Looking for new places to visit? Mass Audubon’s Waseeka Wildlife Sanctuary is only 15 minutes from Broadmoor in Hopkinton. Last week the resident Osprey was bringing branches to the nest at the pond.

Fishing was good too.

Check out the website for directions to Waseeka.

Ospreys aren’t the only animals branching out.  Beavers at Broadmoor and Waseeka have been busy since the ice thawed. Look for tooth marks on the logs where beavers have chewed the tasty layer just inside the bark. Some logs are moved into place to repair dams.  Beavers make dams to raise the water level of ponds and streams so the underwater entrance to their lodges are protected from predators.

Looking a little like a submarine, this beaver is cruising for tasty shrubs, trees, and building materials.

April 1 marked a major arrival of tree swallows. Each nest box in the Broadmoor fields is a prize for these birds that compete for nests in natural cavities like old woodpecker holes.  Sometime there are visible battles for a box.

Another resident of the nest box colony is the Eastern bluebird. Nests are already being constructed by these colorful birds.

Some of our common birds are worth a second look. The male mallard in bright, fresh feathers can look iridescent green or blue depending on the light.  The curl at the top of the tail makes this bird unmistakable.

This is a great week to visit and see for yourself.

Resident birds are “wearing” their finest plumage. getting ready for spring.

Male mallards have spent the winter in any open pools of water, but now they are sporting fresh new feathers.  Is the female interested?

Male cardinals are calling constantly.  They are often the last bird of the day to visit feeders.

Until our migrant birds return in their brilliant spring plumage, visit the hall of children’s art at Broadmoor to see the colorful, imaginative work of third grade students at Pine Hill School in Sherborn.

The show will be on display through April 28.

It’s feeling warmer on sunny days, snow banks are slowly receding and red maple buds look a little redder.  The spring equinox is just a week away.There are still several feet of snow on the trails and boardwalk so snowshoeing is a great way to explore.

Along the edges of the marsh, snow is receding and the waterfalls at mill dams are beginning to flow again.

What a difference a week makes!  The 128 photovoltaic panels on the nature center are finally snow free and began producing electricity again yesterday after a month of no production while they were buried under snow.

February is not quite over but winter weather continues to make Broadmoor beautiful with scenic landscapes, snowshoeing and skiing.  As long as you’re dressed for the conditions it is a wonderful outing.  What are the conditions?  Call our friendly visitor services staffer at 508 655-2296 for an update.  Follow yellow blazes on the trees to bring you back to the nature center.

The marsh boardwalk is about two feet under the snow.  The marsh is a great place to look for animal tracks and hunting hawks soaring overhead.

Believe it or not, there are 128 photovoltaic panels on the nature center roof.  When sunlight can reach them they produce 12 KW of electricity per year.  Right now, the panels are under snow and Broadmoor’s electricity is being drawn from the grid.  Fortunately, snow has tumbled off the sunspace on the right in the photo below and our “solar furnace” heats up to over 80 degrees, a direct source of heat for the building.

Want to know more about the weather?  Join WCVB-TV chief meteorologist Harvey Leonard for a talk, videos, questions and answers at The Center for the Arts in Natick.  Broadmoor is sponsoring the annual Jean and Henry Stone Memorial lecture Sunday, March 29, 4 – 6 pm.  The event is free and open to the public.

Winter days are studies in contrast.  Winter sunsets can be glorious colors or dramatic studies in black and white.

A little sun following a light snowfall reveals a story below the surface.  A  meadow vole tunneled just under the snow from one side of the trail to the next.  Protection from foxes and hawks?

Light, fluffy snow is perfect for animal tracking.  These white-tailed deer prints show not only their cloven hoofs,  but small pointed marks made by an appendage called a dew claw.

Visit right after the next snowfall to see what you can find.

A year ago, the Saltonstall Nature Center  reopened following major renovations and additions including the Esther Parker pavilion.  Thanks to volunteers from Thoughtforms Corporation we are celebrating with some finishing touches.

Pavers and benches were added to the pavilion as part of the annual Service Day.

The lone raker cleared leaves and twigs from the all person’s accessible trail

The crew moved a new bench down to the boardwalk.

And took a well deserved rest trying out their bench.

The native plants garden got a fall clean-up

Come and celebrate our one year re-opening and enjoy the great work contributed by Thoughtforms.

The most beautiful season has begun.

Maples and birches are turning color and reflections in the Mill Pond look like watercolor paintings.

Last Saturday’s Birding by Canoe on the Charles was picture perfect.

Eastern phoebe, belted kingfisher, great blue heron, red-tailed hawk, spotted sandpiper, and common yellowthroat are just some of the 27 species seen.

Check out upcoming programs including fall foliage canoes on our website at  www.massaudubon.org/broadmoor.

Yellow is the first color of fall.  Fields of goldenrods in flower are among the first.  Goldenrod sometimes gets a bad reputation for causing allergies, but the flowers are bee pollinated, so the pollen gets a ride on an insect, not the wind.

The real culprit for those with allergies is Ragweed.  It’s many little green bell-like flowers are full of golden pollen, distributed by every breath of wind.  Try shaking the stalks of flowers and you can see for yourself.  Aachoo!

Along Indian Brook Trail a large patch of tansy also has yellow flowers, but very different shape from goldenrods.  Can you figure out how these are pollinated?

Mowing the fields at Broadmoor begins in September.  Clumps of native grasses are left unmowed to provide seeds.  Someday there may be whole fields of native grasses at the sanctuary.  What insects and birds will we see then?

Baby birds are everywhere.  Listen for plaintive calls and watch parent birds with bills full of food deliver it to babies as large as they are.  How can you tell?  Baby birds look like the don’t know what to do yet and often have fuzzy feathers with smudged looking markings.  This young Gray catbird was spotted on this week’s Fair Weather Birding walk perched on a branch, looking  into the distance, perhaps hoping for a food delivery soon.

Another sign of the season is mushrooms.  Boletus mushrooms have thick, fleshy caps with pores on the underside instead of gills or teeth like other mushrooms.  Chipmunks especially enjoy nibbling the caps and leave tooth marks like these.

On the forest floor Striped wintergreen has a waxy white flower and shares the space with another native plant, Virginia creeper.  The creeper has five leaflets and often grows where poison ivy grows, but poison ivy has only three leaflets.  Virginia creeper’s name in Latin, Parthenocissus quinqifolia means five-leaved.

In the fields, Queen Anne’s Lace is in bloom.  It was introduced long ago from Europe and one story says that Queen Anne was sewing lace and pricked her finger.  A drop of blood fell into the center of the lace so there is one purple-red flower in the center of the flower.