We spent this sunny morning wandering in the arboretum. The leaves have barely started to appear until the last day or two and so the forest floor is covered with ephemeral species flowers and simply glorious. It will only be like this for a week or so now and the weather forecast is fine and sunny so if you live near the arboretum go and visit before you regret it and have to wait another year. 

There is a lengthy photo gallery below – click on any thumbnail to open the gallery to full screen size and se the captions where species are named.

We were especially please to find several more quite extensive clumps of Spring Beauty. There is the original one we found some years ago and which we have kept an eye on, but now we have many more. We also found in one of the patches a number of small pollinating insects – a new lifer insect in fact, the very appositely named “Spring Beauty Miner Bee” (Andrea erigeniae). There are a multitude of tiny Andrea species in the world – including Dunning’s Miner Bee in our own garden – but to find one so specifically named is a treat … and another reason to make sure the flowers are preserved.

Birds seen were pretty much what you would expect at this time of year … some returnees but the big rush is a week or two away yet.

A beautiful morning.

Notable species identified this morning included:

Plants:
Ostrich Fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris)
Early Blue Cohosh (Caulophyllum giganteum)
Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis)
Carolina Spring-Beauty (Claytonia caroliniana)
Red Trillium (Trillium erectum)
Large White Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum)
Bluebead Lily (Clintonia borealis)
Canada Mayflower (Maianthemum canadense)
Early Blue Cohosh (Caulophyllum giganteum)
Yellow Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum)
Canada Mayflower (Maianthemum canadense)
Honewort (Cryptotaenia canadensis)

Insects

Spring Beauty Miner Bee” (Andrea erigeniae)

Birds

Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens)
Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus)
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)
Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe)
Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)
Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor)
White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis)
American Robin (Turdus migratorius)
American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis)
Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina)
White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis)
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)