Journal for April 19, 2006

This week was really spring – such warm weather that we could sit on the porch. But it was very dry and we got just a trace of rain. One day it was so windy and the air was so dry that the weather service had alerts about fire danger. Our humidity sensor registered 20% – the lowest we’ve ever seen it.

The warm weather has brought out the spring flowers earlier than usual. Jackie had a whole hillside of Pasqueflowers in bloom. I went over to look and there were at least 100. Some of them had already faded and she said there had been even more the day before.

Pasqueflower (Anemone patens)

This picture shows the silky hairs on the stems.

We noticed dozens of insects buzzing around just above the ground all over the goat prairie where the Pasqueflowers were growing. Every once in a while they would land on the ground and crawl down between the grass stalks to the soil. Here’s one with its wings still moving.

Here’s one crawling around on the ground.

They looked and sounded like bees when they were moving, but when they stopped they looked more like beetles. I’ve sent a photo to Margot to see if she knows what kind of insect they are.

Still no Pasqueflowers on our land, but I found lots of other flowers just starting to bloom.

Bird’s Foot Violet (Viola pedata)

Rue Anemone (Thalictrum thalictroides)

Sweet White Violet (Viola blanda)

Common Violet (Viola sororia)

Pennsylvania Sedge (Carex pensylvanica)

And there were plenty of spring butterflies.

Here’s a Mourning Cloak – well camouflaged from this angle – it blends in with the dead leaves.

This is an Eastern Comma. There were two of these butterflies dancing around each other along on of our paths through the woods. They would fly if I came too close, but came right back to the same spot as soon as I went past them.

And here’s a Spring Azure on one of the wet spots on the path. When Azures fly you can see the bright blue on the upper surfaces of their wings, but they usually rest with their wings closed like this.

This is a Black Tulip Fungus (Urnula craterium)– another early spring fungus. It was growing in a dry streambed along the edge of one of our valleys. Usually there’s some water running in it at this time of year, but this spring has been so dry that there isn’t any.