Sometimes we take walks in the woods behind our property “to see what we can see.” Sunday afternoon we took one such walk specifically to look for bloodroot. I have a fondness for it for no other reason than the fact that I think it’s pretty. We identified some of what we saw, but not all.
praying mantis egg case (not considered exciting by my kids, but Gabe will tell you “mommy’s excited about them.)
We don’t know birds…does anyone know what species of bird may have made this nest?
common winter cress
cedar apple rust gall
fiddleheads, but I don’t know what type. I do have a field guide for ferns, but haven’t ever really looked through it!
This was the “once in a lifetime moment” of our walk. Gabe pushed on a standing dead tree and out flew a southern flying squirrel! If you look closely, you can see it on the tree to the left of Seth in this photo. When I heard the kids crying out, “flying squirrel!” I thought they were kidding.
Flying squirrels are the only nocturnal tree squirrels, and therefore it’s not too often that you see one! This was a first for me.
The squirrel seemed disoriented and allowed me to get pretty close with my camera before scampering on up the tree. I was worried about it finding it’s way back over to it’s home in the dead tree, but in our research tonight we learned that flying squirrels have exceptional homing abilities from far greater distances than just the tree next door.
Cute little guy! I read that they store up to 15,000 nuts in a season.
may apple
star chickweed
shining club moss?
Bloodroot
most haven’t bloomed yet
I found this one with it’s flower almost ready to open up. tomorrow.
I was the first to spy a morel.
Soon we had an entire handful. We’ll saute them in butter. The kids love them. Jonny and I don’t eat fungi.
We aren’t sure what this is yet; an orchid of some sort. We’ll be visiting every day until it blooms.
Blue blister beetle. Do you see that orange fluid on it’s head? Blister beetles exude a nasty liquid that can cause a blister if it comes in contact with your skin.
jack-in-the-pulpit
downy rattlesnake plantain (orchid)
That little seedling on the right that hasn’t unfurled it’s cotyledons is an Amercian beech. I know because the seed’s shell was perched on top before I pulled it off to look at it.
Spring is my favorite time of year in the forest, at least until it’s autumn. Then autumn will be my favorite.
p.s. I used my 35 mm lens
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