up through the leaf litter

My 700 photos from our South Africa trip are still too daunting to finish editing just yet, so here are some iphone 4s (yes, time for a new phone!) shots I've taken since we got home in late April. I have a looming...aggressively looming deadline at work and I've been procrastinating. Sometimes I do that when I am close to finishing something. There are ways to procrastinate that make me feel less guilty than others. These include: exercise, cooking, reading things printed on paper, taking pictures, birding, and spending time with friends and family. Then, there is the bad television and excessive facebook scrolling. When you spend too much time wondering what on earth Tami Taylor would think of what has happened to the show Nashville, maybe it's time to stop watching. Anyway, I am going to make an attempt to better spend my procrastination time. We will see. 

Luckily things have been warmer, greener and much birdier. We have been really enjoying spring migration in the east after so many years on the other side of the country. I had forgotten just how dramatic it is to see all the warblers, thrushes and tanagers who are returning from their wintering grounds. I have been spending time searching the canopy and watching the leaf litter as something new pops up every day. 

I feel very lucky to have a position that allows me to take students on biodiversity survey walks a few days a week this month and next. Their knowledge and enthusiasm have been refreshing. The photos are from Sapsucker Woods, Ellis Hollow Preserve, Ringwood Natural Area, Hammond Hill State Forest, Roy H. Park Preserve and our yard. 

Avicaching in the rain as things were slowly starting to leaf out. 

Striped maple (Acer pensylvanicum )

Mayapple (Podophyllum)

Some kind of Viburnum and Trout Lilly (Erythronium americanum)

False helibore (Veratrum viride)

On that day, I had so much to work through in my head that I walked and walked until I was too many miles onto private property. Ooops. Luckily it is only turkey season. 

Mayapple with some leaves still attached. 

Whole wheat biscuits with treats, id help from husband, and a Trillium. 

A retirement party at the lab and yet another tree I don't know. 

That time a Virginia Rail visited the lab. 

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American Beech (Fagus grandifolia) leaf out! 

Proud to plant my beets before work only to realize I forgot to prep the rocky soil with compost. 

Interpretations

Garlic mustard pesto prep and part of a local cow we split with some friends. 

One apple tree with Rose-breasted grosbeaks, Baltimore orioles, American robins, and in the background: Indigo buntings, Eastern phoebes, Swamp sparrows and on and on. 

Conopholis americana

Some kind of pupae situation and a trillium 

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I spotted one Red-spotted newt today before we got snow flurries. ​

Future oaks of Ellis Hollow