Salamander Cover Boards

Red-backed Salamander photographed by


Dave Rosgen at WMF's Duck Pond Trail


On Tuesday, 8/23/11, I checked all 174 salamander cover boards at White Memorial's Ongley Pond, Lake, Windmill Hill, Butternut Brook, Interpretive, Duck Pond, and Pine Island Trails, Mott-Van Winkle Area, and the east slope of Windmill Hill. The results were rather disappointing: 50 Red-backed Salamanders, 7 Red Eft-stage Red-spotted Newts, and 2 Northern Spring Peepers. This is despite wet conditions which would seem to favor amphibians. However, I did find huge numbers of earthworms; many of them being of nightcrawler size. Some concern has been expressed by herpetologists about the growing numbers of earthworms (most of which are non-native species) and their possibly ill effects on salamanders. I found at least 500 earthworms under our salamander boards. Five days after this survey, Tropical Storm Irene hit, dumping 8 inches of rain on this part of Litchfield, and flooding most of our salamander boards. Yesterday I found 21 of the 25 boards at the Interpretive Trail floating in the Pike Marsh's flooded backwater. Two boards were missing, and the 2 remaining boards on land harbored 4 Red-backed Salamanders. Of the 20 boards at Mott-Van Winkle, 6 were missing. The remaining 14 boards harbored 3 Red-backs. I'm heading out now to check on the fate of the rest of the cover boards.


Big Brown Bat censusing

Big Brown Bats roosting


photo from http://www.bu.edu/


Big Brown Bat in flight






White Memorial's Green Barn, which is located in the Main Area right behind the Museum, has hosted a Big Brown Bat colony for as long as anyone can remember. Since 1999, we have conducted sporadic censuses of this colony, usually as they exit in the evening to feed. This work has become increasingly important in the past few years with White Nose Syndrome decimating bat populations. Little Brown Bats are now greatly diminshed in numbers around this area because of this disease, but Big Brown Bats are still holding on in good numbers. They may not be affected by this disease quite as badly as other bats, or it is just a matter of time before it hits them hard, too. This year they had problems dealing with prolonged cold, wet weather in June. We found a total of 22 dead pups on the floor of the barn during this time period. Our censusing has also been adversely impacted by persistant lousy weather this year. Bats are not inclined to fly in the rain, so we don't try to census them under those conditions. With many other tasks to perform, it has been hard to find time on nice evenings to count the bats. On one such evening in early July I counted 193 bats exiting the barn. I didn't have another opportunity until Saturday, 8/6, when the bat census was supposed to be a major component of our "Serenade for the Bats" program for the public. However, heavy rain descended upon us about 5 minutes into the count after 70 bats had emerged. Not only did bats cease to come out, but the bats that had just come out went right back in. We quit counting them at that point. The rain didn't quit until the next day. I was a lot luckier the following Saturday, 8/13. The weather was mostly clear and warm with a light breeze. I parked myself on the northwest side of the barn where I could see the primary exit point under the peak of the roof on the west side and the secondary exit out through the front doors on the north side. I started watching for bats at 7:35 p.m., but didn't see the first one emerge until 7:47. The peak action occurred between 7:55 and 8:05. The last bat exited the building at 8:17. I went into the barn at 8:25 to see if any bats were still there, and didn't see any. The total that night was 164 bats, with all but 13 exiting from the west side. Almost all of them flew toward the Lake Trail and Ongley Field. The weather this past Saturday evening, 8/20, was also perfect for the bats and for us to count them. This time it was part of our "Things That Go Bump In The Night" program for the public. Twenty people participated in this walk which wound up at the Green Barn at 7:40 p.m. We postioned ourselves to see the west and north sides easily, and were rewarded with a total count of 149 bats between 7:45 and 8:20 p.m. Just like last week, the peak activity occurred around 8 p.m. When we went into the barn at 8:25 to check for remaining bats we didn't see any. All but 9 of the bats had exited from the west side of the building. We can't account for the decrease in bats with any certainty. We could have missed seeing bats exit the east or south sides of the building, or they may have been roosting in a different building, or they may have left the area, or they may have been eaten by an owl or other predator, or they may have died from some other cause. We did look for dead bodies in the barn and didn't see any. It is interesting to note that I saw a Great Horned Owl perched on the barn's roof right over the exit hole on Tuesday, 8/9, and we heard a Barred Owl hooting from the Interpretive Trail on Thursday, 8/11. We'll see what the rest of the summer brings for bat numbers as we continue to try to count them on a weekly basis. The more people helping to count, the better, so come on out.




Little Pond Does It Again!

