Garlic Mustard:
- Animal sightings: A half-dead black rat snake lying on the road... Tara had to put it out of its misery. It was pretty intense. Also, Kristin found what seemed to be a hognose snake (our first one), still alive.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Monday, 6/2
- Finally, a day where the majority of it was not actually spent sitting around in the dark VC. Did some garlic mustard (invasive species) removal at Chapman's State Park, which meant "weeding the forest", as Morgan said. Garlic mustard is really easy to identify and comes out of the ground really easily, so it really wasn't that bad. The forest was mostly Paw Paw trees, so there wasn't anything spiky to run into and the ground was mostly poison ivy free. At one point, we were wading through a lot of waist-high grass, which led to everyone but me being covered in ticks (though i did find my first one when i got home, happily attached).
Garlic Mustard:
- Animal sightings: A half-dead black rat snake lying on the road... Tara had to put it out of its misery. It was pretty intense. Also, Kristin found what seemed to be a hognose snake (our first one), still alive.
Garlic Mustard:
- Animal sightings: A half-dead black rat snake lying on the road... Tara had to put it out of its misery. It was pretty intense. Also, Kristin found what seemed to be a hognose snake (our first one), still alive.
Sunday, 6/1
- Took the Girl Scouts out for a canoe ride up to the Patuxent. Someone had to stay back in the VC (where the power was out) and tell visitors they couldn't use the bathroom. That person was me, and the visitors were a never ending parade of cyclists in spandex.
- Animal sightings: Painted turtle, swimming in the pond behind the VC. Lots of bullfrogs, but they wouldn't hold still for a picture... every time I walked by they would go "BREEEP!" loudly and jump into the pond with a loud splash. I tried sitting on the bridge and waiting for one to poke its head out, but they're too smart for me.
Painted Turtle:
- Also saw a brown thrasher attacking a black rat snake! This is apparently the national crest of Mexico (sort of), and it was the sign that it was time to found a country.
The seal of Mexico:
- Animal sightings: Painted turtle, swimming in the pond behind the VC. Lots of bullfrogs, but they wouldn't hold still for a picture... every time I walked by they would go "BREEEP!" loudly and jump into the pond with a loud splash. I tried sitting on the bridge and waiting for one to poke its head out, but they're too smart for me.
Painted Turtle:
- Also saw a brown thrasher attacking a black rat snake! This is apparently the national crest of Mexico (sort of), and it was the sign that it was time to found a country.
The seal of Mexico:
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Dead Animal Retrospective
A rough list of all the dead things we've encountered this year. This is probably going to be a little gross. Pictures linked to because not everyone might want to see dead, rotting wildlife:
- Dead leopard gecko: In the freezer. Former resident of the reptile room. Has been there since last year.
- Dead bald eagle : Given to Bill by some woman who found it dead in her yard. Probably attacked by another bald eagle. We put it in our freezer in order to get it stuffed but have failed to get a permit, and have failed to do anything about it since then. Several months later, it still takes up half the freezer.
- Dead mice (too many to count). Mostly bought frozen and fed to the snakes, but occasionally they'll die in the VC or the house and we'll have to track them down. Found: in a pile of tinsel, and in one of my leg warmers. The leg warmer one was pretty bloated, and I threw it into the grass. Tara decided it would be a great idea to ride over it with a bicycle, and popped it.
- Dead beaver: Found on the side of the road, on the way to do stream corridor assessment. Upside down, relatively intact, disturbingly adorable.
- Dead (barred) owl: On the side of the road, on the way to stream corridor assessment. Not so intact.
- Dead cat - this one is fairly disturbing: Found in a periwinkle bed right outside the VC. Clearly had been there for a while, not really sure how we managed to not notice it. I covered it up with a trash bag and made Tara and Karen deal with it. They buried it behind the shop.
- Dead fish (numerous): In January, after a couple of really warm days, we noticed a large population of seagulls circling Merkle Pond. I noticed that they were eating some really big dead things - at first I thought they were geese! - and we went to check it out and discovered lots of huge dead bass and dead shad everywhere. It turned out that on one of the hot days there had been an algae bloom, which sucked all of the oxygen out of the pond and killed the fish. The great Merkle Massacre led to a debacle with a pump, a lot of bald eagle sightings (they were pretty happy with all the free food), and the pond being closed for the season to anglers. Oh, and a pretty hilarious monthly report photo-montage set to the song "That Smell".
- Dead deer (several): Usually found mostly decomposed, or just bones. Notable ones: the deer that we found in a closed room in a barn. As far as we could tell it had fell in through the ceiling. Also, the deer spine in the field that Tara snuck up on me with and made me scream like a little girl.
- Dead baby bluebirds (many): Ugh. This was foul. Two boxes full of dead baby birds (unclear how they died... no signs of injury. Maybe overheated or drowned?) hadn't been checked in a while and really got pretty grody. No pictures for this one, and it's probably for the best.
