Sightings of indigo buntings and scarlet tanagers bring bright colors to the lush green spring palette. Baltimore orioles are regular visitors to our jelly feeder. Some orioles are in the process of building their hanging nest. Ruby–throated hummingbirds are engaged in their courtship displays. The male hummingbird will dive towards the female in a “U-shape” motion over and over. The sound is very obvious during this maneuver. May apples are flowering. The Hawthorne trees in the understory are exploding with bright white blossoms. Jack-in-the pulpit and doll’s eyes seem to be more abundant than ever on the trails, particularly beech tree trail. A pair of Canada geese lead their young goslings along the shore of mallard meadow. Eastern forktail damselflies perch in delicate grasses along the pond shores avoiding patrolling green darner dragonflies. The sounds of Bull frogs’ deep calls can be heard especially around lily loop. A Caspian tern periodically circles above Flattail Lake and dives for fish. Largemouth bass fan their nests along the shore. Look for Dame’s rocket to be blooming soon with tiger swallowtail butterflies visiting the blossoms.

The preserve has come alive with the beginning of spring. Migrants arrive as the ice recedes on the ponds. Hooded mergansers, buffleheads and other ducks are stopping in for a rest on their journey north. Great blue herons wade along the ice free shores while hunting. Common grackles, red-winged blackbirds, and brown-headed cowbirds have been sighted at bird feeders. Songs from American Robins, Northern cardinals and song sparrows fill the air, interrupted by the loud honking of Canada geese. Listen for the calls of spring peeper frogs to become more common. Warm, sunny afternoons provide perfect updrafts for kettles of turkey vultures. Soon coltsfoot will be blooming and garter snakes will leave their winter hibernacula. Also, look for wild turkey Toms to be displaying soon.

There were six teams of participants for this years’ Christmas Bird Count for Kids, which was held on Saturday, January 5. This program is modeled after Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count, which is a census of birds by volunteer birdwatchers. Before heading out on the trail, families learned how to use binoculars and how to identify birds. Each group led by a guide, explored trails at either Reinstein Woods, Stiglmeier Park or Como Lake Park in search of birds. We recorded 25 different species of birds and 367 individual birds. Some notable birds include an Eastern screech owl, pilleated woodpecker, Cooper’s hawk and red-tailed hawk. Afterwards everyone enjoyed pizza for lunch and a quick presentation of the findings of each group. You can view the bird data collected here.

Thank you to everyone that participated, especially for our volunteer guides Brian Engler, Daniel Mlodozeniec, Brittany Rowan, photographer Paul Bigelow, and DEC Biologists David Malinowski, Jacquie Walters, and Ann Wilcox-Swanson.

Friends of Reinstein members celebrated the holiday season while enjoying homemade chili, soups, desserts and more. Members also enjoyed a special “Birds of Prey” presentation by Messinger Woods. The wildlife care center brought a great – horned owl, barn owl, barred owl, American kestrel, peregrine falcon, and Harris’s hawk. The group of 6 volunteers shared natural history about the birds and their own unique stories about each animal. Following the presentation, members were able to talk with the volunteers from Messinger Woods and get close to the birds for pictures. Santa even got pictures with the birds and passed out candy canes to the kids! Thank you to all that attended. We hope you join us for other upcoming member-only events.

Friends of Reinstein Woods is hiring a Summer Day Camp Director for Kids in the Woods summer day camp. Applications are due by December 19, 2018. You can view the full job announcement here.

Members of the Friends of Reinstein Woods enjoyed appetizers and desserts Tuesday night before the Annual Membership Meeting. Board members highlighted the years’ accomplishments of the Friends of Reinstein Woods. We welcomed new board members: Patrick Ryan, Amanda Lippes, and Andy Moon. We also recognized valued members that are leaving the board: Dan Carlson, Lori Stillwell, Stephanie Race, and Jeremy Oczek. Following the business meeting, Buffalo Botanical Gardens’ educator, Kristy Schmitt, presented “Floriography: The Secret Language of Flowers”. This presentation highlighted the origins of flower code, fads and the current use of flower language in the floral industry and everyday life. It was a fun evening and we hope to see you at future member events.