Glossy Ibis photo by Dave DeReamus

from www.pabirds.org

Pectoral Sandpiper photo by Paul Lewis



From http://www.carolinabirdclub.org/



Short-billed Dowitcher from http://www.nrdc.org/







Pied-billed Grebe photo by Bob Stanowski






Little Pond has produced again! As usual, it is notable birds. August is one of the best months to look for this group of animals at this place. On Thursday morning, 8/4/11, Mike Doyle spotted a Glossy Ibis at the south end of the Pond, near Sutton's Bridge. This may only be the 4th record for this coastal species on WMF property. It is a bird that is prone to wandering after the breeding season, and August is when most of this wandering to inland locales occurs. I went out to Little Pond to look for this bird about 4 hours after Mike reported it. Unfortunately, I couldn't find it; and I presume that it had already moved on. However, in my search of the west side of the Pond for it, I turned up a Pied-billed Grebe with a flightless young one following it. We had seen this species sporadically here since April, and had heard it calling a few times in early May, but had given up hope of any breeding activity here this year. They did successfully nest here in 2002 and at Cemetery Pond in 2007. It is a species that is prone to nest late in the season, after water levels recede from spring flooding, so we shouldn't have given up hope for them as soon as we did. This young bird proves that. Virginia Rails will also nest late in the season, especially if they fail in their first attempts. On our visit on the evening of 8/8/11 we encountered a total of 10 of these birds along the north side of the pond. One was an adult, 2 were well-grown juveniles, and the others were all uttering fledgling food calls. One of the juveniles even hopped up on the Boardwalk, affording us excellent views of it. A major reason why Jim Kandefer, Marie Kennedy, and I went out there that day was to look for the Short-billed Dowitcher, Pectoral Sandpiper, and Semipalmated Plover that Fran Zygmont saw out there on the mud and sand bar Sunday morning, 8/7/11. Unfortunately, water levels had risen about 6" due to heavy rains, so much of the mud was under water, and none of these sought-after shorebirds were present. We did see 4 Killdeer on the remaining portion of the sandbar and 2 flyover Solitary Sandpipers. We also saw 14 Marsh Wrens along the north side of the Boardwalk; many of which were fledglings. That evening's adventure produced a total of 31 species of birds. I tallied a total of 49 species of birds the previous Friday, 8/5/11, after we installed the Purple Martin nest box near Sutton's Bridge. Most of the birds that day were the usual, common residents, plus 3 Green Herons, an adult and fledgling Virginia Rail, 2 singing Alder Flycatchers, 3 Bank Swallows, and 8 migrant Bobolinks. No matter when you go to Little Pond in August, it will yield plenty of birds.

Research and Conservation Forum -- August 2011


Check out what is going on in the Research and Conservation Programs by clicking on the image above.



Purple Martin Nest Box Installation

Purple Martin Nest Box Installed at Little Pond Boardwalk
photo by James Fischer

(l to r) Nicole Morin, Marcus Johansson, Dave Rosgen (White Memorial Biologist),
Amanda Downey, and Geoff Krukar (CT DEEP Wildlife Division Technician)
 hoist the Purple Martin nest box into its final position.
photo by James Fischer

We are pleased to announce that a Purple Martin nest box has been installed on the Little Pond Boardwalk near Sutton's Bridge.  Geoff Krukar, CT DEEP Wildlife Division Technician, facilitated the next box installation today.  The nest boxes were purchased using funds from the CT Endangered Species/Wildlife Income Tax Check-off Fund.  Purple Martins are colonial nesting swallow that have high nest fidelity.  It is quite challenging to initiate and maintain appropriate habitat for Purple Martins.  Currently, Connecticut has only a few colonies.  Hopefully, there will be at least one more colony in the state through the efforts of CT DEEP Wildlife Division at White Memorial.  The habitat was a vital consideration in this effort.  The Little Pond vicinity boasts several critical habitats, the most important for Purple Martins is vast herbaceous inland wetland where very few shrubs or trees can grow.  We have observed Purple Martins migrating through the Little Pond vicinity before, so we are optimistic that a colony will start to nest in this new nest box.  The box and pole is specifically designed for them.  The nest box is constructed of aluminum and can be lowered by using a winch and pulley cable system.  So, keep your eyes open for Purple Martins the next time you walk the Little Pond Boardwalk.

