A spring night hike

A spring night hike found us listening to early crickets, tree frogs, the final songs of resident cardinals, mockingbirds, and chickadees. It was a mild evening, a bit humid, but with signs of spring all around. There were more family groups this time (this is school spring break), and more than I expected (~ 40 people).

A couple of highlights were watching bats swoop around catching insects, and the flashes of lightning 'bugs' high in the oak-hickory forest. It's really early for lightning bugs; the warm weather probably encouraged them.

(This post first appeared on Natural Gardening).

Colors of Spring

Near the Duck Pond the red of the Japanese maple is displayed next to the white of the dogwood. This was a cold, windy day, but these colors remind us that spring is on the way.

More cedar waxwings

Early this morning, more cedar waxwings were swooping from their perches on the red oaks behind the Carriage House to devour berries from the hollies behind the Terrace Garden wall. I watched them for a bit; they're orderly in their progression, taking turns eating, perching, swooping, eating.

The sight of so many cedar waxwings is impressive. I've seen more big flocks this year than I ever have before!

Fast forward and listen to Patrick McMillan's spot about cedar waxwings on Your Day (on the March 12 program) for his take on the phenomenon.

Spring green

The buds of the hardwood trees along Hunnicutt Creek in the Garden's forest had only a hint of green early last week, but by Sunday, spring leaves were evident.
The diversity of bird song was remarkable, too - spring is definitely here.

More turtles

This report came from Cherie Whitman, who was 'supposed to shadow a tour' with Darlene Roehl, but since the group canceled, they took a turn around the garden together.

She also reported seeing the turtles playing “log roll” in the pond. "I truly wish we’d had a group of kids to see this. There were two logs floating in the water and both were packed along their lengths with turtles of various sizes enjoying the warm sunshine. Whenever the turtles shifted position or another turtle tried to join the sunbathers, the log would take a roll worthy of any lumberjack and spill some or sometimes, all of the turtles off so that they had to start all over again…and they did!" she wrote.

Now I haven't seen them do this, but they don't have much basking space currently!

Turtles Sunning

One can see some funny things in the Pioneer Pond sometimes. Three turtles were sunning on the log and fourth tried to join them. Trying to get on the log he dumped the other three in the water, but he got on. Then one of the three that had been dumped tried to get back on and dumped the one on the log back in. It was a Laurel and Hardy routine.

Rainy day blooming.

Trillium cuneatum in flower along the path to the Beech Grove.
Melliodendron xylocarpum in bloom near the Hanover House in the Specialty Arboretum. These shots were taken Saturday during the morning rain.