January, 2018: Describe your walk by adding a comment below
Each time you go out and make observations for this project, describe your walk by adding a comment to this post. Include the date, distance walked, and categories that you used for this walk.
Suggested format:
Date. Place. Distance walked today. Total distance for this project.
Categories.
Brief description of the area, what you saw, what you learned, who was with you, or any other details you care to share.
Comments
1-1-18. Home Depot, Watchung, NJ. 0.25 miles today, 181.75 miles total
Categories: identifiable weeds, grasses
I had a lot of errands to run today, but had never even looked behind the Home Depot here before. There was a nice weedy patch, so I parked and walked over to check it out. There were three types of very tall clumping grasses: Miscanthus sinensis (very common here), Phragmites australis, and something narrow-headed and even taller than the Phragmites that I've not seen before. Otherwise it was mostly mugwort. As I was headed back a security vehicle drove by slowly, probably wondering what I was doing back by the loading docks, but he didn't stop.
1-1-18. Moyock, NC. 2.3 miles today, 788 miles total.
Categories: birds, vines, evergreen
Took a down the road with my husband this afternoon. It was quiet, very quiet out there, with little traffic, which was good since we walked a short distance on a usually busy road. Between the "cold" temperatures and the holiday, people were sticking to home. We found some nice bird habitat in a swamp section that hasn't been drained yet. We saw cardinals, a red bellied woodpecker, a large flock of brown cowbirds, a golden-crowned kinglet, some plovers/killdeers (Lord knows!) in a lawn, some black vultures overhead, and several very large flocks of white birds with long necks flying in wavy lines. We found plenty of evergreens, from pines and junipers to holly and mistletoe. We found some saw greenbrier and a mystery vine with blue fruit that did not appear to be a Japanese honeysuckle.
Even though we didn't find many interesting plants, the neighborhood itself was interesting in terms of contrast with where I've been walking the rest of the week. This neighborhood was a few blocks removed from the beach, and mostly mobile homes. Quite a contrast with the mansions in the beachside developments. But the plants and birds were more or less the same. All this week as I've been walking in the ritzy neighborhoods, I've been very conscious of all the people watching me through their windows, wondering what I was up to. But someone came out to ask only once, when I dared to take some photos of some shrubs in the vacant lot beside a guy's house. He came huffing out in a hurry, but I managed to convince him I was bird-watching, and pointed out the warblers in the bushes. He hadn't heard of yellow-rumped warblers before, but he didn't call the police on me, so I think we did OK.
I've only once had someone come out in a huff and angrily demand what I was doing, and really only a few have ever asked at all. My husband, years ago, was out on a bike ride back when Coke had a promotion involving bottle caps with numbers printed on them, and he stopped in a ritzy neighborhood on recycling day, and pulled the caps off the bottles put out for recycling. Someone called the police, and about 4 cars showed up (must have been a slow day). Presumably they thought he was an identity thief? Anyway, it was the only time someone's actually called the police on us.
And blue fruit on vines in NC? Greenbriar, Mile-a-minute, porcelainberry?
1-2-18. North Branch Station, NJ. 0.25 miles today, 182 miles total.
Categories: fruiting, brightly colored
Still very cold here. I walked with my daughter over to the banks of Chamber's Brook by a tiny train station. She and I both found Virginia stickseed the "hard" way, and she was fascinated by the way all the burrs showed up in lines on her pants. The only surprise was a large concrete circle with trees growing out of the middle of it; we wondered what I could have been originally.
Yesterday my 11-year-old and I found a house centipede in the bathroom sink. She scooped it right up in her hands and carried it to the basement, to eat bugs down there (I told her it was probably too cold for it outside). Apparently she's the one who deals with all the centipedes and silverfish that show up at school, as she doesn't freak out about them like the teachers do. Even back in kindergarten the other kids called her "nature girl" (there are certainly worse things to be called in kindergarten).
1-3-18. Delaware and Raritan Canal, Zaraphath, NJ. 1.0 mile today, 183 miles total.
Categories: birds, fruit
I meant to walk along the canal in Manville, but spotted a turn off near a footbridge here in what I thought was South Bound Brook but turned out to be Zaraphath. There were hooded mergansers with the mallards and Canada geese here just below a water treatment plant where a weir keeps the river unfrozen. I've never walked this little section that included an old lock on the canal, where the water was not frozen over the dam, but was forming weird pancakes of ice that smoshed together downstream but still floated up and down with the ripples and creaked loudly. Plant-wise there was groundnut, swamp rose and swamp rose mallow, and false indigo and lots of things I see more often, including an impressively thorny honey locust.
On the way home I went the long way, through Manville, and saw a guy crossing the road by a farm, carrying a huge camera. Along the snow fence there were half a dozen more people with cameras. And in the field? Sandhill cranes! I've only ever seen them in Florida before. Very cool. (And of course I didn't even have my moderately long 55-210 lens, just my little hand-held 18-55. But at least you can tell what they are.)
1-6-18. Mundy and Ridge Rds. Warren, NJ. 1.0 mile today, 184 miles total
Category: things I could ID that fell onto the street since the plows came through Thursday night.
No walk Friday as I was insanely busy with 7 calls in 8 hours on the rescue squad. No walk Thursday as it snowed all day and I had all the kids home. Today I whined and complained: I wanted to park in a place that was sure to be plowed. I was afraid of slipping. I didn't want to wear my yak traks, it's cold and windy. I didn't want to walk somewhere I've walked a zillion times before. Eventually even I got sick of myself. It was only 12 degrees outside. I lived in Moscow in February for heaven's sake, I can deal with the weather.
So I walked across the street from my house, and since I was watching carefully where I put my feet for ice, I decided to only do things that had blown into the street. The vast majority of which were tulip tree samaras. There was an ash as well. There were norway maple fruits and Japanese maple leaves. There were catalpa pods and seeds and an Ailanthus fruit. There were white oak leaves and some kind of red/black oak leaf. There were eastern white pine leaves and cones and a two-needle pine. There were norway spruce twigs and blue spruce cones, and a twig of arborvitae. And dog and deer tracks. I was really impressed with how much arrived in the dead of winter.
1-4-18. Wood Rd, Middlesex, VT. 1.2 miles today, 789.2 miles total.
