What to Choose, What to Choose?

Oh my! What to choose? It's an absolutely gorgeous day outside, but it's been absolutely gorgeous the last two days as well, and I have photos to work with and a new post to make. Should I do them now, so as not to get behind, or go outside and take more photos? Yeah, I'll work on the ones I already have, before I go outside again! An open window can let the spring breeze and the sound of our neighbor's lawnmower in, so I'm not completely stuck indoors.

We explored two of Dick's favorite places this weekend, Jefferson Memorial Forest (a county park) and Bernheim Forest. I'm always amazed, although I shouldn't be by now, at the changes a few days can make in the blossoms to be seen this time of year. The word ephemeral takes on new meaning, when a short walk shows only the leaves for plants that were in full bloom only 3-4 days ago. This deer came to graze, not afraid of us at all. I never noticed how long their tails are. It comes at high as the tips of her ears when in full flag.

This little Chipping Sparrow posed for us, having chosen the bluest piece of sky it could find as a backdrop. Pretty considerate for a bird, wouldn't you say?

Bernheim Forest always has something beautiful going on, but this weekend everything was bustin' out in blossoms! I didn't even stop for pictures of all the crab apple trees. This reflection in Mac's Lake kind of says it all. Our friend Tavia Cathcart (co-author of Wildflowers of Tennessee and the Ohio Valley and the Southern Appalachians) was leading a wildflower walk at Bernheim, so I rushed out to join them after spending the morning at RROKI. That's the great thing about wildflower walks - even if you are late, no one is speeding down the trail, and it's easy to catch up with the group.

Here's one I've seen before, but never knew the name. She says it's Euphorbia (aka Wood Spurge). Sounds like it must be the happiest flower in the field with a name that I can easily misspell as Euphoric! The actual flower is only that small gold/orange spot in the middle. The green bracts act as cups to catch the rain and funnel it down towards the roots. Pretty smart for a plant, isn't it?

We found terrific Trilliums. One of the other Bernheim people says that they only have Sessile Trillium in the Forest, which was news to us.

The Common Buckeye trees are in bloom too. As always, I am blown away by the intricacy of tree blossoms. Maybe I should suggest that Tavia work on a guide for tree blossoms next! We'd have to come up with a shorter name for the next book though. She said it took 5 years to get all the photos for her wildflower book, because you have to be in the right place on just the right day to get the shot you want.

In addition to the wonderful wildflowers, we saw lots of critters. It took a while to find this almost clear dragonfly sparkling in the sunshine. I'm not sure what kind it is, but it doesn't really matter does it?

As we walked over a small bridge, a motion in the stream caught my attention. It was a Common Garter snake. Caught him tasting the breeze. Some days I almost think the breeze has a flavor too, but people stare at me if I stick my tongue out to taste it.

A clump of Bluebells hosted a giant bee...

...well, not exactly. It was the Clearwing Moth. I like to think of them as giant bees though.

As we walked along the lake we saw four foot long shadows in the water. The carp at Bernheim grow to enormous lengths, and look like flotillas of sea monsters lurking just below the surface, while much smaller bluegills stayed in the shallows under the bridge. Is it safer for them, or do they just wait there for handouts from visitors? Mother Goose is nesting in the same location she used last year, not four feet from that bridge. She keeps her cool, and doesn't pay any attention to shouting, running children so near her nest.

Father Goose, on the other hand, is pulling double duty. He patrols the lake to make sure no one disturbs his mate, but he also ensures that people pay attention to the No Fishing sign. He's doing a fine job too. I didn't see anyone fishing in this lake!

Step Into My Garden

The warm sun invited us to spend the afternoon exploring the garden and plants we put in it last year. Some of the additions were disappointing, but apparently we planted them after their blooming season, because they are coming up and doing fine this spring. Our Cooper's Hawk from last summer is back too. Can't tell if we have just the male, or if I am actually seeming both of them from time to time.

