Photos - New Canaan Land Trust

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The New Canaan Land Trust\'s Instagram page is a great way to follow along with current projects, be inspired by the beauty of our preserves, and learn about our community of volunteers and visitors. Below is a collection of our most recent posts. Check out our page for more...

This Saturday (June 3rd) is National Trails Day. J

This Saturday (June 3rd) is National Trails Day. Join the NCLT at the magnificent Livingston-Higley Preserve.

We’re calling on volunteers to lend their hands in essential trail maintenance and invasive species removal. Our collective effort today will ensure the preserve’s flourishing ecosystem for tomorrow. No experience is necessary, just a love for nature and a readiness to make a difference.

Register now through the link in our bio!

The Second Stone Wall Repair with Haik Kavookjian

The Second Stone Wall Repair with Haik Kavookjian and Greg Faillaci is NEXT WEEK! Join the fun on Wednesday, May 31, from 4:30 - 6:30 pm at 167 North Wilton Road.

No experience is needed, but please bring work gloves, boots, a personal water bottle, and tick spray. Light food and drink will be provided.

To RSVP for this amazing event, please email Haik at drkavookjian@gmail.com

⛈ Due to inclement weather, tomorrow's Last Satu

⛈ Due to inclement weather, tomorrow's Last Saturday on the Trail event has been postponed until Sunday, May 28th, at 8:00 AM.

Your registration will be automatically transferred if you have already signed up for this event. If you wanted to sign up for Wings and Wonder but couldn't make May 20th, we hope to see you on May 28th!

If you have any questions, please email elles@newcanaanlandtrust.org.

Yesterday on the Waterfall Trail at Watson-Symingt

Yesterday on the Waterfall Trail at Watson-Symington Preserve.

This path, designated by trail markers C and F, crosses mid-way up the ridge above a wetland area. It leads to a seasonal waterfall which cascades gently down the hill. The waterfall stream can be crossed by plank walkway installed last year by an Eagle Scout.

The forest floor along this trail is verdant with native undergrowth, including Christmas ferns, false hellebores and Canada mayflower on the ridge and skunk cabbage in the wetlands below. Near the waterfall is a small patch of red trillium in bloom.

Yesterday the woods reverberated with the singing of wood thrushes who have recently returned after wintering in Central America.

Dwarf Cinquefoil (Potentiilla canadensis) and Wild

Dwarf Cinquefoil (Potentiilla canadensis) and Wild Strawberry (Fragaria vesca) growing together in the lower Livingston Higley meadow.

How to tell them apart? Dwarf cinquefoil has compound leaves with 5 leaflets and small yellow flowers. It spreads through visible vines, hence the common name - running five fingers.

Wild strawberry, also a ground hugging plant, has compound leaves with 3 leaflets and white flowers. It’s leaves and flowers are larger than dwarf cinquefoil.

Both plants are pollinated by small bees and flower flies. Strawberries produce edible red berries, while cinquefoil produces seeds but no berries.

Note: These plants are often confused with mock strawberries (Duchesnia indica) seen in the third photo. Mock strawberries share characteristics of both: compound leaves of 3 and red berries (like wild strawberries) and yellow flowers (like cinquefoil).

Golden Ragwort (Packera aurea) blooming in the Sil

Golden Ragwort (Packera aurea) blooming in the Silvermine Fowler pollinator meadow. This native perennial with daisy-like flowers belongs to the aster family. It blooms late April into May and attracts small bees.

Beautiful vistas of the Livingston Higley meadow.

Beautiful vistas of the Livingston Higley meadow.

What a difference 6 weeks makes in the transition from winter to spring. The meadow was photographed greening up last week and while still dormant in mid-March just after it was mowed.

The NCLT mows its meadows once a year to curtail shrubs and small trees from taking hold and reverting the fields to forest. Mowing usually takes place in early winter, after the ground freezes and insect life has gone dormant. This year, mowing was delayed because the ground was too wet and soft due to the warmer than usual temperatures.

In addition to Livingston Higley, the Land Trust mows the fields at the Colhoun, Donaldson-Maloney, Firefly, Hannan- Eberstadt, Hawkins, Hicks and Silvermine Fowler Preserves. One of the many ways we steward our land.

The Stone Wall Repair projects have started again!