Categories: trees, vines
I took a slow shuffle down the hill near my friend's house today. My category generator gave me trees and vines today--something easy, thank goodness! It was windy with blowing snow, but nothing like what folks further south on the East Coast got. Although at 10F, it was probably colder than other places where the storm hit. I greatly enjoyed seeing my old tree friends again, white pine, balsam fir, yellow birch, beech, poplars, black cherry. Gray birch seems to be more common in the neighborhood than white birch, but I saw some of each. For vines I found some grape and clematis. I heard a few golden-crowned kinglets and saw a goldfinch, but no bird photos today since I only had my point and shoot.
So exciting about the sand hill cranes! What a terrific add for the project! As for the fruit on vines in NC, I'll have to learn more. The only one I even vaguely know is green brier, and even that one I don't know very well.
1-7-18 Great Swamp, Harding and Meyersville, NJ. 1 mile today, 184 total
Category: fruit
Lots of short walks in the Great Swamp, looking mostly at plants I've iNat-ed before, but in other seasons. Bright red fetterbush buds were the highlight. There was also far more dodder than I've ever seen there before.
I also stopped by the Raptor Trust bird rehab center and walked through half of it, saw a short eared owl, red tailed hawk, bald eagle, snowy owl, and two turkey vultures, plus lots of loose birds at their feeders. I hadn't been there in years.
1-8-18. Delaware Raritan Canal, South Bound Brook, NJ. 0.5 miles today, 184.5 miles total.
Category: circles
A friend's husband is a photographer and media arts teacher. He's set up a photo-a-day challenge with one theme per week. This week's theme is circles. I needed to walk close to home today, so I headed to the Queen's Bridge between the Bound Brooks which I knew was decorated with iron circles in the railing. But I looked for circles in the nature along the way as well and found lots of knots in trunks of trees, especially mulberry, some berries (poison ivy, rose, bittersweet) and ginkgo buds which were pretty circular. There were also pancake ice and lots of interesting shapes made by drying salt. My favorite pic is on Facebook, other interesting "arty" pics are on my Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/120540152@N04/
1-8-17. Anse Caritan, Sainte-Anne, Martinque. 3.3 miles today, 792.5 miles total.
Categories: compound leaves, birds, other animals
Hiked the south end of Sainte-Anne this morning. I started off on a road I know fairly well from other visits, but took the time to explore some side roads that I had always skipped before. One road was clearly marked dead end, but just as it entered a private parking lot, I found an unmarked path through the woods. The path was mostly in a stream bed and didn't go far before it landed in a cow pasture. I don't know how friendly the local bulls are, so I re-traced my steps rather quickly. Another trail led up to a parking lot that was returning to jungle, complete with handicapped parking under banyan trees and no buildings nearby. The parking lot was covered with snail trails, giant African land snails by the looks (there were 2 culprits still leaving trails). Other critters along the route included plenty of crabs, a feral cat, some Carib grackles, gray kingbirds, and black-faced grassquits. My random category of the day was compound leaves. I collected a bunch of Leguminacea, but also a few trees that I might be able to identify to species.
Great circles!
1-9-18. Warren Municipal Complex, Warren, NJ. 0.5 miles today, 185 miles total.
Categories: Circles, bark, buds
I parked by town hall, and walked along the drive and around the edges of the new parking lot for municipal vehicles. As I was coming back out of there a man, looking a bit annoyed, stopped me, asked what I was doing and introduced himself as the township administrator. And I got to tell him that I'd actually already met him, when I was Captain of the Rescue Squad, and that I was a nature photographer, "documenting biodiversity". He backed right off. I knew volunteering would come in handy some day! (actually I think it's stopped a large number of police officers from pulling me over for speeding, as well).
As to circles: there were lots of knot holes on trees, berries, and this time curly tendrils from grape or porcellainberry.
So many interesting critters down in Martinique! We're thawing out here today, but I"m still jealous of all the green and warm you have down there as well.
1-9-18. Belfond, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 2.6 miles today, 795.1 miles total.
Categories: vines, ferns, birds
Walked from downtown Sainte-Anne this morning to Club Med on Point Marin looking for vines. They were a lot easier to find than in Vermont last week! It seems every vertical object, living or not, is strung with vines. I wish I could find names for even a fraction of them. The one possible name I have is wild bushbean, Macroptilium lathyroides. One of the first birds this morning was a pair of apparently wild chickens, a rooster and hen, hanging out between the dumpster and the beach. Accompanied by 4 stray cats sleeping by the dumpster. Later in the day along a different stretch of beach I saw 2 apparently wild muscovy ducks and another chicken, with 10-day old chicks. I think Sainte-Anne is having issues with escaped domestic fowl. And the escaped domestic cats aren't big enough to keep the fowl in check. I also saw a live mongoose this morning, but didn't get a photo. I don't think the mongooses are keeping either the cats or fowl in check. Down at the very end of Point Marin, beyond where the public road ends, I found a large motorboat filled front to stern with ferns, at least two kinds. Jungle slows for no one here.
Wow, a mongoose! I've never seen one. Do they actually eat cats? How big are they?
I've just this moment finally caught up with posting all my backlog of photos. It helps that I've taken so few since mid-December. So tomorrow I need to go take lots more (though that will more likely be Thursday; my daughter's wisdom teeth came out fine today, but I expect she'll be feeling poorly and I'll be needed a bit tomorrow).
1-10-18. Anse Mystique, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 3.1 miles today, 798.2 miles total.
Categories: yellow, birds, fungi
I headed out for my walk this morning in steady sprinkles, so I had to take my underwater camera. My random category of the day yellow. I found lots of yellow flowers, also some yellow leaves, yellow fruits, and yellow signs. Plenty of yellow around here! Birds were tough with the little point-and-shoot, but I managed to get some "tame" ones, like Carib grackles. I also found several fungi today, all growing on dead logs. And this afternoon, I found time to crack open the new Caribbean Spice Island Plants book that I got for Christmas. Hurray for a good reference! I think I may finally be able to start putting names on at least the woody plants (the book only does woody plants, but it does a lot--for Grenada.
Congratulations on getting caught up with your backlog! I'm still trying to work my way through August and September. I've got 3,000 photos to go. Uff! When those are done, I need to start thinking about last year's moths. Or maybe not. I didn't bring my moth book, so maybe I'll hold off on them until I get home. Good luck with those wisdom teeth!
1-10-18. River Road Park, Pluckemin, NJ. 1.0 mile today, 186 miles total.
