Pine Warblers

 

I was in the New Jersey Pine Barrens again a few days ago. I saw things I have not seen for a year, including butterflies and basking turtles. As usual, it was quiet among the trees, making it easier to hear... 

Pine warblers! They are back. It's easier to hear them singing than to see them, but this fast moving busy bird stopped moving long enough for a photograph. Would you like to hear the song? Click here. Or go take a walk in the woods. Click to enlarge. 

Spring Comes to the Pine Barrens

This is one of my favorite spots in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. I was there about a week ago. See the small sandy yellow beaches on the far shore? It's just the kind of place that some of the area's special plants grow. And just in time for spring... 

New pitchers on the famous purple pitcher plants! 

The new one is bright red. They persist through winter sometimes; the white papery one on the left is last year's. Click to enlarge.

Each pitcher is a modified leaf. They form tubular cups that fill with rainwater..

See the spiky hairs on the big hood above the open mouth of the one on the riight, rear? They face down and direct insects downward toward the water. The lip on the edge is waxy and slick. Insects fall in, drown, and their nutrients are absorbed by the plant. 

It's a uniquely Pine Barrens sign of spring. 

Spring Equniox on Friday

Despite the cold gray weather I saw open daffodils in my neighborhood today, including this one. Just a few were open, the others are still swollen buds. Maybe they are waiting for astronomical spring to begin on the equinox this Friday. 

Meanwhile, a little daffodil poetry from A.A. Milne's When We Were Very Young... 

 

 Daffodowndilly

 

 “She turned to the sunlight  

And shook her yellow head,

 And whispered to her neighbor:

 ‘Winter is dead.’”

Daylight Savings Time Has Begun

Daylight Savings Time started last night while we slept. Our clocks spring forward by one hour, and sunset today in Philadelphia will be at 7:01. Click to enlarge. 

It's Spring!

 

It's the first day of meteorological spring. 

Here are some signs I've seen in the last week. Crocus! 
 

And snowdrops or Candlemas bells. 

And vernal witch hazel. 

Click to enlarge.  

It's nice to see colors again, right?  

And hopefully we've had the last of this for a while. 

Snow Geese in the Marsh

 

Between the melting of the last snow and the arrival of today's storm, there was time for one nice day of birdwatching at Edwin Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge on the New Jersey coast.

Snow geese are visiting the marsh now. Click to enlarge.

They were mainly feeding with their heads down in the grass. 

This group suddenly all looked up toward the same direction.

Then they took off. Note the pretty black wing tips.

They made a racket of honks and cackles.  

Picked up speed.

Gained altitude.

Reached the clouds. 

And finally disappeared.  

Winter Robins Holly Feast

 

Remember the flock of robins that was drinking melting snow water on my roof last week? They came back to eat holly berries. Click to enlarge. 

This time there were about 100 robins. Look at them all! The whole tree was packed like this. 

I heard a sound I had never heard before, of hundreds of robin wings brushing against holly leaves. They chirped, darted and flapped. It was a spectacle. 

They ate and flew away, then retuned throughout the day until all the berries were gone. 

A welcome splash of red in this cold gray February. 

Winter Robins Get a Break

 

A flock of about 50 robins visited my place last week. Here are some of them, testifying that robins don't all fly away from our area for the winter and return in spring. Some of them fly further south, and we get the idea they are all gone when they disappear from lawns as the worms and insects become scarce. But most of them stay, switching to a diet of dry fruits and berries. And they may form foraging flocks. This flock was feeding on the berries of a nearby holly tree. Click to enlarge. 

It was that one day last week when, after several straight weeks of below-freezing temperatures, we had a brief mini-thaw. It's hard for wildlife to find water when it is as cold as it has been. The whole flock landed on the roof of my house to drink water from snow melting there. When I went inside to get my camera most of them flew away, but here is the last lingering pair. I bet they are looking forward as I am to the coming carefree unfrozen days of spring. 

Frost on the Windows

"

This week, the cold kept me inside long enough to notice and photograph frost on my windows. Behold! 

John Greenleaf Whittier once asked: "What miracle of weird transforming is this wild work of frost and light, this glimpse of glory infinite?"

 

I think I see winter trees beside a path in this one. Click to enlarge. 

 

Thomas Hood wrote: "Frost is the greatest artist in our clime — he paints in nature and describes in rime."

 

From Percy Bysshe Shelly: "I love snow, snow, and all the forms of radiant frost." And Robert Louis Stevenson: “…tree and house, and hill and lake, are frosted like a wedding cake." 

 

Robert Frost wrote the poem Wind and Window Flower — “She a window flower, and he a winter breeze.” I imagine him, like me, examining frosty windows on a cold winter day. Click here for a link to that poem

 

Winter Shore Trip

 

There was one day last week that was not too cold for an outing, so I headed toward the seashore. First stop was an animal refuge called Popcorn Park in Forked River, NJ. This lovely rescued silver fox is one of the residents. 

There's an appaloosa horse, too. It looks like its temporary outdoor shelter was tailored exactly to fit. Click to enlarge. 

There are lots of goats there, with nice personalities and great faces. 

One of the pleasures of Popcorn Park was feeding popcorn to the animals. It's been paused because of bird flu. Everyone is looking forward to its return. 

It's a short hop from Popcorn Park to the ocean. The first town you come to on the barrier island over the causeway is Seaside Heights -- the very town featured in the television show Jersey Shore. 

It looks very different in winter. The boardwalk was empty. 

Atmospheric, though.  

And a few stores stay open to provide essentials. 

Further south, after several shore towns, is Island Beach State Park. It's a 10-mile-long strip of barrier island, bay on one side, ocean on the other, and narrow enough to walk across. It's famous for a resident population of wild foxes and for scrub-covered dunes. 

A path to the ocean. 

A brief cold look at the water. 

Then a walk to this nice old bird blind on the bay side. 

Where a flock of cedar waxwings came by and posed. It was a very welcome day outside just before the big snowstorm and polar vortex.