Late April Showers & Late April Flowers

I got lucky on Thursday, the 25th, for a break in the rain. The sun peeked through the clouds, and the earth warmed up just a little bit as I walked down to Centennial in the mid afternoon. It was around 3 o’clock, the sun still high in the sky – I can’t help but feel like I’ve missed the days slowly brightening. The rain recently has choked everything else out, clouds filling and blurring the sky with greyness and water. I know we need it, though. Despite the complaints from many about mud season, the energy and revitalization of the plants is so evident.

Shocks of green pressed up through the dirt, the trees seeming even warmer in color despite only really having the beginnings of their buds. I noticed no trees that were starting to sprout leaves yet, but all the low-lying vegetation and smaller plants had started to become so green. It was a relief, almost, to see all the plantlife alive and starting to come back after what seemed like an endless, snow-covered winter – dare I say something right out of Game of Thrones. Many of the plants beginning to poke through as sprouts were unfamiliar to me, but I did manage to recognize a select few. Among the newcomers grew Ostrich Fern, dandelions, and the beginnings of other plants such as fiddleheads and wildflowers.

As for the birds, in the break from the rain, I got to see a few exciting species. A cardinal, bright red and proud, fluttered on the far end of the area I call home to my phenology blog, no doubt searching for a mate. Crows always seem to hang around in the trees, their throaty croaks often drowning out the soft trill of the chickadees that make their home in and around Centennial Woods, one of which I got to see as well. Centennial is a great place, additionally, for finding bugs, as many wet/thick logs lay criss-crossed throughout my phenology blog area. Pill bugs, centipedes, slugs, and many other creatures reside underneath these logs, relying on the decay for a food source in some cases. It certainly is a feast for many types of birds, who often eat insects for meals.

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