April Ephemerals (break my heart)
April is the Sweetest Month
April, it turns out, is my favorite month. And that’s because of the spring ephemerals. There is something so fierce, so elusive, and so heartbreaking about these early spring flowers that the whole month sings (even though there was, as there often is, a snowstorm on April 12). Jack-in-the-pulpit, trillium, bloodroot, trout lily—when I see these small gems in the woods, they always take me by surprise. And usually one flower leads to the next and a colorful world opens up. Just as fast as they emerge, the flowers then vanish. So I hold tight to these flowers, visiting and admiring and curating as much as I can.
And of course the birds returned. Every year Wood Ducks show up, landing in the trees around my house (a duck perched in a tree is something I will never find “normal”), the first warblers—Yellow-rump, Palm—arrived, and one of my favorites, the Red-breasted Grosbeak settled in at the feeder for a big long eat. And, my trusty little Least Bittern has already started haunting the Tivoli Bays, and Great Crested Flycatchers are “breeping” from tree tops. Since the trees have yet to leaf out, I was even able to catch sight of these birds.
Word in the bird world is that many of these birds are “early” this year, especially the warblers moving through. The world is changing in all ways, some good, some not so good, and some flat out awful. But the birds keep flying and that alone gives me hope.
Trout Lily spreads through the woods
Bloodroot in bloom
Oh, trillium, you are so perfect
Red-breasted Grosbeak settling in for a chow-down