“Fuzzy Buds and Spring Peepers” 3-20-10

Many birds were calling today but it was hard to see much on this cold day; I’m sure if I stopped to dig around in the leaves I would have found more life, but we mostly walked today or ‘slogged’. Read my notes to see what we did, saw and heard while out walking; we of course being me and “Ginger” my Australian Shepherd.  Here’s a picture of her to show you how wet some areas were!

Ginger on the wet lane

3-20-10 Notes in My Field Sketchbook

I drew this little branch tip in the field while standing and then later colored it, but closed my book a little too soon and it smeared.

Bud of a red branched bush

I took a picture of one of the branches to show how beautiful the colors are on it; also to show this unusual bud that each bush had, like a swollen rose hip. I’ll have to look up the native bushes to learn more about what I’m seeing. These bushes had little soft catkins on them also.

Below is a more careful study done the next day of two kinds of branch tips I collected and put into water. I’ll hopefully get time to color them too with my watercolors. Now, as they stand in a glass of water on my kitchen table, they are starting to burst forth into a more greenish fuzzy catkin.

Fuzzy Buds 3-21-10

Another thing we heard today, everywhere we went, were the Spring Peepers. They called so loudly and as you creep up to where the noise came from, you could be standing almost on top of them and still not see one! Click on this link to see (or hear) a short video clip of the Spring Peepers singing like mad in the watery ditch along “Long Lane”.

Spring Peepers Singing