Well The Calendar Says It's Spring

I can't say that March is the best month for hiking in the DC region, especially this March, which certainly came in like the lion it's said to be, but has yet to become the lamb that it's said to evolve into. Cold, grey, and rainy have been the best ways to describe this month. To be honest, we have had a few nice days, but they have consistently been mid-week. The weekends have been gross. But I've survived and I'm close to being done with my first chapter. The weather willing, I'll do two hikes tomorrow, and then hike my final Metropolitan DC trail on Friday. Keep your fingers crossed.

On a positive note, getting out every single weekend to hike has really made me notice all the little changes that happen in the evolution of winter to spring. Each week I notice something new---the first crocuses and daffodils, the red buds of a maple, the blossoms on a cherry tree, the bright yellow of the forsythia, the earliest wildflowers, the greening of the underbrush, the flowering of magnolias. The hike I plan to do this coming Friday is in the National Arboretum, and I fully expect it to be rather lovely by then. The cherry blossoms are supposed to be in their full glory, and the magnolias and azaleas might be flowering too. A little sunshine would certainly help.

Anyhow, here are a few pictures of the springing of spring.







Another cool thing about hiking in the early spring, before the forests have turned green, is the opportunity to spot wildlife. It's certainly a lot easier to catch sight of whatever it is you hear tramping through the woods when the woods are bare. I've easily been able to pick out the Eastern Bluebird, whose feathers are electric blue, and I've been able to locate all the woodpeckers that I usually just hear. And back when I was just working on the proposal, Jeff and I actually caught sight of a coyote. Today, on a trip to Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, which I didn't have high expectations for since the waterlilies for which the park is known don't bloom until summer, I actually had a pretty cool experience.

I saw a small red fox, which kept its eyes on me until I pulled out my camera at which point it ran away so I only got a lousy shot of it. I also saw a gorgeous Great-blue heron.


And in one of those cool nature channel moments, I watched a raccoon attack the nest of a Canada Goose. The goose went crazy, honking and hissing and flapping its wing, but that didn't deter the raccoon at all. Unfortunately, Jeff has our good camera with the zoom I needed, but I did manage to capture this shot. You can see the raccoon in the grassy area to the left of the tree. The goose is taking a break here, having worn itself out to no avail. It did later on have energy again, however, as it went crazy coming after me when I got kind of sort of close to it. (For both this shot and the one of the heron, I had to zoom beyond the capacity of my point and shoot camera to take a good picture, so the quality isn't that great.)