Come with Me to the Pond!

We have baby geese!  

My husband told me there was a pair of Canada Geese up at the pond with babies.  So when I went for a walk yesterday morning, I was sure to sneak up there so as not to scare them!

They were in the grass on the right side of the pond when I arrived, but (sneaking up or not!) it didn't take long for the parents to shepherd their young'uns into the water.

I stood quietly and watched, and they soon got used to me being there.  

The parents had their job cut out for them looking after the 7 babies, because the babies seemed to go about their business without a care in the world (as little babies should).  

That's okay, because the adults keep their eyes on them at all time... good thing they have necks that allow them to turn their heads almost full circle!  And, there were two parents to wrangle them into line if needed.

It seems in every family, there is one child who stays very close to mommy...

...like the little one right under her.

The babies did a lot of pecking along the shore.

They also seemed to watch their parents.  The parents preened and the babies watched (well, some of them).

Hey, everyone, pay attention!

They got in and out of the water a few times.

Mama ate... and the babies watched. 

"You mean we're going to have to stick our heads underwater like that someday?"

Finally, for some reason, the one I think was Papa decided they should all get out of the water and go up in the grass.

So I decided to leave them and go check out the Marsh Marigolds.  Sure enough, they were blooming nicely in the thicket up above the pond.

In the trees above the Marsh Marigolds, there was a flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers! 

 How I love this time of year.... geese babies, wildflowers, and warblers! 

What's Blooming Here - Early May

This isn't meant to be a comprehensive list of what's blooming here.  To keep up with a really complete record of what's in bloom might not be too difficult at the beginning of the season, but I don't think I could keep up with it after awhile!  And this blog is for our enjoyment, not serious record-keeping.  

I love to stomp around in the woods to see what wildflowers I can find.  (though I'm very careful not to stomp ON them!)  But you can even see quite a few right from your car.  Be careful if you are driving, please!

I'll start with one that you are perhaps most likely to see and has been in bloom the longest.  That would be Coltsfoot.  They have been blooming along the roadsides in damp ditches for a few weeks now (since about the middle of April here this year).

Some of them are already showing their fluffy seed heads, another similarity they have with Dandelions.  (Though, sorry, I don't have a photo of that!)

Another flower you can see right from your car -- usually in lawns, are Quaker Ladies, also called Bluets.  We used to have some large patches of them in the old cow pasture, but search though I did, this year I only found this tiny bunch:

They are quite diminutive - only about 2" high, so in small quantities they are easily overlooked unless you love them like I do and keep a careful eye out.  

Finding only a tiny patch on our farm made me a bit jealous of our neighbor's lovely patch:

Though, mainly I am just glad they are there!
You can enjoy them from afar, but they are also exquisite up close:

The next blooms you might also see from your car.  I know where there are some growing in a roadside ditch near our house.  However, the ones in the next two photos were taken up on our hill.

They are Marsh Marigolds and they do love to grow right in the water.

Violets are also beginning to bloom.  

This one's a Sweet Yellow Violet, but many other kinds are or will soon be blooming.

The Dog-toothed Violets (which aren't really violets at all but are in the Lily family) are blooming brightly on sunny days now.   Amazingly enough, this batch was blooming right along our road a few years ago:

April 25, 2008

The next photo is how you are more likely to see them unless it's a warm, sunny day-- and there are almost always many more of their mottled leaves than there are flowers.

 

The Red Trillium are starting to bloom now.

As you can see there are more buds still to open.  

Next is a patch of Squirrel Corn in our woods.  It's dainty, silvery foliage is very pretty in person, though a little hard to see in the photo.  I wanted to show you how many leaves are there and only one flower stem (at least so far).

Squirrel Corn foliage stretches from in front of the rock on the left side of the photo to the right end of the log in the middle foreground.

Here's what it looks like up close:

And even closer...

I can't show you why it has the name Squirrel Corn, because I did not want to dig up any of the roots (which are corms said to resemble small ears of corn, hence the name).  It apparently is on the endangered species list in New Jersey, and I don't know if that is true in Pennsylvania, but in any case it doesn't seem right to dig it up!

Also blooming now in my woods are Twinleaf.  I have not ever found this plant in the wild, though it is a native of Pennsylvania.  My plants came from Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve and have been happy where they were planted and seeded themselves into a nice bunch.  You can read more about both Twinleaf and Bowman's Hill in a post I wrote last spring by clicking here.

Twinleaf

So, there you have some of the wild things that are blooming in my neck of the woods.  What's blooming where you live?