- Dead mystery bird, with very much alive mystery baby: Found a dead brown bird that I didn't recognize outside of my old house, near a tree swallow nest that looked like it had been ransacked. There was an injured but feisty baby nearby... I put it into an old yogurt container, and called Bill, who said to find a tree swallow nest still in use and throw it in there. The baby didn't make it... probably because I was wrong about the whole tree-swallow thing.
- Soon to be dead baby starlings and embryonic wood-ducks: This is a whole other story. I'll tell it later.
- Dead red-winged blackbird. I don't know. Tara found it somewhere.
- Dead leopard gecko: In the freezer. Former resident of the reptile room. Has been there since last year.
- Dead bald eagle : Given to Bill by some woman who found it dead in her yard. Probably attacked by another bald eagle. We put it in our freezer in order to get it stuffed but have failed to get a permit, and have failed to do anything about it since then. Several months later, it still takes up half the freezer.
- Dead mice (too many to count). Mostly bought frozen and fed to the snakes, but occasionally they'll die in the VC or the house and we'll have to track them down. Found: in a pile of tinsel, and in one of my leg warmers. The leg warmer one was pretty bloated, and I threw it into the grass. Tara decided it would be a great idea to ride over it with a bicycle, and popped it.
- Dead beaver: Found on the side of the road, on the way to do stream corridor assessment. Upside down, relatively intact, disturbingly adorable.
- Dead (barred) owl: On the side of the road, on the way to stream corridor assessment. Not so intact.
- Dead cat - this one is fairly disturbing: Found in a periwinkle bed right outside the VC. Clearly had been there for a while, not really sure how we managed to not notice it. I covered it up with a trash bag and made Tara and Karen deal with it. They buried it behind the shop.
- Dead fish (numerous): In January, after a couple of really warm days, we noticed a large population of seagulls circling Merkle Pond. I noticed that they were eating some really big dead things - at first I thought they were geese! - and we went to check it out and discovered lots of huge dead bass and dead shad everywhere. It turned out that on one of the hot days there had been an algae bloom, which sucked all of the oxygen out of the pond and killed the fish. The great Merkle Massacre led to a debacle with a pump, a lot of bald eagle sightings (they were pretty happy with all the free food), and the pond being closed for the season to anglers. Oh, and a pretty hilarious monthly report photo-montage set to the song "That Smell".
- Dead deer (several): Usually found mostly decomposed, or just bones. Notable ones: the deer that we found in a closed room in a barn. As far as we could tell it had fell in through the ceiling. Also, the deer spine in the field that Tara snuck up on me with and made me scream like a little girl.
- Dead baby bluebirds (many): Ugh. This was foul. Two boxes full of dead baby birds (unclear how they died... no signs of injury. Maybe overheated or drowned?) hadn't been checked in a while and really got pretty grody. No pictures for this one, and it's probably for the best.
- Dead mystery bird, with very much alive mystery baby: Found a dead brown bird that I didn't recognize outside of my old house, near a tree swallow nest that looked like it had been ransacked. There was an injured but feisty baby nearby... I put it into an old yogurt container, and called Bill, who said to find a tree swallow nest still in use and throw it in there. The baby didn't make it... probably because I was wrong about the whole tree-swallow thing.
- Soon to be dead baby starlings and embryonic wood-ducks: This is a whole other story. I'll tell it later.
- Dead red-winged blackbird. I don't know. Tara found it somewhere.
Saturday, 5/31
- This morning, Morgan got locked out on the balcony for several hours. Bill came all the way over from Cedarville to let her in, and was annoyed to find out that I actually had been in the Visitor's Center for the last 20 minutes... Oops. I just hadn't gotten around to figuring out where the heck Morgan was, because:
- A woman came in this morning to report a 6 foot long snake hanging out near Windmill Pond. She said it was a "Water Moccasin" but we don't actually, you know, have any of those in Maryland, so I spent my first 20 minutes at work trying to figure out what this lady had seen (results: totally inconclusive, aside from "not a copperhead").
- Animal sightings: 2 bullfrogs in the small pond behind the VC
- At some point in the day it began to hail bits of hail the size of bottle caps, and then there was a very exciting thunder storm centered approximately over Merkle Pond. I learned what herons do in the rain, which is stand still in the middle of a pond, look miserable, and get very wet. Oh, and then the power went out. And stayed out until mid-day Monday.
- In the evening, we hosted a campfire program for Girl Scouts. They were adorable.
- A woman came in this morning to report a 6 foot long snake hanging out near Windmill Pond. She said it was a "Water Moccasin" but we don't actually, you know, have any of those in Maryland, so I spent my first 20 minutes at work trying to figure out what this lady had seen (results: totally inconclusive, aside from "not a copperhead").