Categories: circles, fruit, bark, lichen, galls
I did manage to get out for a bit this lovely, warm (40 F) afternoon. I walked a section of park I've not done before, along the edge of woods by a ball field. I'm still looking for circles for the weekly photo challenge, and therefore looked at a lot of knot holes. One of which, about 15 feet up in a tree, was hollow and had movement near it. I realized honeybees were flying in and out! I think it must be an active hive, and they somehow survived our deep freeze and are up and at it in the thaw. but what on earth are they using for nectar? We still have an inch of snow, and I saw nothing at all blooming today, though right before it snowed there were the occasional dandelion or groundsel, but sure not much.
1-11-18. Wheeler Park, Linden, NJ. 0.5 miles today, 186.5 miles total.
Categories: fruit, circles, identifiable.
I had an appointment in Elizabeth, and I wanted to head to Sears to buy a flowered flannel nightgown for my daughter (who has to dress like a "pioneer girl" and needed a dress (she has bonnet and apron)). This meant I drove down Route 9, which is probably the most stereotypically "New Jersey" industrialized road I've ever driven on. But there was this little, urban park, mostly lawn and specimen trees, but a little brook ran through it with an unmown bank. So I walked along the brook. No plant surprises, a few ducks and squirrels. And a little old lady pulling a folding shopping cart who slowed down just to yell at me in broken English for getting my feet wet walking in the "frozen water" (1 inch of slushy snow). It reminded me of the winter I spent in Moscow (though I was better behaved there and rarely trudged through snowbanks after plants).
1-11-18. Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 3 miles today, 801.2 miles total.
Categories: trees, birds, arthropods
Walked out to the highway this morning, crossed, then explored a loop of road that Google Maps shows going through. But it didn't actually go through. It landed in a cemetery, the backside of a locked cemetery. Cemeteries are fully tiled here, and plants are restricted to plastic in order to discourage mosquitoes. Still, there can be some odd surprises here and there amongst the weeds that manage to push up between the tiles. Alongside the cemetery was an agricultural field where I saw a person planting row crops. And near the field, a flock of common waxbills. On the way back home, I found a little egret living in a roadside ditch, relatively tame. I'm hoping I can identify at least 1-2 of the trees I saw today. My definition of "tree" for the day was anything 15' tall, with a defined trunk more than 3" in diameter. Actually, for long stretches of the walk, there weren't any "trees" since I was walking either along scrub forest or residential areas with planted trees.
A wild bee hive? How very, very cool! I wonder if they're surviving off of honey for the winter. And the occasional dandelion.
When you were in Moscow, did you ever get yelled at for not wearing a hat? I took mine off in the subway once and got quite a lecture from a babushka for not wearing it. I tried to explain that I would surely put it back on when I got outside, but that wasn't good enough for the babushka. So I obediently put the hat back on, and the babushka simply glowed with approval.
Yes, I was usually yelled at for clothing on the subway (not wearing boots, taking off my hat, not wearing a scarf) and for sitting on things (you'll freeze your uterus!) when I was outside. Oh, and touching basically anything, anywhere. But I also saw a single babushka take on a group of 20-year-old thugs single-handedly (how can you not be ashamed of yourselves, acting that way on the subway!) and they all apologized and left. This New Jersey babushka was very disappointed in me (she muttered "he doesn't even care" as she walked away).
1-12-18. Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 2.6 miles today, 802.8 miles total.
Categories: prickly, birds, snails
I walked up to the top of Calvary Hill this morning. I'm not sure, but it seems the local tradition is to put a meditation trail with shrines commemorating Jesus and Calvary on the steepest hill in town. At least, that's what I've seen in both Anse d'Arlet and Sainte-Anne. I didn't find many prickly plants on the hill, but the views over the water were excellent. When I came down the hill, I did a loop around the mountain, retracing some of yesterday's walk, but in the opposite direction. The little egret was in its ditch by the highway. I found several prickly plants along the field by the highway, including some shrubs that I skipped yesterday because they weren't trees. I'm slowly beginning to parse some of the local trees, making sense of the visual chaos. Today I noted that Dichrostachys cinerea (sickle bush, bell mimosa, Chinese lantern tree, Kalahari Christams tree) not only has compound leaves, but also has small thorns and crinkly curly pods. It seems to be quite common around here--I need to look for it specifically until I can recognize it on sight without the give-away flowers. The big surprise of the day was a pair of giant African land snails embracing on the sidewalk. Actually, they were far beyond embracing. I had read about that kind of stuff in books, but reality was even more surprising. Do you have some any snails in your special collection?
I have one pair of small snails not being particularly graphic, but I also have a pair of slugs with reproductive organs all out and on display. It's my daughter's least favorite photo of all.
I've never stayed anywhere with plants radically different from my home for long enough to learn more than the showiest and most distinctive of them. I would think it would be overwhelming when nearly every single individual is something you don't know, like trying to learn a new language by immersion. Fascinating, though.
1-12-18. Warren, NJ. 0.25 miles today, 186.75 miles total.
Categories: circles, not often recorded here
In between rain showers and squad calls I managed to get out and walk around the yard for a while, looking for things to photograph. I found a springtail, which I'm sure are out there, but I rarely notice. This one was on the "ceiling" of my little front porch (really just a covered stoop). I also found a Cladonia sp. (I think) lichen that I've never seen before, growing right on top of the British soldiers on my rotting rail fence.
1-13-18. Jockey Hollow, Harding Twp., NJ. 1.0 mile today, 187.75 miles total.
Categories: Circles, lichen, moss, fungi, fruit
Went up to the closest National Park to me, where Washington's troops spent a less famous winter than Valley Forge. I'd never (as an adult) driven the loop road through the park, and had not realized that it has many different spots to park and walk. Unfortunately, the huge numbers of people (in the summer) and even larger number of deer, and it being winter meant there was no more biodiversity here than in the junky woods closer to home. I did see (and actually get a photo of) a red-tailed hawk. I also spotted some poor oil delivery truck who went around the (one-way) park loop road at least twice, then later saw him talking to a ranger and driving away.
1-13-18. Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 3.6 miles today, 806.4
Categories: blue, birds, ferns
I walked out to the highway again, seeking some of the roads that I've eyed on Google Maps. No luck with the first one I tried to find--it was a gated farm road. The second road was great, though, a proper dirt road. More like sharp cut cobblestones, actually, but fine for walking. Along the road I saw a saltator (robin-sized green bird), my first of this trip, and then on the way home, by the highway, I saw a Eurasian moorhen (my first in Martinique). Blue things were not very easy to find, so I also counted bluish-purple, and limited my hunt to flowers. I found a large bell-like purple flower on a vine, some common weeds with purplish-blue flowers, and something that sort of looked like Lobelia inflata, but clearly wasn't.
