They saw a flock of bobolinks and at least one meadowlark in one of the fields along 663, and a pair of red-tailed hawks flying above the lower lake dam. They were taking maple sap, which was dripping from several places on the branches. The birds would hover below a branch and drink the sap as it dripped off. Last spring LSF observed squirrels drinking sap from a small maple near the greenhouse, and assumed that they had chewed through the bark. We found a beautiful yellow-shafted flicker wing in the Guion Pond garden on the 23rd.
Wood ducks are in the beaver marsh.
The Nature Writing class saw a small beaver or a muskrat swimming in the upper lake at about 4pm on the 24th. There is more fresh beaver cutting along the perimeter of the upper lake. There is no obvious new work on any of the dams in the beaver marsh, but they are in good condition. The small dam downstream of the culvert on Wetlands Way is sagging in the center and obviously not being maintained by the beavers. The red maples are in flower.