First Trilliums at Wilket Creek Park / April 22, 2019

The upper forest here is always a good spot to see trilliums in spring and we saw the early growth of many:

Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum)

Some other emerging plants:

Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum)
Virginia Waterleaf (Hydrophyllum virginanum)
Scilla (Scilla forbesii)
Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis)
Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara)
Swamp Buttercup (Ranunculus hispidus)

Other botany:

White Elm flowers (Ulmus americana)

When the White Elm flowers were shaken today, pollen was flying:

American Beech (Fagus americana)
Christmas Fern
Red Oak acorn
Pennsylvania Sedge (Carex pensylvanica)

Today’s group on this 8 degree morning which started in light fog:

Views of the park:

Today’s bird species list:  Canada goose, mallard, mourning dove, red-bellied woodpecker, hairy woodpecker, downy woodpecker, northern flicker, blue jay, black-capped chickadee, white-breasted nuthatch, red-breasted nuthatch, brown creeper, winter wren, American robin, ruby-crowned kinglet, brown-headed cowbird, northern cardinal, American goldfinch, song sparrow.  (19 species)

We heard many flickers. Here is a flicker photo from another day:

Northern Flicker
Mallard (male)
Northern Cardinal (female)
American Robin
Mourning Dove
Blue Jay
Red-bellied Woodpecker

White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Brown-headed Cowbirds

NATURE POETRY

Again the blackbirds sing; the streams
Wake, laughing, from their winter dreams,
And tremble in the April showers
The tassels of the maple flowers.      – John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–92)

Miles Hearn

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