I've been finding learning new plant systems is very much like learning a new language. I was so very grateful to @tiggrx for helping me learn some French plants. And to you for help with the warmer weeds than I'm used to seeing in Vermont! When I first arrived in France, I found all the new plants very overwhelming. Slowly, I began to "parse" what I was seeing, figuring out which leaves went with which flowers, which stems, and which fruit. After I got a name matched with a face, I would try to "use" it every day, until I could recognize it in every context, from every angle. Well, that was the goal anyway. I still made some big bloopers in December, but by then I was getting more right than wrong (at least in France). I was amazed to be able to walk in the woods by the end of my stay there and not be able to find any plants that I hadn't seen before. The plants here are really tough, though. The variety is, indeed, overwhelming. Plus, the reference materials are much more limited and hard to find, as are expert plant identifiers. Birds are so much easier to learn when you go to new locations--there are many fewer of them, many more experts, and plenty of reference materials. Most of the time, I can get an answer within 24 hours on a bird ID, even from horrifically bad photos. And then I'll see the same bird, over and over again, for days on end.
1-14-18. Anse Moustique, Martinique. 3.2 miles today, 809.6 miles total.
Categories: alternate leaves, birds
I hiked out the main road to Anse Moustique this morning. I decided to limit the alternate leaved photos to just plants with flowers or fruits, so that I would at least have a tiny chance of identifying them. I found quite a few Faboidea--I never really stopped to notice before that Faboidea are alternate-leaved. Obvious, but I was oblivious. Plenty of acacias and some Dichrostachys cinerea with fruits, no flowers. One of my favorite sights of the morning was watching a Lesser Antillean bullfinch feeding at one of those beans that opens and has bright red flesh when it is ripe. Down in Anse Moustique I heard those loud water birds again. I'm guessing they're rails. or maybe some kind of heron. I haven't caught a glimpse of them yet, so maybe they are rails.
Had some snow overnight - just a skiff - and took the dog for his requisite walk. About 3km, 2 miles. -16C with a fairly strong north wind. I go to the same place nearly every day, at around the same time, and at this time of year see/hear the same birds. Today I heard a couple of chickadees, at least one Nuthatch, and a hairy woodpecker. I didn't manage to see any, so no pictures of today. It's kind of comforting to know they are still around. It's been a cold winter so far, and in the past week it's gone from -1C to -30C now back up again. It is supposed to drop below -25C tonight. I am amazed the birds can tolerate this, but they seem to do so with alacrity.
1-14-18, Kay Center, Chester; Bamboo Brook and Willowwood, Far Hills, NJ. 1.75 miles today, 189.5 miles total.
Categories: texture, bark, buds, fruit, lichen
I walked at three county parks. The first, Kay, is mostly a maintained grassland with dogwood trees bordered by woods. In the woods I spotted a scale insect and hundreds of its pin-head-sized babies on a tulip sapling. All thanks to this week's photo challenge theme of "texture" (which had me looking much more closely at bark than usual).
Bamboo Brook and Willowwood are both thoroughly planted gardens. There were a few weeds, but mostly I was working with shrubs and trees, with very nice identification signs. Willowwood has at least a dozen of the New Jersey champion trees for various obscure and imported species, which was interesting. Both are lovely, even in winter.
I am not at all a birder, and am particularly bad at recognizing songs, but this afternoon my daughter and I worked for quite a while to figure out what bird was going "wheat-eater-wheat-eater-wheat-eater-wheat". Our best guess was a Carolina wren.
1-15-18, Washington Valley Park, Martinsville, NJ. 0.5 miles today, 190 miles total.
Categories: texture, moss
I was planning to walk in the back side of a ball field I've walked the front side of before, but the path I planned to take was all overgrown with fallen trees and brush and the parking was not where it was supposed to be, either. So I walked in the local park, on a path that in summer is all marshy, (and all mugwort) but now is frozen (but still all mugwort). Once you get past the marsh, though, there's a lovely little hemlock grove, one of the only ones left in the area. I've iNat-ed nearly everything here before, but I was also looking for texture and taking lots of shots of ice, until my camera ran out of memory, argh.
I looked at my progress on my virtual walk to my sister's tonight, and I've made it well into Massachusetts, nearly to Old Sturbridge Village.
Back at home this evening my kids and I spotted a new "bird" at the feeder. Apparently white tailed deer can just reach the feeders while standing on all fours and stretching up their necks.
1-15-18. Anse Caritan, Martinique. 2.8 miles today, 812.4 miles total.
Categories: red, birds, fungi
I walked out to Anse Dunkirk along the Anse Caritan trails this morning. The trails are through the tiny sliver of littoral forest between the ocean and cow pasture. And they were very, very muddy, with slick greasy mud, so it was hard to go fast. My random category of the day was "red", which was surprisingly hard to find. But while looking for red, I found a nice fat horned caterpillar that I have not seen before, so that was a thrill. I decided to call wild bushbean (Macroptilium lathyroides) red, even though it's rather black. I saw plenty of red crabs (Cardisoma guanhumi, aka blue landcrabs). And a pinkish flower that I haven't shot before. While down on the beach, I stopped by a little cove where I remembered seeing a spotted sandpiper 2 years ago. Sure enough, there it was.
Welcome aboard, Ian! Stay warm!
Learning the songs of the common birds in your neighborhood can be a real help for finding birds. Once you know a couple of calls, you will know what to look for and where to look. A Carolina wren? That's a bird of warm places for me. I think I've only ever seen one in North Carolina.
1-16-18. Stranski Farm, Warren, NJ. 0.5 miles today, 190.5 miles total.
Categories: texture, bark, moss, fruit
A quick walk at a local park, in the woods around a field, a bit along a creek. I've iNat-ed here many times before, so not much new. Had some fun looking for textures, which got me looking for faces in things.
1-16-18. Les Salines, Martinique. 0.7 miles today, 813.1 miles total.
Categories: birds
My husband and I took the early bus from Sainte-Anne to Les Salines for birding this morning. Les Salines is supposed to be one of the premier birding spots on the island. But I guess I wasn't in the right place or didn't know how to look, because I didn't find much. Just a couple of great egrets, a snowy egret, and a green heron, in addition to the usual household birds (Carib grackles, Zenaida doves, bananaquits). Before we head out this way again, I need to study eBird to try and figure out where in Les Salines the hotspot is. At the salt marsh was a lovely boardwalk and blind, with signage explaining the 4 different kinds of common mangroves and how to recognize them. I got photos of the signs as well as several mangroves with my phone, but I haven't had a chance to upload the photos yet.
