Buttercup Family?

Black Cohosh (Actaea racemosa) is getting ready for bloom time, up here in the woods. It will be a while yet though, until it happens. The ones I’m seeing are 6 to 8 inches up. They reach 4 feet tall as they bloom.

I was surprised just now, as I was looking through information on Black Cohosh, to learn that it is in the Buttercup (Ranunculaceae) family. I sure would not have guessed that.

I’m looking forward to those blooms. Those white stalks of flowers reaching tall into the forest that make me think of ghosts of people who that lived up here in the mountains long long ago. Ghosts that come out to enjoy the emerald green woods of summer.

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They Seem To Pop Up Overnight

I’ve been watching, as I do with many of my plants. Knowing, anticipating. They seem to pop up unannounced. No hint that they’re there. This is one of many that I found today. A Virginia Springbeauty (Actaea racemosa) emerging next to a Confederate Violet (Viola sororia priceana). You can get an idea, comparing these two flowers in this image that the Springbeauty and its buds are mighty tiny.

They always take me by surprise. It seems to happen overnight. They emerge and PRESTO! They’re about to bloom. Their buds, that look like miniature jalapeña peppers, soon to open.

White with just a hint of soft pink.

Not rain but water brought to quench the dry soil. Encouraging the little flowers to spread and bloom to their heart’s content.

They’re Blooming Now

I’ve been keeping watch over a patch of Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum), looking forward to finding them blooming. That happened today. A beautiful, incredibly small flower, emerging from two mottled leaves. That bloom, no more that 1.25 inches across.

Trout Lily are native to eastern North America, and such a joy to experience.

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Circuition

This afternoon at my little pond. Wood Frog tadpoles (Lithobates sylvaticus) getting their nourishment from a cluster of Salamander eggs. The tadpoles are for the most part herbivorous, eating algae, and decaying plants, but occasionally eating the eggs of other amphibians. What a surprise to discover. I had no idea they would eat other amphibian eggs. Nature surprises me everyday.

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Cottontail

Desert Cottontail (Sylvilagus audubonii). A cooperative model. Image taken at one of my favorite places in the Southwest. Three Rivers Petroglyph Site, Three Rivers, New Mexico.

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Apple Tree Abloom

So many things blooming in the woods now. There are even a few apple trees in the woods, planted long ago. This one though is in the front yard of my cabin, planted just a few years ago.

Today it’s in full, white and pink, bloom. Pleasing the pollinators. This one a Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus). Both the blooms and the pollinators, pleasing me too.

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An Early Lily

I knew they’d be coming up very soon, so I went out there searching. Success! Found some coming up just a few days ago. A mighty early Lily. A mighty small Lily too. Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum). Native to eastern North America. Grows to a height of 6 to 8 inches tall.

My first Trout Lily experience was on a hike in 2010, with a PVCC class, Natural History of Virginia. It really surprised me how small the plant was. But oh so special, tucked away in the woods, just waiting to be discovered. Every year now I look forward to finding some of those mottled leaves emerging from the soil, soon to become beautiful yellow blooms.

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The Pink Of Spring

The pink of spring has arrived. The Redbuds (Cercis canadensis) here at my cabin are totally in bloom. If ever there were a time that the word ubiquitous would be appropriate, this would be it. Pink is everywhere.

And with just a blink of the eye, or two, the pink blooms will fade making way for green, green, green.

But for now, all the woods are strawberry ice cream pink. Pure delight.

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GrandKitty Camp

We’re all having a grand time at GrandKitty Camp. Betelgeuse is being the perfect guest, politely asking for shower water, or bathroom water. That bowl of water next to her food just isn’t nearly as good as those two other choices. And she is ever so polite to ask for more food.

Though I don’t understand her language, she and I have great conversations. She certainly seems to know exactly what I’m saying as I imitate her, “Meow!”

Definitely not a lap sitter, but I managed to capture this moment, as she sat on a lap for perhaps five minutes before she jumped down, saying, “Enough!” in her kitty way.

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Spring Molt

Like many small songbirds, the Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) goes through two molts per year. One in the autumn, a complete molt. A total replacement of all their feathers, body feathers as well as wing and tail feathers. Male and female, they go from yellow to a dull gray with just the slightest suggestion of yellow. In the autumn molt the male loses his distinctive black forehead.

In the spring, right about now, the spring molt is taking place. Leaving behind the dull color and taking on a yellow. In the case of the male the yellow is the brilliant yellow that we think of with Goldfinches. The female is a softer yellow and those females don’t have the black forehead which is a distinctive characteristic of the male. This spring molt is partial. The wing and tail feathers which came in, new, in the autumn molt are not replaced.

These photographs were taken yesterday, April 3rd. This male Goldfinch is looking a bit disheveled because of the spring molt, but given just a bit of time he will be looking quite handsome.

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