Spring, we're happy to report, is alive and well in the woods ... :)
I can hardly find the words to tell you how lovely a day it was here in New England. What is that saying? April in New England is like first love? How very true. When Spring at last returns, Mother Earth's charms seem at once familiar and new.
We could not have asked for finer weather today. The temperature hovered close to 70, the sunshine was bright, the air was fresh ...
Our April Nature Club meeting, led by my friends Holly and Leigh, had a very special theme: Silent Spring. Our large group (approximately 10 families in all) was instructed to go forth into the woods and search out the new season in total and complete silence. By doing so, we would amplify our other senses, and catch things we might otherwise miss. We could sketch, draw, take pictures, write notes or even poetry ... but not a word was to be passed - until we met back up again an hour later to compare findings.
So the boys and I set out, establishing signals as we went ...
We heard a lot of birdsong. Some familiar, some slightly mysterious.
And we wrote notes to each other when the hand signals didn't work.
Here is a sampling of the spring things we found in the woods ~
Skunk cabbage - we think. It didn't smell strongly, but it was growing in a marshy area where mature plants were situated.
This is not a great picture, but I had to show you these butterflies! Can anyone help us identify them? They were dark chocolate brown (perhaps black) with yellow (or maybe white) along the edges of their wings. These two appeared to be courting. :)
We found this fur in a few different places. Deer, skunk, or coyote, perhaps?
Such a strange and very cool fungus! It looks like the turkey tail fungus we've found in our own woods, but this stuff was green! (Algae, maybe?) Someone else found a vibrant pink fungus - now, I would have loved to have seen that!
Here we have a mallard pair. He was so watchful of her! She was oblivious, however, and just fished around the pond muck for ... well, whatever there was to be found down there!
And here is a phoebe taking a break from some vigorous nestbuilding.
We couldn't get over these gorgeous tree buds. Wouldn't they make lovely yarn? :)
The light through the trees was just fantastic. Everywhere I looked I saw another picture I just had to snap. (No wonder I filled up my memory card, lol!)
And of course, where there's light, there will be shadow ...
"Winter's done, and April's in the skies,
Earth, look up with laughter in your eyes!"
- Charles G. D. Roberts
Well, as always, I thank you for stopping by and sharing in our day. I'll see you again sometime tomorrow ~ have a happy and peaceful goodnight! :)
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