Let me start this blog with a quote,
“Spring’s First Conviction is a wealth beyond its whole experience”
- Emily Dickinson
Indeed the abundance of life that Spring brings is a wonder too beautiful to really absorb. Everything starts coming to life; the birds return, the trees leaves grow, and different critters start to emerge from the muk. Some of these little critters include a variety of different amphibians, who emerge from the mud and lay eggs, especially in certain areas such as vernal pools.
Now this week, as I crossed over into my spot, once again going through the challenge of fording the river, I noticed something quite interesting. There was in fact a vernal pool near my spot! And now time for a haiku:
Vernal pools – small pond
Appearing seasonally
Crucial for creatures
A vernal pool is crucial for amphibians to reproduce. Sadly, I saw no evidence of any amphibian activity. Perhaps this is because the vernal pool just formed, or maybe the vegetation covered some of the evidence. Speaking of vegetation, there was an abundance of silver maple buds starting to spring forth. The buds littered the ground, likely due to a strong wind, but everything is starting to bloom. There are no wildflowers in our spot, so much as different ferns and shrub type vegetation, which does not seem to be blooming.
Considering landscape ecology, this spot is very small and cut off by a river. The island is not very large, and the length could be walked within a few minutes. There is not so much of an edge effect, as there is only one type of ecosystem, but the area is so small that there is still not enough room for any interior forest species.
A little sketch of a Silver Maple bud