Cerceris Wasp Biosurveillance of Emerald Ash Borer -- 2011 Season Review

Cerceris fumipennis with prey and Satellite Fly (Kleptoparasitic)
Cerceris fumipennis with prey and Satellite Fly (Kleptoparasitic).
photo by Phillip Careless
www.cerceris.info

Cerceris wasps have finished gathering Buprestid beetles for the season.  We collected a total of 73 Buprestid beetles this season from 4 colonies.  We collected 30 beetles from Morris Town Beach ball field, 26 at Wamogo Region #6 High School baseball field, 13 at St. Anthony’s Cemetery in Litchfield, and 4 at the Litchfield Public Schools Plumb Hill ball field colonies.  We observed approximately 40 nests at Morris Beach, 40 nests at Wamogo, 17 nests at St. Anthony’s, and 14 nests at Plumb Hill.  It was a very successful season this because we established our procedures and created a solid baseline of Buprestid beetles species before the Emerald Ash Borer colonizes the state.  This project was supported by several volunteers this year including Madeline Bove, Amanda Downey, Frank Errico, Ryan Gannon, Nicki Hall, Marcus Johansson, Nicole Morin, John (Jack) Nelson, Carol Perrault, Henry Perrault, Olivia Scott, and Rebecca Solnit.  Claire Rutledge, Connecticut Agriculture Experiment Station Entomologist, is our state sponsor/facilitator. 

Thank you Claire for extending your leadership with this project, it’s a worthwhile program.  

Confirming the presence and local distribution of porcupine (Erithizon dorsatum) on the White Memorial Foundation property, Litchfield and Morris, Litchfield County, USA. -- Update I

Peculiar gnawing patterns observed on a salt-treated pine stake,
could be evidence of porcupine but we'll see!
photo by James Fischer

Setting the Scene:  Remote-Triggered Infrared Game Camera image of a salt-treated pine stake
 to serve as an attractant for animals that crave salt during the summer months,
 including porcupine, white-tailed deer, and squirrel species.
photo by James Fischer

A porcupine was observed near Teal Pond July 18, 2011 (Wildlife Monitor blog post).  This observation corresponds with other porcupine evidence observed earlier this year, which is our first observation of this species for the White Memorial Foundation property (Wildlife Monitor blog post).  We have been placing salt-treated pine stakes throughout the vicinity of these observations since late-March.  Marcus Johansson and Amanda Downey helped replace the stakes on July 28 & 29 with fresh stakes, which has occurred approximately monthly.  This insures that the amount of salt on the stakes is fairly consistent from month to month, since the salt can be leached out by precipitation and several different species that are also attracted to salt during the summer.  We observed some peculiar chewing on several of these stakes over the past several months (Wildlife Monitor blog post).  Notably, we observed this same peculiar gnawing pattern on the stake that was closest to the locale of the direct observation of the porcupine (see image).  This same stake has already been chewed on within the past week since it was replaced with a fresh salt-treated stake!  Therefore, we have selected this stake as a site for the use of a remote-triggered infrared game camera (see image).  We'll post any images that are recorded by this game camera, so check back often!

Click on the labels below to review all of our Wildlife Monitor published posts associated with this project. (i.e. porcupine, Five Ponds, etc.)

Monthly Snake Cover-Board Check -- August 2011

Eastern Garter Snake basking on Osmunda Ferns.
photo by James Fischer
(l to r) Madeline Bove, Twan Leenders, and Becca Solnit peeling
through the Snake Cover-Board Pile at Apple Hill Lower Field.
photo by James Fischer
Twan Leenders, CT Audubon Society Conservation Biologist, joined us yesterday to see our Snake Cover-board Monitoring program.  It was great having Twan because he offered us all kinds of advice about how can improve and modify the program.   It also gave us an opportunity to show him unique parts of the property that we conserve.  We encountered 3 species: 8 Eastern Garter Snakes, 3 Northern Redbelly Snake, and 1 Eastern Milk Snake.  We check all of the 12 cover-board piles on the property between 12:30 p.m. through 15:10 p.m. EST.  Madeline Bove, Ryan Gannon, and Becca Solnit were also present, which begins to explain why this session was so efficient, because we had so many hands and eyes present that searching for the snakes.

Cemetery Pond is Really Good, Too!

