While walking in the woods near the Northville-Lake Placid Trail, we stopped at a beautiful little pond.

A male hummingbird was swooping a U-shaped mating display trying to impress a female sitting in a nearby tree. The display will often be accompanied by whistles and chirps, which hummingbirds rarely vocalize.

As our group walked by a large puddle covering the trail, frogs started jumping into the water. The mink frog has an irregular spot pattern, and a spot on the side of its head, called a tympanum.

When passing a pond, I spotted a pickerel frog sitting on the side. While walking towards it, it hopped into the water and swam away. Sadly for the frog, its camouflage was not the best. Even while covered in a layer of silt, the frog looked extremely bright.

Barn swallows are nesting underneath the route 56 bridge and can often be seen darting in and out if you look over the edge.

I heard a soft chipping off in the brush while hiking between Giant and Rocky Peak Ridge, which later turned out to be the small warbler, the Northern Parula

A scraggly, young red tailed hawk was spotted just off of Route 56 on a telephone pole scouting for prey

While doing some trail work off the Northville-Lake Placid trail, our group passed a pond which was full of large salamanders. Due to their aquatic habitat, these are classified as newts and are the adult stage of their adolescent form, the red eft. The efts are small salamanders that are easily spotted on damp days in the woods due to their distinctive bright red coloring and red spots. The adult form loses this red coloration and instead turns an olive-green color, but retains the red spots, as well as developing a fin on their tail for better movement in the water.

A broad winged hawk, most likely a male, was soaring over the trees just off in the wood by our house. It was sounding a characteristic territorial call, a high pitched whistle. This is often done when a threatening species strays too close, such as a red tailed hawk. This also indicates that there is nest somewhere in the woods, which I'm hoping to venture out and find, hopefully without disturbing the hawks. Broad winged hawks are easily identified by their namesake broad wings and black and white tail banding.

A gray fox ran across the road in front of our car and stopped just off to the side, giving us a great view.