Walk through Farnsworth Reservation

Over Thanksgiving break I took a lovely walk through Farnsworth Reservation. It was a cool day, around 40 degrees Fahrenheit and very cloudy/overcast. There were very few animals I saw on my walk which I think is attributed to the colder weather and winter season settling in due to the tilt of Earth’s axis. Because of this, it was hard to find many animals or insects. The first thing I saw on my walk was a flock of what looked like to be geese migrating south for the winter. As I looked up to the sky and saw the geese in a V formation, I wondered their proximate cause of how and when they know to migrate. Do they use visual landmarks, sun compasses, star compasses, ect.? I also wondered what is the ultimate cause of their migration south. Is it for the warmer weather, a safer location to breed, better food availability? It was fascinating watching these geese fly in a V formation so that they use less energy when flying. The second animal I observed on my walk were multiple squirrels. I was not able to capture any photos of them because they moved too fast before I could take out my camera and take a picture, but I did enjoy observing them. Most of the squirrels were carrying an acorn or looked to be on the hunt for food to get ready for hibernation. It looked like there was a lot of competition between the squirrels to find the rare acorn as none of the squirrels were helping each other find food. These squirrels were also distributed randomly among the reservation I was walking through. The coolest thing I observed on my walk was a butterfly cocoon. This cocoon was wedged between rocks as to protect it from wind or prey. The cocoon did look to be vacant which makes me wonder if this past summer or fall a butterfly emerged from the cocoon. Lastly it was very interesting turning over rocks and logs to observe the many different insects crawling around.

Posted on November 28, 2022 02:55 PM by amyguggenberger