HOLDEN – The strawberry flowers are popping up in our fields. In the forested areas, purple trillium are up and their flowers starting to open. Many trillium plants are showing up along the trail, but only a handful are showing their flowers. The buds are present and swelling, so with one or two warm days the flowers should pop open. With school groups we love to encourage students to give this beautiful flower a gentle sniff. The faces they make! No, the elegant purple trillium does not smell as attractive as it looks!

Molly MacLean from the University of Maine recently brought a group of students from her zoology class. During their field explorations her students discovered a nice variety of spring sights. A sprouting acorn that had burst from its hard outer shell intrigued one student, while another was quite excited to have found a red-backed salamander.

We also were excited to hear that this type of salamander was found on the property, as they have rarely been found on site. Other types frequently are found here, but rarely the common red-backed. Spring peepers have been singing in great numbers at the marsh and the frog pond, but we were delighted recently to hear the low snoring calls of the leopard frog. Coming right on the heels of the other spring frogs – peepers and wood frogs – the leopard frog signals the next phase of spring emergence. A beautiful green color and accents of distinct oval, dark spots are the identifying characteristics of this classic Maine frog.

Down by the shore of Fields Pond we were also delighted to finally discover the presence of one skunk cabbage! We had searched early in the spring but were unable to locate the purple bud that erupts out of frozen ground. Now that bright green leaves are unfurling, the lone skunk cabbage is readily visible. Perhaps in the future more skunk cabbage plants will join the lonely cabbage to make a respectable cabbage patch. Warblers are starting to arrive back on Nature Center grounds. The yellow-rumped and black-throated green warblers have both been seen on site. Other avian migrants include the blue-headed vireo, ruby-crowned kinglet, northern flicker, hermit thrush, pied billed grebe, and sora rail. Fields Pond naturalists and volunteers will be leading bird walks for beginners throughout the Holden-Bangor-Orono-Hampden area during the month of May. Walks run 6:30-8 a.m. For dates and locations, call 989-2591.

Send sightings, comments

or questions to fieldspond@maineaudubon.org