Nature Notes

Tuesday April 2 More lambs at Drumlin Farm in Lincoln. Some frolicking around, doing that levitation thing where they leap up off all 4 hooves at once. Lambs head-butting other lambs. One newborn in the pen with its mom, still wobbly on its legs.   The swan is now sitting on the nest at Ward's Pond - I'll be watching to see if the eggs hatch in a few weeks. Saturday April 6 We've come to St. Johnsbury, Vermont, to watch the total solar eclipse on Monday. First necessity: eclipse t-shirts, from the local Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium. Franklin Fairbanks, the founder of the museum, was a descendant of Thaddeus Fairbanks, who invented the platform scale here in 1830, commemorated by a historical plaque. His company, Fairbanks Scales Inc., continues to make weighing equipment today. Our motel, the Fairbanks Inn, has small paintings of the original platform scale on each room door. Sunday April 7  At breakfast, I went out to take a photo of the classic train station across f...

Since I didn't manage to write up February Nature Notes, I thought I would just include a few photos from February here. February 8 frost February 9 sunrise at the pond February 14 Witch hazel at the Arb February 15 From Susan February 20 Getting ready for the solar eclipse February 21 Iceman outside of Children's Hospital February 24 Need I say more? ****************************************************************************************************************** Monday, March 4 One of the real pleasures of living close to the pond is seeing the early morning light on my morning walks. This glow on the trees on the western edge of the pond as the sun rose lasted only a few minutes. Wednesday March 6 Croci blooming at the Arb. Friday March 8 Spotted this hawk in a tree on our morning walk at the pond. It stayed put long enough for me to take a few photos. Maddie has been declining over the last few weeks. She's been ok in the mornings and we've been going to the pond,...

Tuesday January 2 Coming back from a walk, I noticed snowdrop shoots starting by my driveway. We haven't had any snow (apart from one dusting which disappeared within a few hours) yet this winter. Wednesday January 3 Walking along the Emerald Necklace in Brookline, saw this nearly fluorescent green duckweed (I think) in one of the tiny ponds. Meanwhile, Susan was in the Galapagos for four days, seeing all sorts of great wildlife, including this blue-footed booby and Galapagos penguin . Tuesday January 9 Saw these Canada geese at the pond this morning with Maddie. If you look carefully, you can see they have a little frost or snow on their backs/wings. I love this - it's a demonstration of both the water repellency of their outer contour feathers and the thermal insulation of their down. Wednesday January 10 Walking around Ward's Pond, a  golden-crowned kinglet landed on a branch right at eye height, just a few feet from me. Got a great look at it, even without binocula...