Top Photo: Hermit thrush inspects sumac seeds for possible consumption. While walking the outdoor loop through Explore the Wild and Catch the Wind, it’d be worth your while to keep an eye out for what’s around you. Winter residents, hermit thrushes eat fruit, seeds, and invertebrates when available. Some trees retain the seeds they produced during the growing season until well into the winter, even within the same species. Most white ash trees typically disperse their seeds in fall. SomeRead more
Posts tagged: #Red Maple
Spring (almost)
The theme and mood here is decidedly spring-like. The red maple is in bloom, Canada geese are staking out nesting locations, and the wolves, well, our resident female is in estrus and the male is behaving the way he should at this time of year, following the female’s every move, keeping his two ten-month old sons at a distance from his mate, and it’s raining, not snowing. Red maple is one of the earliest trees to bloom. Its tiny redRead more
Springing Forward
If you put any stock in what plants tell you, you’d have to agree that spring’s about to pop. Don’t take my word for it, look: incidentally, spring peepers and upland chorus frogs have been calling. So, it’s time to get out and experience these early manifestations of spring.Read more
Spring, Almost
During the past week and a half, spring has been sneaking up on us. In my book, once we turn the page on February, it’s spring. There’s no going back. It’s here. And, over the past week and a half I’ve taken the photos you see here as evidence. The blooming red maple above and the sprouting elderberry below offer the best proof of spring’s imminent arrival. I’ve already mentioned, here in this blog, the arrival of our two Canada geese (theyRead more
Maple and Monarchs in Color
There’s color in the leaves and Monarch butterflies are on the move. Maples are currently the main source of the local sylvan color, but we still have a way to go before the full blast of fall hues thrust itself upon us. The peak in Monarch butterfly migration in our area is around the first week in October. It’s never a heavy migration in our area due our geography. It’s the mountains and the coast that see the largest numbers ofRead more
Shoots
Things are changing rapidly out of doors. Early blooming trees and flowers are doing just that, blooming, and leaves are shooting out of twigs and stems. The following photos were taken just a day or two ago. They look different already. You owe it to yourself to get out there and have a look around. Read more
Fall
It’s sometimes difficult to predict when the peak in fall colors will occur, if indeed there is a peak at all. Some years, many trees’ leaves simply turn brown and drop to the ground. Whether the trees display a big splash of color across the entire landscape or not, there’s always, I repeat, always, little pockets of color here and there, you just have to look for it. Here’s a few photos of what you may be missing if you don’t getRead more