Camp training is well underway with only one more day to go! Songs have been learned, training completed, and nature names chosen. See below to check out this year's nature names, the names by which your camper will know his or her counselor.
Check back soon for updates.
Introducing the Stony Brook Day Camp Staff for Summer 09 (in order of appearance):
Bumblebee, Mycorhizzae, Cedar, Firefly, Cicada, Princess Pine, and Monarch
The 2009 Stony Brook Wildlife Sanctuary Camp Staff have just returned from a week at Field School and are in the midst of an intense week of camp training where they learn everything from camp songs and games to first aid to bird and dragonfly id. Camp Director Marla Cohen has chosen a fantastic group of counselors again this year. They can't wait to meet the campers!
Please check this blog weekly for updates, camp stories, photos and more!
We've found more than 100 species so far including... Bald eagle, fish crow, ruffled grouse, red breasted nuthatch, brown creeper, cerulean warbler, yellow throated vireo, and blue gray gnat catcher.
Having a great day. Enjoying the weather. Less than four more hours to go!
We had a great night last night to start off bird a thon. We saw some great birds (including the Lawrence's Warbler, Wilson's Warbler, Brown Thrasher and more than 60 others by 5:30am). 12 hours to go and six teams out in the field.
Look for an update later this afternoon! Thanks!
There's still time to pledge, see the website below:
http://www.firstgiving.com/dkwilliams
and for a picture of this year's team in action:
http://www.firstgiving.com/willhenrichon
THANK YOU!
-Doug
Boy was I wrong! Spring was not here. I was out yesterday at the Stony Brook pond where the breeze was gusting to 30 mph and the temps were below freezing! Water temperature in the ponds are hovering at the freezing point making the ponds surfaces very interesting to watch. Warm days bring open water along with lots of ducks but a cold night and the water freezes over before sunrise. Today was beautiful, water was open, ducks were numerous and in full breeding colors! I heard my first woodcock calling and say our first Tree Swallows at the Sanctuary last Wednesday as well! For now, I’ll not make another prediction about spring, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed!
I'll see you on the trails!
-Doug
What a difference a few days make. Earlier this week, I blogged about a snow covered landscape and the interesting patterns formed by meltoff. Today, things have changed significantly and the landscape is no longer mostly snow covered, but is one of open ground dotted with areas where the snow persists. On the way into work, I pondered why the snow remained in those areas. What is slowing the meltoff in those areas. Some are obvious, like the big piles of snow in grocery store parking lots that are clearly from plowing build up. Some snow remains in cracks and crevices hidden from the sun, sheltered by stones, and protected from the winds.
Having spent my first seven years in Massachusetts working on the slopes of Mt. Wachusett, I see the snow accumulations along the side of roads and am reminded of the weathering patterns of mountains. It is almost like a microcosm of those same processes that control mountain building (also known as orogeny -- there's your word of the day!) and mountain erosion.
I'll see you on the trails!
Doug
Yesterday afternoon while busily working at my desk I was distracted by the sounds of finches at a feeder just outside the window. I took a look and was pleasantly surprised to find one lone Purple Finch with a dozen Pine Siskins mixed in with the Gold Finches. I walked back to my office to get my binocs for a closer look. When I returned, the finches had flown up into the top of a pear tree growing along the parking lot. They all seemed to be just sitting there as if flushed from the feeder, biding their time before heading back down for more seed. As I looked more carefully I noticed that they were not just perched in the tree but each one was perched near the end of a twig in the midst of devouring the buds at the ends of the branches. I had not noticed before this inspection that the buds were even swollen (a sure sign of warmer weather to come!) What signs of spring are you seeing in your area?
I'll see you on the trails!
-Doug
Even since yesterday, the warm-ish temps have set in motion some snow melt!
As we start to get some snow melt I am noticing where the melt-off is occurring at different rates. Several factors that exert control over the rate of melt-off include: site exposure, slope and adjacent cover. South facing or south sloping areas with good sun exposure are melting away quickly. I also noticed that areas located on the north side of east/west running roads may be snow free already if they are protected by thick vegetation growing along their north sides. One other pattern of snow melt caught my eye as well. Many conifers without lower branches seem to have lost their underlying blanket of snow where the sun warms the ground under their own crowns. This shows up as an odd shaped oval located on the south side of the tree between the trunk and the edge of its crown. Have you noticed other interesting snow melt patterns that provide some indication of the factors influencing their manner of snow melt?
I'll see you on the trails!
-Doug
Although the wetlands at Stony Brook are locked in the deep freeze of winter, there are signs that the spring thaw is getting closer. The ice is thick, the trails, snow covered and the temperatures continue to hover below the freezing mark. However, the House Finches are changing from winter drab into their spring finest and the males are beginning to sing. Cardinals are practicing their spring songs as well. While on a hike out to Teal Marsh this past Sunday, our group was entertained by a flock of Canada Geese and one lone Mallard circling the wetlands. They did not stop (probably due to the lack of open water) but they are in the area. Like the Red-winged Blackbirds now visiting our feeders, the wetland birds are watching and waiting for a bit of open water that will be the signal that the Stony Brook wetlands are once again open and ready for Spring! Now is a great time to visit!
You may also be interested to know there are several spaces still available on the Brunch with the Eagles trip. We will head to the CT river where many Eagles spend the winter. Afterwards we will stop for a time honored brunch in Essex.
I’ll see you on the trails!
-Doug
I found it fitting that tonight's Snow Moon will bring us not only snow, but will be a perigree moon. The largest and brightest of the year. Learn more from NASA!
