Frost-hardy Survivors

As these icicles dripping from cliffs along Spier Falls Road attest, it did indeed go below freezing last night.  Way below.  Down into the 20s.   Concerned about how that deep freeze might have affected some of our way-too-early bloomers, I drove out to Orra Phelps Nature Preserve in Wilton today to check on them.  My first concern was a patch of Snow Trillium, but as I hurried across the bridge toward where I knew those rare trilliums would be growing, a dot of bright yellow along the stream bank caused me to halt in my tracks.  What?!  Could that really be a Round-leaved Violet?  Blooming in March?!  And after a freezing night?  Well, that is indeed what it was.  Just one, but hard to miss that vivid lemon-yellow bloom, apparently untouched by frost.

As for the Snow Trilliums, they too survived the freezing night unscathed.  In fact, they looked perkier than ever, with many new plants emerged from the ground since last I visited.

Nearby, I could see the bank where Dutchman's Breeches grow every spring, and I noticed this frilly cluster of leaves that told me the Dutchman's Breeches were well on their way.  Isn't it amazing that such newborn leaves would be so impervious to frost damage?

This itsy bitsy Red Spider Mite was also undaunted by the cold, scurrying so fast around a patch of Mnium moss I had a very hard time taking its photo, since it would not stay within macro focal range.  I snapped about 20 shots and this was the best I could get.

Nature Adventures Here and There

With all this warm weather (close to 80 today), signs of spring are popping up fast, so we have to keep moving to try to keep up with them all.  Sue met me in Saratoga today for a trip to Bog Meadow Nature Trail, our first stop on a day of nature adventures at several locations.

Accompanied by the croaks of Wood Frogs and the calls of Red-winged Blackbirds, we explored both the open marsh and the wooded wetlands that make up this nature preserve, stopping to notice the long pendulous male catkins of the alders, and also the little red puffs of this shrub's female flowers.

At our second stop of the day, the Ballston Creek Preserve near Ballston Lake,  we found other female alder flowers that seemed a bit bigger and redder than the ones at Bog Meadow.  I know we have at least two species of alder, but I can never remember how to tell them apart.

We had come to the Ballston Creek Preserve to observe the active heronry there, and we were not disappointed in finding the giant nests already occupied by Great Blue Herons.   We were, however, quite disappointed to find that the Osprey-occupied nest we'd been observing the past two years was totally gone, with not a stick remaining nor any sign of the Ospreys.  I wonder if last summer's hurricane blew the nest away.  Or if the Osprey pair will return to build a new nest.  They may have decided to relocate among less inhospitable neighbors.  My post from last year recounts one of their not-so-friendly encounters with the herons.

It looks like one red-feathered bird (perhaps a woodpecker?) had a very unfriendly encounter with some kind of predator, to judge from this gob of remains Sue found on a log.  We weren't quite sure if the gob was feces or regurgitated matter.

As we sat on a bench to eat our lunch, we were serenaded on all sides by birdsong and frog calls.  Out in the marsh we could hear the motorboat chugging of what Sue was pretty certain were Pickerel Frogs, while off in the woods to either side of us we could hear the loud quacks of the Wood Frogs seeking mates in the vernal pools.

I wasn't able to record with my camera the distinctive sound of the Pickerel Frogs, but I did manage to record the quacking Wood Frogs.  Of course, the frogs fell silent as we approached the pool, but after we sat there quietly for a good long while, they once again began to croak their distinctive calls.

On our way back to Saratoga, we decided to pull in to the Malta Nature Preserve, a small natural area of wooded marsh and ponds set among surrounding housing developments.   Our reward for stopping was the sight of a good-sized flock of Ring-necked Ducks resting from their migration on one of the ponds.  Once again, Sue amazed me with her ability to recognize them immediately, even at quite a distance.  Unfortunately, they were too far away for a photograph, but I was quite excited to be able to see these unusual ducks through my binoculars.

While standing on a dock observing the ducks, we looked down into the water to notice these fish that seemed to be observing us.

After Sue returned home to prepare for an evening obligation, I decided I still had time for one more nature adventure today and drove up to the Orra Phelps Nature Preserve in Wilton.  There, I was astounded to find the diminutive Snow Trillium already in bloom, at least two weeks earlier than I've ever found it before. 

Although this lovely little trillium is not native to areas this far north, it seems to have naturalized very well in this location.  No doubt, it was Orra Phelps herself who planted it years ago in her woods,  for which I am very grateful.  Otherwise, I would never have the chance to see this brave little beauty that dares to open its blooms so early, some years even while snow remains on the ground around it.