Spring Pond Woods: Nature: Wildlife

Showing posts with label Nature: Wildlife. Show all posts

Spring Pond in Autumn

These beautiful photos of Spring Pond in Autumn are shared by Leslie Courtemanche.

The second photo is of a Great Blue Heron.

Deer and baby fawn

This is a sighting on video, caught by Leslie Courtemanche, of a female deer nursing her baby fawn in Spring Pond Woods.

4th Vernal Pool Certification!

A fourth vernal pool was recently certified in Spring Pond Woods! This little pond with connecting wetlands and buffer areas is now regulated by many state and local laws as an important wildlife habitat.

Last year, two vernal pools became certified, and back in 1997 the first vernal pond in Spring Pond Woods was acknowledged for certification.

Thank you to those who visited this area continuously over several nights/ days into months, gathering research. Much love and peace on...

Sketch, letter and a photo of Egret, by Brian

Brian Joyce shares another one of his lovely sketches from Spring Pond. This one is a view looking north, on the north side of upper Spring Pond.

Brian writes: "As I was leaving the drawing location I saw something that attracted my photographic attention. I had my small camera in hand. Then looked across the lake and saw what I thought was an Egret on a rock. Zooming in to capture the shot the Egret took flight. The zoom was extended and I was lucky to capture the rest of the pictures. I think the Egret might have been pointing out a turtle perched on a rock." Brian Joyce

Sketch of upper Spring Pond by Brian Joyce

Tales without words

Following the power lines through Spring Pond, on a hill 300'± above sea level, a natural wild corridor opens to the view on both sides. North through here is the proposed DiBiasi subdivision, to the south is Camp Lion (site of controversial rezoning and formerly proposed development). In Salem and Peabody is City of Peabody property. To the west the wildlife corridor runs through Boulderwoods (threatened for 110 new homesites, and beyond there, is the sight of Stone Tower in Lynn Woods. From Lynn Woods to Salem Woods including all forests in between (Spring Pond, Boulderwoods and other habitat islands in threat), connect as one wildlife corridor region.

Without much help in protecting the area from public agencies, the 'silent alert' of our disappearing landscape will continue. The Boulderwoods subdivision might begin initial blasting within days, and has received an Environmental Impact Report waiver, without requiring an accurate environmental study. The neighbors opposed in Peabody and Lynn should be aware a state representative spoke on the developers behalf, stating "Solomine satisfied city and neighborhood concerns", and that an Environmental Impact Report be WAIVED. (News article: Fennell intervened with state agency on Solomine's behalf, by Chris Stevens for the Daily Item, June 14, 2012) Note, this is not the district of the politician to speak for constituents here, and I am not a lawyer to ask if this could substantiate another lawsuit. It is very important the neighbors along Boulderwoods in Peabody are also aware: Because of pending litigation (2x), the project will likely never be approved on the Lynn side, hence the approval for a second access to the subdivision does not seam realistic. This means: If the conditions for approval with the City of Peabody were to require a second access to the subdivision because the narrow path on Bartholomew Street in Peabody could not handle the traffic of 110 homesites, the condition will likely not be met. The abutters in Peabody should be alerted that they may receive all future traffic from the 100± home sites.

A species on the Natural Heritage of Endangered Species Program has been heard around Spring Pond, an area adjacent to Boulderwoods. Given the habitat conditions in Boulderwoods where the power lines run through, this leads the search for the same species in this area as well. If interested in helping listen for this species at the edge of a street or your own property, or along the power lines, please feel free to contact us for further information: peace@springpondwoods.com

Another concern is that Phaeton/ Cannon Rock is adjacent to Boulderwoods, and there could be other archeological sites here to discover. In the proposed DiBiasi subdivision area, there are recognized archeological sites, and the state ordered to conduct an extensive site investigation. Without a full environmental impact review for Boulderwoods, we will not know.

Feel free to contact us, if you wish to help in some way save the remaining greenbelt corridor. peace@springpondwoods.com

More photos of walking through the power lines, through the wetlands in the valleys. There were thousands of tiny tadpoles swimming in the pool of water.

To the south, two Turkey Vultures perched on the branches of a cell tower.

Looking for protected species to protect, we found various butterflies, moths, dragonflies, damselflies and amphibians. Many of these were too fast to photograph, and one or two are questionable species if protected. (Click on images to enlarge.)

peace on

Link of an Important Regional Wildlife Corridor

Click map to view

'Peabody Open Space Plan 2006': area "may be considered as part of a larger wildlife corridor system, allowing pathways for animal migration. As the observations of bird life in Peabody suggest, the large tract of public and private land in South Peabody serves as a route for over 144 species of migrating birds.... This area, along with open areas in the neighboring cities of Lynn and Salem, is a significant regional resource that supports a great variety of wildlife."

Copy:

When looking at an aerial map from above, Spring Pond Woods appears to be a link between areas on the coast and inland. If these wooded areas were cut off, a big concern would be that 'Important Bird Areas' and sanctuaries near the coastline would become more isolated if the wildlife corridor link was broken? Is there an expert looking at this more closely?

Vernal Pool Certification!!

Two (2!) vernal pool reports which were submitted last year for Spring Pond Woods, have recently become certified! These two little ponds with connecting wetlands and buffer areas are now recognized by law as important wildlife habitats.

Thank you to Leslie Courtemanche, who together visited the ponds over several nights/ days into months. This is now Leslie's 3rd vp certification in Spring Pond Woods! Another deserving thank you goes to Calvin Anderson who trekked along a couple times and helped discover the right kind of bugs. Thank you to volunteers from a vernal pond group (Rick with Annette, Randall, and Rosemary) for visiting the pools during one of the days, and a professor from a state college who visited the pools before Spring to offer insight of vegetation, and to a sweet woman who came once out in the dark after surgery but could not continue the climb through the woods to reach the 2nd pool. Thank you to a group of Salemites who offered encouraging support. And thanks to a special expert for simply caring…you know who are. Did I miss anyone? A big thank You to family and friends for putting up with us (well me anyhow :), over the long course of the challenging couple years to protect these areas. Much love and peace on...

Red-tailed Hawk

Yesterday morning about 8:20 am, a Red-tailed hawk was perched on the limb of a tree while black crows mobbed the large bird from above. The hawk seemingly unaffected by the crows flying down on it, sat looking on its surroundings.

This is not the first sighting of a Red-tailed Hawk in the area, although probably the first we have captured by photograph. For more information on Red-tails, check out The Breeding Atlas of Mass Audubon. From observing the atlas, it seems a hawk of this kind in the area is undocumented.

Some Signs of love

Children's hand imprints are found on the ledge in these woods. Is it imaginable, a beloved wilderness-playground serving nearly 1,000 children at camp, could have been blasted away for corporate priorities? Hope these signs last forever, as the children thought when cementing their prints into stone.

More Spring Pond discoveries...

A frog splashes off to the side of a stream running down a trail.

Another bat house is constructed.

Fresh dear marks are near a stream.

A beautiful hilltop, with....

a depression on the cliffside, filled with stones.

pretty little purple flowers

Bats

Sometimes at night, one may see a bat or two fluttering in the dark sky. We hope the skies remain dark for many reasons, and protecting the wildlife habitat is a major reason why. A friend shares photos of newly constructed bat houses on or near the edge of Camp Lion.

They write:
"This kind of housing development...I'm not opposed to. Also, you may want to note that two species of bats are on the NHESP list, and it may be difficult to verify if these are here."