I love hunting for faces on the trail. It forces me to look up, away from the ground and all those herbs.
1-17-18. Anse Moustique, Martinique. 3.1 miles today, 816.2 miles total.
Categories: white, birds
I walked out to Anse Moustique this morning with white on my mind. I noted that one of the trees I frequently see has small white flowers. It's the tree with the leaves that are orangish on the undersides. I also found several "clovers" with whitish-pink flowers, a vervain-looking palnt, and a common weed that reminds me of Galinisoga. Down at the turn off the highway towards Anse Moustique I looked for the green herons I had heard there on the last two trips. No sign of them. Instead, I saw a group of common gallinules floating on the little farm pond. On the way back, I heard a hawk calling. I looked up and saw a pair of broad-winged hawks soaring over the highway--the first I've seen in Sainte-Anne. I also managed to catch a white butterfly with the camera.
I bet your white "Galinsoga" is Tridex procumbens. I keep seeing it pop up in the FB plant ID site, blooming now in the Caribbean.
1-17-18. Mountain Park, Liberty Corner, NJ. 0.75 miles today, 191.25 miles total.
Categories: texture, snow, fruit, evergreens, lichen
We got one inch of sticky snow this morning, preceded by a little bit of ice. Every twig was covered in white. Just lovely. And the roads were clear (though parking lots were a bit slippery). I walked at a local park with paved and cleared sidewalks in a section that I usually avoid for being too sunny and too mowed-lawn, but with the snow on the ground I didn't see much lawn anyway. There are planted trees along the street here with amazing collections of lichen, which was fun. The snow is melting fast and will likely be gone by tomorrow. Which is just as well, as the girls had another snow day today, and I'd really kind of rather that they were back in school.
1-18-18. Southard Park, Basking Ridge, NJ. 0.25 miles today, 192 miles total
Categories: fruit, lichen, texture.
I parked in the lot of this small, suburban park with two ponds, only to find by the time I returned to my car that my parking job was interfering with a soccer game that had started up while I walked (and I only walked about 10 minutes). My daughter came with me at first but was wearing flip flops in the snow and didn't last long (flip flops are her thing: I never get cold, Mom. She got cold). Not much interesting, but several different lichens and both swamp rose and swamp rose mallow.
Tridex procumbens! Yes! What a wonderful find--thanks!
1-18-18. Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 3.2 miles today, 819.4 miles total.
Categories: entire leaves, birds, road kill
I walked out to the road that marked on Google Maps as "Habitation Malgre Tout"--"Nevertheless dwelling". There was one road off Nevertheless Dwelling in the stretch before I had to turn around, but no dwelling in sight. Farm fields on both sides, with very grown up margins. I saw a large flock of cattle egrets on my way to Nevertheless; on my way back, they were sitting on and amongst a herd of cattle. Other birds for the day were the snowy egret in the ditch and a domestic Muscovy duck living wild by the roundabout. For plants with entire leaves, I found Merremia aegyptia, Caesalpinia pulcherrima, Commelina erecta, and other as yet unidentified species. And for dead things, I found a possum and some rain frogs.
I never have understood flipflops or their appeal. They make great shower shoes, but they aren't so fun to wear when walking, especially through snow. Glad to hear the lichen hunting was good!
1-20-18. Warren Municipal Grounds, Warren, NJ. 1.0 mile today, 193 miles total
Categories: not yet recorded
I walked with my husband and two of the kids to our town bonfire. They burn the old Christmas trees on one of the baseball diamonds. Originally that was it, but over the years it's become something of a fair, with food vendors, a horse-drawn carriage, etc. The playground is also open. Plants-wise there were only a few weeds under shrubs that I've not posted before; I did most of this walk about 2 weeks ago, and the parts I didn't do were pretty much all lawn.
1-19-18. Sainte-Anne, Saint Pierre, Mount Pelee, Saint Denis, Martinique. 3.7 miles today, 823.1 miles total.
Categories: birds, ferns, flowers
I started off with a little bird walk this morning through downtown Sainte-Anne. I didn't have much luck--I had thought maybe I could catch some hummingbirds on the cliff near the shore, but they weren't there. I had also hoped to wander through the cemetery, but it was locked. Still, I shot a few weeds and a lizard through the cemetery gate. After the bird walk, my husband and I met up with a French couple we had met a few days ago. They drove us to Saint Pierre, the former capital of the island, where the 4 of us had a chance to walk through town. I shot a few feral pigeons in downtown St. Pierre, and a new-to-me yellow bird. I was very taken with all the ferns on the building walls and gutters. Something tells me they get a lot of moisture in Saint Pierre. After we had seen the downtown, we drove up to the foothills of Mount Pelee. That's the volcano that obliterated Saint Pierre (the former capital) and 1/3 of the island's population in 1902. We thought we might hike a bit of the trails, but the fog at the trail head was very thick and it began to rain. Still, I managed to shoot a tree fern and a thalloid liverwort before we turned back. From Pelee, we headed east across the island, right through the rain forest. Our friends must have sensed my excitement. They pulled over and let me out to run around and photograph plants for about 5 minutes. I captured a few new flowers, and plenty more ferns.
1-20-18. Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 2.6 miles today, 825.7 miles total.
Categories: entire leaves, birds
I headed out to the other cemetery this morning, the one on the edge of town across the highway. I managed to capture a few waxbills in the grass near the cemetery. I also kept my eye out for entire leaves. That led me to notice that the dayflower leaves are entire, as are the asthma plant's (Euphorbia hirta).
1-21-18. Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 3.1 miles today, 828.8 miles total.
Categories: red, birds
I poked about in some downtown roads this morning, trying to to see if there were any roads that I might have missed so far. I found a new-to-me neighborhood behind the middle school with a road that went up the hill and has some promise for birding, as well as some great vistas of the town. There were lots of roosters crowing, some free range, and many caged at what appeared to be a cock farm, right between two resort properties. I managed to shoot a spectacled thrush, my first of this trip, stealing some chicken food off the road. For red, I found West Indian birch (Bursera simaruba), some common waxbills, Dichrostachys cinerea, Ipomoea marginata, the Muscovy duck who lives wild at the roundabout (and has a red face), a free-range rooster, and a common weed with tiny red flowers.
