A heads up - This might be a bit longer than usual. A walk in the woods in spring is one of my favourite things.
I had been out a few weeks ago for the early spring flowers.
This time I was hoping for trilliums, both red and white, trout lilies, squirrel corn, dutchman's britches and the start of the ferns. I found them all, plus a few bonuses.
White trilliums start off looking like an upside down umbrella, then unfurl.
The buds slowly open
White trilliums grow as singletons, or close by each others. While I didn't find a mass blooming in any one spot, there were plenty of them. Their pistols are "stout".
Red trilliums tend to grow singly, or sometimes, in groups of two. They are often not easy to see, or photograph, as most flowers droop downwards.
But a few proudly show their blossoms.
Trout lilies were in abundance, both singly and in small bunches.
There were none with their petals fully arching backwards exposing their pistols. (cool weather or too early in the season?)
I spotted one that looked like it had come up through a leaf, but the leaf was too weak to hold on.
There were lots of other plants that had grown up through a leaf/leaves that held on.
The blue cohosh were finishing their flowering. The blooms are tiny, just over ¼".
Last visit the spring beauties on a south facing rocky slope were blooming, but on the flat forest floor this time, they were just starting
I found one lone bellwort plant
The Dutchman's britches flowers were finishing, but I found a fairly fresh stem
The squirrel corn was at it's peak
Toothwort was in bud, the sedge grass was bloomng
The horsetail was well along in damper areas. I am not sure I have the ID correct, but field horsetail on left and centre, and meadow horsetail on the right
The ferns were starting, I couldn't resist....
The meeting of the minds...
A seed stem of last year's ostrich fern
While rolling around on the ground taking the photos, sometimes it is nice to just lay back and enjoy the upwards view
I found two similar fungi growing on a tree
It would seem that an old tree trunk, that I have watched for over 20 years, is in it's last throes. The fungi it hosted have fallen off. The top of the trunk is quickly deteriorating
I could hear woodpeckers working on trees, sap suckers hammering on metal roofs, small birds singing, a single hawk screamed 2-3 times as it flew in. But with my eyes looking down most of the time I never saw a single bird. The Merlin App on my phone heard them all too.
On the way to, and back, from the woods, I stopped at the marsh to check on the trumpeter swans. Last visit there were three swans, I only saw two this time. One was obviously sitting on a nest about 40-50 yards in from the road.
Her mate was off to the side snacking on water plants with a Canada goose watching warily
I hadn't noticed them previously, but on the way home there was a pair of Canada Geese checking out a nesting spot (or maybe she was already on eggs, I had just missed them before as I watching the swans?)
I stopped at the Almonte waterfalls. The Mississippi River was still flowing heavily with the spring runoff
