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Preservation New Jersey has released its 10 Most Endangered Historic Sites in New Jersey for 2010. Willow Hall used to be on this list before we bought it. Historic site funding from the Garden State Trust Fund ballot measure passed in November plays an important role in preserving and restoring sites like these all over the state.
We didn't get any blue birds in our three blue bird nest boxes at Willow Hall this year. (They don't seem to have moved into the nest box at Highlands Meadow either.) But we did get a pair of chickadees who moved into the box closest to the house. It seems their young have just hatched since the parent's activity has picked up significantly. They've been flying in and out of the box all day, making it much easier to take this photo through the window.
Initially, female chickadees spend most of their time incubating the eggs while the male bring food. But once the eggs hatch, both parents take turns feeding the young who should fledge in 14 to 18 days. Chickadees are omnivorous, eating insects, seeds, and berries.
"Hi there! Want to learn two new big words?"
"No."
"Do you want to learn about clean water and pollution?
"No."
"Would you like to win a cool button about groundwater?"
"No."
"There's really nothing interesting at this table for you then, is there?"
"Yeah."
With the exception of this one tough customer, we had a great day at the Morristown Festival Earth this past Saturday. There was great weather and we met a lot of friendly people who were interested in protecting the environment. Hopefully a few kids also walked away knowing the difference between pervious and impervious landscapes. There's a photo of our demonstration below.
Joe, Laurie (Board Members) and Matt (Land Trust Director) running our table in the afternoon.
Thanks to Sustainable Morristown for putting on a great day!
Come say hello at the Morristown Festival Earth tomorrow (Saturday May 22) from 11am to 6pm on the Morristown Green. The event should be a lot of fun!
Last Friday Passaic River Coalition staff met a new resident at Willow Hall. Our newest tenant is a female painted turtle who decided that the dirt driveway to the garage in the backyard would be a fine place to lay her eggs.
We were a bit surprised to find a turtle laying eggs so far from the lake and up quite a large hill. But if she was bothered by us, she didn't show it. We watched her for over half an hour, bobbing her head in and out of the shell and using her feet to push dirt back into the hole she had dug (you can see the little dirt mound in the photo below). While we weren't able to count, we have read that painted turtles can lay between three and twenty eggs, depending on the size of the mother.
She won't actually be a permanent resident of our backyard; once the eggs are laid painted turtles leave the nest alone and go about their business of being turtles. The eggs will incubate 65-80 days and then they'll hatch. Though some of the life histories we read said that in some parts of the country, the turtles will actually stay underground all winter and then emerge in the spring. That's quite a wait to see if anyone will hatch. Too bad we can't charge for babysitting.
We will be keeping an eye on the area, it's currently marked with a bale of straw so no one is driving over it.
The Passaic River Coalition had a great time this weekend at the Millburn Green Challenge at the Hartshorn Arboretum. We teamed up with the Americorps Watershed Ambassadors and American Standard Plumbing to invite visitors to pledge to conserve water in and outside their homes. At our table, Allyson taught visitors the difference between pervious and impervious surfaces and how they can improve their properties to "Contain Your Rain!".
We'll be out again this Saturday, May 22, at Morristown's Festival Earth from 11am to 6pm on the Morristown Green. The event should be a lot of fun so come say hello!
