What is the season today? Part one

Editor's note: This post contains photos of a snake and a spider. Proceed with caution.

The weather for the end of March and the beginning of April certainly had its ups and downs or lows.

It definitely felt like we were bouncing on a spring with highs one day in the upper 60s and then an "April Fools," snow on another. 

On March 25, it was warm enough to catch a very small garter snake out and about. It literally was only about as thick and as long as a pencil.

Warmer days in March had the spring peepers and other frogs being very vocal. However when we approached the pond, the frogs must have had a bout of stage fright and we were greeted with silence.

Attempts to photograph any frogs sitting around the neighbor's pond were thwarted daily by Clem and company.

Various egg masses showed that the amphibians had been busy. I searched the internet to figure out what the whitish egg masses were.

A article titled "Egg Mass Identification in the Great Northern Forests" posted on www.oriannesociety.org provided some information.

 First the site differentiated between frog and salamander eggs.

"..Frog = no gel surrounding entire mass, you can see the contour of each individual egg. Salamander = layer of gel surrounding the entire egg mass," the article said.

The article then mentioned that " Some Spotted Salamander egg masses are a grayish opaque color, which is caused by a genetic trait of the mother and is common in some areas."

However, the same post also said that wood frog eggs could also appear white.

Meanwhile other search results said the white masses may be unfertilized or nonviable frog eggs.

A post on www.gardenwildlifehealth.org, stated, "Late frosts or an early warm spell followed by freezing conditions can result in spawn (especially any exposed above the water) to succumb to frost damage, killing the developing eggs."

So the masses could be frog or salamander eggs or undeveloped spawn.

Attempts to get a recent photo of several salamanders or adult red-spotted newts seen this week were unsuccessful.

However, a very tiny six-spotted fishing spider was kind enough to pose for a photo. Usually the fishing spiders I see are much larger, but I guess they have to start somewhere.

Pictures of other critters at the neighbor's pond were courtesy of the trail cameras. Photos of a deer peacefully  crossing in front of the pond were captured.

Also photographed was an early morning photo of a deer checking out some suspicious ducks who were also wary of the whitetail.

The game cameras let me down as far as wood duck photos, but did manage to capture some Canada geese photos.

The trail camera set up behind my parents' home captured a tom turkey strutting his stuff in front of his ladies. My parents reported seeing these turkeys on a regular basis during the last few days of March and early April.

Meanwhile sightings of turkey vultures seemed to be on the increase as well. 

An article posted in late March on www.goerie.com written by Jerry McWilliams for the Erie Times-News stated "the warm south wind on Tuesday brought in a wave of raptors with more than 3,900 birds counted flying past the Presque Isle Hawk Watch at the Tom Ridge Environmental Center. Most of those were turkey vultures all heading northeast along the Lake Erie shoreline."

While I didn't see that many turkey vultures, I managed to capture five patiently watching over a deceased opossum up the road. However, the road was too busy for them to swoop down and complete their cleanup duties.

Nonetheless, the trail cameras as well as my camera captured the shifting season. A photo of Sherman and Clem which would be fitting of January was actually taken in April.

Colder temperatures late last week drew the water out of the ground and created frost and ice.

However by Sunday, it was warm enough to bring some butterflies out.

What were previously thought to be eastern commas were correctly identified courtesy of the Butterflies and Moths of Pennsylvania Facebook page as gray commas.

Page administrator Curt Lehman explained, " the winter form of the Eastern Comma has a third dark spot on the hindwing where the Gray Comma has only two..."

I continued to try to obtain a good photo of a mourning cloak this year, but they have managed to evade my attempts so far.

It was nice on Sunday to see the robins out and about instead of frantically digging under the bird feeder in the snow.

The glory of the snow flowers seemed to live up to their names during the snow.

However despite their name, they rebounded gracefully in warmer weather.

So are the sun and warmer temperatures here to stay? That's pretty much anyone's guess. Mother Nature seemed to be a bit bipolar lately.

That's just the nature of things 'round here.