Marsh Warden Stiles Thomas called today to ask if I have noticed any drop in the Celery Farm frog population. He said that most summers, he hears or sees a frog jump every few feet along the Allendale Brook, but this year he has seen or heard very few.
   My wife and I have noticed a similar decline along the brook, and though we hear an occasional bullfrog, it seems not as noisy as years past.
   What have you noticed this year, frog-wise, and do you have any idea why it might be?
    Do you know of anyone who does annual frog counts at the Celery Farm?
    E-mail me and I will post the results of this informal survey and any information I might pass along.

As you know, I did not post much about my screech owls this year. We had five owlets, and all left the box successfully.
    Over the past three springs, we have had 14 of 14 nestlings leave the box -- not a bad batting average.
   I am working on a screech owl book, part journal and part how-to. It includes some of my old-style nature writing that reflects my love of nature
   Not sure when it will be done, or how it will be published, but I am plugging away. On the plus side, it will include some of Jerry Barrack's great photography.

For those in need of a "screech owl fix," I thought I would pass along a link to this Screech Owl Web site from Hawthorne.

    Has several videos, with some creative video techniques. Link is here.

    Tomorrow: Ace Family Screech owls Update.

     Saturday's butterfly walk was a great success, thanks in large part to the expertise of Tom Burr, who really knows his stuff when it comes to plants and bugs and other neat stuff (Thanks, Tom!)
    We had a group of two dozen on the 75-minute walk, and we saw at least five butterfly species (including the Question Mark above), many awesome dragonflies and plants galore.

   Click "Continue reading ..." for the list of butterflies and some neat shots of dragonflies, Milkweed Beetles and a plant or two. Seymour Drakes assures me that it is well worth the effort.