Spring Finally Arrives on Cape Cod!

It was a beautiful morning for walking and I took a quick walk over at the Skunknet Conservation area between errands and got to try out my new camera! Ovenbirds were calling like crazy and I got this dark picture of one singing above by zooming way in and hoping for the best. I am really just trying to figure this new camera out but am very excited about the possibilities it seems to have for photographing all sorts of things on my nature walks.

I found my first lady slippers in bloom.

 Also, sarsparilla is coming up all over. It looks very much like poison ivy at this stage but note the bracket of 3 branches. It also has a little flower ball coming up just underneath it in many cases.Starflowers are among my favorite spring flowers and they are just starting to bloom almost everywhere there's a sunny woodland floor.

This big old white pine seems to be standing guard over this huge area of Canada mayflower and starflowers. In another few days they should all be in bloom. Once the leaves all fill out overhead the spring flowers of the sun dappled forest floor will fade away until it is time once again to announce that spring has arrived at last.

Mayflowers are in bloom!

For the last week or so I've been on the lookout for mayflowers, also known as trailing arbutus (the Massachusetts state flower, too, by the way) but they are harder and harder to find. Their tough, sort of hairy leaves are easy to recognize but the plants hug the ground and the flowers are quite tiny. If you can get down to their level they have the most wonderful smell!

Yesterday we went walking in the Skunknett conservation area in Osterville and although there weren't too many blooming, we did find some of these lovely little signs of early spring. Personally I've always thought it was sort of amusing that mayflowers bloom in April, not May...