Moose Sighted on WMF Property Today!

Moose track found by Frank Errico on May 5, 2011,
300 meters southwest of  junction S. R. 202 and Butternut Brook,
Litchfield, Litchfield Co., CT, USA (scale equals 6 inches or 15.2 cm long).
Photo By: James Fischer

A moose was observed crossing S.R. 202 at the junction with Butternut Brook moving southwesterly (downstream) at 7:45 a.m.

Moose are recolonizing the state of Connecticut, after at least a century since Europeans extirpated the populations of Southern New England.  Connecticut's European settlers altered habitats and harvested the populations with little regard for sustaining the population.  In the years since, forests now occupy most of the landscape where farms once dominated and laws have been created that sustain moose populations  by regulating harvests throughout the New England Region.  The collaboration between government agencies assures moose can disperse from other areas to re-colonize the state of Connecticut and areas where they had been observed historically.  

Amphibian Cover-Board Experiment Monthly Check

Redback Salamander (Plethodon cinereus) observed under a cover-board.

This experiment compares softwood versus hardwood cover-boards to observe if there is a significant difference between the detection rates of amphibian species inhabiting our temperate forests.  Redback Salamander (Plethodon cinereus) and Red Eft juvenile form of the Red-spotted Newt (Notophthalmus viridescens) comprise the bulk of the amphibian species we observe in our study site.  We check the boards once a month when the weather conditions meet a specific set of criteria which insures the bulk of animals are found under the boards rather than wandering throughout the study area.  This experiment began two years ago and we are entering into our third season.  We hope to publish the results soon, but we observed 56 Redback salamanders under the softwood cover-boards and 41 under the hardwood cover-boards.  Only 2 Red Efts were found under the softwood boards while 5 were observed under the hardwood boards.  Considering that we had freezing temperatures most nights only a few weeks ago, these observations suggest that we have quite a few animals in our study site.  Check back to hear more about our progress with this experiment.

Where to Find Mid-Spring Migrant Birds at White Memorial

Savannah Sparrow photo by Paul Fusco

Greater Yellowlegs photo by Paul Fusco

A question was asked recently about the locations of our bird sightings during the spring migration at White Memorial. The person asking the question wondered why so many of the sightings were around the "Main Area" and Little Pond. The answer is simple, with 3 reasons. First, these places are convenient to get to, especially for us staff members who have other duties to perform around the Museum, which is at the center of the "Main Area". Second, they are generally easy to walk around and offer relatively easy viewing of birds. The "Main Area" consists of the lawns around the Museum, White Hall Rd. and its side driveways, Ongley, Activity, Carriage House, and Mill Fields, and Lake, Ongley Pond, Mill Field, and Interpretive Trails, and N. Shore and Pike Marshes. The Little Pond area consists of the Pond, itself, associated marshes, the primary trail leading in from White's Woods Rd. through the Old Sewer Beds, the secondary trail leading in from White's Woods Rd. along Moulthrop Brook, the boardwalk connector leading in from South Lake St., and the boardwalk around Little Pond. Third, these areas include grassy, mixed herbaceous, and shrubby fields, shrubby and wooded edges, mixed hardwood, hemlock/hardwood, white pine/hardwood, white pine/hemlock, and white pine forests, cattail, mixed herbaceous, and shrubby marshes, shrubby hardwood swamps, hardwood swamps, ponds, and the Bantam River for habitats. This is one heck of a mix of habitats in a relatively small geographic area, and they consistently prove themselves to be extremely attractive to migrant birds. They offer everything birds need in terms of food, water, and shelter. It also helps that we provide bird feeders at the Museum and try to encourage native berry, seed, and nut producing vegetation to grow around this area. It's only 3 days into the month of May and we've already seen or heard 68 species of birds on the Property with all of them occurring around the "Main Area" or Little Pond. These include the Greater Yellowlegs and Savannah Sparrow shown in the accompanying photos. Other neat birds found around here since the last blog post include Black Vulture, Merlin, American Woodcock, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Wood Thrush, Nashville, Magnolia, Black-throated Blue, Black-throated Green, Blackburnian, and Prairie Warblers, Northern Parula, and American Redstart. These birds were encountered at all times of the day, but the most productive times were before 11 a.m. and after 5 p.m. This is the best time of the year to see birds, so come out to White Memorial and enjoy them; and please remember to post your sightings on ebird.org.