The Sunday Walk in the Park

This week's Sunday walk in the Dykeman Spring Nature Park features some more blooms, a pair of turtles sunning, and my friend Wade Asper heading off to start the season's first haying.

The Arrowwood Viburnum along the Dykeman Walking Trail is in full bloom

More Blackberry blossoms in the wetland

Two Painted Turtles sunning in the bog pool

Wade heads off to start the season's first haying

© 2020 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Feels Like Summer

It's still only May, but it's feeling like July. I took a walk in the Dykeman Spring Nature Park this morning to beat the worst of today's heat and humidity. I shot flowers in the wetland which are still only Spring flowers; it may feel like July, but the Summer Asters and the Day Lilies haven't made their appearance yet. And then I went up on the meadow to show you how high the hay is getting, and also the sky, which today was definitely a Summer sky!

The Multiflora Roses were definitely scenting the air today

Looks like there's going to be a bumper crop of Blackberries this year

Daisy Fleabane

The hay is getting deep

Looking north from the top of the meadow

Looking across the meadow from the southern leg of the Meadow Trail

© 2020 by A. Roy Hilbinger

A Little Ramble

I did a brief ramble in the Dykeman Spring Nature Park this morning, getting it in before the heat settled in for the day. We're getting in to the 80s this afternoon, but while I was in the park it was in the mid 70s with a pleasant breeze blowing. Lots of flowers, a Song Sparrow, and a Painted Turtle sunning on a rock in the north duck pond were the chief subjects today, plus a panoramic shot of the pond from my favorite bench under the Kentucky Coffee Tree. It was all very laid back!

The Multiflora Roses are adding their sweet scent throughout the park

This Painted Turtle actually let me get quite close

My favorite view in the park

Daisy Fleabane along the trail in the wetland

A Song Sparrow singing away

Yellow Wood Sorrel along the trail in the wetland

© 2020 by A. Roy Hilbinger

This Week's Sunday Walk in the Park

So this weekend is the unofficial start of the Summer season, being Memorial Day weekend, but you wouldn't know it - it's overcast and gloomy, threatening rain, and cooler than the seasonal average. But it's certainly lush enough for Summer, and there are plenty of May flowers in full bloom. This morning's weekly walk in the Dykeman Spring Nature Park was proof of that.

Stork's Bill blooming along the Dykeman WalkingTrail

Yellow Flag in the marsh by the ball fields

Here comes Peter Cottontail, hoppin' down the Dykeman Trail...

After 10 years I still haven't figured out what this plant is

A female Redwinged Blackbird keeping a wary eye on me by the north duck pond

Blackberry blossoms up on the meadow

 © 2020 by A. Roy Hilbinger

So Very Green

I had some grocery shopping to do this morning, and of course I went to the store via the Dykeman Spring Nature Park. The biggest impression walking through the park was how lush and green everything is now. See if you don't agree.

The overgrown causeway over the creek between the ball fields

One of the resident feral cats in the wetland keeping a wary eye on me

The Purple Martin house in the wetland is very overgrown

A patch of Buttercups on the banks of the north duck pond

Another of the benches beside the north duck pond

A big patch of Dame's Rocket in the woods on the way up to the meadow

"The grand old Duke of York, he had 10,000 men; he marched them up the hill...

... and he marched them down again." Walking up and down the meadow on the hay track

© 2020 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Walking in the Woods

I felt a need to walk in the woods today, so I headed over to the Dykeman Spring Nature Park and the Upland Trail, which rises out of the wetland and heads up to the meadow. Of course, I had to go through the wetland to get there, and of course there were birds. And a Painted Turtle. So it wasn't just a walk in the woods.

Dame's Rocket in the woods along the Dykeman Walking Trail

A male Red-winged Blackbird singing in the wetland

A Blue Jay in the wetland woods

A Warbling Vireo in the Kentucky Coffee Tree by the north duck pond. It has such a beautiful voice!

A Painted Turtle and its reflection in the bog pool next to the north duck pond

The woodland stairway on the Upland Trail

© 2020 by A. Roy Hilbinger

A Spring Day

I took a leisurely walk in the Dykeman Spring Nature Park this morning. It's been a pleasant Spring day, and the park was looking more Summer-like now that the leaves are really starting to come in. Come take a walk in the park!

Dame's Rocket along the nature trail

Rhodora, a close relative of Rhododendrons and Azaleas

The "back entrance" to the park along the nature trail

A Catbird typically chattering away

A cozy nook beside the north duck pond

The red bridge

Daisy Fleabane in the wetland

A Dykeman wetland landscape

© 2020 by A. Roy Hilbinger

More Nature on a Sunday Morning

Today's walk in the Dykeman Spring Nature Park was another interesting one, with one long-awaited event. The event was that Mother Goose finally hatched all her babies, and she and Papa were out on the water with them when I got there today. There was also a young skunk wandering around by the north duck pond, but I couldn't manage to get an in-focus shot of it because I was too intent avoiding startling it and getting sprayed. I did manage to get a really good shot of one of the Solitary Sandpipers visiting the wetland on their way up to their breeding grounds in the Arctic tundra. All in all, it was a good day in the park!

Dame's Rocket in the woods along the Dykeman Walking Trail

A deer trail in the woods framed by trees like a gateway

Daisy Fleabane in the Dykeman wetland

A Solitary Sandpiper in the creek

Mama and Papa taking the kids out on the north duck pond

A Crow along the nature trail on the way home

© 2020 by A. Roy Hilbinger