Memorial Day

It's been a while since I got a chance to wander around Great Meadows and see what is new. So Memorial Day, I got up early and headed over. There was so much to see. I thought I would limit this post to three themes and one pleasant surprise.

As I wandered up the Dike Path I encountered a sizable snapping turtle on the bank. Observing it for a while, I realized that it was a female laying eggs and burying them in the sandy soil. Turtles nesting is the first theme for the day. Later I encountered another Snapping Turtle and a Painted Turtle each digging nests along the banks of the impoundments. Unfortunately, each chose a nesting location near plants, that made it impossible to get unobstructed views of the turtle and their nest.






Backfilling the Nest


Mom's job is done, The babies will fend for themselves


Painted Turtle




Also prevalent around the refuge is the Swamp Iris. This pretty yellow plant, is not native to North America, and is an invasive plant to the refuge. It can be found in clumps ranging from the water in the impoundments to the swamping banks of the river. While photographing the Swamp Iris, I noticed my first Damselflies of the year. Unfortunately, after waiting a while, the two Damselfiles still had not found each other, so I moved on.














At the far side of the refuge, I checked up on the Tree Swallows I had seen earlier. They have started to started to nest, but I can not tell if they've laid eggs yet. While I wait for the appearance of young, I will have to amuse myself with photographing them visiting the nest hole.





The pleasant surprise is this following photograph. I stopped to photograph this pretty yellow plant (I'll have to find the name when I have a little more time). As I was reviewing my photos at home, I noticed the tiny red spider on the petal!

A Quick Visit

Saturday morning I needed to stop by Great Meadows to catch the "herps" about an upcoming activity. To entertain myself while I waited, I brought a camera.

Early on a holiday weekend, it seemed that most people were sleeping in. The few people there had the refuge to themselves. This family had a budding naturalist in its midst. Many birds he knew by name, and he would us his bird book to identify new ones. The boys identified this frog that stopped to pose for a photo.






At the boat ramp by the river a father was teaching his son the joys of fishing.




Heading back towards the tower I passed this robin that was just posing in the tree. He had been in the same tree on my way up the path. That is not common, so I took a moment to look around. Soon I found why he was hanging in the neighborhood. (Why is it that animals so rarely nest in areas with reasonable camera angles?)






Back on the dike I passed a very limber Canada Goose, with a great sense of balance. Besides standing on one leg, while preening its back, it was doing this on a down slope too! I'll have to keep an eye out to see if yoga for geese catches on.

School Days

It was early on a quiet Wednesday morning when I arrived at Great Meadows. The weather had started to turn warm. Wandering around the refuge I encountered my first dragonfly and butterfly of the year.






With the warm weather the Bullfrogs have started to appear. I've also noticed the Great Blue Herons fishing closer to the edge. Perhaps these facts are related.

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Soon the quiet of the morning was shattered as three school buses of children descended upon the refuge like a cloud of locusts. The majority of the students were from the seventh grade science class at Curtis Middle School in Sudbury. They were participants in the head start program for Blanding's Turtles. Since last fall they were caring for two newly hatched turtles (Kip and Flip-Flop). Today was going to be the day the turtles were going to be released into the wild.

Prior to the release, the students participated in several different activities at the refuge. Here they are seen analyzing the aquatic life in water samples from the refuge to understand the food chain that supports the turtles.





Groups rotated through a station located at the base of the tower, where Bryan Windmiller of the US F&WS Blanding's Turtle project shared more information with them about how the turtles are marked and tracked using a radio transmitter.


Each turtle tracked is outfitted with a radio transmitter tuned to a particular frequency. The transmitter and antenna is attached using a putty-like epoxy glue. The epoxy allows a solid bond that is not easily dislodged as the turtle traverse the marsh and woods. Thankfully when it is time to replace the transmitter, it is easily pried off. On young turtles, the transmitter is affixed to the middle of their back to help keep them balanced. The total weight of the transmitter and epoxy is kept to less than 5% of their body weight, so that it won't be a burden.






Each turtle is tagged with a unique number composed of notches in their shell. (Sort of like cutting a notch in your finger nail.) Scientists have developed an ingenious system using the panels on turtle's shell, it's position near the head / tail, left and right of the head / tail to develop a permanent numbering system. Other vital statistics are logged to later be added to the tracking database.

Blanding's turtles can grow quite old. They don't mature until they are 15 years old. mature females, have their transmitters mounted on the side, so the males may mate with them. By this time the weight of the transmitter is a negligible portion of their total body weight. This turtle was first caught as a mature adult in 1975. That makes the turtle about 50 years old!




The class got a chance to handle a mature Blanding's Turtle and a Northern Water Snake. Who believes the stereotype that girls are squeamish? Here are the photos that prove they were leading the way in handling these animals.







Soon it was time for Kip and Flip-flop to be released into their new home. They were released into the reeds near the tower to find their own way. The students pressed around to get a last glimpse as the turtles started to explore their unbounded new world.




Elsewhere in the refuge the second grade from the Pompositticut Schol in Stow was investigating the life in the marsh. You cold hear their conversations about frogs, snakes, birds and fish. Hopefully, between these two schools a few children will be infected with the curiosity of nature and a fascination with science to join the next generation of biologists and naturalists to help others appreciate the world






As the school children left and quiet descended once again on the refuge, I wandered back out to see what else I could encounter. I happened upon a pair of Northern Water Snakes that were mating. The differences in size didn't seem to matter to them.







All morning long I had been bombarded by the samara ("helicopter") seed pods blowing off of the maple trees. I had tried to capture them in flight, but just couldn't take a photo that captured what I was experiencing. It turns out my favorite photo was these that missed the mark and were floating upon the dark water.