Friday, June 5, 2009

Pygmy Goats




The Conservancy has welcomed 2 baby pygmy goats! The male pygmy goat is black and white and weighs about 15 pounds. The female is party colors (white, grey, brown) and weighs about 12 pounds. After their arrival in April, we put jars out in our nature center and asked visitors to come up with name ideas for the goats. During School's Out this spring, students pulled names out of the jars. Results: the little girl is name lily and the boy is Rocky. Thank you to everyone that participated! Rocky and Lily have made themselve right at home and they love visitors! If you have not already had a chance, stop by the goat pen and to meet them.

Trout Lily




The trout lily, also known as the dogtooth violet and adder's tongue, gets it name from the resemblence of its mottled leaves to a brook trout. The latin name is Erythronium americanum. These plants grow in moist fertile woodlands, forming low-growing colonies. Young plants have 1 purple-brown mottled leaf and no flower. As they mature, plants grow a 2nd leaf and can then produce a single flower. The flower is yellow and has 3 petals and 3 sepals. Most of the trout lilies at the Conservancy bloomed breifly in late April. These pictures were taken by the East Branch stream during the Earth Day celebration on April 18, 2009.