March 30, 2010

While people might despise a 40 degree, rainy day in March, volunteers of NBNC's Amphibian Monitoring Program are ecstatic. The warm, moist weather triggered the first substantial migrations of amphibians this season, several weeks earlier than is typical in this part of the state. Amphibians were moving in many locations around the state, and in Middlesex, 24 Wood Frogs and 3 Spotted Salamanders were safely crossed (sadly, the only Spring Peepers found had been run over). If you have to drive on any rainy nights in the next few weeks, use extreme caution to avoid accidentally flattening our four-legged friends, and to learn how to help, contact Larry.

March 26, 2010

Despite the lack of new updates to the Nature News section, there has been lots of new nature sightings this spring around NBNC. Today we had lingering winter birds such as Tree Sparrows at the feeder and a singing Northern Shrike near the bridge. At the same time, the new spring arrivals are pouring back, with today's site survey recording Blackbirds, Grackles, a Flicker, Song Sparrows, and others. A male Eastern Bluebird that has been hanging around the past two weeks was joined by a female today.

The Nature News section is undergoing big changes, and will eventually become an interactive blog, where you can share your sightings and comment on ours. In the interim, updates may be sparse, but we'll try to make a post every now and then. Please keep your sightings coming though, we'd love to hear them!