Spring cleaning and other signs

By Beth Sullivan

Winter has officially ended, and as this is written the meteorologists are getting all excited about yet another “Snow Bomb”. However, it is more important to review the last week of good days and recognize that things are indeed changing around us.

Because the weather has been so nice for the last several days, we have been out beginning our spring cleaning on several preserves. It has been great to be out and working again and, while doing so, it is impossible to not notice those spring signs. Last year at this time, I dedicated several blogs to spring firsts: Osprey,  Skunk Cabbage, among others. Go back and review…we may need reminders this year since so much is late! However, the first osprey for me arrived today on the nest at Paffard Marsh Preserve on Route 1 in Stonington. Another was reported on the Downes Marsh on River Road in Mystic. I have only heard one Phoebe. As insect eaters, I surely hope they remain down south until the next blast of weather is done. A quick stroll around Paffard Woods and Knox Family Farm revealed Skunk cabbage populating the wetlands there.

The Osprey returned to Paffard Marsh this week.

Skunk cabbage start growing with snow all around.

There have been a few reports of amphibians also. The couple of warmer days melted the vernal pools and softened the earth so a little stirring began: a few tentative peeps from the Spring Peepers, one very cold Wood frog uncovered by an excited child in the woods, and a few brave Spotted Salamanders moving into breeding pools. All of these will need to seek shelter when the temperatures return to frigid or their lives will be in jeopardy.

A Spotted Salamander in its wetland habitat. 

The cold did not stop us from getting a lot done this week. Our collaboration with the Goodwin Niering Center for the Environment, at Connecticut College, provided us with willing hands: 50 students=100 hands! Their team leader will be guest writing this blog over the next weeks about their effort, so I will not go into details. All I can say is WOW! Please find some time to take a walk at Dodge Paddock in the Borough and notice the changes. Drive along North Main Street and the Paffard Woods Preserve and admire the gorgeous stone walls!

Students from Connecticut College work on clearing the stone walls at the edge of Dodge Paddock in Stonington Borough.

And while you are out, please notice that the fields at the Knox Preserve have been mowed, thanks to some wonderful volunteers with time, energy and the right machines! They uncovered mice and vole tunnels as well as discovering woodchuck burrows. The shortened grass will encourage the Woodcocks as they seek out the wet areas, and sparrows are enjoying gleaning the seeds now on the ground. Red-winged Blackbirds are singing at the little pond.

Red winged Black Bird.

Newly mowed Knox Preserve waiting for warmer temperatures.

I guess spring has arrived! Enjoy it.

Photographs by Beth Sullivan, Rick Newton, and Roger Wolfe.

Chasing Away the Winter

Winter always seems to be reluctant to give up and go away. Many of us who spend a great deal of time outside count not just the days until spring but more significantly count “firsts”. Everyone seems to notice when the daffodils and crocuses break the ground in our gardens, and it is often still quite definitely winter. Skunk cabbage flowers, oddly shaped and waxy, have been “in bloom” since January. A plant whose chemistry creates heat around it can actually melt the winter snow it stands in. Look closely at this time of year, you might find an insect or two, a bee or fly, emerged a bit too early or sometimes even a salamander taking refuge inside the sheltering flower. Those are some things we have been looking at for weeks already and are now eagerly awaiting new “firsts”.

                                                     Skunk cabbage 

By Wednesday, March 13, we had experienced a stretch of some wonderful warmth: a spring tease. That day was rainy, heavy at times. The warm rain soaked the earth, softening and soaking deep into the soil, running into holes and burrows, melting the ice on vernal pools. The FIRST wood frogs emerged from the leaf litter in the woods and found their way to shallow melted pools and began to “quack” in the late afternoon sunlight. The FIRST Spring Peepers began their calling a bit later that night from marshy ponds and wet meadows. A bit tentative to start, the chorus will grow and swell over the next weeks as the weather becomes more consistently warm. Spotted Salamanders don’t make any noise and are far more secretive. They too emerge from woodlands where they have hibernated deep in burrows. All of these first ‘emergers’ are heading to the same habitat- vernal pools. These very special wetland areas are shallow ponds. They usually only hold water during the winter and spring and are too shallow to have predatory fish. They protect the eggs and larva just long enough for them to mature then most of these ponds dry up in the summer as the amphibians move onto land.

This three minute video features the creatures that get their start in vernal pools.

Vernal pools can be found on a number of Avalonia properties. In Stonington, you can visit the Hoffman Preserve, Knox Family Farm, Paffard Woods, White Cedar Swamp, and Deans Mill Preserve among others. It is important to leave these ponds undisturbed. The busy amphibians can be easy prey for predators. Their egg masses are fragile. It is important not to wade into these wetlands and to keep dogs on a leash when in the area. Many amphibian species, including those that emerge later, are in decline. Look and listen for these FIRSTS and you will know spring cannot be far away.  

Written by Beth Sullivan.

You can learn more about vernal pools at www.vernalpool.org