Spring Nature Log

Bright, Warm Mornings

This month’s nature log has a bonus video interlude to accompany it. Check it out if you want to see some birds, a beaver, and plant life dancing in the wind. If you missed it, Emilio & I launched a Youtube channel called We Make a Home. Watch our videos here!

---

I think there is no better place to start today than with my favorite photo of the month.

Male in the tree & female outside of the tree

This Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker couple live in an aspen tree in our forest. I particularly like watching woodpeckers, and I am counting down the days until a little baby peeks its head out from the nest.

I have been waking up at sunrise to go on bird walks at preserves not far from our house. There are no people, and the volume (both in sound and number) of birds at that hour is actually staggering. I have spent a lot of time with it—most often about three hours pass before I realize it is time to meander myself back to the car.

On these days that are finally warming up, I can’t help but luxuriate in the sun, watch mist rise on the water, and be among the wildlife. There are so many yellow warblers out and about! I never noticed they are such a common bird around here.

I have also seen raptors, which I am less likely to track down on an average day. This Osprey is a new lifer for me, and I followed it for quite some time to snap this photo.

Bald eagles are relatively common around here, but no less awe-inspiring when you hear the gigantic woosh of their wings above your head.

Other new lifers this month include a Northern Harrier, Common Merganser, Louisiana Waterthrush, American Redstart, and Orchard Oriole. I also heard and searched for a Meadowlark to no avail. Another day.

Louisiana Waterthrush

During many of these walks, old apple trees and other flowering beauties have been lining the path and perfuming the air. Lucky ol’ me found a few morels under the beautiful boughs.

In contrast to these dawn walks, it also amazes me how many birds you can see at any moment of the day. Go outside, stand still for a moment, listen for rustles or songs. There are always birds!

White-Throated Sparrow

Veery

And some birds require no chase. Just about anywhere you go will put Red-Winged Blackbirds in your path. They live in big colonies on bodies of water, swooping and squawking at passersby from their reedy homes.

Female Red-Winged Blackbird

Male Red-Winged Blackbird

Or, in spring fields where they are breeding and nesting, you will find Bobolinks. They are similarly noisy, and are also in the blackbird family.

Female Bobolink

Male Bobolink

I guess this is my monthly way of encouraging you to go outside to catch the dew on delicate tendrils of spider’s web or dandelion seeds.

Maybe watch the sun rise over the hills.

Or find a bee climbing across a long-awaited flower.

Go outside, also, after dark. There are two full moons this May, something that only happens every two to three years. The first (the flower moon) has already passed, and the blue moon—of once in a blue moon—is yet to come on May 30-31. While you wait, you can look at the stars.