Yellow Lady's Slipper Orchids

 

Every spring I make a pilgrimage into the New Jersey Pine Barrens to see pink lady's slipper orchids. It took a walk in the hardwood forest around New Hope, Pennsylvania, to find yellow ones. Click to enlage.

These are the first wild yellow lady's slippers I've ever seen. They are not just a yellow version of pink lady's slippers; they are a different species. 

Aside from the color difference, they grow in different settings. The pink ones prefer dry, acidic habitats like pine forests. Yellow lady's slippers are found in richer, moist hardwood forest understories. Note the long spirally twisted lateral petals. And the puffy pouch. Folklore says that squirrels wear lady slipper orchids for shoes. The bunch I found had exactly four blossoms -- a perfect set. 

Brown-headed Cowbird

 

A male brown-headed cowbird. It's famous for something it does not do... build nests. Female cowbirds lay eggs in the nests of other birds -- over 200 have been documented. Those other birds end up raising cowbird chicks with their own broods. I've seen small birds feeding chicks larger than themselves -- cowbirds.  

Brown-headed cowbirds are historically associated with buffalo herds. Traveling herds kick up insects and flatten tall grass revealing seeds, and both help the birds find a meal. These days cows and horses are more likely than buffalo, but the birds don't really need them. I saw this one in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, far from grassy fields of grazing mammals. Click to enlarge.

Pink Lady's Slippers

Pink lady slipper orchids are blooming in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Click to enlarge. 

I made my annual pilgrimage this week to see them, but arrived a few days early. They were up but not yet proudly displaying their pink pouches. 

Just cute, green, baby lady slippers. I went back later in the week...

And look at them now! The pink lady slipper is a lovely wild orchid native to the Eastern United States and among the earliest blooming NJ Pine Barres orchids. 

 They take a long time to grow from seed to flower and require special conditions that include a relationship with soil fungus. Once established, they bloom yearly and may live for 20 years. 

Another Nice Walk in the Woods

 

I saw two wonderful things while walking in a mature hardwood forest in central NJ this week. The big pileated woodpecker pictured above was calling loudly and pecking insects off a fallen log. Pileated woodpeckers can be about 20 inches long with a wingspan of more than two feet! It was one big woodpecker! Click to enlarge. 

Then this! It's a jack-in-the-pulpit. A shade specialist and very exciting to stumble across.  

From a 19th century poem by Clara Smith: 

"Jack-in-the-pulpit preaches today,

under the green trees just over the way."

  

April Woodland Wildflowers

I was wildflower hunting in the spring woods of Pennsylvania this week. Here are some of the pretty things I found. Click to enlarge.

 

Great white trilliums.  

Yellow trillium, also called yellow toad shade. 

Purple toad shade, also called little sweet Betsy. 

And the lovely trout lily, or yellow adder's tongue. 

  

 

Spring Nesting

 

This spring I am monitoring nest boxes at a local county park again. For the past several years, I've watched tree swallows like the one above, build nests and rear young. Click to enlarge. 

Before settling in, birds investigate the nest sites. Today this one landed on one of mine and then flew away. And then...

This eastern bluebird showed up! Bluebirds also use these boxes, but I haven't so far had them use my boxes. I would love to photograph them nesting.  

Which will it be? Swallows or bluebirds? We will find out soon. 

Happy Easter

 

I met this eastern cottontail rabbit on my street yesterday. Timely appearance, rabbit. May everyone's Easter be happy and peaceful. 

Pine Warblers

 

I was in the New Jersey Pine Barrens again a few days ago. I saw things I have not seen for a year, including butterflies and basking turtles. As usual, it was quiet among the trees, making it easier to hear... 

Pine warblers! They are back. It's easier to hear them singing than to see them, but this fast moving busy bird stopped moving long enough for a photograph. Would you like to hear the song? Click here. Or go take a walk in the woods. Click to enlarge. 

Spring Comes to the Pine Barrens

This is one of my favorite spots in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. I was there about a week ago. See the small sandy yellow beaches on the far shore? It's just the kind of place that some of the area's special plants grow. And just in time for spring... 

New pitchers on the famous purple pitcher plants! 

The new one is bright red. They persist through winter sometimes; the white papery one on the left is last year's. Click to enlarge.

Each pitcher is a modified leaf. They form tubular cups that fill with rainwater..

See the spiky hairs on the big hood above the open mouth of the one on the riight, rear? They face down and direct insects downward toward the water. The lip on the edge is waxy and slick. Insects fall in, drown, and their nutrients are absorbed by the plant. 

It's a uniquely Pine Barrens sign of spring. 

Spring Equniox on Friday

Despite the cold gray weather I saw open daffodils in my neighborhood today, including this one. Just a few were open, the others are still swollen buds. Maybe they are waiting for astronomical spring to begin on the equinox this Friday. 

Meanwhile, a little daffodil poetry from A.A. Milne's When We Were Very Young... 

 

 Daffodowndilly

 

 “She turned to the sunlight  

And shook her yellow head,

 And whispered to her neighbor:

 ‘Winter is dead.’”

Daylight Savings Time Has Begun

Daylight Savings Time started last night while we slept. Our clocks spring forward by one hour, and sunset today in Philadelphia will be at 7:01. Click to enlarge. 

It's Spring!

 

It's the first day of meteorological spring. 

Here are some signs I've seen in the last week. Crocus! 
 

And snowdrops or Candlemas bells. 

And vernal witch hazel. 

Click to enlarge.  

It's nice to see colors again, right?  

And hopefully we've had the last of this for a while. 

Snow Geese in the Marsh

 

Between the melting of the last snow and the arrival of today's storm, there was time for one nice day of birdwatching at Edwin Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge on the New Jersey coast.

Snow geese are visiting the marsh now. Click to enlarge.

They were mainly feeding with their heads down in the grass. 

This group suddenly all looked up toward the same direction.

Then they took off. Note the pretty black wing tips.

They made a racket of honks and cackles.  

Picked up speed.

Gained altitude.

Reached the clouds. 

And finally disappeared.