Firsts

This is the time of year for firsts. Yesterday was no exception.

First herps. Other folks have seen snakes and frogs and all sorts of cool stuff, but here at Northview we were coming up empty in the reptile and amphibian department until yesterday when I was spring cleaning outside the milkhouse. I reached down to pick up some leftover trash and spotted two little orange things wiggling among the crushed stone. At first I thought they were earthworms, but in fact they were red-backed salamanders. Plethodon cinereus is a big favorite of mine. I picked them up to show the girls, then returned them to whatever they were doing when I found them. (I'll bet I can guess.)

The day was full of cleaning and feeding and sweeping and being really ticked off about some BS with our water bill which is turning my hair grey and my temper black. Late in the afternoon I swore one of the guinea fowl had escaped and was down on the long lawn tuning up its unearthly cackle. I had just sat down and did NOT want to get up and go chase it.....However, the "guinea hen" soon turned into a sea gull and then to a cardinal/robin/song sparrow on steroids, and I realized that the mockingbird had just added a new sound to his repertoire.

Then late in the evening, just past first dark, I stood out in the driveway trying to hear the woodcock. I think he was still out there. I think I heard his whistling wing twitter over the din from the Thruway, but I could not be sure.It was really noisy last night with trucks and trains and tons of traffic. However, there was no doubt that the small dark thing that fluttered past my head and went whirling around the back lawn was the first flitter maus of the season.