Interns: Tod & Tyler at Concord

Tod and Tyler joined me for their last day of US Fish & Wildlife Service internship. We filled a collapsed muskrat tunnel, cut maple saplings along the dike and up-rooted a few saplings with a "Weed Wrench". Then we attacked a rock in the middle of the Edge Trail. By quitting time we had a great appreciation for the people who constructed all of New England's stone walls. It's going to take a couple more pry bars, some chain and a come-along to finish the task. Anyone looking for some exercise please give me a call.

Tod and Tyler attacking rock

The rock split several times and moved a few inches but more work needs to be done.

eBirding Great Meadows

Dave, Toby, Zena's Mom, Zena, Kevin, Ruth and Joan

Nine of us enjoyed a great morning at Great Meadows NWR today seeing 35 species of birds http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S10830729. Our best (hard to find) birds were Least Bittern, Pied-billed Grebe & Green Heron. We talked about using ebird "Alerts" to help find new birds. The highlight of the day for me was discovering that Zena, a highschool student, is already using ebird.org to keep track of her growing list of sightings. She's got sharp eyes and will have great lifetime records of her sightings.

Dave, generously, donated a butterfly net that I intend to keep in the electric truck along with 

 

Field Guide to the Dragonflies and Damselflies of Massachusetts

Butterflies through Binoculars: A Field Guide to the Boston-New York-Washington Region

We were able to find Red Admirals and a Monarch. 

Snapping Turtle laying eggs

 

Snails

A Day with Tod & Tyler, High School Interns

Today I was joined by high school seniors, Tyler and Tod, who are completing a work study program with the US Fish & Wildlife Service. Tyler and Tod have an impressive knowledge of the outdoors. We filled muskrat holes with gravel, pulled garlic mustard, cut silver maple saplings, watched a pair of Hairy Woodpeckers feeding young and observed a bunch of birds.  We found a Blanding's turtle with a transmitter, several broken robin eggs, predated turtle eggs, many painted turtles, a deceased pickerel and a carp head, muskrat, and a couple of snapping turtles. Along the way we met Derick Yorks who explained how he is studying the movements of Blanding's turtles.

After a long day of shoveling gravel both students said they'd like to come back and help another day. With that attitude these young adults are going to have a great future.

Tyler & Tod with Snapping Turtle

  

Tyler & Tod with Painted Turtle

Pickerel 

Pickerel saying Hello

Unidentified spots on silver maple

Slippers, Snappers and Interns

Lady Slipper found by Susan Ticknor on the refuge side of the RR Bed, between the gate and the first bench 

Summer Intern Matt and our invasive plant biologist Amber Carr They're holding beautiful but invasive flag iris 

More Interns: Danny and Tod

First snapping turtel I've seen wandering this year.

Oh Carp!

Hundreds of carp are frantically trying to enter Great Meadows through the lower impoundment spillway. The water is currently too low for them to be successful. I remember years when refuge staff had to pick up hundreds of dead carp and bury them in the dump area.

  

Lower Impoundment Spillway

The fallen tree blocking the entrance from West Bedford along the railroad bed was removed by Ziggy and Frank.

Cannabis Culture Day at Great Meadows

Did you notice the appearance of graffiti along the railroad bed; two benches and one sign were tagged by unskilled "artists". The main message was "smoking weed everyday". On Friday (4/20/12) from about 300 ' away, we noticed 3 teens, (all of them males) lighting up near Butternut Circle. They made a hasty retreat when they noticed us approaching. I wanted to ask them if they had seen anyone marking up the benches or would like to help us remove the graffiti.

I have since learned that April 20 is a counterculture holiday in North America. And, that it might be better to let the NWR Law Enforcement deal with problems like this.

Smokin Weed Friday?

After Graffiti Remover

Organic, Biodegradable Graffiti  Remover

I can't read this one

After Graffiti Remover

Bad News - Good News: Electric Truck

For about a year we've been trying to identify squeaky noise coming from the front of our Ford THINK electric truck. We found out last Friday when there was a loud bang and the vehicle came to a sudden stop. 

My first thought was that this is going to be a big, big problem to get repaired. Ford stopped selling these vehicles in 2002 and donated their inventory to organizations like the US Fish and Wildlife.

Today, I called Rodman Ford, who donated the vehicle, and was thrilled to find out that they can fix it.

Something doesn't look right.

Ball is no longer in the Socket