The Stone Wall Repair projects have started again! Haik Kavookjian and Greg Faillaci are holding a session TOMORROW (May 2nd) at the Hawkins field at 167 NWR from 4:30 - 6:30. 🪨

No experience is necessary and the event is open to all ages. There is parking on-site with light food provided. Participants should wear long pants and bring work gloves, insect repellent repellant, and a personal water bottle. For safety reasons, enrollment is limited to 8.

RSVP to Haik at 📧 drkavookjian@gmail.com.

📢 Due to April showers, tomorrow's Last Saturda

📢 Due to April showers, tomorrow's Last Saturday on the Trail event has been postponed until May 6th at 10:00 am.

If you already signed up for this event, your registration will be automatically transferred. If you wanted to sign up for Nature Photography but couldn't make April 29th, we hope to see you on May 6th!

If you have any questions, please email elles@newcanaanlandtrust.org.

Dwarf Ginseng (Panax trifolias) spotted on the pon

Dwarf Ginseng (Panax trifolias) spotted on the pond trail at the Colhoun Preserve.

This diminutive wildflower grows in mesic acidic soils in wooded areas of the Northeast and throughout Appalachia. It has round white umbrel flowers which sit above a whorl of three leaves. The tiny blossoms are pollinated by solitary native bees and flower flies.

Dwarf Ginseng is often found growing stream side along with trout lily, wood anemones and spring beauties. All of these bloom in early spring.

📢 TONIGHT is Sustainable Landscape: Designing w

📢 TONIGHT is Sustainable Landscape: Designing with Native Plantings, presented by @newcanaanpollinator and @copiahomeandgarden at the @newcanaannaturecenter at 7:00 PM.

Louis Fusco of @fusco_landscape_architect highlights the environmental and health benefits of Native plants and how we can successfully include them in our landscape designs.

@ncbeautificationleague @newcanaangardenclub @newcanaanlibrary @gracefarmsct

Celebrating Earth Day a day late with the @connect

Celebrating Earth Day a day late with the @connectgodsacre Middle School Youth Group’s service project at Watson-Symington. A huge thank you to the middle schoolers, junior advisors, and advisors who came out to help remove garlic mustard!

Looking for an Earth Day activity? @wiltonlandtrus

Looking for an Earth Day activity? @wiltonlandtrust is hosting the first of this spring's #WalkYourLandTrust series. This series brings together @darienlandtrust, @wiltonlandtrust, @norwalklandtrust, @stamfordland, and newcanaanlandtrust as we host an event to help you find the hidden beauty of the land around you.

Register for Peepers & Cheepers: A Spring Ephemeral Walk on Saturday, April 22nd at 10 AM at the Marble/Van Haelewyn-Richards Preserve.

For more information about the event and to register now, visit 🔗 wiltonlandtrust.org/trekking-together-april-2023/

J. McLaughlin New Canaan's Sip, Shop & Celebrate S

J. McLaughlin New Canaan's Sip, Shop & Celebrate Spring event to benefit the New Canaan Land Trust is TODAY from 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM.

15% of sales will benefit the New Canaan Land Trust!

Enjoy some bubbles and light refreshments while you shop and support the Land Trust!

@jmclaughlin @newcanaanmoms @newcanaandads @townofnewcanaan @ncbuyslocal #shoplocal #shoplocalnewcanaan #newcanaanmoms #newcanaandads
#newcanaannewcomers

How far do bees fly from their nests to gather foo

How far do bees fly from their nests to gather food?

Honeybees: average 2-3 miles, sometimes farther
Bumblebees: about 1 mile
Mason Bees: 500 to 1,000 feet

The distance traveled depends on whether the bees are social or solitary nesters and the number of larva they need to feed.

In social colonies only the queen lays eggs. A queen honeybee can produce thousands of eggs throughout the season which means the worker bees in the hive need to gather large amounts of food to feed a succession hatchings. Honeybee hives can house anywhere from 2,000 up to 20,000 individuals by the end of the season.

Bumblebees also maintain social hives, but on a much smaller scale. Only the pregnant queen survives the winter. In the early spring she builds a new nest and starts laying eggs to form a new colony of worker bees along with a few drones. A bumblebee nest typically houses between 50 and 500 individuals by the end of the summer.

Mason bees are solitary nesters and don’t live in hives. There are no queens and all the females are fertile. They make small individual nests, pack them with pollen granules and lay only a handful of eggs. They seal up their nests and leave their young to develop on their own. The eggs hatch and the larva remain in their protected pollen-filled chambers until the following spring when they emerge as adults.

