May 11, 2013

Just in time for Mother's Day, mother nature is decorating Lake Wicwas with beautiful flowers of all sizes and colors.  In addition to the Painted Trillium I posted earlier, there are violets, both white (Canada Violet) and blue (Common Violet), Fringed Polygala, Goldthread, and Wild Strawberry.

Common Violet

Fringed Polygala

Goldthread

Wild Strawberry

Some trees are flowering, including the Hobblebush Viburnum and what appears to be a cherry tree , though it doesn't look like a native cherry tree.  It is right along the side of Chemung Road just north of the Wicwas boat ramp.

Hobblebush Viburnum

Cherry Tree?

Various specious of ferns are unfurling all around the lake as well.

While I was in the Hamlin area, I found a dead Ringneck Snake right in the middle of the trail. 

Ringneck Snake

It is black on the top with a bright orange belly, and its markings show how it got its name.  It had no wounds or other signs of a battle, rather it appeared to be lying right where it would have been sunning itself.  It hadn't died very long before, as its body was still pliable and its eyes were clear.  Another mystery....

After a long stretch of beautiful weather, we finally had some needed rain on Saturday.  I was walking along in a light rain early in the morning and saw an animal swimming in the water.  It was immediately recognizable as not a beaver, as it didn't have the straight, bee-line path of the determined beaver.  Soon there was a second, and I watch two Otters playing in the lake for several minutes.  They were chasing each other, splashing and romping around, and generally enjoying themselves.  Eventually they disapeared along a shoreline, probably climbing up on the island.  It was too dark and they were too far a away to get any good pictures.

River Otters

And, just now, as I'm sitting here writing this at 8:10 pm, Linda said "look out the window"!  There, standing right in front of the house amid the blueberry bushes was a good size Moose!  Being a dark and rainy night, again, no hope for a decent picture, but here's the proof.

Moose

I hope it wasn't eating all those new blueberry blossoms!  It soon wandered off along the shoreline, sometimes moving very quickly, then just standing and watching - my guess is it detected our motion in the house.

Rainy days might not be much fun for us, but they seem to bring out the creatures.