- Animal sightings: 2 bullfrogs in the small pond behind the VC
- At some point in the day it began to hail bits of hail the size of bottle caps, and then there was a very exciting thunder storm centered approximately over Merkle Pond. I learned what herons do in the rain, which is stand still in the middle of a pond, look miserable, and get very wet. Oh, and then the power went out. And stayed out until mid-day Monday.
- In the evening, we hosted a campfire program for Girl Scouts. They were adorable.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Friday, 5/30
- Since both of the big chainsaws are out of commision, we tried for the third time to clear the two downed trees on the upper loop of the Poplar Springs trail. We used the arborist's saw, a tiny little baby chainsaw meant for taking with you as you climb up trees. We got the thing started (not easily) and then the damn thing was too dull to cut through the tree (and of course we don't have any way of sharpening the blade at Merkle). It smoked like crazy, and left burn marks on the wood. So, Tara and Kristin and I sawed the trees with hand saws, lopped anything smaller than our wrists, and wailed on them like crazy-people with an axe. Mission accomplished.
- Took the red-eared slider out for a walk. It was pretty chill.
- Took the red-eared slider out for a walk. It was pretty chill.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Tuesday, 5/27
- Attempt number 2 to clear the downed trees on the Poplar Springs trail was aborted when the chainsaw refused to turn off. We decided that this was probably a safety hazard. Here's what we did, and if anyone knows anything about chainsaws I'd be curious to know if this is a problem or not:
This chainsaw has three settings - off, regular, and cold start. You set it to cold start if you haven't used it for a while, keep trying to start it til it revs (it'll just rev once, then stop). Then you flip it up to regular, and start it again until it revs, and then you can use it normally. We did that, and then turning it to the off switch did nothing - it just kept running. We pulled it down to cold start, and that turned it off, but that probably can't be good for it...
This chainsaw has three settings - off, regular, and cold start. You set it to cold start if you haven't used it for a while, keep trying to start it til it revs (it'll just rev once, then stop). Then you flip it up to regular, and start it again until it revs, and then you can use it normally. We did that, and then turning it to the off switch did nothing - it just kept running. We pulled it down to cold start, and that turned it off, but that probably can't be good for it...
Monday, May 26, 2008
Memorial Day Weekend
Animal sightings:
- Saw two snakes in the water while canoeing. One was hiding underneath a lily pad, and Mae noticed it while furiously washing her hands off after grabbing onto some poison ivy. She pointed it out to me shortly before I ran into some overhanging poison ivy with my face. With the help of a lot of antibacterial wipes that I got in my Christmas stocking last year, we both escaped without long-term consequences. The snake was never identified because we were both a little bit distracted. Saw another snake with a fish in its mouth. Took like 30 identical pictures of it.
- Many angry ospreys. Some carrying fish.
- Lots of herons, mostly flying overhead. No heron babies, sadly.
- Tree swallow living in Wood Duck box. Poked his head out and stared at us for a very long time.
- Dogs barking (overheard, all night long).
- Barred owl (heard going 'hoo hoo hooHOOOOO. hoo hoo hooHOOOO." so cool!)
Saw a minivan with kayaks driving the wrong way down the CADT (which was closed that day). Almost had a car chase, but didn't. Turned out to be the Patuxent River Keeper who can pretty much do whatever he wants, as far as we're concerned. The only reason I am mentioning this is because my friends started calling him the Trapper Keeper, and I thought that was hilarious.
Later, heard a bunch of teenagers walking down the CADT near our campsite.
- Saw two snakes in the water while canoeing. One was hiding underneath a lily pad, and Mae noticed it while furiously washing her hands off after grabbing onto some poison ivy. She pointed it out to me shortly before I ran into some overhanging poison ivy with my face. With the help of a lot of antibacterial wipes that I got in my Christmas stocking last year, we both escaped without long-term consequences. The snake was never identified because we were both a little bit distracted. Saw another snake with a fish in its mouth. Took like 30 identical pictures of it.
- Many angry ospreys. Some carrying fish.
- Lots of herons, mostly flying overhead. No heron babies, sadly.
- Tree swallow living in Wood Duck box. Poked his head out and stared at us for a very long time.
- Dogs barking (overheard, all night long).
- Barred owl (heard going 'hoo hoo hooHOOOOO. hoo hoo hooHOOOO." so cool!)
Saw a minivan with kayaks driving the wrong way down the CADT (which was closed that day). Almost had a car chase, but didn't. Turned out to be the Patuxent River Keeper who can pretty much do whatever he wants, as far as we're concerned. The only reason I am mentioning this is because my friends started calling him the Trapper Keeper, and I thought that was hilarious.
Later, heard a bunch of teenagers walking down the CADT near our campsite.
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