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Thursday, April 14, 2022

Spring Peepers

One evening this past week while photographing the setting sun from the patio above our  Casita, I heard the Spring Peepers (members of the group of chirping frogs known as "chorus frogs") singing in the forested wetlands in the preserve next to the property. The sound transported me to my childhood in New Jersey as it was a much celebrated sign that spring had arrived, even if the weather had not lost its chill. 

I remember searching for the tiny creatures with a flashlight, wading through the muddy snowmelt. The individuals whistled a plaintive "wheep!" but their calls combined loudly to create overtones which sounded almost like the tinkling of silver bells. As I approached, those nearest would stop calling and disappear under the leaf litter and vegetation.

Spring Peepers inhabit much of eastern North America, but their range does not extend into the south Florida or the arid western United States where I have spent most of my adult life. Hearing them now in Connecticut raises my anticipation to see budding tree leaves and the return of migrating birds.

Resident American Goldfinch males were molting into breeding colors:


This male House Finch had particularly bright red plumage:

A male Northern Cardinal looked at me as I shot through the window glass:

Two pairs of Mourning Doves were frequent visitors:

A male Downy Woodpecker at the suet station was joined by his mate:


A pair of  Song Sparrows were building a nest in the Rhododendrons next to the house:

Eastern Bluebirds continued to visit the nest boxes but did not seem to have settled in:


 This is the view of the bluebird box at the edge of the lawn, looking through our office window:




My yard list of birds seen on the property is up to 37 species, of which I photographed 28, but all are normal winter residents. The latest addition was a Chipping Sparrow:



An afternoon April shower produced a nice rainbow over the woodlands surrounding Diamond Lake:


We watched another gorgeous sunset from the upstairs patio (That's the back yard bird house in the lower right of the photo):


Looking through the window very early in the morning on April 11, the waxing gibbous Pink Moon set over Hartford, about 11 miles to the west and about 800 feet lower in elevation: 
 

Moments later, the Moon disappeared behind a ridge beyond the city:

I had high hopes of getting out to photograph a Spring Peeper for this post but never set eyes on one.  My New Jersey friend Dave Blinder did much better than I. Back in 2013, he posted his first ever photo of one on FLICKR. Dave wrote: "I've been hearing these guys peeping amidst the small polluted swamp in the backyard. First time trying to shoot frogs at night, I'll probably try to improve on the shot sooner or later." (April 10, 2013, Denville, NJ). Here is a link to his photo © DRB 2013 all rights reserved.

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Linking to:



Skywatch Friday

Weekend Reflections

Saturday's Critters

BirdD'Pot

All Seasons

Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday)

Natasha Musing

Wild Bird Wednesday

My Corner of the World

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Please visit the links to all these posts to see some excellent photos on display
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18 comments:

  1. Spring Peeper calls were always one of my favourite sounds of spring!

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  2. The cardinal does not look pleased with you. Maybe it wants some privacy. A spectacular sunset to end the day.

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  3. Beautiful photos. Something about bluebirds fascinates me.

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  4. You have amazing views! The moon photos are outstanding and I always like the variety of birds.

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  5. As always, excellent pictures of birds and nature.
    Thanks so much for sharing with us.
    Happy Easter to you and your family.

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  6. Hello,
    I love hearing all the frogs in my yard, they can get pretty loud. You are seeing some great birds. The Goldfinches are getting their pretty summer color. Love the Downy Woodpecker pair and the Bluebirds. Gorgeous capture of the rainbow and the moon is stunning. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Take care, enjoy your Easter weekend. PS, thank you for leaving me a comment.

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  7. We walked along a swamp and the Rainbow River yesterday and we could hear all kinds of sounds. Makes us think of going camping and how loud it gets after dark. The rainbow you saw was gorgeous and what a neat moon to watch. Enjoy your weekend! We miss you here in Florida. Take care of yourself!

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  8. Dear Kenneth,
    you have photographed brilliant bird portraits. I'm always especially happy about the colorful birds like cardinal or bluebird. The goldfinch and red house finch are also beautiful. And it's great that you managed to catch both woodpeckers at the same time!
    Wow, and the moon! I've never seen such an orange-red, triangular moon.
    Your friend shot the frog well. I have an idea what their "singing" sounds like, but I've never heard it. Maybe someday I'll make it to the Northeast US - I'd love it, but I'd probably be there for Indian Summer. We will see. So far I've been mainly in the South and West (California, Arizona, Utah, also in New Orleans, from there by car through Mississippi to Memphis, and once in Florida for two weeks).
    All the best from Austria and happy Easter 🐣🐇🐥
    Traude
    https://rostrose.blogspot.com/2022/04/grotrappen-balz-ausflug-zum.html

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  9. Wow!! Those moon photos are stellar Ken. Love all your birds today
    Thanks for linking in this week

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  10. Oh my! You got remarkable shots!

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  11. So happy to see your "yard list" growing! That is quite a collection of spring visitors.
    I am always amazed at how many different sounds can be traced to frogs. When we lived in upstate New York, we really enjoyed the chorus on our spring camping trips.

    All the best from Florida, where humidity competes with temperature for the highest mark.

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  12. The house finch is nearly as bright in color as the cardinal!
    Thanks for joining us this week - and every week - at https://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2022/04/ukranian-church-national-shrine-of-holy.html

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  13. Thanks for your comment, Ken! How serendipitious - finches it is:)
    An explaination about the insurance -this is an area, where everyone's property is full of 60 footers or even higher. We had at least 70:) We removed about 7 for the barn to be built, and one fell over when a storm hit one winter. By the way beautiful moon captures too:) Have a great week. Hope everything with your physical condition is going to plan?

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  14. When we lived in NJ and then VA as well, hearing spring peppers was always a delight even though we never saw any. Thanks for including Dave's photo of one.

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  15. You are so fortunate to have so many different species of birds visiting your garden and it is good to see you have plenty of bird feeders and nest boxes for them. The photos of the Moon are stunning. Glad you spotted the Barnacle goose. My eyes nearly left my head when I spotted it that day in that distance. It was only there that day and had never been there before so I was very fortunate to have seen and photographed it. Hope you are keeping well.

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  16. Wonderful birdies. I can't wait to hear the peepers.
    I love your office window.

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  17. Such a great memory and wonderful pictures.

    Thanks for sharing your link at My Corner of the World this week!

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