Rain, Rain, Go Away, Come Again Some Summer Day: Ugh…the wind is gusting to 31mph, and it is raining buckets at the moment. Rivers are running high, there may be flooding across some of the roads we have to travel tomorrow, and the temperature at 8:30 pm is a whopping 38F. It is February, for Pete’s sake!
Weather Update: We are having what seems like a late March weather pattern with a mix of rain and snow. The daytime temperatures are unreal in the high-30’s and low-40’s, and the nights are in the high-20’s and mid-30’s. Unreal! Much of the coast Maine is under a flood watch for water ways at this time, because we are in line to get lots of rain and wind over the next few days. Aughhh…….Blame it on El Nino! Check out this NOAA web site for real-time El Nino monitoring.
Pond Update: The pond is becoming unsafe to walk on, and we took our final trek across it last weekend. My next post will be of that trip and the animal tracks we saw. I’ve been so busy with school work that web site updates have been rather slow. Sorry about that.
Fisher
Fisher Track (note the five toes)
Foot print length in soft snow 5.5"
Foot print width in soft snow 5.5"
Fisher Tracks: I have seen these tracks near two beaver lodges this winter, and after consulting Bro-in-Law Gary, and my Peterson Field Guide to Animal Tracks, I have decided that these tracks probably belong to a fisher.The fisher is in the Mustelidae family (the weasels) along with minks and skunks (to name a few).
Here is a quote from my friend Randy Smith, “Great prints of the fisher. I have only seen one in the wild. It was at night and it ran across the road in front of the car. It had a weird gate. Sort of loped along. My brother chased one up a tree once. Not a good plan. They are huge and mean.”
The fisher picture in the slide show is from http://www.borealforest.org/mammals.htm. I’ve never been fortunate enough to see one in real-life.
Beaver lodge and fisher tracks: This video is 4 minutes, 20 sec. long. I’d advise you to click on the start button, then click the pause button soon after to let it pre-load. Then, hit the start button to play the video after it has pre-loaded around 1/3 of the way (grey bar has traveled to the right…this can take around 30 seconds). It’s worth the wait!
To play the video full-screen, click on little 4-arrow symbol to the left of the word “Vimeo” on the video.
NOTE: if you find the movement of the slide shows above and below this video distracting, you can pause each one by hovering your mouse over the slide shows and clicking on the pause button on each one.
1st creek and Drew's bridge
Water flowing under ice
Vernal Pool after 2nd hill
Trail toward bog turn-off
Beaver bog with lodge in background
Beaver Lodge
Top of lodge
Edge of bog and beaver dam
Woodsy Walk to a Beaver Lodge: I took a walk through the woods to a bog for a visit to an absolutely huge beaver lodge which was about 5 feet tall. Amazing!
Mid-winter Flowers/Black and White: I am trying something new…thinking about creating a black and white flower calendar…Here is my first attempt at black and white in PhotoShop. These six photos are all 8x10 or 10x8 aspect ratio.
Rose
Tulip
Tulips
Tiger Iris Petal with rain drops: As for the reflection in the raindrops, it looks like a crow was walking on the road behind me when I shot the photo. Of course, the reflection would be upside down in the water droplet.