1-21-18. Turning Basin and Rogers Preserve, Princeton, NJ. 1.0 mile today, 194 miles total
Categories: reflections, identifiable.
Dropped my daughter back at college for her second semester today. The week's photography challenge theme is reflection. The eastern route home from college parallels the Delaware Canal, so I picked a parking lot I'd not visited before and walked there. Rather disappointing as someone had clearly mowed or run a brush hog on both sides of the canal path at the end of autumn, right down to the water's edge. There were large trees, vines, and weed rosettes, but even these did not have a lot of variety. There was an interesting bridge across a feeder creek so I walked over there (more interesting swamp by the creek, but fenced off. I saw a sign for a Wildlife Preserve, so got back in my car and drove out there. This was wooded, with slightly more variety and bordering a swamp. I'd like to come back during the growing season some time.
I'm very much enjoying following your explorations on Martinique and looking them up on a map; I'd never really known much of anything about the island before.
1-22-18. Green Brook Park, Plainfield, NJ. 0.75 miles today. 194.75 miles total
Categories: birds, fruit, winter leaves, bark, reflections
I really wanted to get the car washed and vacuumed, so I looked for the closest park I'd never iNat-ed on the far side of the car wash. This is a fairly urban area and one I would not be comfortable in at night, but on this fairly warm but overcast and gloomy day there were a whole lot of people out just relaxing. Once, long ago, this was probably a pretty park. There are enormous yew and rhododendron shrubs and huge stone steps, all fallen down. Beech trees that it would take three people to hold hands around them. These days it's mostly mowed and the creek bank is brush-hogged, but there was a nice woody margin with a crumbling path; a little, frozen pond, and the far side of the brook to explore. The surprises were just how tame the birds were. I got more somewhat identifiable photos of birds than I have anywhere except the seashore (or my feeder). Very fun.
1-22-18. Les Salines, Martinique. 1.2 miles today, 830 miles total.
Categories: birds, mangroves
My husband and I took the early bus out from Sainte-Anne to Les Salines this morning (7 am). Once there, he set up our hammocks on the beach while I took another bird walk around Les Salines. This time, I looked up previous lists submitted to eBird ahead of time. By list count, Les Salines is the premier birding location on the island. The eBird hotspot on the map doesn't really give any indication of where to look in Les Salines, but the previous lists gave me an idea of what to look for, which in itself gives some clues about where to look. I started up the highway since I had seen a car parked there near the salt pond. But the car turned out to belong to a fisherman out crabbing, not a birder. I walked back to the boardwalk and blind that I found last week, this time noticing that the blinds are facing the wrong direction. They face out into the salt pond, but the interesting birds are on the edges of the pond, the open side of the boardwalk. I concentrated my efforts on the pond edges, and bagged 2 great egrets, a snowy egret, some spotted sandpipers, some semipalmated sandpipers, a ruddy turnstone (my first in Martinique), and possibly a black whiskered vireo (we'll have to see what the experts call it). Meanwhile, I also shot 3 kinds of mangroves, one with fruit that looks like mulberries, one with long red fleshy-bean fruit, and one with tiny white flowers.
Your trip to Green Brook Park sounds adventurous! What a great opportunity to explore the place!
1-23-18. Milton Campbell Field, Plainfield, NJ. 0.75 miles today, 195.5 miles total.
Categories: birds, fruit, lichen, moss, leaves, bark, fungi, reflections.
I was donating books this time, so looked for a park nearby to walk in. I've driven a block from this park many, many times but never knew it was here. It's a relatively big, urban-suburban park with several mown ballfields and lawn with specimen trees, but then in the center is a big "wilderness" of woods, though the deer keep the underbrush nearly non-existent. No real surprises here, except the fact that this little chunk of woods exists at all (and that there are enough deer here to knock the underbrush back; usually in Plainfield things like hostas and tulips are safe, where in my town they are eaten the second they poke a leaf above ground. I thought they were pretty deer-less there.)
Glad you found the birds this time. You're making me want to make a trip down the shore (even though it's winter).
1-23-18. Anse Caritan, Martinique. 2.6 miles today, 832.6 miles total.
Categories: birds, blue
Hiked the trail out towards Anse Dunkirk today. I was glad to find that the trails were now hard packed mud, not wet and greasy like last time. I caught a few birds along the way, like the ever-present black-faced grassquit. I also caught at least 3 kinds of crabs, a blue land crab, a ghost crab, and something else. For blue, I found whitemouth dayflower (which to me looks just like Asian dayflower), and that little blue plant that reminds me of Lobelia but you said might be in the borage family. As I walked, my steps grew slower and slower, and my feet heavier and heavier. By the time I got back to the apartment, I realized I was coming down with food poisoning. That slowed me down a bit!
1-25-18. Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 1.4 miles today, 834 miles total.
Categories: grass, birds
Finally back on my feet after the food poisoning episode. I took a slow stroll out to the highway and back this morning. Great to get some fresh air! I had fun collecting grasses, although I don't know if I'll ever be able to ID them. I need to find a tropical grass book or a tropical grass expert. Among today's finds were grasses with terminal seed pods in long sticky arms, floating clumps, pairs thick clumps, and spread out clumps. But no Setaria-like species on this walk. At today's slow pace, I got to see some different species of birds. I found a flock of common waxbills for the first time along this route and several Caribbean elaenias.
1-24-18. Cold Brook Preserve, Oldwick and Califon Island, Califon, NJ. 0.25 miles today, 195.75 miles total.
Categories: fruit, lichen, green in winter, bark, buds
I had an empty day, and planned a big adventure, stopping at a number of locations in northern Hunterdon County. First off was a preserve that is farmed, but with brushy margins and little creeks running through it. Unfortunately it was closed for deer hunting, so I only did the parking lot. a lot of variety of weeds, but no surprises.
Next I went to stop at a playground on an island. There was a garbage truck blocking the entrance, so I drove on, looking for a place to turn around, and found a lovely little turn out by the remains of a bridge. There were baby hemlocks here (pretty rare these days in NJ) and lots of mosses.
I headed back to the parking lot, and the truck was gone. Parked, and went to step over a knee high barrier so I could photograph a lichen. Got one foot over, started to take my picture while bringing the other foot across, and caught my toe on it and fell, wrenching my left leg. Clearly tore something in my thigh, but was able to stand, and I was only two steps from the car. (this time I sat on the barrier and swung my legs across). It was the left leg, and I was 40 minutes from home, so I just drove. Doctor says just a strain. I can walk but with difficulty (and a cane), so not much nature photography for me for a while, unfortunately.
