Milly is super excited to get out on the sanctuary to see how spring is springing. Owen and Milly have seen dozens of spotted salamanders in our vernal pool. They have also seen wood ducks, mallards, and wood frogs too!
Nature in a minute to start off the week of April 9, 2018. We’ve had wood ducks spotted at the vernal pool 4 times over the past week. Here are a few wonderful new trail camera videos showing the wood ducks. They spent over three hours in the vernal pool on Saturday morning, April, 7, 2018. If you listen closely to the black and white video (it’s take at dawn ~5:15 am) you can hear the wood ducks talking to one another, it sounds a little bit like zippers opening and closing. Enjoy the following three videos.
Our vernal pools have been bursting with life this spring. Spotted salamanders and wood frogs have migrated into our vernal pools in the last week or two.
Wood frog in our main vernal pool calling and looking for mates.
Last week, I placed a trail camera on the edge of the vernal pool trying to record spotted salamanders visiting the pool during big night, which is the night – usually after or during a rainfall – that most salamanders migrate to the vernal pool to mate and lay eggs. I didn’t capture any video of the spotted salamanders, but I was able to photograph spotted salamanders in the pool the following morning.
The trail camera did pick up some really really exciting activity, a pair wood ducks on April 2 and April 3 using the vernal pool and checking out the wood duck. Enjoy the videos. I really love the one from 4:50 am on April 3 because of all the beautiful bird songs, fog, and serene sense of solitude that dawn always brings in the spring.
Wood Ducks on April 3, 2018
Wood Ducks on April 2, 2018
To learn or sign up for our spring homeschool classes, click here.
In an environment infused with science, nature, and art, our homeschool classes are exciting and filled with laughter and fun. Each class is thoughtfully designed to foster confidence, awareness, and curiosity for the natural world, science, and art. Homeschool classes are designed by Sean Kent, a dedicated field biologist, curious naturalist, accomplished photographer, and passionate science educator with has been teaching science for 15 years. Furthermore, he has conducted ecological research in Massachusetts, Arizona, and Belize on native bees, the monarch butterfly, interactions between plants and animals and much more. This spring we are offering classes in field biology, nature journaling, and photography, including a build your own camera digital photography course.
This spring we will be offering
To learn or sign up for our spring homeschool classes, click here.
Check out these pictures of homeschool students actively involved with conducting research and setting up our experimental native plant meadow.
Check out a few photos of homeschool students closely observing wildlife
Check out a few pictures of homeschool students sketching and observing nature closely in the field
Check out a few of the animals and plants that have been observed over the past year in our wildlife sanctuary
To learn or sign up for our spring homeschool classes, click here.
As a flock of robins “swarmed” in the pine grove, bright red male cardinals sung from the tallest trees, and fairy shrimp emerged from the vernal pool, a flock six wood ducks flew into the maple, oak, and pine trees above our vernal pool on the morning of February 28. Nature can be so wonderful!
I was fortunate enough to have my camera with me and I was able to capture a few pictures and one short movie of these amazing creatures. Enjoy this brief glimpse into the hidden world of the wildlife in our sanctuary.
Watch and listen to the wood ducks chattering to one another high up in the trees.
The following are more photos of the wood ducks in the wildlife sanctuary.
