The other day I went to Five Rivers to do a Raptor count. Before the count started I had time for a walk around the Beaver Tree Trail. The pond was still frozen - the ice looked brindled in jade and black swirls. On the opposite side of the pond, the ice was white. I know I have read explanations of what makes the ice different colors, but right now it was enough to enjoy the creativity of colors moving in elegant frozen waves. Icicles hung from the spillway. Reaching down into the water flowing beneath them. The last vestiges of winter. Rushes were bent and broken by winter winds, snow, and ice. Soon, new growth would replace them. The earth was brown with ozzy mud. The kind that is just as slippery as ice. Hopeful trees were budded crimson against the sky. Willows flushed orange, so stark and striking. The sky was layered in soft blues, white and grey. Dampness seeped from the ground and folded around me. The Raptor count is a DEC project which counts the rapto...
I can't believe that I haven't posted since May 23! Four months! I have had some wonderful nature experiences, but for some reason, I have writers' block. Well, Barberville Falls rushed over me and said - get with it! I went to the Falls in Poesten Kill with a friend. The guidebook says that the 92-foot falls are "spectacular"! An understatement to be sure! The volume of water from heavy rains the week before made the falls an absolute torrent! It rushed and pounded seemingly from every rock. The water was a frothy white like it was being whisked by an invisible hand. Tannins in the stream created a cream latte color. Water thundered over the rocks with such force that the base of the falls was churring and creating waves. These waves of water caught the wind and turned back on themselves creating rainbows in the mist. It seemed that the mist was jumping off the water with abandon, reaching up into the colors and creating more. All this under a clear blue sky...
Spring has slid into summer. The leaves on the trees are full and green and giving shade. It seems like just a couple of weeks ago that I took a hike to Strawberry Fields over near Amsterdam. This lovely preserve is "managed" by the Mohawk/Hudson Land Conservancy. If you are local check them out; there is a preserve for everyone! As I hiked the two-mile perimeter trail, I noticed how the trees were at all different stages of leafing. Some Maples, eager to get going, were in full leaf. Magnificent in their reaching. The Oaks were a bit reticent. They usually are - the last ones to lose leaves - hanging onto them into the Winter and early Spring; they are shy about Spring budding. Delicate amber leaves are mixed with the sepia catkins that will blossom into acorns. Standing back, looking up I was enthralled with the many shades of bronze the tree produced. There were Shagbark Hickories who were not having any of the coming-out thing! Large buds remained sealed tight. Apples w...
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