Sorry to hear about the food poisoning, never a good experience. Glad it was relatively short lived and you are back on your feet.
1-26-18. Martinsville Rescue Squad, Martinsville, NJ. 0.25 mile today, 196 miles total.
Categories: weeds, dead bugs
I had to take some paperwork down to the rescue squad, so I slowly limped around the edge of the parking lot and then the indoor perimeter of the ambulance bays. My leg is better; I'm walking without a cane, but sitting down and getting up are still rather painful. The squad was enlarged about 10 years ago and I don't think the windowsills have ever been dusted. There were amazing numbers of dead insects, many of which are identifiable at least to order, I think. There are also some new weeds in the lot: a walnut I'd not seen and some purple deadnettle I don't remember from last winter. I probably didn't go a whole quarter mile, but I rounded up.
1-26-18. Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 2.1 miles today, 836.1 miles total.
Categories: birds, blue
My random category generator gave me blue again today. Funny how random selection ends up with lots of clumps of the same thing. I could have pressed the button again to get a different category, but then it wouldn't be random. And even though it doesn't matter anyway, I stuck with blue, for the second time in a week. Again, I found whitemouth dayflower and the other little blue plant. Maybe I should come up with my own names for the plants that I see. Then if I ever can get their real names, I can match them up all at once. With that idea in mind, I christen this "tropical lobelia". I also found an Ipomoea marginata posing against a blue wall. For birds, I found the usual crew, with a cattle egret sitting picturesquely on a cow. And I also found my daily giant African land snail.
That is such a bummer about your injury! It's good to hear that you're getting around without a cane. Anyway, collecting dead insects sounds like a great way to keep collecting! If you have some warm nights (over 40F at dusk), you could try running a moth light on your porch. I ran my lights in Vermont during a thaw in February last year and actually got a few takers.
I find naming things myself for what they look like to me makes it much easier to recognize and remember them. Tomorrow night they say the low will be 42; I ought to be able to "moth". My back door light works well, when I can keep all my various family members from being frugal and turning it off. Not sure if I'm up to finding the blue light I have stashed somewhere and rigging that up, though. I've been running through my lists of good places to walk looking for interesting parking lots, as a turn around the parking lot (or about half of our smaller grocery store) is about all I'm up to yet. Still, it's healing quickly and I'm sure I'll be back to walking soon.
1-27-18. Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 2.9 miles today, 839 miles total.
Categories: signs, birds, ferns, road kill
I walked basically the same route as yesterday, but in the opposite direction, with a few side trips since I'm finally feeling up to some real exercise. The signs category was fun--it got my eyes out of the gutter for a change (except for the stop sign that was attached to its post at pavement level). My new plant name for the day is "white puffy flowers with red beans". I saw one yesterday, and again today, but I only associated the red beans with the fluffy white flower today. With the signs, I had grasses, acacias, mimosas, passion flowers, lizards and birds. I also ended up with a lot of road kill, so I made that a category, too. One dead cat (probably feral), a dead African toad, and plenty of dead rain frogs.
Good to hear that your leg is healing quickly!
1-27-18. Manasquan Reservoir, Howell, NJ. 0.25 miles today, 196.25 miles total
fruit, lichen, green in winter, prickly
I can sit comfortably and drive, so I drove nearly an hour away to a reservoir I've been meaning to check out, where I knew there were interesting things right by the parking lot. I ended up going a little more than a quarter mile, but there were two convenient benches. I saw mergansers but my camera insisted on focusing on the branches near me and not the birds out on the water. But I also found what I'm pretty sure is swamp loosestrife, a first on iNat for me, and the first I've seen it in winter.
When I see roadkill, I generally think of you, and the ones you post here. (there are also nicer things that make me think of you!) Glad you've got your energy back.
1-28-18. Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 3.1 miles today, 832.1 miles total.
Categories: vines, birds
I walked out to the highway and past the mill this morning, then up the dirt road a bit. The mill is a restored donkey-powered mill at the roundabout. I was in search of new vines and finally found one, a very fuzzy one with palmate leaves. I think I'll call it palmate fuzzy buds. Other than that, I found Ipomoea marginata and at least one more Ipomoea and a bitter melon. I shot a flock of cattle egrets and greeted the snowy egret who lives in the ditch. The road kill for day was a possum.
I'm back, kinda... haven't posted here becuase it's been too cold or icy for walking and i don't include Xc skis because i generally don't add stuff to iNat.
went about 1.25 miles in two days (heh) on the bike trail in Montpelier and then near the 'short trail' at the Green Mountain Club headquarters in Waterbury which oddly has very little iNat. Both days it was in the 40s so i did add some stuff to iNat! the walk around the bike trail was short but i got a few things that oddly i haven't recorded from there before including a random balsam fir, maybe someone's xmas tree that was planted there. The 'short trail' ended up undoably icy for a toddler so we ended up wandering around through a field and on a road and got a few obs from a little streamside wetland and a pretty typical mixed forest. but it felt good to be out. Going to go back to more normal winter weather now so... may not post here again for a while.
123.5 miles now.
No walk for me today, as I taught CPR all afternoon. I did find some nice lichen in the grocery store parking lot this morning, though.
Nice to hear from you again, Charlie.
I love the idea of having "road kill of the day"
1-29-18. Teetertown Ravine and Ken Lockwood Gorge, Califon, NJ. 0.75 miles today, 197 miles total
Categories: lichen, moss, fruit, galls
Today I went to finish the "adventure" I'd planned the day I fell and hurt my leg. First stop was along a one-lane, dirt road between a cliff and the drop off to a brook. Luckily I only passed one vehicle, and only had to back about 10 feet to the pull-out. There was not a lot here that was accessible without climbing (up or down; neither works with my leg yet), but there were some interesting mosses.
Next stop was the nature center on the other side of the park (it was closed). It's in the middle of a large field of what is probably a lovely selection of wildflowers but now was mostly goldenrod with some teasel. I did pass a hazel on the way in, and a mint I didn't recognize (and I was very happy to find a port-a-potty here as I'd had too much caffeine this morning).
Next was the upper end of Tuckerman's Ravine, a stocked fishing river. This involved another equally narrow road but with more potholes and ice (but luckily only traffic going the same way I was). There's a cool old railroad bridge here that apparently was the scene of a huge crash long ago, and you can walk along it, if you climb the high bank. I had to be content with the closed section of the road. There was more diversity here. Tons of moss and lichen, several ferns, yams, and what I think was oyster mushrooms, looking very nice and fresh (but I don't trust my mushrooming skills at all).
