that a video showing the rock rotated helps to solidify the concept of the rock, especially after seeing the the macro shots.  Check out this video.  The link is at the bottom of the page.  Note the crystals on top.

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Purple Shamrock

Purple Shamrock

This shot, from the Kingwood Center Greenhouse in Dec. of 2005, shows a variant of the Shamrock known as the Purple Shamrock, a.k.a. False Shamrock.

Shamrock

Known as a symbol of Ireland, the shamrock is a cousin of the Irish White Clover.  According to Wikipedia, it is edible.

Happy St. Patrick's Day.

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Canada Geese

Canada Goose

The Canada geese have been numerous on the pond so far this year.

Canada Goose

They are noisy when I walk near the pond.  I can not be quiet when they are present.  They tend to be flighty and when one goes, they all usually launch.

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Jan Ferrell

Jan Ferrell

Jan pulls double duty by working at the Nature Center and the Ohio Bird Sanctuary.  
She is our resident specialist on birds and spiders.  She also coordinates our many volunteers.  This from the Gorman web site.

Jan has a pet spider on her desk.  I believe it to be a tarantula.  It is nearly as big as your hand.  Jan has been most helpful to me when I have questions.  Thanks, Jan. 

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