ramps and fiddleheads

Fiddleheads and ramps appearing. Both are edible plants that grow prolifically around here. Ramps taste something like a cross between garlic and leeks. We have gathered them a couple of times out in the woods in the back and eaten them. A couple of times was enough.

ramps

spring ephemerals

trillium

Spotted some trillium and blue cohosh in the usual places on a morning walk up the crossroads. Thus starts the spring ephemeral season; beautiful wildflowers that grow on the forest floor before the trees leaf out. Three is the operative word when it comes to trillium. Everything is in threes; leaves, petals, etc. I'll try to keep it under control, Shawn, but no promises.

Thus shall you think of all this fleeting world. A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream, a flash of lightning in a summer cloud. A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream.

The Diamond Sutra

forsythia

Temps in the 60's this morning. Snow shovel back in the garage. Forsythia in bloom. Full moon, the "pink" moon is tonight. Gone for a week.

The moon shining full
smoke drifting away
over water.
Ranetsu

coltsfoot

Coltsfoot appearing. The first real wildflower of the year. To me, it is amazing that these flowers appear in their perfection out of forests, fields and swamps. They don't need any help or special care. They are beautiful and complete just as they are. Some people who occasionally read this blog call them "weeds." It would be tacky and inconsiderate on my part to name names (Shawn). 

waterfall hikes

Saturday was a great day for a hike at the Taconic Mountains Ramble State Park in Hubbarton.

Many beautiful waterfalls along the trail.

They reminded me of the waterfall hikes in Brazil.

Well, sort of.

mini vernal pools

Turkey hunting starts in Vermont in a couple of weeks. I was out putting up No Hunting signs at the Vermont Zen Center when something caught my eye. The forest was covered with little mini vernal pools. They seemed to be much too small to attract amphibians but the color of the leaves shining on the watery bottom was compelling; kind of like a glistening stained glass window into the forest floor.  You never know when you're going to see something beautiful.

mud season part 2

Started yesterday in grand fashion, picking up some pallets from the nearly gone wood pile, and starting cleanup on the lawn. Some of the lawn is fairly dry. I have been driving around on it with my truck. I found out that some sections are anything but, and my truck ended up in a muddy quagmire on the back lawn.
Since I am still a relative greenhorn after almost 40 years here, I went to Youtube to get some tips on driving my way out. I selected what I thought was the best, and went out to give it a shot; with Allyn's attentive supervision. I was surprised how easily I was able to get it out. Now I just need to clean up my mess. I forgot to take a photo of the truck securely ensconced in eight inches of watery goo. I asked her if it was OK to drive back to the scene of the crime for a photo or two. She laughed. What a saint.

Sights and sounds

Crocuses appearing in the usual spot on Woodstock Avenue. Trees budding out in Shelburne. Sound of a motorcycle.

skunk cabbage

Emergence of skunk cabbage, the first wild flora of the season, in the usual spot off of Holman Road in Salisbury. It's included in my Wildflowers of Vermont book, but to call it a "flower" is kind of a stretch. Still, it's a very unusual plant. Wikipedia says, "Eastern skunk cabbage is notable for its ability to generate temperatures 27-63 degrees F above air temperatures in order to melt its way through frozen ground." Probably not the last wildflower observation of the year.

going away

red-eyed vireo

We all know that the seasons of the year come and go. Snowflakes, crocuses, fireflies, scarlet maple leaves. When you start to follow the goings on in the natural world on more or less a daily basis, not only do you notice the changes taking place, but you are also aware of the seasonal appearances that should be taking place that seem to be missing for some reason.

About a week ago we had dinner with Kim and Doug who happen to be wildlife biologists for the state. We talked about a million things as usual, including the advent of spring. Kim mentioned the birds; that while she had heard them calling out in the morning, the number of calls seemed markedly diminished compared to year's past. She mentioned two or three birds, that she was used to hearing, that had yet to make their usual appearance.

I had noticed the same thing. Early morning this time of year is normally filled with a cacophony of bird calls as they annually mark out their territories for breeding. Birds have returned, and they are singing in the morning, but it is actually quiet, very quiet.

I was in Rutland in the morning about a week ago, and heard the song of a red-eyed vireo near the UU Church on West Street. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology says, "The red-eyed vireo is one of the most common residents of eastern forests." That has always been my experience, but this was the first one I'd heard this year. I still haven't heard another one. Where are they?

I just started reading The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman. She says, "Changes in the environment--especially those induced by humans--throw a monkey wrench into the lives of many birds and disrupt their keen ways of knowing. A recent report from Audubon tells us that half of the bird species in North America...are likely to grow extinct in the next half century or so for one reason: because they can't adapt to the rapid pace of human-induced change on our planet."

These beautiful birds are going away...very quickly. It was only a few years ago that I would sit out in the back on summer evenings and listen to the hauntingly beautiful call of the wood thrush; the most beautiful of all the birdsongs in my opinion. I have not heard them in the last two years. Such a loss. Such a tragedy.

Windy

Walking the Crossroads on a windy day. Dried leaves whisper to each other as they scurry across bare ground.

raptor migration

old photo from somewhere on flickr

Geese, of course, are not the only birds that migrate, raptors do, too. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds says that about 4,000 species of birds migrate, about 40% of the total population.There has been a lot of raptor activity here lately. There's a hawk that has been hanging out in the woods behind the house. You see them when driving around, sitting on telephone poles...watching. The other day it was very windy, and we saw four large raptors, high in the sky, riding the thermals over the hill in the back, and then, when they reached a sufficient altitude, slowly moving northward.

There is something very compelling and mysterious about witnessing this activity. These birds travel thousands of perilous miles, twice a year. The urge to migrate is a very powerful force that we, as humans, can't really understand.

shoots

Daffodil shoots emerging from south facing slopes near the house, like little green stilettos. The first real signs of new plant life. Ice out on Wood's Pond.

Butter tea and wind pictures, the Crystal Mountain,
and blue sheep dancing on the snow--it's quite enough!
The Snow Leopard
Peter Matthiessen
Zen page-a-day calendar

citizen scientists

At town meeting a couple of weeks ago, one of our neighbors came over and mentioned an initiative called the Vermont Vernal Pool Monitoring Project which is an effort to measure conditions in vernal pools throughout the state in relation to climate change. She asked whether we would be interested in that project in relation to our beautiful vernal pool in the back. We said we were.

It is said that, pound for pound, there are more salamanders, frogs, toads, etc., in Vermont woods than any other species.

Most of them get their starts in vernal pools like ours.

A few days ago we hiked back to the site on a cold and rainy day and met up with our neighbors to set up the equipment.

The plan is to measure things like water temperature, air temperature, frog sounds, and egg masses over the years to see if there are differences over time. This weekend there was an article in the Herald about citizen scientists, and how Vermonters are helping with research like this. I guess that's us...well, mostly Shona and Ira.