1-29-18. Les Salines, Martinique. 1.1 miles today, 833.2 miles total.
Categories: Birds, familiar plants
I returned to Les Salines with my husband again today for my weekly birdwalk. It's been windy here for the past couple of days, and maybe that's why there were practically no birds. No egrets at all, one spotted sandpiper, one royal tern. I didn't see a single Zenaida dove all day, which is odd because they're like pigeons in the city, always present. The wind was blowing so strong that I wished the boardwalk had a railing, since it took some effort to stay upright. I walked a bit of the stretch of beach south of the boardwalk today. In one little patch where there is some woods between the beach road and the salt pond, there were some more interesting birds, a saltator and maybe a Caribbean elaena. My category generator told me to look at alternate leaves today, but I didn't feel like it. Instead, I looked for plants that I recognized, or thought I might know. I got some good photos of a machineel, the poisonous mangrove that causes serious burns if you stand under it during a rainstorm. And I found some lantana and a rock sage, as well as a big old prickly Opuntia along the shore. No roadkill today. When I got back home, I spent a few more hours tagging VT photos, and, at last--my backlog is cleared! Now I just need to get them uploaded.
Great to hear you made it out for a winter walk, Charlie! But do be careful on that ice. I had a friend from Montpelier who died this week after falling on some ice in her driveway. That stuff is simply too nasty for words!
And great to hear that are able to explore trails again, Sara! I can't wait to see you mosses and lichens!
oh that's so sad, i am so sorry :( Our driveway is very icy, i've been tossing sand and (cold) wood stove ash on it all week. hope we get some snow to cover it up.
So sorry to hear about your friend, Erika; that's awful.
I knew you could put sand on ice, but I had no idea ash would work. Once, long ago, a pet food truck tried to turn around on the ice end of my driveway and got stuck. He tried throwing dog kibble under the tires, but , not surprisingly, it didn't work.
Wood ash is great stuff, especially if the temperature is above 25 and you get some sun. We use it on the top part of our driveway anytime we think there's a chance of getting some solar action going. The dark ashes collect heat from the sun and make short work of white snow and ice. But only if the sun is shining, of course. Kibble--that would be great for bird watching, but I don't know if you can get the birds to scratch away the ice. Maybe if you have enough turkeys come to eat it.
1-30-18. Anse Caritan, Martinique. 3.1 miles today, 836.4 miles total.
Categories: roots, birds, polypores, crabs
"Roots" took me straight out to Anse Caritan this morning for the coastal hike though the woods. Along the way, there are some fun aerial roots hanging down into the road, so that's where I started. The West Indian birches on the trail have some magnificent red roots, so I collected some of them. What I soon noted though is that for the most part, there are 3 main types of trees in the woods, the birches, the West Indian mahogany, and another tree with opposite palmate leaves with rounded leaflets. It seemed like every time I found a root, it belonged to one of those 3. Down on the beach I found a portia tree overturning with exposed roots. I also noted that the beach where we plan to spend the afternoon is loaded with manchineel--glad I took the time to study the manchineel yesterday. Dark green entire ovate leaves with prominent white central veins. No road kill today, but I did catch 2 ghost crabs in mortal combat, and a hermit crab wearing an giant African land snail shell.
yeah exactly during a thaw or a near-thaw with sun it melts holes in the ice especially the black chunks. Just gotta make sure it's all the way out or you may drop an ember somewhere like your porch - bad news. If it's zero out it won't do anything, nothing will, but sand helps with the grip. I've even thrown used coffee grinds on the ice because they were dark, and it actually worked. Funny what people will think of. You can pay the plow people to salt the driveway but it's expensive. Never tried kibble, but we don't have pets right now so don't have any. i have heard, however, that kitty litter works well. If it's above freezing it absorbs the slick water on the ice.
1-30-18. Great Swamp, Chatham, NJ. 0.75 miles today, 197.75 miles total
Categories: moss, lichen, fruit, bark, buds
I drove over to the far side of the Great Swamp today, which I had never visited. They have lovely boardwalk trails here and a trail guide. Lots of interesting moss and lichen, yam, clethra, sphagnum, and lots of stuff I see more often. I did 3/4 mile without having to stop to rest, which is very good new with my recovering leg. I hope to keep bringing that distance up. I also would love to come back here during the growing season; it's only 30 minutes away.
1-31-18. Gregg and Rutkowski Parks, Bayonne, NJ. 1.25 miles today, 199 miles total.
Categories: birds, fruit, buds, green in winter.
These are two adjacent urban waterfront parks on the Newark Bay. There's a lovely system of boardwalks and paved paths and I walked over a mile and a quarter without hurting my leg, yay!
The very first thing I saw was a whole raft of canvasbacks, a new one for me on iNat (and I'm not certain that I've ever seen them in person before). There were a number of gulls and ducks, and a kingfisher, squawking like crazy. Lots of Phragmites, but also Amorpha, sumac, willow, etc. Only a little strip of beach and one shell, plus a big seaweed. The wind was very cold and I did not have gloves or a hat, just a scarf over my head, but still I had a ton of fun on a beautiful, sunny day.
1-31-18. Anse Moustique, Martinique. 3 miles today, 839.6 miles total.
Categories: red, birds
I headed out towards the highway this morning for a hike down towards Anse Moustique. My first find of the day was a crab living in the storm drain just down the street. Then, just around the block, I found a flock of orange-cheeked waxbills. I guess there are both orange-cheeked and common waxbills in town--now I need to learn to tell the difference. I wasn't too excited about getting "red" again for my random category, but I warmed up to it. Especially when a tropical mockingbird pointed out some bright red berries that were hanging right in front of my face that I would have missed because I had been looking on the ground. For red plants, I got the Ipomoea marginata that is everywhere (dark pink centers), plenty of red beans (from the puffy white flowers red bean plants), and some common red weeds. The Gliricidia sepium is coming into full bloom right now, so the road margins are turning pink. The bushes are humming with bees, which can be a bit disconcerting. I hope they stay focused on the flowers. I keep looking for hummers in the Gliricidia sepium, since I know that's a favorite hummer plant, but so far, no luck. I spotted a few bananaquits in them though. My favorite roadkill of the day was a large katydid--orthoptera are hard to find here!
Canvasbacks? What a find! Congrats on being able to walk again! What a terrific feeling that must be!
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