My daughter Mel said she heard a whippoorwill a couple of nights ago. Seems like it’s a bit early, but we’ve had a pretty warm spring, so maybe they think it’s already summer. I sure do like to hear those little guys – gotta be one of the most beautiful of all bird songs. At least I think so, and it just puts you in mind of a nice warm summer night. I write songs for a hobby and I try to come up with lines about whippoorwills and jasmine. In fact, I think I already have some of that, probably in more than one song, but in this day and age with all the electronic noise that passes for music, I doubt if a night bird song would interest many of us. And the poor bird is bad ugly if you ever see one. It sort of looks like it’s part toad – big gaping mouth. I always wondered how a creature that ugly could make a sound so sweet. But I suppose that lady whippoorwill to whom he’s singing doesn’t look ugly to him. Oh yeah, and if you hear a whippoorwill during the daytime, it’s not a whippoorwill, it’s a mockingbird. And the mockingbird has the song down – you can’t tell the difference.
The pond frogs are out in force. That’s another nice relaxing night sound here in the south. And crickets and cicadas. It seems like the woodland smells also come alive at night. Even though it’s technically the south, we’re still too far north to have wild yellow jasmine, and I sore miss having it around because that little frail vine with fragile little yellow trumpet flowers it the sweetest smell you’ll ever enjoy wafting through the silence on a summer evening. If you are in the deep south and live near the woods, it would be well worth the effort to go out and find one. They are definitely odiferous – (is that even a word?)! And try not to feed the ticks while you’re out foraging for jasmine. Our ticks in the Ozarks are especially voracious and come at you hungry – seriously, they bring a bottle of bar-b-que sauce and wear a bib. I have a special place in my heart for ticks. I got one of those tick-borne diseases and it was a miserable two years plus – extreme pain. Never mind – just wear insect repellent.
And enjoy the red buds, too.
On some late evenings, we are treated to acappella gigs by coyotes – those little fellows know how to take the stage, too. I get game cam pictures of coyotes pretty often. But we can’t boast too much about our coyotes, because from what I see and read about, those little canids make their selves at home just about anywhere, so everybody has probably seen them in the wild – or maybe in the not so wild. Being a big-time dog lover, I really like coyotes, and wolves too, but wolves are really scarce in this country anymore. Ranchers didn’t want to compete with them, so they got slaughtered. I think it’s a shame – it’s one of those things that if it had got a little higher priority, we could have figured out a way to allow them to survive. I’ve heard them in the woods at night before and their song is beautifully eerie, and when you think about how few of them are left, the song is also kind of sad. Coexistence seems to be such tree-hugger tendency, and I guess I’ve grown in that direction as I’ve aged – no one takes the time anymore to pay attention to the needs of our fellow creatures and we continue to lose them and we’re going to miss them terribly.
It’s a rainy April morning, a little bit cool but not uncomfortably so, and the birds are singing the “Our yard needs to be mowed” song. The day before yesterday I noticed the first of the bummingbirds scouting around where I normally have their feeders hanging, so I filled them and they are starting to show up in scant numbers, but that will increase soon. Those little fellows can get vicious too! Once in a while they slam into each other – on purpose – and you can actually hear the thump. One or more of them will eat their fill, but not leave. They light on a nearby wire or branch and watch the feeders and when another bird approaches, the watchman will attack the poor unsuspecting hungry bird. Thump! That’s why I call them assassin birds. Sure, they’re cute and all, but everything’s not always what it seems.
We have a few what we call wet-weather creeks on the farm. I guess they are called that due to the fact that they never have water in them unless it’s raining. Some of us like to go rock hunting in them when it dries up. So, we get to feed ticks and find interesting rocks at the same time.
My old girl Dusty likes to help me and usually tries to get between me and the particular rocks I’m trying to look among. She’s pretty good at it, too, and if there are any water puddles, she goes swimming and then always gets close enough to me before she shakes the water off to share it with me. She’s a very thoughtful little old gal. She has a flea and tick collar, and those things work well. I need one for me.
Don’t even ask – no telling what you’re liable to find in these spring woods.
The dogwoods are in bloom right now, and they are spectacularly beautiful! A couple of years ago we were treated to what I believe was the prettiest dogwood show I’ve ever seen. This year they are nice, but not as showy as they were then. I think dogwood blooms like that only happen once or twice in a lifetime. What a treat it is to see!
I found an acorn that had a tiny oak tree being born out of it. I guess it’s the first time I’ve ever seen (or at least paid attention to) one at that stage.
Just think, someday this little guy is going to be a mighty oak tree looking down at us walking in its shade with a spring breeze stirring in its boughs. The shell it came from is lying there discarded like a pair of boots someone has outgrown. In case I forgot to mention it, I’m not a photographer so just ignore that shadow in the picture.
There are lots of little wildflowers growing everywhere. I couldn’t start to name them all, but if my late brother Paul was still around, he’d probably be able to tell me what they are. Before you get all excited, I do recognize the dandelion.
Some of the oak trees start out with colors that almost look like fall when they first start to bud out.
There’s a whole nuther world outside your door. Get out there and see it. I hope you’ve enjoyed this little walk in the woods as much as I have.