Cool greens on a sultry day.

The spice bush is just starting to bloom today.  This is the food of the little caterpillar we saw on the trail last fall.  I saw a king fisher today flying along the little creek.

Great day for a walk in the woods.  The trails were lightly covered with snow and were easy to negotiate.  Our biggest treat came on the east side of the Gully Pond.  We found these trees with new chewing done by beavers.  On the way home we noticed from the road four large areas which could be beaver or muskrat lodges.  We'll keep our eyes on these.

Yesterday was a great day for a walk in the woods at O'Loughlin.

Guppy Farm was muddy and very walkable today.  Mild temperatures help to get one outside.

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.