Posts Tagged ‘sightings’

…frog eggs!
…. and more blue flowers.

…impossibly blue spring bulbs blooming on the lawn on the west side of Hamilton House.

a squirrel.  Today was the first day I put birdseed in my windowsill birdfeeder.  In less than two minutes this bold creature was there helping him/herself.  I heard a story on NPR about a shortage of acorns in some parts of the country boding for a hard winter for squirrels.  The white and red oaks [...]

Reader Randy Hatch met this colorful creature today.  Here’s what Randy has to say about it:
“Picked up on 236 while biking home from work.  Now, safe in back yard with some apple and cherry leaves. I think it’s a ceropia moth larva.”
Also known as the “Robin Moth”, Cecropia moths are the largest [...]

I just spent a week on Appledore at the Isles of Shoals and one day I got to see a baby seal sunning itself on the rocks.  He/she put on quite a show; yawning:

and generally looking cute.

a bug looking at me.

a dragonfly.  I am happy my garden is the host to these guys since they are voracious predators of mosquitoes.

South  Berwick resident, 12 year old Noah Landis reports an encounter with  newts.  He sent in a report on these little creatures:
Eye of Newt!
I came across this red-spotted or eastern newt (Notophthalmus viridescens) two weeks ago, after a heavy rainstorm on Squam Lake. This common newt begins its life as pond larvae. It sheds its [...]

Reader Wendy Pirsig sent in a photo of a caterpillar that she researched and identified as an Anise Swallowtail caterpillar.

Shortly after I received Wendy’s image I went into my garden and found nearly a dozen of the same caterpillars happily munching on a rue plant in my garden.  Since they were very absorbed in chewing [...]

a big froggy smile.

… a baby grasshopper sitting on a Stella D’oro Daylily

…a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers working on a dead tree near my house. I think this is the same two who have lived here for several years. We often hear their “woody woodpecker” call and the jackhammer sound they make on the trees. It is amazing to see them.

… an Easter Tiger Swallowtail.

…a green frog sunning itself. This one is rather bold and lets me get very close. The tadpoles in the pond are now the size of small grapes and some have tiny back legs sprouting. If all goes well this guy will soon be joined by about a thousand little friends.
The Blue [...]

This is for Pat R. who saw the first Lady Slipper in Vaughn Woods today. These are growing in an area of my yard that I used to struggle to make lawn-like. About ten years ago I noticed the leaves of a Lady Slipper while I was mowing. I decided to stop [...]

Here are the first tadpoles I’ve seen this year, hanging out on a submerged oak leaf. I noticed the eggs during that warm spell we had two weeks ago and have been watching them change from dots to commas and today I saw these guys. We have a small human-made pond by [...]