Pink Lady's Slipper Orchid Season

Mid-May is prime season for pink lady's slipper orchids in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. I went hunting for them last week.

They were blooming right on schedule. 

For a flower so brightly colored, they are surprisingly difficult to see and must be stalked. Click to enlarge.

Here's a nice one, showing off its twisting sepals and puffy pouch. 

I also saw this adorable eastern chipmunk.

The New Jersey Pine Barrens -- dark pools, interesting plants, cute mammals, and a legendary resident Devil. What's not to like?

Happy Mother's Day

 

 From the nursery in the hollow of the maple tree in my yard. The new baby gray squirrel is on top. Mom is below getting walked on. Click to enlarge. Happy Mother's Day!

A Black Swallowtail Butterfly Lays Eggs

One of my local parks has a planting of parsley, dill, and milkweed for butterflies. Monarch and swallowtail caterpillars feed on the leaves and stems of these plants, so it is a great location for a butterfly to lay eggs. I was watching this black swallowtail there. It's the first one I've seen this year. 

It was flying rapidly from plant to plant. When it paused, fluttering, to bend its abdomen like this I realized that it was laying eggs.

She darted over to a dill plant, paused fluttering, and bent her abdomen tip toward the plant to attach an egg. 

I waited until she flew away. 

Then I found the egg. See the little yellow sphere in the right center of the photo? Click to enlarge.

Here it is with my blurry hand in the back for scale. The egg is in the center of the photo. There is so much going on in nature that we never notice. Good luck to all the tiny caterpillars that will hatch in a few days!

Tree Swallow Nest Box Report

 

There has been a lot of tree swallow activity during the last two weeks. 

I'm monitoring two nest boxes in a local park. Both had tree swallows flying around them, perching on the top, perching at the door, and peeking inside.

Sometimes several birds were checking out a nest box at the same time. There have been a few dust-ups. Click to enlarge.

A few days ago, I saw a tree swallow sitting inside one of the boxes looking out. That's the sign I look for to report to the park that the nest is occupied. I'm still waiting for it at the other box. We are off to a good start.

A sleek, shiny tree swallow in a tree near a not-yet-occupied nest box. 

Happy Easter

 

Have a lovely holiday!

Time for a Squirrel Poem

I was watching this squirrel grooming itself the other day. It sat in its tree in a pool of sunshine for about half an hour, brushing and fluffing. I made me remember the poem below about how well suited each thing is to its life. Click the photos to enlarge.

 

 “The Mountain and the Squirrel” by Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Mountain and the Squirrel
Had a quarrel,
And the former called the latter
“Little prig.”
Bun replied,
“You are doubtless very big;
But all sorts of things and weather
Must be taken in together
To make up a year
And a sphere.
And I think it no disgrace
To occupy my place.
If I’m not so large as you,
You are not so small as I,
And not half so spry:
I’ll not deny you make
A very pretty squirrel track.
Talents differ; all is well and wisely put;
If I cannot carry forests on my back,
Neither can you crack a nut.”

Watching Tree Swallows

 

Tree swallows have returned to South Jersey from their wintering grounds. I photographed this one on Wednesday. It may have flown all the way from Cuba, Mexico, Central America, or somewhere in the southeastern US. I'm working as a volunteer this spring for a local county park, monitoring nest boxes that are suitable for tree swallows and for eastern bluebirds. Click to enlarge.

This is one of my nest boxes. A tree swallow is checking it out. It looks beautiful when the sun reflects from their feathers, right? A few birds have peeked into this box, and a pair flew around it and landed on it together, but so far none have gone inside. I plan to photograph events at the nests as the season progresses and to share them here. I will be watching two nest boxes, so I'm hoping for bluebirds in one and swallows in the other. We shall see. Let the nesting begin!

Great Egret Contortions

 

I was watching great egrets at the Jersey shore yesterday. They get their long legs, neck, and other parts into very complicated positions while hunting at the water's edge. Click to enlarge.

Like this.

And this.

And like when you try to suck in your stomach to look slender...

And when folded into a delicate twisted filigree.

Or just sitting in a tree showing off the breeding plumes.

Just Purple Flowers

 

I am seeing purple flowers everywhere. Like striped crocuses.

Periwinkle.

A crocus with a visitor.

Glory-of-the-snow.

And rogue hyacinths.

Pretty! Click on the photos to enlarge.

Spring Comes on Thursday

By astronomical reckoning, spring will arrive this Thursday, March 20. Meteorologists already started spring on March 1. For me, it begins the first time I hear this bird sing. It's a white-throated sparrow. I heard one singing this morning! Click on this sentence for a recording on the Cornell Lab or Ornithology website.  Let the spring begin!

 

Daylight Savings Time is On

 

Daylight savings time starts today. It was dark when I got up this morning. It will be light longer this evening. Most of my clocks turned themselves forward automatically, but the microwave is still living in the past and will have to be changed manually. Check your place for rogue devices.

On the seasonal update front, bees are visiting the crocuses. Click to enlarge. 

And heads up for a lunar eclipse on March 14th. A red moon is coming!

It's Meteorological Spring!

 

A local witch hazel bush is covered with squiggly flowers now, despite the sudden return of frigid temperatures. My fingers nearly froze while I was taking pictures of it this morning! It's officially spring now, starting March 1 according to the reckoning of meteorologists. In another 17 days, we'll achieve astronomical spring at the equinox.

To recap -- the crocuses in my yard came out last week. Click to enlarge. 

Snowdrops appeared in early February.

And now this. Welcome, early bloomers!

First Crocus!

 

I found this crocus blooming in my yard yesterday. It's time to quote Algernon Charles Swinburne again.

" ... time remembered is grief forgotten 

And frosts are slain and flowers begotten,

And in green underwood and cover

Blossom by blossom the spring begins."

Click to enlarge.

31 Days Until Spring

 

Snowdrops are blooming despite the icy rain. Click to enlarge the photo. I have started counting down to spring. Here's a link to a website that makes that easy: https://days.to/until/spring. It tracks other things, too. Like, the next full moon is 4 days away. Just 22 days to Robert Burns Day! And 64 days until Easter.