First Woodpeckers - March 19

We saw not one, but two woodpeckers. They were in a pair of trees just past the horses' fence, one one each tree. On one it was easy to see his bright, red head. The other stayed shaded, but we could hear them both drumming away. I wish they had been lower to the ground so that we could have seen the holes they left.

Two semi-related notes: the chickadees are loving the birdfeeder, and I love the chickadees, so we are both happy. And we are going on vacation, so there won't be any more Montana firsts for awhile.

Muskrat March

So we made it around the pond again this evening. My 3yo daughter is starting to walk a bit faster, which makes it easier to stay close to her and still keep the boys in range. The pond is thawed around most of the edges now.

Sightings & Stuff:

• Four whitetail deer ran about 2/3 of the length of the pond, paused at a little gully then ran out of sight. No one could see what spooked them.
• We managed to break through the ice next to the dock by throwing rocks. I managed to skip a rock ... across the ice.
• We found some tracks in yesterday's snow (which has mostly melted, thankfully). Deer tracks, and another spot seemed like a squirrel track, but it was hard to tell as we only found 1 1/2 tracks.
• A 'mini-river' had formed in one sandy area, with nice, soft sand. Jonathan noted the sand was wet enough it flowed as well.
• An ice-ledge around part of the pond - about three feet out, white and thick. (Contrasted with the thin, clear ice over the water at the edge of the ledge.
• A dead muskrat. First time I've seen one up close, and first one the kids have really seen at all. (I think the older boys have seen them swimming at a distance.) It had a rat like tail, rodent teeth, and fluffy brown fur, with the middle being a lighter shade. I don't know how it died, but it had my German Shepard buffaloed. He kept smelling the area, then backing up.

So no real "firsts", but a nice walk. We might have to read a bit about muskrats from the Handbook of Nature Study.

Walk on March 1, 2013

This continues to be a very warm winter. The pond is breaking up, Jonathan counted over 20 cracks. We will watch to see how the cracks develop. The Southern arm of the pond is completely melted, and we saw 5 ducks. The first group of three took off before we got close (I think they were mallards), the last two stayed until the boys walked onto the docks. I'm not sure what that pair was - not quite mallards but not quite wood ducks. I wish I had brought the camera. We also saw a single goose flying South/Southwest.

We did have our loupes, so we checked out cattails, grass, snow, a felled aspen (with bark), some stripped bark, a felled tree without bark (very interesting holes and patterns) and some ice. We came home and looked up possible causes of the holes in the trees (oval, about 1/2" long). It seems insects are the closest match.

Firsts:

• Ducks on the pond.
• Pond partially thawed (about 10-15% is thawed) -- we will watch to see when it is completely thawed and record that.