Hearing his "Ek, Ek, Ek!" is the sign to go outside and look up because he caught some lunch and is bragging about it to the world. On the other hand, this red tulip is an antique flower. What? It grew in the yard when we bought the house over 31 years ago, and has survived landscaping changes that should have disrupted it. It is the only tulip we have, and it keeps company with an antique daffodil in the same bed of bushes. Two years ago we replanted much of the back yard, adding a Jane Magnolia bush. Last summer I watched the squirrels eat all the buds before they could bloom. This year, though, we are rewarded with beautiful magnolia blossoms.

Hostas are easy to grow, and we divided those in the front yard and moved about half of them to the backyard last year. They have such rich colors in the spring, before the slugs get to them, that is....

The Goldfinches are turning bright yellow and their lilting song entertains us as we work around the yard, raking up the last of the dead leaves and bringing the patio furniture out of storage.

The waterfalls in the creek also provide a steady backdrop of liquid sound to the afternoon's work.

We try to limit ourselves to Kentucky native plants now. Foam Flower is doing well beside the creek.

This bright green plant also thrives along the creek. It was the first to sprout and seems larger than most of the others. We see little yellow buds coming out, and I'm afraid it may be Yellow Rocket, an invasive that can turn a farmer's field completely yellow in the spring. Our philosophy for unknown plant is "Let it grow more till we can figure out what it is, then we can yank it." After all, I'd hate to be pulling out plants I paid for only last summer, just because I don't recognize them.

I planted several varieties of ferns, including some divisions of Father Fern, and this one by the creek is poking through nicely, as is a larger Cinnamon Fern. No, there isn't a species called Father Fern. We just say that because this one was here when we bought the house too.

We bought some wild flowers that I usually find in the deep woods, and I doubted they would do well in our yard. The Mayapple has sprouted along with Wild Ginger and Bleeding Heart. No sign of Jack in the Pulpit yet, but it's still early. I haven't seen them out in the woods yet either.

The volunteer Dogwoods under the pines are doing well. I like them when the bracts are small like this more than the big white blossoms. Sweetbush and Spicebush are doing well too. We hope to get berries from them and the Winter Holly for the birds. Dick enlarged the garden, so we will be on the hunt for more natives to add, trying to have something ready to bloom in all seasons, while leaving space for future growth. We may need a bigger yard!

Into Every Spring a Little Rain....

The Bernheim Naturalists in Training take a stroll on the last Sunday of each month. Yesterday, it was our turn to "lead" a bird walk, but the weather forecast was not encouraging. Guess we used up all the sunshine on Saturday. I've learned not to discount the birds at Bernheim just because of a little rain though, so off we went with one other person. My reading of the radar map made me optimistic, but I put a raincoat in the car anyway.

As we drove in, we spotted a Red Tailed Hawk in a tree. Stopping in middle of the road, we hopped out and grabbed binocs and camera from the trunk. Yep, it's a Red Tail, but the palest hawk I've ever seen! We watched it circle around, and its back was very light in color too. Maybe this is the Kentucky Pale Male.

For the most part, the woods still look like winter. No leaves or buds are on the trees, but if you look closely, you start to see small shoots working their way through the leaf litter.

Near the Education Building, we heard noise, and located a pair of Flickers staring each other down. They would stare and squawk, then chase each other around before round two began. At first we thought they were two males, but changed our minds when it started to look like courting behavior. Eventually another pair of Flickers joined in the fun. Magnolia trees are blooming on the hill, and we spotted what appears to be a Red Shouldered Hawk's nest in a hemlock tree. There was no bird, but we always hope!

Tree Swallows examined the nearby Martin houses, while Field Sparrows called from the Big Meadow. Then it started to mist, followed by light rain, and then a downpour. Thank goodness I had that plastic raincoat to keep my camera and binocs dry as we hiked back to the car.

