More explosions

 After a warm and sunny week, the weekend at Roundtop was a washout—until around 3 p.m. Sunday afternoon when the sun finally appeared. At that point, it was too late to do much exploring in the woods, and everything was still wet and dripping anyway. I did, however, retire to the back deck and spend an hour or so enjoying the feel of the sun on my neck.



I also saw the northbound migration of several black vultures, with a few turkey vultures that did not appear to be local adding to the mix. A red-tailed hawk that may or may not have been a local bird circled in a northbound direction, too. But the real drama came from the local pileated and red-bellied woodpeckers who were involved in a screeching match over something. 



The pileated woodpeckers circled around the cabin, causing an awful racket. They would disappear, still screeching, to the north only to circle around from the south and swoop through the forest again, still raucous. The red-bellied woodpecker mostly ignored the pileated woodpeckers, holding its ground on a dead limb. When the pileated swooped by, the red-bellied would toss off some woodpeckery and possibly vulgar retort, and the whole drama would begin again. Who ever said the woods are quiet?



More flowers popped up in the woods, with coltsfoot, which is normally the earliest of the blooms, finally making an appearance. My favorite local fern, still growing out of a crack in a boulder along the edge of the lane to the cabin, has begun to unfurl its fronds. The rue anemone (or is it a spring beauty?) is blooming as well. When the leaves are no more unfurled than these are, I can’t tell the two apart, even when I have an identification guide in my hands.



The trees are beginning to leaf out, even up on Roundtop Mtn. Down in the valley and off the mountain, there’s no “beginning” about the leafing. They are out and are a good 6 weeks earlier than they should be, to boot. 

Getting a nice photo in the midst of rain and ugly light is proving to be a challenge.  So I grab a few shots when I can and then wait for the conditions to improve.  So far the improvement isn't scheduled for another week, with perhaps Thursday as the lone exception for the next 7 days.  Nice isn't a word I will use about the weather this year.

The first photo is bloodroot, one of my spring favorites.  The flower has waxy petals and lasts but a day, or rarely two.  They bloom at the end of my front porch.  I wait for their blooms every year. I have 364 days of waiting before the flower blooms again.  Isn't it amazing that these gorgeous flowers bloom for just a day?  I have to wonder at the evolutionary forces that selected for this and makes a one-day bloomer the winner in the evolutionary scheme of things.  Apparently it works, but that's not something that seems as though it should.

My second photo today is a spring beauty, one of at least several flowers that apparently fall under that term. This is one of the more common flowers in my forest.  At the moment, only the first of the flowers are blooming.  In a good year, perhaps in another week or so, the forest floor will be nearly covered with them.

They range in color from pale pink to white; the soil they grow in makes the color difference.  Here, pale pink is the rarer shade, though I have found it within inches of the white flowers, so I would think that the difference in the soil can't be very much.

Spring beauties are early too!

I am starting to sound like a broken record. The spring beauties are blooming in the forest today, and like everything else this year, they are early by a good ten days. In 2009 and 2007, their bloom date was April 17. In 2008 it was April 15, and in 2010 I first saw two flowers on April 4, followed by many more by April 6.

Yesterday the temperature broke a record for the day by 4 degrees, a huge number. It feels as though I am in heat wave territory. Records will likely fall today, too, before relief arrives on Thursday when the temperature will drop some 30 degrees. Of course, that relief will come with thunder and lightning and possibly other severe weather.

Ninety degree weather is not something I am prepared for in early April. It was only last week that I put away my midwinter sweaters and replaced them with long-sleeved cotton tops and cotton sweaters. This week I need short-sleeved midsummer wear and linen trousers, but I’m not about the iron the winter wrinkles out of anything in this heat.

The windows are open, and the dogs loll on the deck. Easter flowers wither by evening even when watered in the morning. I fear it’s going to be a long, hot summer, with an emphasis on the long.

Spring Beauties

Ah, the spring beauties are up. This most delicate of woodlands flowers is often the first to bloom around my cabin in the spring. All at once, I am seeing them everywhere in the woods. They weren’t there yesterday morning, but by the time I arrived home last evening, I found dozens of them.

The trout lily has bloomed as well, though maddeningly for me the flower seems to close whenever I have my camera in hand. The bloodroot was close to blooming last evening, so it might bloom today. As it is a one-day wonder, all the shouting might be over with by the time I get home tonight. I hope not. I hope I will get to see it whenever its day of glory is this year.

So the woods are starting to awaken again. For today, I am just happy to have clear skies and a warm sun again. It’s been too long since I’ve had that, even for a winter-loving woman like me.

Carolina Spring Beauty

The first of the spring beauties are up and blooming around the cabin. The one in today’s photo is the Carolina spring beauty (Claytonia Carolina). I usually have the other spring beauty (C. virginica) too, but I haven’t seen that one yet. The two are very similar, and for me the best way to distinguish them is by the leaves. The leaves on the Carolina are roundish, as you can see here, while the end of the leaves on the other one are pointy.

At the moment, spring 2008 is just slightly ahead of spring 2007. Last year’s first spring beauty photo was posted on April 17. I’ve discovered that blog labels are an excellent and fast way to facilitate keeping track of such things. Keeping track of the first this and the last that, especially in this era of global warming, should, eventually, offer fairly immediate documentation of the changes. Likely everyone else discovered this fact years ago, while I am only now realizing how nicely that feature can be used. I haven’t always been so diligent with my blog labels, though, so I’ve started going back through my archives and updating them.

Bloodroot is also about ready to bloom. I’ve expected to see the blooms open for the past three days, but so far they’ve all been closed during the hours I’m at the cabin.

Migration has slowed again here on the mountain. The winds have been from the northwest the past two days, and since birds heading north don’t much care to fight headwinds, they are likely sitting tight and waiting for more favorable winds.

I’ve had frost the past two nights, and I think that is what has temporarily quieted the spring peepers. Still, even with the chilly mornings, the new season has now progressed to the point where even with frost in the mornings the days still feel like spring.

Spring Beauty

This morning, after the worst of the nor'easter cleared out, I went out into the front forest to look for more signs of spring and found one! Here is the first spring beauty of the spring. Each spring my driveway and front forest area is lined with these tiny flowers. They are always the first flowers I see in the spring.

Now that the first of these beauties has arrived, I expect the first eastern blue butterflies to appear momentarily. Usually these two appear at the same time here on Roundtop.

Spring is still slower and further behind than is typical here. Every spring a few "volunteers" from long-gone Easter baskets reemerge and brighten the area around the front deck. Yesterday, the first of these was now just half an inch or less through the ground. That's close to 10 days behind normal. These escapees are are still weeks from blooming, which I don't expect now until around the end of the month, at least.

Here on the mountain I have yet to see any sign of trees leafing or redbud reddening. To me, one of the interesting things about forests, or indeed any plant growth, is how much spring temperatures promote or hinder new growth without apparent ill effects to the ecosystem as a whole. Animals and birds seem to be much more likely to be adversely affected by timing issues than the forest itself. The plants of the forest simply bloom earlier or later, zen-like, in response to whatever the weather is doing. The forest is really the master at going with the flow. And in other ways, as well.