Not a banner year for Flowering Dogwood, there is nevertheless fruit on at least some of the trees. We also lost one tree to Hurricane Irene's high winds.

Hearts a Bursting, or Strawberry Bush is beginning to display the reason for its names. This plant is on the Dinosaur Trail just past the Albertosaurus.

Persimmons are beginning to ripen on the trees.

Some of the persimmon fruit has already fallen to the ground, good news for the raccoons, fox, and groundhogs.

Although raccoons, fox, and groundhogs can climb trees, squirrels are expert at the sport and don't wait for the fruit to hit the ground.

The tiny, waxy fruit of the Wax Myrtle is ripening, but not quite there yet. It should be ready for the arrival of the Myrtle Warblers next month.

The Fall Webworms within the silken web are still quite small, they're just getting started (9/9/11).

And, not necessarily a sign of fall but perhaps a sign of exhaustion towards the summer season…

Two shots of the same large snapping turtle in a shady area of the Wetlands. First spotted at about 10:30 AM (left) the turtle was still there at 4:00 PM. There were many questions by passersby as to whether the turtle was alive. Notice that the right front foot is extended and the head slightly to the right on the right photo. The color difference is due to lighting conditions at the time of the photo. (both photos 9/13/11)

Have we seen this snapper behavior before?

That’s all for now.

Not yet at its full glory, this redbud will be ablaze within days.

Many of the Flowering Dogwoods have blossoms. Will the cool weather forecast for this weekend hold them back?

Last year the dogwood was in bloom too early and a cold snap ruined the fruit crop the following fall. There were very few berries on the trees.

Common Blue Violet.

Another Ground Skink.

This Ground Skink surprised me as I walked up the path near the Lemur House. It stopped and posed for several photos.

This skink (same as above) has its original tail. Long, slender, and wiggly, it might take a predator's attention away from the skink's business end, the head and body.

Ground Skinks, like many lizards, have the ability to regrow a tail that was lost due to predation or careless behavior. The tail usually doesn’t grow back as long or attractive as the original, and it is energy expensive, but it may save the lizards life. A predator is often left with the tail while the lizard scurries off to safety. Compare the skink’s tail on the right to this one, seen just a few days earlier.

Things change quickly during spring, so get out and have a look around.

This year the big three are all in bloom at the same time!

It seems as though the cold of February and much of March held back the redbud, and the atypically warm April (although today the high is predicted to be 66 degrees) spurred the others into an early bloom.

Eastern Redbud, the first of the dazzling duo, plus one (Eastern Redbud, Flowering Dogwood, and Wisteria), is typically the earleist to bloom.

Flowering Dogwood usually follows redbud.

Wisteria. Is the wisteria that grows in your local area native, or the Asian variety?

Get out and enjoy the blossoms while they last!

Blue-eyed Grass

All of the trees on the Explore the Wild/Catch the Wind Loop are showing fresh new growth at this time. Some are completely leafed out, some nearly so. This would be a good time to illustrate some of their leaves. I’ll leave it to you to identify them.

The leaves in the numbered images below (1-10) are all trees or vines around the Explore the Wild/Catch the Wind Loop. Most of the images were shot at the start of the third week of April, so the leaves will surely have grown since and may not look exactly like they did when the photos were taken. However, they all have the same characteristics when newly opened as when fully developed. Some of the identifications should jump right out at you, others, perhaps not. Good Luck. Don’t worry, the answers are at the bottom of the page.

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Picture 1 of 10

Leaf Answers (just in case you needed them)

1. Black Locust
2. Red Maple
3. Eastern Cottonwood
4. Flowering Dogwood
5. Poison Ivy
6. Redbud
7. Tulip or Yellow Poplar
8. Virginia Creeper
9. American Sycamore
10. Loblolly Pine (male cones, the source of all that pollen you saw covering everything, everywhere a few weeks ago)

The Museum’s Flowering Dogwoods came into their own the first week of this month, bursting open with all of their brilliant whiteness. The long thin branches of the Wetland’s Black Willows are covered with erect, yellow-green catkins. Although they’re easily overlooked, Wax Myrtles have flowers tucked in among their evergreen leaves.

Bluets, those tiny blue (usually blue) flowers that are everyone’s favorite (never heard anyone say they didn’t like bluets), are blooming. Carolina Jessamine’s yellow, tubular flowers are in bloom alongside the main entrance to Explore the Wild. Climbing high into the treetops before draping down over the trees like a cascading lavender waterfall, Wisteria can hardly be mistaken for anything else. Look for it as you gaze across the water from the main Wetlands Overlook.