Hiking in the rain
Tonight we had a small amount of sunshine at about 7 PM. It rained all day, but this evening, briefly the sun broke through and Norman was not about to miss out on it!
Before I share about this afternoons hike, I have an announcement to make! I was wondering when the Whip-poor-wills would return. Usually it's about the 5th of May, so I knew any night we'd hear the whipping outside our bedroom window (every year one sits outside our bedroom window and whips very loudly, all night long, well until about 5 AM.) Tonight at 8:30 PM, Kevin called me outside. It seems our Whip-poor-wills have arrived early and one was outside whipping away. Along with him the Timberdoodle was squawking, and the Snipe, or "whowho" bird as we call him, is out "whowhoing." It's quite a busy night. I'll have to record our bedroom whip-poor-will and share it.
For anyone who wants to read about the Whip-poor-will, here is a great link.
For anyone who wants to read about the Whip-poor-will, here is a great link.
OK back to the day... After we got home from voting this afternoon (us Canadian's are having another election) I went out mushroom hunting. I always get a little anxious as morel time approaches. Today it was rainy, very wet, and fairly warm. Although I had a hunch it was a little too cold for the mushrooms. Everything I have been reading says now is the time for them.
After spending over two hours hiking I realized I had better check out when I've found them before. When I got home, I looked up when I've found mushrooms in other years, and I'm a little early. It's been between the 18th and 20th of May historically, and that's different years, different springs. So I'll hold my breath a little longer, but keep looking. I really want some morels to cook up!
I had a great time anyway, I found all kinds of things, new flowers coming up, new mushrooms (non edible) and a few other things.
The Dutchman's Breeches are everywhere now, whole hill sides are just covered in them.
These raindrops were on a cobweb
A Trillium not yet opened up
Mushrooms
fiddlehead ferns
I found this skull - look at those teeth! It's either a raccoon or a skunk. I looked at pictures of both skulls and I can't decide which it seems more like. I've been leaning towards skunk, but it makes a lot more sense it would be a raccoon.
More flowers coming up
Trillium
Hard to believe but I almost missed this Trillium, and it turned out to be the prettiest flower I saw, and my best picture of the day.
Bell flowers
Trillium's on the cliff
I came across this bone on the path, clearly from a deer. As I continued my walk, I found more bones.
Further down the path, I found my first clump of hair...
As I started looking around, I found a big pile of coyote scat...
I walked down to the creek looking for the kill site...
I walked along the edge, a Red tailed Hawk was screeching in the background...
suddenly, I noticed I was being watched...
As I came back along the creek, I found more hair...
Then I found the two big piles of hair I was looking for....
I found the kill site, but no skull, it is either in the area or got drug into the creek or further away...this was a fairly recent kill, not a mid-winter kill like I first thought.
A Hairy Woodpecker was looking for a good spot for bugs...
Our "ears" field is greening up nicely. Notice the "ears" in the field? That pile of wood...
I'm amazed we still have deer hanging around. Usually early April we start seeing a lot less deer, but we still have a small group hanging around. They look awful as they are shedding and they have lost weight. The one on the right is Deer Norman, one of our bucks.
Now I'm tired from the hike and chores. We've been watching the election news tonight, as you can see it's stressing Nellie out so much, she's turned to food to calm her nerves.
Comments
I really like the last pic of the groundhog eating a carrot. Cute!
N