Twenty minutes later we got out of the car and started down the Rock Run Loop -- the best trail for wildflowers at Bernheim. The trail runs along the steep sides of a creek, and each side has a different environment. The side that faces west gets more sun and the flowers are much more advanced. We saw lots of beautiful Blood Roots there, filled with rain water. Last year I didn't start looking at flowers until the Blood Root were finished, so I truly enjoyed these. Each bloom only lasts a day.

The fairies will be out tonight to swim in their new pool - a shelf fungus full of rain.

The side facing east is filled with Trout Lily leaves, but we found only one Yellow Trout Lily actually blooming. Come back after a few days of sun and you will be overwhelmed by them. The Lilys hang down in umbrella mode while it rains, but will raise up to face the sun.

I'd forgotten how small these wildflowers actually are. I always try to get close up photographs, and they look bigger than they actually are. Compare them to the brown oak or beech leaves on the ground.

Fuzzy green Common Mullein catches the raindrops and holds them like sparkling diamonds.

What is this black stuff? It looks like moss that has been invaded by a fungus or mold. It's soft, and doesn't rub off on your fingers, nor does it have an odor.

The Visitor's Center grassy roof hasn't started to green up yet, but it shouldn't be much longer. A pair of geese grazed in the yard. They have been known to nest on the roof, a great protection from predators, but the goslings have to get to the ground before they can actually fly.

The Visitor's Center staff does a great job of collecting and identifying the current blossoms. As I read the captions for the others, the sun broke through briefly, turning these daffodils into liquid sun.

Some Chipping Sparrows serenaded us as we returned to our car to come home. "Come back to see us again!" they called.

Oh, driving home on the Interstate, as we crossed the Salt River bridge, we saw a Bald Eagle heading downstream. Some good Beckham birders spotted a nest of Bald Eagles at the Falls of the Ohio, not far from the Osprey nest site. They even got pictures, and she is sitting on the nest, so this will be an exciting year at the Falls!

First Wildflowers of Spring

Last week, I took a walk at Creasey Mahan Nature Preserve to see how spring was progressing. The answer was -- not much. I saw very few signs of growth, other than the Poison Hemlock sprouts, but the birds were singing loudly.

Yesterday, I took another walk (after a frustrating time trying to get the printers to work on their computers) and saw that spring has really arrived. The maple trees are among the first to bloom. We seldom think of trees blooming if they aren't showy like dogwoods and redbuds, but I think the little maple blossoms are exceedingly delicate! Our friend Bob at Bernheim pointed out that the blossoms with white or yellow stamens are the red maple, while the blossoms that are entirely red are the silver maple. You would expect it to be just the opposite.

The hillside along Little Huckleberry Creek at Creasey is wildflower central. This week the trout lilys are sprouted up and down the slopes, and even the sessile trillium are starting to bud. I'll have to start reviewing all the wildflower pictures I took last year so I'll remember the names of them all! This twinleaf looks like it just poked through the leaves this morning. YAWN! it seems to say as it stretches up.

I don't think of moss as flowering either, but I love the little sprouts on it. They look like duck heads!

Harbinger of spring does just that. It's one of the earliest bloomers. When it's in full sun, it doesn't get large. This one was in the woods, and is much bigger than those in the meadow.

This is the first rue anemone of the spring....

...and the first Dutchman's Breeches. They don't last long, and I missed them all together last year. To really see the progression of wildflowers, you need to visit your favorite spot at least every week, if not more often.

The sliders love a sunny afternoon, and come on the shore of Frog Pond to enjoy the warmth.

Creasey Mahan started a Bluebird Trail this year. People sponsor a Bluebird house and we paint their initials on the "love shack." We plan to have hikes along the trail for the Nature Fest in late May, when we should be able to open the houses and see the babies. Of course, you don't always get Bluebirds in the houses. House Sparrows think they should be called Sparrow houses!

This female Bluebird checked out one of the houses, and seems to be satisfied with it. I heard her commenting to her mate about the neighborhood though. She is amazed at the growth of the Bluebird Subdivision. "It wasn't like this last year!" she says.