And So It Begins…

The mad march of life… Spring. I took enough photos today for about a dozen posts. The bottom of my pant legs are muddy and the knees smell like Wild Leeks. Here are some highlights of the day:

A Great Egret teased visitors in the backyard at Audubon all day today.
I finally found Hepatica in bloom and got a few shots.
I respectfully asked a Mourning Cloak to sit still long enough for me to get a few photos. After obliging, off it flew. Quickly it found a mate and the two did a fast-paced aerial dance for me. I said, “Thank you.” And one of them flew down, touched my shoulder, then flew off again. I gazed in the direction it flew and saw:
Two Crows mobbing a Hawk right over my head.

I respectfully asked an Eastern Comma to sit still for a photo, but he did not oblige.
Spring Beauties by the hundreds.
Blue Cohosh – just starting.
Yellow Violets. (If they’re yellow, why are they violets?)

Leaves (promises) of many more wildflowers: Toothwort (two kinds – some with buds ready to burst), Foamflower, Trout Lily, False Hellabore

It sure was a pretty day! I hope you had time to get outside!

20 thoughts on “And So It Begins…”

I didn’t get outside much today, but your pictures brought me a little bit of it. Great macros of the flowers and mourning cloak.

What a great day you had! Beautiful photos! I did get outside, but spent several hours hiking in a snowstorm. Loved it!

Really great photos. Beautiful. It must take a great deal of patience to wait for the perfect shot of a butterfly that could take off at any moment.

I enjoyed this walk. I like the idea of asking a bird or butterfly to stand still for just a second. Your photos are so vivid. I took a walk yesterday on the banks of the swelling Wisconsin River. We are weeks behind you, so I only saw iris heads poking out from under the black scorch of the recent prairie burn.

I love visiting your blog. Will you change your name to “Spring Woman” soon?

Thanks, all…

Caroline: Haha. In my heart I will always be WinterWoman. But I must admit… I do enjoy the spring! I won’t change my name to SpringWoman, but at least I’ll put a sunny, hatless portrait in my sidebar. How’s that?

Pretty flowers and butterflies! haven’t seen either yet, but hopefully in the next week or so…..

Glad to see you are out and about again! I saw a Mourning Cloak yesterday, but no flowers yet.

…and today is supposed to be beautiful! Let’s see how many of my students actually come to class.

Out for 2 hours and the most I saw, wildflower speaking, were the leaves of hepatica and false rue anemone. I am so ready for my first wildflower sighting. It is soooo late this year – we’re 2-3 weeks behind.

So nice to see all the beautiful wildflowers. We are much later here, but even with the cool weather, it’s amazing how many buds are on the trees and shrubs.

I hope your weather warms up soon. I’m looking forward to the pictures!

a beautiful day well-documented. I love the part about asking creatures to oblige. I try that and sometimes it works!

Jennifer- Wow, I also had several mourning cloaks today, but the ones that I saw must have been friends with your comma, because they were busily flying about. Awesome image.

Tom

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Looks like a lovely day indeed! I love the Hepatica & Mourning Cloak photos, very pretty.

So enjoyed your walk today! The Mourning Cloaks are very beautiful butterflies. I have not seen one resting yet just flying. I have seen an Eastern Comma sunning!
I adore butterflies and bees and the birds and the trees!
This was fun. I also love the all the pictures on the internet of just about anything I am interested in.
Spring is a wonderful time of year.
Sherry