We saw many of the usual woodland suspects including this sassafras tree.
We saw clumps of sheep laurel, also known as lamb kill. Most of this has passed by but there are still some beautiful blooms left to enjoy.
Wild grapes or fox grapes are not uncommon here.
But the most surprising thing was seeing milkweed almost in bloom and in some cases, already in bloom! It is very, very early for milkweed. This has been such a crazy spring!
We saw so many beautiful things along the way like these wild blue flag irises.
These are Indian Pipes, the little white flowers hidden among the leaves and poison ivy. I had to sort of take the picture on the run since the group will leave you behind if you stop for too long.
By the end of the day most of us were very tired and had very sore feet. I know I did. I am hoping I can wrap my feet well enough for tomorrow since we are going to places I really want to go but tonight I'm putting my feet up for sure.
This was some of us on our last break before heading for the cranberry bog you see in the picture above. That is me in the shades and tangerine shirt ;-)
Today we walked from West Barnstable to Yarmouth. We saw wild cow parsnip that is from the wild carrot family so if you think it resembles Queen Anne's lace you are right. This plant blooms earlier and is much taller, however.
We stopped to take a scenic overview of Hyannis and Nantucket Sound, neither of which show up well in the above photo....
We walked around the Jenkins Cranberry Bogs in West Barnstable...
And had some wonderful views of area ponds...
We walked on the Falmouth bike path and then up Rt. 15 a bit before turning into a trail on the Crane Reservation. An old cattle farm, this piece of land is huge and has been maintained as open meadow, allowing for all sorts of field flowers, birds, butterflies and other animals to flourish there.
The trails meander in and out of woodlands and there are lots of ferns as well.
I think spring greens against dark bark is one of the most delicious sights at this time of year and I never get tired of it.
And look who we saw going to lay her eggs? Box turtles, like all turtles, travel to the same warm sandy place each year to lay their eggs. Box turtles have a pretty small range and if you live near one you may see it return each year to within yards of where it was last year. This one had spectacular markings.
Today more thunderstorms are predicted and I am not sure I'll venture out on the walk but I'll be posting here each day that I do.
The other beach flower that is blooming up a storm right now is the beach pea. Yes, it is a real pea and also edible if you can find one not eaten by rabbits or other animals. Right now they are flowering like crazy. Look for plants that are low to the ground filled with violet or red-violet blossoms. In some areas they cover large swatches of sand.
You can find these at almost any Cape beach. These were photographed in Hyannis.
They are born able to stand and run very quickly after hatching and then they forage with their parents.
When the parent senses trouble it peeps to get your attention and the little ones scatter in different directions to stay safe while the parent or parents lead you away from the babies...
I saw three separate families--one with 4 chicks, one with 3 and even one with 5!
I think they are the cutest things ever, don't you?
If you live anywhere near a beach on the east coast you are probably well aware that piping plovers are endangered, mostly because they happen to like the same sandy beaches we humans like. As you can see in these photos piping plovers are very well camouflaged and many people probably walk right by them on the beach without seeing them.
Their good camouflage protects them from predators but it also causes problems for them and their little ones. Their nests get stepped on, the little ones get separated from the parents and animals, including dogs, chase them or scare them. Many beach dog walkers insist that their dog would never harm a bird and that may be true. What they don't realize is that the very presence of a dog can scare these birds in a way that may result in nest abandonment and even death. A dog, after all, resembles natural predators such as foxes and coyotes which these birds are programmed to avoid and fear.
Other things that can threaten these nesting birds on the beach are kites, noise and vehicles. Kites themselves are not dangerous but many birds, including plovers, have an instinctual response to large flying shadows. They don't look to see if it is a kite or hawk or crow. They just respond to the potential of imminent danger and this can cause them so much stress that again, they may abandon their nests.
They belong to someone who looks like this!
Special thanks to Vanessa LaVoie for sending me the photo of the nest ;-)
Most of the Canada mayflower has gone by but these fuzzy blossoms were still pretty fresh looking.
Star flowers are everywhere....
These are hard to see but area woodlands are full of blooming sarsparilla plants. Can you see the puffy little ball shaped blossoms hiding under the leaves?
Fern flowers are different....and I'm not sure they technically count as flowers but here are their spokes anyway....
And here is Jack and his friends all hanging out in their pulpits....another wildflower that is hard to see and find unless you know where to look....hint....check out damp and soggy areas and look for a triplicate of large green leaves that are NOT poison ivy!
I am not an expert so at first I thought they were painted ladies but they are indeed, red admirals. I use "Butterflies Across Cape Cod" written and photographed by Mark J. Mello and Tor Hansen and published by the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History and in the book they describe this butterfly as one that has to "recolonize" the Cape each year. They cannot survive our winters reliably enough to maintain their population. According to Tor Hansen, it is not unusual to see large groups of them "flocking" as they arrive but I have never seen anything like this here.
Butterflies, like all insects, are ectothermic which means they must collect heat and cool themselves from outside themselves. We, and all mammals and birds, are endothermic and self regulate our heat and coolness....Butterflies like it to be about 80 degrees Farenheit and in the early morning it was quite a bit cooler than that. I think the white windowsills were collecting heat as were our shingles and the front of our house had several dozen butterflies on it.
I especially liked the way this one posed among the fern shadows....
Can you see the butterflies on the shingles and window box? (and yes, we need to paint our trim ;-)
This side of my huge lilac patch also faces east and I soon found out why there were so many butterflies nearby--they were feasting on the nectar of the lilacs. They were everywhere! At one point I counted about 50....
I tied to capture them from the distance and if you click on this to enlarge it look at the blossoms and in the air as well as on the house....
Here are two feasting away....
It is around noon as I write this and the butterflies are still here...but on the other side of the house and lilac bush...
Catbirds are great mimics and as they sing you will hear snatches of phrases and melodies of other bird songs as well. This one seemed to have a fondness for wren songs and buzzes and also did a pretty good imitation of a blue jay bugle. Catbirds belong to the mimidae family and are related to mockingbirds and thrashers.
The minute I moved in the window my little gray friend took off. He sang on and off for the rest of the day but never again got close enough or in a clear enough spot for me to take his picture.
Baby geese such as these Canada geese are called goslings. Baby ducks are ducklings and baby swans are cygnets. You will rarely find them all in the same area, especially with swans. Swans are extremely protective and territorial and chase other birds from the area. You may see geese and ducks nesting in the same area but usually not very close to each other. Both may nest close to water, fresh or salt, and both are also known to sometimes nest in odd places like people's backyards.
These two geese are lining up to watch from both sides to be sure I don't get any closer. These shots were taken with a zoom lens--I was really quite far away.
These little goslings are probably only a few days old. They are not fishing, by the way. They are eating plant material from the bottom of the pond. When they are in deeper water you may see the adults really stirring things up and bringing plant material to the surface for the little ones to graze on. Mallards and swans dot the same thing for they are also plant eaters, not fish eaters. These goslings were spotted last week in Provinctown.