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| I was walking past this wooden fence at Batsto Village in the New Jersey Pine Barrens last week when I noticed this: |
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| Big insects on the fence! Click to enlarge. |
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| Turned out it was not two insects, but a dragonfly resting after recently emerging from its empty skin (on the right). |
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| Hard to believe that an elegant and delicate dragonfly used to be this creepy looking aquatic nymph, right? |
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| It grew up to become the sleek brown stream cruiser, Didymops transversa. |
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| This week I took a walk in the pine barrens at Pakim Pond in Brenden T. Byrne State Forest in Woodland Township, NJ. I love when the clouds are reflected in the still surface of the lake like this. Click to enlarge. |
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| I was walking on this path when I glanced down and found... |
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| Pyxiemoss flowers! I've read about this plant but had never found it, so -- I am bragging now. The little white flowers are a pretty sight in the brown spring woods, peeking out from under fallen leaves and needles. |
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| It's an east coast native, possible from New York to South Carolina but only in piney sandy places, so it's limited to a few areas within its range. It only blooms from late March through early May. Oh, and pyxiemoss is not a moss. It is a flowering plant that grows in low moss-like mats. |
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| Here's a cute little bird that is currently making its voice heard. Tufted titmouse males are singing now to attract mates. Their song is a clear two-note whistle repeated a few times. It's surprisingly loud and ear-catching for a tiny bird. Birdwatchers think it sounds like peter-peter-peter. Click here to listen to a recording from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. |
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| The tufted titmouse has a little crest on its head, big dark eyes, and a sporty peach colored patch on the side. They reside year-round in most of the eastern United States where they work as scatter hoarders, collecting seeds to tuck away in numerous small caches for later use. They always seem to be working. With a little time off in spring to just sit and sing. Click to enlarge. |
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| Snow is blowing past my window right now. Earlier today I brought all the houseplants I took outside last week back in because it's going to freeze here tonight. And tomorrow night. And the next. It is helpful in the face of the continued cold weather to review our evidence of spring. I give you the white-throated sparrow. I heard them singing this week! Click to enlarge. |
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| White-throated sparrows are ready to breed right now and the males are singing to attract mates. It's a guarantee that spring is on track out there even though it's not picnic weather yet. The song is an attention-getting series of whistled notes that you may have heard lately. Click on this sentence for a nice You-Tube video performance. Birdwatchers use this mnemonic to help remember the rhythm of the syllables in the white-throated sparrows's song: Old Sam Peabody-Peabody-Peabody. |
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| Spring begins today, March 20, at 11:30 a.m. in the northern hemisphere. | |
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| Rainer Maria Rilke once wrote: "It is spring again.The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart." |
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| Robin Williams once said: "Spring is nature's way of saying -- let's party!" |
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| Daylight Savings Time started last night while you were sleeping. There's still time to set your clock forward by one hour if you haven't done it yet. Note that the sun will set today in Philadelphia at 7:05 p.m. Click to enlarge the newly-open dew-drenched daffodil. |
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| More daylight means there will be more time to visit nice outdoor places like Chatsworth Lake in the New Jersey pine barrens. I took this picture there on Friday, two days ago, when is was so sunny and spring-like that I didn't need a coat. How about we just ignore the snowstorm that happened between then and now? And today's freezing wind. Wait. Where'd I put my coat? |
