Woods
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Adirondack Whitetails
Scenes like this were not unusual on our July trip to the Adirondack region.
The deer seemed as curious about us as we were about them.
But only for so long. Always best to run home to Mom.
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Mystical Wood
Normally, I don’t take walks in the evening. I was glad my husband was with me on this one, because the woods had a certain ancient, waiting feeling about them — like the forests you encounter in books like those of Tolkien or Susanna Clarke. The only birds singing were hermit thrushes. They seemed to be stationed at intervals along the way, just frequently enough that one was always sending out its silvery, solitary song.
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Odds and Ends
These two are photos of a veery — more often heard than seen!
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Northeastern jungle
It was like the greenwood of a fairy tale in the marsh we visited yesterday. Everything was bursting out and greening up and singing and chittering and croaking.
We were greeted by a yellow warbler at the entrance to the trail.
He stood out pretty well, perched at the highest vantage point he could find.
But when he turned his back, he looked just like one of the leaves.
The May apples always bloom in this spot first, and they were everywhere. We found them when we spooked a rabbit and I bent over to look beneath the canopy of leaves for a nest.
No nest, but… blooming May apples!
You have to bend the stem back a little to make the drooping flower face front for a picture. It always reminds me of a hold-up: “Don’t shoot!”
There were ferns rolling out their fiddleheads everywhere.
Not everything was colorful, though. My daughter spotted (somehow!) this leaflike butterfly.
Tiny plants are emerging on the forest floor. (I got some better, more diverse photos last year around this time.) These are some of my favorites, though I never noticed them till last year.
“Gaywing” 
The whole place has a primeval feeling about it.
Though it’s surrounded by noisy highway, I heard lots of birds — warblers I never got my eye on. But one of the reasons I like the place is that in spring there are so many blooming trees and plants.
Even though it was in the 60’s, there was no way we could forget that the green carpet is rolled out to stay.
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Glen
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Waterfall
This is a favorite picnic spot. I was able to get in close for the first time the other day; it’s been a steep and icy descent until now.
Another welcome sign of spring: water. Most of these streams have been silent, but now the woods are full of the sound of rushing water. It corresponds to the freedom I feel as winter releases its grip.
Always I am reminded that we are only the most recent of a long line of visitors here.
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Best Kept Secrets of the Woods
The woods were full of them today: soft, high-pitched peepings and flashes of bark-colored movement. There’s one on this tree. See it? It’s a brown creeper.
I love these tiny birds with their amazing protective coloration.
I have no idea how many there were; I saw one at a time. But they seemed to cover a wide area. There must have been quite a few.
I watched them hop up the trunks, checking under each flake of bark or lichen for insects.
They would hop to the top, then drop back down to the base and start back up again.
For them, the wood full of trees must have been an absolute delight — kind of like I’d feel in a chocolate factory acres wide.
They are always a treat to see, and seeing them feels like an accomplishment — so tiny, quick, and camouflaged.
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Bridge to Spring?
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Deer season
The deer were everywhere in the nature preserve where the girls and I took our walk yesterday…
Inquisitive, but not especially easy to spook. It’s bow season right now, and I know some hunters who would have been glad to see them. No hunting in the preserve, though. I think the deer must know.
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Chipmunk
