Walked along the Charlie Major nature trail today and were treated to a small flock, 3, of bluebirds down by the creek.

Lovely fall walk through the woods today.  Here are the spicebushes the caterpillar in the previous post would've found tasty.

We had a real treat today when we found this unusual looking caterpillar on the O'Loughlin trail.  At first I thought it might be a small rubber child's toy. On closer inspection, I found it was a caterpillar and  very much alive.  While graciously photogenic in the middle of the trail, we moved the caterpillar to the side so no one would inadvertently take a wrong step.

Once home I googled the caterpillar to find it is a Spicebush Swallowtail, Papillo troilus, which turns yellow before it pupates.  More information can be found at http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Papilio-troilus

Met a very nice woman today who has just discovered the conservation areas and is burning through the trails.  She wondered why some are marked and others aren't.  I pointed her in the right direction.

Glorious late summer day with asters and golden rod blooming.

Met Dr. Greg McGee with his students from ESF today on the trails at Guppy.  He brings students for a variety of programs using this great resource.  Today's group consisted of grad students who would in turn lead freshman groups next week on the property.

Even the elderberries are early this year....in July?

Lots of work has been done at the Federal Farm: a new stone dust entry way and  cutting of buck thorn along the western edge. Quiet afternoon. We had the place to ourselves which is unusual.

The last time I saw Guppy Falls there was some water dribbling down but today I wasn't sure.  The lack of rain has taken its toll on this also.

How irresponsible can someone be?  We walked up to the top of the steps at Guppy Farm and were greeted by this area which had been someone's fire pit.  With the recent dry weather one stray spark could've resulted in a huge fire on this hillside.  What were these people thinking?

Lots of partridge berry blooming under the hemlocks.

We shared the paths today with a painted turtle and a garter snake.

Happy Mother's Day

Saw this little centipede crossing our paths.  The leaves are almost out completely due to the warmth of the last few days.  Great day to be walking, no flying insects yet.

A photo of the falls in spring.

A bit wintery this afternoon.  The snow from yesterday had melted but the air was cold.  Found a veritable forest of may apples on the forest floor.

Maybe other have seen this before but it was a new one on me. This is a wild strawberry plant blooming in April. Not at the end of April but we are just one day past the center of the month. The cultivated strawberries will be early, too, at this rate.

It was a trout lily kind of day. I don't think I have ever seen so many at Guppy Farm.

The trillium seem to be on hold right now..a little warm weather and they will pop.

Lots of water in the pond off of Gully Road as evidenced by the picture of the boardwalk. On the other end of the pond we saw what we thought is marks of beaver chewing on the wood. Could this be the reason for the higher water?

Forgot the camera last week when we went walking so I brought it this time. The spring beauties are blooming along with skunk cabbage and the spice bush. Things are growing at an amazing clip with all of the record warmth we have had this late winter and early spring.

After all of the birds we saw this weekend, I expected to see more than a blue jay this afternoon. Settled for the tiny leaves of honeysuckle showing their St. Patrick's Day colors.

Beautiful day to be walking through the woods. Lots of wet places but late winter days don't get better than this.

Yesterday we saw a flock of about 6 blue birds on the west side of the Gully Road pond and lots of geese in the pond. Spring is in the air, although there was some snow on top of the mud on the ground.

Got to love March...is this what March madness is all about? Wind, snow, 50 degree days?

Great shelf fungi on a birch.

Just a super day to be outside! The warmth in the air negated the mud underfoot.

Very quiet in the woods today, we neither saw nor heard any wildlife.

We went for a walk at Mable Reynolds today. Snow was coming down and there were places of deer activity. On the way in we noticed these curious signs. First you have the Mable Reynolds Nature Preserve sign in wood on the left and then on the adjacent telephone pole there is an orange no trespassing sign and just slightly behind that is a yellow nature preserve sign. Curious, right?

Lovely mid winter day with temps flirting with 50. I saw a bluebird as we drove to the Bob Sykes trail. These massive vines are on the north end of the property and always amaze with their size when I see them.

We always get a kick out of seeing pileated woodpecker holes so close to the ground. You wonder how they were holding on to the tree.

Lack of snow has been the talk this month. Plenty wet enough, but one doesn't expect muddy trails in January. Lots of water going over the falls.

It was a lovely sunny winter day to be outside. The animal traffic out at the Mable Reynolds Nature area was abundant. The 3-4 inches of snow provided just the right palette for recording their wanderings through the area.

We went for a very icy walk along the Bob Sykes trail up the side of the hill yesterday. The rain earlier this week had turned into solid ice in places and crunchy ice in other places.

A very snowy gully at Guppy Farm.

This shot is from our walk on Sunday. A great day to be outside. We went up the red trail at the O'Loughlin property and speculated about all of the stonewalls on the face of the hill.

The weak sun shone as we walked up the red trail on the O'Loughlin property. We saw these tracks in the snow.

We walked through the Guppy Farm today. The falls were crashing down. The trails were a tad muddy. Winter will come. White snow clinging to the moss on downed trees gave some color to the forest floor.