About 70% of our native bees are solitary nesters who set up shop in close proximity to a good source of nectar and pollen. Most of them nest underground.

Thrilling trilling of eastern American toads heard

Thrilling trilling of eastern American toads heard late Thursday afternoon at Still Pond. These are males advertising for females, who choose their mates based on vocalization ability.

American toads (Anaxyrus americanus) are land dwellers who breed and lay eggs in shallow wetlands, quiet streams and ponds. Females lay thousands of eggs on submerged vegetation. The eggs hatch into tadpoles who continue to live in water for another 14 weeks or so as they slowly change into adults.

Still Pond is also a breeding ground for spring peepers, gray tree frogs and several kinds of pond dwelling frogs. All are vocal during the spring mating season

Hive got a good feeling about today! 🐝🍯 The

Can you bee-lieve it?! The hives on 4 NCLT propert

Can you bee-lieve it?! The hives on 4 NCLT properties have been installed! Visit the hives at Colhoun, Still Pond, Hannan Field, and Hicks Meadow - but bee careful… the honeybees are hard at work, so please do not disturb the hives.

Yesterday the @newcanaan_lacrosse team visited the

Yesterday the @newcanaan_lacrosse team visited the Firefly Sanctuary and helped spread woodchips around the trail and seating area. These 60 young men got through the massive pile of chips in 45 minutes!

Thank you, NCHS Boys Lacrosse! 🧡💚

Are you interested in doing a service project or volunteering with the Land Trust? Email us at info@newcanaanlandtrust.org!

The buzz around town is... the Land Trust is getti

Mining Bees at Hicks Meadow. Volunteers cleaning

Mining Bees at Hicks Meadow.

Volunteers cleaning out the bird boxes at Hicks Meadow last week noticed hundreds of these little black and white striped bees hovering above the ground. They appear to be some kind of newly hatched mining bees which belong to the Adrenidae genus. (There are over 450 different types of mining bees in North America).

Mining bees are solitary nesters which means that the females lay their eggs, provision them with pollen and leave them to develop on their own. After mating, the females tunnel underground and excavate numerous chambers which they fill with pollen. They lay a single egg in each chamber, seal it up and make it waterproof with waxy secretions, then go on their merry way.

The pollen chambers provides a year’s worth of food as the eggs hatch and develop into larva and eventually into adults. This next generation remains in these underground chambers until the following spring when they emerge to mate and start the process again.

Mining bees are non-aggressive and rarely sting. The adults are active in early spring and only live a few months during which time they visit and pollinate hundreds of spring flowers.

Hicks Meadow provides an ideal habitat for these native bees. The soil is dry, not too hard packed and drains well. There are abundant wildflowers, flowering shrubs and trees nearby. The site is partially shaded and perhaps, most important of all, it is left undisturbed.

About 70% of our native bees are ground nesters. Be on the lookout!

A mourning cloak was spotted yesterday flitting th

A mourning cloak was spotted yesterday flitting through the woods at Still Pond Preserve. The first butterfly of the season seen on the first official day of Spring.

Mourning cloaks are one of the few species of butterflies that overwinter as adults in Connecticut. Most butterflies spend the winter in various stages of arrested development (as eggs, larva or chrysalises) and mature into adult butterflies when the spring temperatures rise and food becomes available.

Mourning cloaks hibernate through the winter tucked underneath tree bark. They emerge on warm days in early spring to search out their favorite food - tree sap. Later in the season they feed on rotting fruit. While they occasionally visit flowers, they are not known to be strong pollinators.

The flight of yesterday’s mourning cloak was too capricious to photograph. This photo, taken last May, shows a male perching to defend his territory. The males will mate with multiple females. This one chased off all interlopers.

First day of spring at Still Pond! 🌱 How are y

First day of spring at Still Pond! 🌱

How are you enjoying nature today?

Kudos to Rob Petersen for guessing the location of

Kudos to Rob Petersen for guessing the location of yesterday’s photo! It was taken at the Browne Preserve on Valley Road in the northeast corner of town. This 10+ acre property, which overlooks Grupes Reservoir, boasts a stream, wetlands, deep woods, glacial boulders, a nascent pine forest and a nice stand of low-growing club moss, known as princess pine.

Browne is a serene and beautiful spot to visit in any season.

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