Spring explodes!

This is the annual “spring is exploding” week at Roundtop.  In 2-3 short days, the forest leaves have gone from tiny leaf buds to fully-formed leaves, if not yet full-grown leaves.  I’ve lost my winter view of Nell’s Hill, which won’t return until November.

I took a photo on Sunday night at sunset where I could tell the view was “going,” but it was still rather nice.  This morning I could only make out where my neighboring mountain is because I know where it is.  I’ll take another photo tonight at sunset and then post both of them so you can see the difference a mere 3 days makes in how the forest looks. It’s amazing how fast the trees leaf out once they get going.

Warblers have arrived, skittering through the treetops around my cabin. So far I haven’t been able to identify many.  I have poor hearing for those high notes, so I can’t identify most of them that way.  And even with my expensive, trusty binoculars, those flitting shapes atop the tallest oaks are either 1) hidden by leaves  2)gone before I see them or3) those little things don’t show up well in poor early-morning light.  Oh, and there’s a 4) too.  I only find the females, which as they prefer more camouflaged coloring, unlike their gaudy mates, the distance and poor lighting doesn’t make them very easy to ID.  But trust me, they are up there.

The wood thrush and ovenbirds are singing away at dawn and dusk—those I can hear!  I’ve heard 3 separate males and probably 2 separate ovenbirds on my little patch of woods.  The forest is a busy place this week.  The first week of May is virtually always the busiest week of the year in these parts. It’s not a time to be indoors!