April 27th. A large group of Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa) at rest.  (Usually they spook before you spot them.)

 

 

 

 

 

Only one female in the bunch.  Maybe the males were courting?

 

And they're off!

 

 

 

Orange Tremella or Witch's Butter (Tremella mesenterica and related species), a jelly fungus.

 

Morrow's Honeysuckle (Lonicera morrowii), an invasive plant, is just starting to bloom.

 

April 28th. Jack-in-the-Pulpit (Arisaema sp.).

 

Oak leaves are furry when they first unfurl: an adaptation to prevent frost damage?

 

April 30th. A walk to check out the newly surfaced Colchester Spur.  A stretch through Beech-Birch uplands was particularly nice.

 

Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida).  This is the only accesible dogwood I recall seeing along the trail.

 

A male Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus) supplementing its diet with minerals gathered from the trail surface.

 

Common Cinquefoil (Potentilla simplex).

 

Pussytoes (Atennaria sp.).

 

Fiddleheads.

 

Near a small marsh just across the Colchester town line, I found this birds nest.  I don't recognize the type.  The bowl is about 5" across.  Seemed odd for it to be so out in the open.

 

May 1st. A Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodius)...

 

...and another not far away.

 

First Yellow Warbler (Dendroica petechia) of the year.

 

 

 

May 2nd. Limber Honeysuckle, also called Glaucous Honeysuckle (Lonicera dioica).

 

 

 

Pink Lady's-Slipper Orchids (Cypripedium acaule) are beginning to open.

 

 

 

The invasive Autumn Olive (Elaeagnus umbellata) is beginning to bloom.