March 20th. The first day of Spring! Last year's Great Blue Heron nests at the pond east of Route 207.

 

A male Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus). Pictures taken between his dives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(I know, too many essentially identical pictures, but hard to resist posting them.)

 

Coming from the south side of the trail at Raymond Brook Marsh, I count roughly 128 Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) in this group.

 

 

 

Still heading north after passing over the trail.

 

An afternoon walk east from Old Hartford Road, on the hunt for frog choruses. I soon heard but couldn't get close to Spring Peepers (Hyla crucifer).
Found some welcome green! Ground Pine (Lycopodium clavatum).

 

 

 

Wood Frogs (Rana sylvatica) were in full song about a half mile east.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Swimming frogs created marvelous surface patterns. Note tan frog, upper right corner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can you find the frog in this picture?

 

Close up view with the frog centered.

Want to hear the frogs? Here's a YouTube video I made a couple of years ago. Peepers are high pitched peeps (naturally), while the Wood Frogs sound a bit like a cough. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBFP424gCMk
Here's a video of just the Wood Frogs from 2024: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_i2x_uui5g
And another, from 2022: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biXPrAnKOhk