Last week we still had a trace of winter left – 6 inches of snow on Thursday morning. By Thursday afternoon it was melting from the fields, and there were only a few inches left on the driveway.

This is 3 Finger Valley on Thursday afternoon.

Here’s a view from Sumac Prairie on Friday – the snow was melting fast. There’s no snow at all on the prairie (in the foreground), more snow in the wetland (in the middle), and plenty of snow in the north-facing woods on the far hill.

Now it’s dry and sunny, and the snow is completely gone – spring has arrived!

The Wood frogs are still singing in the creek, but in our neighbor’s pond they seem to have finished, and they’ve laid hundreds of eggs. There are big clumps of eggs under the water around the roots of one of the trees that line the edge of the pond. All the frogs seem to like to lay their eggs in the same place – there are plenty of tree roots, but all the eggs are in one small area.

Wood Frog eggs

Wood Frog eggs closeup

The Snapping Turtle that usually occupies the pond isn’t there this year, so more of the frogs may survive than usual.

I found my first flowers last week – we don’t have Pasqueflowers on our land, so the first ones I find are usually tiny white mustards that live on the steep south-facing slopes of the bluff prairies. The first flower is always Common Whitlow Grass (actually a mustard, not a grass). The whole plant is only about an inch tall, and the flowers are about ¼ inch across. Tiny insects were nectaring on the flowers.

Common Whitlow Grass (Draba reptans)

Yesterday I found Sand Cress (another tiny mustard) blooming on Indian Grass Point.

Sand Cress (Arabis lyrata)

Lots of plants are starting to come up, but I haven’t found any more blossoms yet.

Another nice find on Indian Grass Point was a clump of Downy Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja sessiliflora).

Hoary Puccoon (Lithospermum canescens) is coming up – it should bloom soon.

Wood Betony (Pedicularis canadensis) is coming up on the lower part of the point.

Early insects often sip tree sap, since there are so few other sources of nectar around. I found a birch tree on the point above the house with numerous woodpecker holes dripping with sap. The bark around the holes was covered with insects.

Here are a couple kinds of flies on the sap.

An Eastern Comma on the sap.

The Eastern Comma after it flew down to the ground.

And a tiny insect – I think it’s a larva – with it’s head and front legs sticking out of a casing, pulling itself slowly up the tree. The casing sparkled, and was covered with tiny dangling colored decorations.

I’ve been working on cutting the brush on Indian Grass Point. Here’s what it looks like now.

At the left is a brushy area that I haven’t gotten to yet. I’ve cleared out the steep hill on the right, all the way to the top.

I’ve also been working a little on the hill below Stargrass Opening. The floor of the woods there is covered with Yellow Stargrass (Hypoxis hirsuta). I thought I would try to clear out some of the Prickly Ash and Dogwood that shades it. This is the way it looks before the brush is cleared.

And this is after I’ve cleared away some of the brush.

I saw a small Common Garter Snake sticking out through the grass in Three Finger Valley. It was frozen still, but when I touched it with my finger I could tell it was alive. Eventually it backed itself back under the grass and slithered away.

Here are two Wild Turkeys on top of Indian Grass Point.

I found an interesting creature swimming in our Frog Pond – a Water Scorpion.

It’s an insect in the family Nepidae, and the genus Ranatra. The long tail is actually a breathing tube which it sticks up to the surface of the water to get oxygen. It eats tadpoles and small insects. It swims slowly using it’s four long middle legs.