Karen and I went over to
Pisgah Marsh a few days ago to see if we could catch a
glimpse of some of the
Sandhill Crane that we have been seeing in the fields. Back in February we were there when the entire area was covered in Snow.
We saw evidence of squirrel's snack wrappers, and what they gnawed on when the snacks were gone.
We also spotted some Canada Geese
starting pair up and establish nesting sights. The cattails are still brown and from these shots it almost looks like fall.
As we progressed down the board walk we began to spot some evidence of spring. The Blue Winged Teal are not ones to endure much cold weather, and are among the first migratory birds to head south in the fall, but are beginning to show up again this spring. We saw several nests and nesting sites.
Below is a
Sandhill Crane guarding a nest.
I thought that these two shots of tree bark, oak above and hickory below, show a variety, one tight and the other almost falling off the trunk.
The Beaver have been busy at
Pisgah. This typical beaver hutch above is probably 12' across at the water line.
A pair of Swans one on the nest and one on guard.
Though not a great picture the Mallards in the shot above were buzzing the pond at the end of the board walk. The
Sandhill Crane below was stalking the far side of the pond and got to a point where his reflection dropped into the edge of the water.
We saw evidence of squirrel's snack wrappers, and what they gnawed on when the snacks were gone.
We also spotted some Canada Geese starting pair up and establish nesting sights. The cattails are still brown and from these shots it almost looks like fall.
As we progressed down the board walk we began to spot some evidence of spring. The Blue Winged Teal are not ones to endure much cold weather, and are among the first migratory birds to head south in the fall, but are beginning to show up again this spring. We saw several nests and nesting sites.
Below is a Sandhill Crane guarding a nest.
I thought that these two shots of tree bark, oak above and hickory below, show a variety, one tight and the other almost falling off the trunk.
The Beaver have been busy at Pisgah. This typical beaver hutch above is probably 12' across at the water line.
A pair of Swans one on the nest and one on guard.
Though not a great picture the Mallards in the shot above were buzzing the pond at the end of the board walk. The Sandhill Crane below was stalking the far side of the pond and got to a point where his reflection dropped into the edge of the water.
The shots above and below show the effort the beaver make to maintain a habitat. The dams that they built in two locations retain the water level 18" or so higher that what would occur naturally.
Above a gaggle of geese are trying to defend there territory from some pesky ducks, and below you can see that they successfully drove the intruders away.
We also saw quite a few plants beginning to leaf out and blossom. One of the first I spotted was this dogwood.
I'm not sure what all of the tree types were but most had fairly small and delicate blossoms.
Some of the early leaf growth starts out colorful, like this maple below, but will eventually turn green.
From a distance the blossoms were lacy as they spread across the woods.
Above is the sprouting of Shagbark Hickory leaves. and below several varieties of trees in bloom.
Some of the ground cover was surprisingly far along in its growth for this early in the season.
On the way back to the car we walked this fruit tree that was in bloom and just below the tree was this bright yellow flower poking up through the dead grass.
Across the road were some willows that were flowering.
Some more flowers and interestingly the extent of the leaf development on the cottonwood below was surprising because it was so early in the year.
near the area where we parked was this white Lilac. Most likely this was something planted there rather than a native plant. It still smelled nice.
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