Black-crowned Night-Heron adult

from www.commons.wikimedia.org

Black-crowned Night Heron immature

from http://www.commons.wikimedia.org/



Wood Duck photo by Paul Fusco

from http://www.paulfuscowildlifephotography.com/



Lesser Yellowlegs photo from

http://www.commons.wikimedia.org/


Greater Yellowlegs photo by Paul Fusco


The last two postings raved about Little Pond and all of the birds that we've seen out there in the past 10 days. However, Cemetery Pond can be very productive, too, especially from mid-July through late October. Throughout most of this time Wood Ducks are very numerous. This is a very important place for hens to bring their broods of young in July and August to feed on an abundance of zooplankton, and for adults to molt to their feathers from late July through early September. It is also a very important place for migrants to stop and feed. The highlights there this week, along with the Wood Ducks (39 last evening), were an adult and immature Black-crowned Night-Heron found by Mike Doyle on Saturday, 7/31, and seen again by Fran Zygmont and myself last evening, and as many as 8 Green Herons there last evening. These can all be seen fairly well with binoculars. The shorebirds are most often seen feeding in the mud on the north side of the pond where the Phragmites has been exterminated. They really like this open expanse. Last evening we saw 3 Greater Yellowlegs, 7 Lesser Yellowlegs, and 4 Killdeer feeding in this patch. Some of the other birds seen last evening were a Great Blue Heron, a Hairy Woodpecker, a Willow Flycatcher with 2 fledglings, 6 adult and 5 fledgling Eastern Kingbirds, 90 Barn Swallows heading in to roost in the Cattails around the Pond, 5 Marsh Wrens singing from these Cattails, 120 American Robins heading in to roost in the Woods north of the Pond, and 16 Cedar Waxwings. These birds, along with all of the usual common species, made for a list of 37 species seen and/or heard at this "hot spot" from 7:20 until 8:40 p.m. yesterday. And for those readers who don't know where Cemetery Pond is, it is located at the intersection of White's Woods Rd. and Constitution Way in Litchfield. Both streets afford a fair amount of safe parking, but one does need to be on the lookout for speeding traffic at all times while walking or standing along the sides of these streets. This pond is also across the street (White's Woods Rd.) from St. Anthony's Cemetery, which is another good birding spot, and is one of our Cerceris Wasp monitoring locations.



Two More Visits to Little Pond

Green Heron photo from

www.barhorst.org

Great Egret photo from


Pied-billed Grebe photo by Bob Stanowski


Immature male Red-winged Blackbird

photo by Bob Stanowski

Juvenile Cedar Waxwing

photo by Bob Stanowski

What a difference a week makes! Actually, my visit to Little Pond on the evening of Thursday, 7/28, was only 5 days after our field trip out there on the evening of the 23rd. In that short time span the water levels in the pond and adjacent marsh have dropped a few inches, the Deer Fly population has decreased to a tolerable amount, and the mosquito population has decreased to a million or so. Much of the bird life is the same, with Red-winged Blackbirds, Swamp Sparrows, Cedar Waxwings, and American Goldfinches remaining abundant, but a few more species have arrived on the scene or become more numerous. My main reason for going out to this pond was to look for the Great Egrets that John Marshall and Jeff Greenwood had reported earlier in the day. They were the first ones seen this year on White Memorial property. They also become my first ones for this year when I spotted them right where John and Jeff said they saw them. Whether these birds are early fall southbound migrants from the small nesting population on Lake Champlain or post-breeding wanderers from some Atlantic coastal location we have no way of knowing. They (assuming they were the same ones) were seen again on Friday and Saturday. I couldn't find them on my next visit on Sunday afternoon, 7/31. On my visit on 7/28 I found an early fall migrant Pied-billed Grebe, 2 Green Herons, and a Solitary Sandpiper, none which were found on the 7/23 visit. My visit on the hot afternoon of Sunday, 7/31, turned up a newly-fledged Red-tailed Hawk, but nothing else that we hadn't had on the previous visits. Actually, each of these subsequent visits produced fewer species than the 7/23 visit, which yielded 51 species. On 7/28 I had 43 species and on 7/31 I had 32 species. This is mostly due to my covering much less ground than we did on the 23rd. On that day we went all the way around the entire boardwalk and trail, while my other 2 visits only took me along the north side of the boardwalk. On all 3 days we went in from the S. Lake St. entrance. It is also obvious from the number and variety of birds found that evening is a far better time to go out than afternoon. We've always known that, but these observations reinforce that belief.

Introducing More of Our Summer Volunteers

Ryan Gannon
Ryan is a senior this year at Litchfield High School and has helped the program in a variety of capacities.  Ryan helped us with last year's Crayfish Survey and continues to help us with this project again this year, as well as with several other projects.  Ryan has turned into an ace crayfish rustler and is able to call out a field identification standing in shoulder deep water.  When he is not helping us, you will commonly see him running on White Memorial's trails training for the various cross country races that he runs in the area.

Madeline Bove
Madeline is a self-starter who is helping White Memorial Museum as well as the Research Program.  Although Madeline is fairly new to volunteering for White Memorial, she has been around attending the Education Programs.  She is great with multitasking.  Madeline can ring up a purchase at the cash register, run outside to capture Cerceris Wasps, and be back at the museum answering visitors questions, while smiling and asking if there is anything else she can do.  We look forward to having Madeline around because she brings a great deal of energy and enthusiasm with her.  She loves school, especially science courses, and is a sophomore at Litchfield High School.

Amanda Downey
Amanda attends the Agriculture Education Program at Region #7 High School, in Winsted, CT.  Amanda has was showing off her skills and abilities while we were bushwhacking through the Five Ponds area on the The White Memorial Foundation Property.  She was following the GPS to locate the salt-laden stakes used for the Porcupine Survey.  Amanda was climbing up cliffs and traversing every valley while focusing her attention to find the next stake.  Amanda was a real trooper and demonstrated that she has true grit.  We are looking forward to having her around White Memorial.