Vacation brings out children

School vacation has been a very busy time at the Fields Pond Audubon Center. In addition to training volunteers to help with Wonderful Wetland school walk programs, we had four different live animal programs – insects, owls, frogs and salamanders, and turtles – for the public to enjoy. Stories of the programs will be recounted next week in this column.

Volunteer trainings were particularly rewarding this spring. Several new volunteers came for training and they seem quite excited to be joining our ranks. When leading schoolchildren on nature walks, new volunteer naturalists sometimes worry that they won’t be able to find enough to engage them. Not to worry! In spring, new things are popping out of the ground, birds are flying in, insects are on the move, and frogs are singing and depositing great masses of eggs. Nature is bursting all around us!

After an indoor discussion of wetland creatures that might be seen and the logistics of leading children through our wetlands, the group ventured out to see what nature had to offer. Heading toward the marsh, the brilliant blue flash of a male bluebird captured our attention. One pair of binoculars was passed around so everyone could get a close look. As we were oohing and aahing over the bluebird, a pair of barred owls started hooting up on the hillside. This is not at night, but 11 o’clock in the morning! While our attention was diverted to the hooting of the barred owl, another volunteer said, “What’s that big bird over there?” Soaring up ahead was an adult bald eagle. “Turn this way,” we urged the eagle. As if on command, the eagle turned and cruised back up the field toward us. More oohs and aahs. In the space of about five minutes, we had seen or heard three special birds.

Just about tapped out with oohs and aahs, the group proceeded on toward the marsh, where the “quacking” of wood frogs was luring us in. Looking closely for a wood frog sighting, the group was startled when a large, leggy, brown bird burst out of the cattails to ungainly fly away. “What is that?” “I’ve never seen a bird like that before!” Apparently this bird, an American bittern, had also heard the quacking of the wood frogs. We had likely interrupted its meal. Good for the frogs that we came along just then. Bad for the bittern!

After trekking past the marsh and through the swamp, we were pleasantly surprised to find one more special sight. The giant track of a moose! Moose are not often seen on Nature Center property, but scat and tracks are sometimes found on the backside of the swamp. In the spring, young moose (last year’s calves) are being sent on their way after a year spent with their mothers. Young males wander great distances to find a territory of their own. We would welcome a resident moose to the property, if only the habitat would sustain such an animal. Not likely, though – we lack the large tracts of swamp and shallow water that they need for foraging.

For more information on wetland excursions for school groups or home-school groups at the Nature Center, call Jane Rosinski at 989-2591.

Send sightings, comments, or questions to fieldspond@maineaudubon.org