About 2,300 people braved extreme heat to celebrate at the 18th Annual Reinstein Woods Fall Festival.  While most festival-goers came from Erie and Niagara counties, there were visitors from as far away as Rochester, Syracuse, the Adirondacks, Florida, Tennessee, and even France!

Mama Earth’s interactive music shows provided entertainment throughout the day. The festival area extended out to Flattail Lake, where attendees watched drone and search and rescue demonstrations. To go with the “Sustainable Earth” theme, volunteers at two Waste Centers collected trash from the event, diverting as much as possible into recycling and compost. We collected about 100 pounds of household batteries to be recycled and many pounds of other recyclables and organic wastes that otherwise would have gone to a landfill. Friends of Reinstein also purchased a carbon offset to reduce the festivals’ carbon footprint even further. To learn more visit www.footprintnetwork.org.

Special thanks to M&T Bank for sponsoring the event and providing a reusable bag to the first 500 families attending the event!

Thanks to everyone that made the 18^th Annual Fall Festival a success, including the Cheektowaga Police Department, Lexington Co-op, Mayer Brothers, Nussbaumer & Clarke, Inc., Paula’s Donuts, Paths, Peaks and Paddles, and all of our volunteers and exhibitors.

Members of the Friends of Reinstein Woods visited the Ganondagan State Historic Site located in Victor, NY. This is a National Historic Landmark, the only New York State Historic Site dedicated to a Native American theme, and the only Seneca town developed and interpreted in the United States. Members enjoyed a portion of the “Earth is our Mother” guided tour and an indoor presentation. They were also able to explore the museum and life-size longhouse. Excursions like this are just one of the benefits of being a member of Reinstein Woods. See what other events we have planned here.

A group of ladybugs is called a “loveliness” of ladybugs, a very fitting and endearing term to address the return of this beneficial insect to Reinstein Woods Nature Preserve.

New York State’s official state insect is the nine-spotted ladybug (Coccinella novemnotata). This now rare species of native ladybug was historically very common in New York State. Shortly after being named New York’s state insect, entomologists became aware that numbers were sharply declining. For 20 years they went unrecorded in New York. Reinstein Woods Naturalist Intern Leah Tyrrell has been working with ladybugs for the past nine years with the Lost Ladybug Project, a citizen science program that uses volunteers to look for rare ladybugs and to educate people about their roll in our ecosystems. She is coordinating the reintroduction at Reinstein Woods Nature Preserve as her intern project.

Reinstein Woods summer day campers participated in the release and learned about the importance of this beneficial insect to the preserve’s ecosystem. The public can also participate in the reintroduction by ordering their own larvae for release from Lost Ladybug Rescue.

Be sure to look for nine-spotted ladybugs on your next visit to Reinstein Woods! To learn more about how to identify and photograph these beauties, visit the Lost Ladybug Project website.

Members of the Friends of Reinstein Woods (FORW) enjoyed an “introduction to fossil collecting” at Penn Dixie Fossil Park. Penn Dixie is located in Hamburg, NY and open to the general public. Shale and limestone deposits in the park are rich with Devonian fossils that are 380 million years old! The group searched for fossils in several areas of the site. Many fossils can be found lying on the surface while some specimens needed to be chiseled away from the rock. Friends’ members quickly got accustomed to finding these incredible fossils. They found many horn corals, brachiopods, and crinoid stems. Some of the areas on site are rich with trilobite fossils! One of the young fossil hunters in our group found a small ammonite fossil that Dr. Schrieber said was very rare. The weather was perfect and everyone went home with nice fossil specimens. We look forward to seeing members join us at our next event.