Spring is popping up everywhere now, and I saw my first true wildflower Wednesday on a hike in the Ossipee Mountains - not where or what I expected. But there on a southern exposure on the Mt. Shaw Trail, I saw my first flash of color, a bright Round-leaved Yellow Violet (one of those oxymoronic flower names).
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| Round-leaved Yellow Violet (Viola rotundifolia) |
This was at 1800' elevation, and soon there were many of these violets, sometimes in large clumps.
A little higher up Mt. Shaw, on a ledge overlooking a deep-blue Lake Winnipesauke, I could see there's still snow on the trails at Gunstock.
It was a warm, sunny day, and approaching the trailhead on my way down in the afternoon I started seeing trillium leaves poking up through the leaf litter. Then right at the parking area there were dozens of them.
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| Dozens of trillium at the Mt. Shaw Trailhead. |
A few had buds that were about to open.
So I searched to see if I could find one that had opened, and finally I found one - just one, and just barely open, but that was enough to verify they were Purple Trillium.
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| Purple Trillium |
On the next sunny day there will be a fabulous display of color at the Mt. Shaw trailhead on Rt. 171 for all to see.
A deciduous forest floor only gets direct sunlight for a brief period between snow-melt and leaf-out. These early wildflowers have evolved the ability to emerge early enough to take advantage of this short window to collect enough energy to blossom and survive until next spring.
It wasn't until Friday, back at Lake Wicwas, that I saw my first Trailing Arbutus in bloom.
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| Trailing Arbutus aka Mayflower |
At the same time as the flowers are exploding on the scene, so are the birds. This week I heard the first Hermit Thrush, Blue-headed Vireo, Phoebe, Palm Warbler, and Black-throated Green Warbler. All of these have loud songs, and the hermit thrush is my favorite of the woodland birds.
On a mid-day kayak I saw my first osprey of the season as it flew over the lake and landed in a lichen covered tree on Loon Point.
On the same paddle I came across a promising loon encounter. Two loons were interacting closely, actively enough that I first thought they were in conflict. But there wasn't any chasing or vocalizing, and their behavior didn't seem aggressive, so maybe they were just checking each other out.
When one of them swam right beside my kayak I was able to clearly see the white band with black dot that identified it as the northern male. And later in my trip there were two loons fishing together in the northern territory, so perhaps the behavior I saw earlier was the loon version of flirting. Maybe our male has accepted a new mate after last year's partner was killed.
When one of them swam right beside my kayak I was able to clearly see the white band with black dot that identified it as the northern male. And later in my trip there were two loons fishing together in the northern territory, so perhaps the behavior I saw earlier was the loon version of flirting. Maybe our male has accepted a new mate after last year's partner was killed.
I also saw a second pair of loons in the south territory which may be the banded south pair, but we'll need to see bands to know that. The busy loon-watching season has begun!
It's an exciting time of year on the lakes and in the forests as nature reawakens for the summer; there were many more new sightings, too many to note, so some will have to wait. But something else is exploding on the scene too. Be aware that biting insects will be out very soon, so the days of bug-free walks are almost over. Here's clear evidence that the insects are coming.
Happy spring!
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