Friends:
Just wanted to keep you posted on the observations (mostly subtle) of Spring:
1. The ecology students (who are doing a semester-long project on the bird populations of the campus) spotted the pileated woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus)last week. We have had a mating pair of this magnificent species down on our Nature Trail for the past 10 years now!
2. Carl and Lisa Meyerhuber reported seeing a mourning cloak butterfly on the Roaring Run hiking trail last week. The mourning cloak (Nymphalis antiopa) is unigue among our native butterflies in that the adults over-winter (they hibernate!) and come out of their torpor on the first warm, sunny days of the early spring!
3. Deborah Sillman and I were hiking on the back trails of Roaring Run and saw coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara), a small, yellow flowered, “dandelion-like” plant, blooming on a southern facing, sheltered slope.
4. The red maples in our yard are starting to flower (get ready for spring allergies!).
More on Spring as it happens!
Bill