On the Path -- March 20th, 2012

Officially the first day of Spring today, but with a temperature of 22 degrees or whatever it got to, it felt more like early summer.

It's easy to spot the Poison Ivy patch with the berries so dominant this time of year.

I'm pretty sure these are Trembling Aspens. The catkins lengthened considerably in the last 2 days.

Yellow Birch almost light up the woods when the sun hits them late in the day.

It's surprising to me how many leaves and buds of plants & trees start out red and yet the plant/tree  doesn't end up with any red on them. These are Silver Maple buds and a Silver Maple doesn't have any red on it later. Poison Ivy is another one. It's leaves start out reddish.

I see Coltsfoot in three main areas on the path. Yesterday I saw about 80 in all. But today was a late day walk so most were closed for the night and almost "invisible".

There are 8 or 9 Black Locust trees at the start of the path and they drop 100s of seed pods--more like a few thousand really. The only green in this shot is some Garlic Mustard.

I think I'll head back to the marsh tomorrow.

- fini -