Phenology

6/3/21: Bullfrogs calling and bunchberry in bloom

5/25/21: leopard frogs calling and canada mayflower in bloom

5/22/21: Star flower in bloom and first monarch butterfly feeding on the dandelions!

5/20/2021: Baby fawns are being spotted! (pun intended)

5/18/2021: Fringed polygala in bloom

5/17/2021: chestnut sided warblers and red eyed vireos singing

5/16/2021: Tree frog are now out and calling!

5/14/2021: Blueberries and wood anemones in bloom

5/12/2021: Ovenbirds calling, baby painted turtle emerged from winter hibernation at the Center!

5/9/2021: Barren Strawberry in bloom

5/5/2021: First hummingbirds reported in Presque Isle/Winchester area!  Leatherleaf is in bloom in the bog!  First black throated green warbler singing at the Center 🙂

5/3/2021: Loons and trumpeter swans nesting

5/2/2021: Trout lilies starting to bloom, spring beauty flowering and toads trilling!!

4/29/2021: Rose breasted grosbeaks are back

4/28/2021: Yellow rumped warblers calling and leopard frogs singing!

4/26/2021: Woke up to two inches of snow and freezing rain today

4/25/2021: Goldfinch male in full yellow breeding plumage

4/23/2021: Dandelions are coming out!

4/22/2021: Tamarack needs starting to emerge

4/19/2021: Cold temps again and dusting of snow on the ground this morning!

4/18/2021: spring beauty and bloodroot in bloom!

4/17/2021: Annual Crane Count list (no cranes at our survey location 🙁 ): canada goose, great blue heron, song sparrow, killdeer, barred owls calling to each other, mourning dove, turkeys gobbling, mallards, chickadees, cardinals, red breasted nuthatch, hermit thrush singing, ruffed grouse drumming, crow, woodpeckers drumming, pileated woodpecker calling, goldfinch singing, red winged blackbirds, wood ducks and an eagle fly over!  About 28 degrees during the survey.

4/15/2021: with temps in the 20s-30s for a few days, things have been quiet and not much is happening in the way of spring emergence!  Although it was just reported that a HUMMINGBIRD was spotted near Harshaw!!

4/12/2021: snow falling, overnight some stuck around- temps in the 30's for a high- quite a change from last week!

4/11/2021: Blue spotted and spotted salamanders moving to the ponds to mate!

4/10/2021: Trailing arbutus flowering in the woods- early!

4/7/2021: Boreal chorus frogs singing!

4/6/2021: Heard one barred owl on my survey route tonight!

4/5/2021:  Temps today were around 79 degrees!  Only a few piles of snow left in the woods and on shaded trails- some vernal pools still have ice on them, but for the most part the snow is gone!  Tonight we had a really great thunderstorm- lots of lighting and some much needed rain - lots of small fires around the state this week due to really dry conditions.

4/4/21: Wood frogs are out singing- river otters are mating and song sparrows are singing!

4/3/21: Statehouse Lake is open!!  Painted turtles coming out, spring peepers peeping on the Raven trails, golden crowned kinglet singing, and the first mosquito

4/2/21: No joke, male loons are returning to the lakes!

3/31/21: Song Sparrows and skunk cabbage coming up!

3/25/21: First robins at the Center, a nice flock of them!  Also, dark-eyed junco and red wing blackbirds are reported in the area.

3/23/21: More woodcock reports and chipmunks are out and about!

3/22/21: First ruffed grouse drumming of the season, someone also mentioned hearing a woodcock peenting this past weekend!

3/19/21: Second boil of sap in progress!  90+ gallons collected this past week!  Also mourning cloak butterflies and ticks are out.  At Powell marsh sandhill cranes and a harrier were seen!

3/18/21: Canada geese, mallards, common mergansers and trumpeter swans have been seen around in open water!

3/17/21: Still piles of snow around the parking area, and in the woods- paths and snowmobile trails are clear of snow.

3/13/21: First maple sap boil of the season!  75 gallons boiled down to just under 2 gallons of syrup!

3/10/21: Rain all day today, and thunder!!  Snow is still around, but has been greatly reduced.

2/28/21:  We haven't had a wonderful snow year like we did last year, but today we received 10 inches of fresh snow! Warmer temps coming up will quickly melt the snow we have- so enjoying it while we can!

1/2&3/21: We started the new year with a really neat meteorological event known as "rime ice." This is different from hoar-frost in that for rime ice forms as fog settles over the landscape when the temps are below freezing- super cooled water droplets (water that is below freezing but still liquid) in the fog attach to any object it hits and forms a beautiful furry or spikey ice on the object. Hoar frost is formed when water vapor in the air goes straight from vapor to a solid on objects, skipping the liquid phase- this occurs on clean nights with a light wind. We had fog warnings both nights, creating rime ice vs hoar-frost.