Eastern Black Swallowtail

Photo by CWR reprinted with permission

Today is Memorial Day 2020. The weather in Maine has been extremely dry with Temps ranging from near 90F Friday May 22 to a low of 30F the morning on the 24th.

Insects are still doing their thing-the above photo of a tentatively identified Eastern Black Swallowtail feeding on dandelion was taken yesterday.

The Willow tree along the drive, which I pollarded hard at ten feet, has sprouted a lot of new growth which has become the focus of the Blue black Willow beetle, an invasive species.  I suspect the infestation is in part what devastated the original tree, along with a soaking of herbicide by a wayward roadside maintenance man half dozen years ago.

The quasi-style Hugel beds I use for vegetables are also apparently insect friendly.  I have some medium sized black ants making a large colony in one and two separate species of bumblebees have also found them ideal for nesting.

The latter has created an inconvenience, since I had plans for that part of the bed which was not yet planted. Ditto with the Eastern Phoebes nesting under the north eaves.  I desperately need to do some serious roof work on that part of the house, and the current stretch of dry weather would have been ideal.  (If I had known it was coming, of course)

The plan is to do that work in July-  after the fledglings have left the nest and before the parents start a second brood.

The squirrels are gradually expanding their territory and return from down the ridge every late afternoon.  Hopefully when the serious hot weather hits they will find the roof too hot to their liking and move out.

Momma duck was spotted again a few days ago-with at least half dozen ducklings.  She is tentatively identified as a mallard, but I thought I caught a flash of blue which would make her a wood duck.  The wood ducks had been seen in that location for enough time for a brood to hatch, with the mallards latecomers.  I am hoping they are wood ducks since that would be a nod to my ego, as wood ducks nest in tree cavities and appropriate nesting sites can be hard to come by.

Nothing has been heard from the loons.  We have always had at least two nesting pair and I am concerned something or someone has caused them to disappear.

No sign yet of the Great Blue Heron, either, but sometimes that does not appear until later in the season.

The Willow created a Netflix by mail account, and we have watched several movies.  I think my favorite so far was the remake of Jumanji.  I laughed out loud on several occasions and one scene had me on the edge of my seat.  Very entertaining. We both send a nod to Jack Black for his performance as well as the other actors and actresses.

Stay safe~

Goodbye April

April 2020 may have seemed like a long month to a lot of people!

Our local weatherman said last night that this is the first April in 74 years that the Portland jetport did not record a daily high over 60F.  Brrr.

Add that to the heavy rain forecast for tomorrow and that will make my annual tradition of rolling in the dew more than the usual challenge.  Youth does not come cheaply as we age!

I have been sighting a lot of birds.  The pair of pileated woodpeckers are back.  These are very large black and white birds-about crow sized, with a red crown.  I suspect last year's nest site may have been blown down in recent storms and they are on the search for a new one.

I had a lot of spring clean up-the late heavy wet snow a few weeks ago that left us without electricity for several days  broke several maple limbs that were starting to bud.  The goats got the budding branches and the limbs will be cut for firewood.

I still have goats-down to three now,; the aging wethers Obi and Moonie, and the doe-no longer a spring chicken herself-the black doe Anna.

We have at least one pair of American goldfinch still hitting the black oil sunflower seed.  The males look very much like a canary and their song is similar.

The white breasted nuthatches and chickadees are also still hitting the feeder.

I usually stop feeding out once the snow cover is gone, but I have a very large female Eastern gray squirrel that will sit on a branch at dusk, mere feet from the living room window, staring intently at me if the feeder is empty.  She sits on her back feet with her left paw pressed to her breast, totally ignoring the cat looking back at her.

This is not a brief glance-she will sit there until near dark staring into the lighted living room if the feeder is empty.

The wood ducks are back in the stream-every morning I creep down the road, pausing behind the hemlocks and peer intently down the stream hoping for a glimpse of them.  With one or two exceptions, they spy me first, even after holding absolutely still for some minutes, and my only view is their backsides in panicked flight downstream.

We had a very close up view out the front door of a pair of brown creepers-they look like a cross between a wren and a nuthatch-on the side of the house looking for insects.  That was thrilling, since their coloring and tree clinging habit makes them difficult to spot in the woods.

The robin population has crashed.  I have seen one or two when usually there is a half dozen working the lawn for worms.  We had some bad storms during nesting season last summer-whether the population took a hit there or some other reason, is unclear.

 I saved at least one group of nestlings from a red tailed hawk either last summer or the year before.  Red tailed hawks love robins babies-and not in a good way.

The parents had put the nest right off the deck in a thick fir.  I noted that most successful robin nests were located with a thick leafy branch directly over the nest. In this case, I would hear the robin parents shrieking in alarm and dash out the door to find the hawk perched on the branch over the nest, trying to get the nestlings directly underneath.

I would clap my hands and scare the hawk away, and did that at least ten times in two days before the nestlings finally left the nest.  The parents followed them around in the undergrowth for several days until they were fully fledged.

I am glad to report I have at least one hen turkey lurking about-we saw her roosting in one of the big hemlocks over the hill at nightfall several days ago.  Whether she survives turkey hunting season-which just began Saturday and runs the whole month of May-has yet to be determined.