Beavers, Wood frogs, ducks and geese

Happy Easter - and also my birthday this year!

During the week (Tuesday) I heard the faint sound of a wood frog, but then we had a freak snowstorm after heavy warm rain all Tuesday (which almost flowed over the wetlands' crossing culverts!). Today while wandering about the property I can hear a deafening sound of wood frogs. Happy return for them. Since I last posted we have seen a larger beaver several times...out scouting in Beatitude Pond and nibbling on sticks here and there. Still no major construction or renovations, just yet. The beavers are probably too hungry to work just, yet...there is time for that.
River plants have started to poke up and garlic is coming up in the front garden. I also found some young onions I had overlooked in my harvest last year. I planted peas. No black flies, yet!
Other creatures we have seen this week: mallard duck couple, Canada goose couple. Today I saw a red tailed hawk flying over head, some unidentified warbler in a white pine tree, moths flying over the surface of Beatitude Pond, numerous whirly bugs in the ponds, a tick.

Positive I.d on a beaver

This afternoon I noticed a small white pine had been freshly cut and place across the downstream side of the small culvert that joins one pond to the other under our driveway. Later when Lindley and I were out he called over to me that he had spotted a small beaver and it briefly got up on a  bank and showed its characteristic curved outline and fur lined body.
I rushed inside and got some carrots and apples which we put near the shore. He had already returned into the den by the time I returned. Later maybe he will come out for a fresh snack.
So happy to see him after a long and cold winter.

Cold Winter - Bob cat sighting

This winter has been a cold one, a little above average snowfall. Icy driveway, thick ice on pond. In January I saw the bobcat for the first time, though we'd seen evidence of it in the recent past, it's paw prints crossing the beaver pond.
I heard a cracking on the ice one morning and looked up an saw its bobbing tail against the snow.
We are now looking forward to the first days of spring.

Spring returning

After a very long winter, spring is returning bit by bit and all is thawing. The creatures are also returning.
First Robins, then kingfisher, hooded mergansers, wood ducks, muskrats, and possibly a lone beaver, and the first buzz of a tree frog.

November's Brown

It is early November. A huge typhoon slammed into the Philippines yesterday, the biggest hurricane in recorded history. Last week there were snowstorms in the middle of the U.S. Weather has been somewhat tame here in NH lately, though yesterday we did have a few snow showers (nothing that stuck).
The water level is high from the beaver damming and the new home the beavers have built is quite sizable. They have also been actively cutting down some tall and sturdy trees. We have started to wrap some of the trees by the front road to prevent gnawing.
Yesterday the wood ducks flew off from Beatitude Pond when I went down to look and see why there were ripples on the surface of the water. First the females flew away, closely followed by the males.
Plants are now various shades of yellow and brown and have gone to seed.
I have planted all the garlic, hoping for a good crop come spring.

Rest well, sweet Earth.

Into Fall

I did not post at all last month. Month was busy and flew by. Now it's October and the leaves by the pond that turned red early in the chill of the night have shed many of their leaves, the bright orange and yellows remain. The growing beaver colony has been very active preparing for the winter, with even the little ones getting a gnaw in. They have built a third shelter by the lower pond about 10 feet from the crossing. One day Lindley and I heard the scratching noise of one of the beavers hollowing out the inside of the new den. What will they do with the two previous ones?

Wood ducks still visit every morning and fly off in with loud shrieking sounds if we so much as put one footfall below the halfway point of the driveway.
I saw a shiny black salamander under a log I had pulled up to inspect. I had never seen one like that better.
We had over a week of warmish dry days, but now the bitter chill of fall has settled in so walking around outside is not quite as pleasant.
Floods continue in different parts of the country, but we have been spared here in the NE. Less active hurricane season.
Snow in the Midwest already.

August has been more fall like than summer like for the most part with some hot and humid days scattered between, but nothing like July and not nearly as wet. Days are warm and dry and nights cool and crisp. Vegetables are finally growing properly and we hope we will have a harvest from all varieties of plants by the time all is said and done.
One things I noticed is that hydrangea everywhere is much lusher than normal...just coincidence or due to climate change, I do not know. The blossoms are over sized. We have also had a good crop of fruits this year, especially blueberries and blackberries and the bears have been eating well. Lindley has seen a mother bear with cubs twice. The beavers also have a brood and the little ones are finally big enough to come out of the lodge and eat on their own. They are so tiny, but they are feisty and already know how to use their tails to slap warnings when scared.
It seems like just yesterday that we were saying goodbye to the colder weather and winter...now we must start gathering wood again for the winter months ahead!
In the meantime many parts of the country have either been suffering from extreme rain events and flash flooding or wildfires, but still not too much attention paid to climate change information in the mainstream news.