Seed Burst Firsts on a Misty Morning

With the start of autumn, we look to seeds and colors... the things that characterize the end of a life cycle, in as much as a cycle has an end.  These are not the first milkweed seeds I've seen bursting open, but they actually are the first ones that aren't right next to the trail, and I'm always suspicious that maintenance mowers and, in the case of milkweed, hands alter the phenophases.  This morning I started to notice milkweed plants off the trail opening their seedpods, though these are early adopters.  Most are still green with potential for later!

The cattails are also starting to release seeds... The eponymous brown fuzzy hotdogs-on-sticks are packed so tightly with so many seeds for so long... and now they are starting to burst and explode! 

The goose in this photo isn't especially phenologically relevant, really... We have geese year-round now.  In the 40's, Also Leopold poetically described the return of the geese in March as one of his tell-tale signs of spring.  Thanks to office parks with aerated ponds that never freeze, geese never leave (at least not a lot of them) so their presence means not a lot... but the mist on the lake is an interesting phenomena that's been happening these mornings as it's been getting chilly at night.  Since it's still been warm during the day, the water and ground are warmer than the night air, causing these misty fog-clouds each morning.  They're quite lovely.

The morning fog really strange... you can see this layer of fog hanging over some parts of the land and not others.  In places it's not as tall as my head so I walk through with my head above clouds and my body in them.  When you move in and out of the misty areas the temperature drops by what feels like 10 degrees, then rises again just as quickly...

My last sighting of the morning -- this pair of sandhill cranes flew almost right over me.  Thanks to their distinctive call, I knew they were around before I saw them, and was able to get totally prepared to take pictures... but still, the ones where they were right overhead turned out totally blurry.  This was the best of the bunch, though it's still not awesome.  You almost can't see enough leg to know they're not geese, but, trust me, they're cranes!

Cattails

Cattails look a bit ratty at the moment, like wet sweaters... Their seeds are everywhere...

What a Difference a Day Makes

Today, the cattails and water are perfectly still... but the seeds are beginning to fly off of the seedheads.

And, with almost no wind and even patchy sun, the grasshoppers are back, woolly bears are gone, and we found several spring peepers! (Although... these frogs can be frozen alive and survive, and tend to be heard in cool weather, so that sighting confirms the fall-ness of it all...

Blooms of the Past Few Days

The flowers of most grasses are tiny and barely merit notice from most people, but they are beautiful. They hang down like dangly earrings, and swing precariously in the wind. It looks as though, if you touched them, they would fall to the ground, but they don't. They are wind pollinated, thus their subtlety and movement. Here, the deep purple flowers of prairie cordgrass -- a spartina species with razors for leaves -- hang from its future seedheads.


Cattails have formed the corn dog-esque seed bombs for which they are commonly named.
This Michigan lily is a rare and beautiful prairie plant. Its head bent over as though it were studying the ground, these flowers literally spill their sexual parts out for the world to see.
Close-up of a blazing star, with a little beetle peeking out.
Mountain mint began to flower, its irregularly shaped blooms small and subtle. They have purple dots and are really quite lovely if you notice them on your way past. Which is a big "if".
OK, I know this is a totally blurry picture, but I was excited to have this monarch on my butterflyweed. I am hoping she laid eggs and I will get a caterpillar. (And then I can possibly find the chrysalis!)

Also blooming: marsh plantain and meadowsweet, a native spirea that has quite lovely pale pink flowers (but I still don't like spirea).

Updates

No time for photos, drawings, or even good writing... just a list of today's happenings:

1. Wild ginger emerged. In shadiest places, it's just now peaking out. In slightly lighter shady spots, the whole leaves are out and big (but wrinkled).
2. Pasqueflower blooming (1 in my yard is open, the other is not, and the third is dead...)
3. Mayapples emerging, but still all folded up (and one got chewed already!)
4. First tulip opened at school, but none in my yard even look close.
5. Virginia bluebells have big purple buds, and will flower any day now.
   
6. Lilacs have fully leafed out. Many shrubs are learing away, actually...
   
7. Lilies of the valley are emerging.
   
8. Cattails are about 6 inches above the water's surface (and the water is pretty high); visible where dead plants are now.
9. Purple Coneflower emerged a few days ago, but is now looking robust.
10. I have confirmed the happy suspicion that the mystery plants in my yard are shooting star! (Not flowering yet).
11. In the garden, spinach planties and radish planties emerged. Also, a large crop of weeds...
12. Tomorrow may hit 8o degrees! (SO happy I get to spend it in an institute day.)

Earth Day

Happy Earth Day!!!

A busy, sunny, windy day.
Observations and happenings:

1. Bur Oak buds beginning to swell.
2. Cattails poking new green leaves in burned areas.
3. Student found very large egg shell cracked open. Of what, I do not know.
   
4. Student also found two dead turtles. One just a shell, one rotting inside with maggots and everything. Took photos, but no time to download them now.
   
5. Many tree swallows nesting in bluebird boxes.
6. Moths on my garage door when I got home tonight.
   
7. Planted potatoes in garden (not me, personally).