What to See This Week

The Bird Watching Garden isn’t just a place for birds to visit the feeders, plants in the garden are specifically chosen to benefit birds. Pictured here is a dark-eyed junco who spent a while perched on this New England aster, picking off some of the last remaining seeds. While many plants provide seeds that attract birds, plants in the sunflower family are especially popular.

The warmer weather over the weekend brought chipmunks out of their burrows to gather more food. Chipmunks and several other animals that undergo torpor instead of hibernation wake up during warm spells to search for food.

We see white-crowned sparrows in the Bird Watching Garden nearly every day but it isn’t every day we see a first-year bird. They are easily distinguished from mature white-crowned sparrows. The first-years have the same striped pattern on their heads but have shades of brown in place of the bold black and white stripes.

Don’t forget to look over at the new Rolling Hills Meadow wetland while driving down the Auto Tour, especially when it isn’t frozen over. Although it is still quite a new wetland area it has proven to be a very popular place with waterfowl. Pictured here are several mallards but groups of gadwalls and other ducks have been spotted as well. 

The warmer weather over the last week was enough to trigger several dandelions to bloom. While the blooms surely didn’t last long after temperatures dropped back down to below freezing, they will be back as some of the first nectar sources when things start to thaw out in late winter.

Weather conditions were perfect for the formation of needle ice, thin columns of ice that grow out of the soil. For needle ice to form the ground temperature should be above freezing while the air temperature is below freezing. The very thin pillars of ice don’t last very long after they form as they are fragile and easily melt in sunlight.

Last week included a look at the poison ivy vine in the winter. Pictured here is Virginia creeper, a plant that can often be mistaken for poison ivy. Virginia creeper climbs surfaces using sticky, suction-cup like pads at the end of tendrils that secrete a natural gluey substance.

A drive through the Auto Tour early in the morning can result in some of the closest animal encounters at The Arboretum! This white-tailed deer was a bit wary of the car slowing down next to them, but more curious than anything and very photogenic.