Along the Air Line... 2009-2010 - Winter, Part 3
The Air Line Trail in Eastern Connecticut - Stan Malcolm Photos

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February 19th. Late afternoon light on Raymond Brook Marsh. (First photo with my Canon 7D.)

 

 

February 20th.  One more month until spring but already Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) are enjoying a spot of open water...

 

 

...though most of Raymond Brook Marsh is still iced over.

 

 

A pair of returning Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) scoped out the marsh before flying on.

 

 

Spiders still active atop the snow.  (Tentative ID as Family Linyphiidae, courtesy of Lou Sorkin at the AMNH in NYC.) This male has been munching on another spider.

 

 

Most of the second spider has already been eaten.  Just legs remain.

 

 

Winter Stoneflies (Family Nemouridae) are still the most numerous insects I've seen in this weather.

 

 

February 21st. The first Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) has arrived at the marsh.

 

 

Lots of Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos).

 

 

February 25th. Days of drab weather capped by heavy rains have raised water levels and diminished ice cover.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beavers have been feeding on bark from a tree they felled last fall.

 

 

Bracket Fungi in a trunk gnawed by beavers several years ago.

 

 

February 26th.  Blackledge River Bridge with snow falling.

 

 

Sumac (Rhus sp.) berries.

 

 

Another case of Bracket Fungi emerging from a tree wound.

 

 

February 27th. A few inches of heavy wet snow overnight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grayville Falls.

 

 

This Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapilla) found a morsel to eat amid lichen on a cedar.

 

 

March 3rd. Light snow over ground that was bare yesterday.

 

 

 

 

 

March 4th. A pair of Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) on the channel side.  First pair of whistling Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa) overhead.  No sign of yesterday's snow.

 

 

March 5th.  Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus) are back...

 

 

...as well as more Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa).  I saw several pairs.