Spring is Low to the Ground and Up in the Trees

Passing visitor. We always called them black snakes but I think it’s a northern watersnake.  They come out of hibernation in the spring, lay about sluggishly, then head for the water for a happy summer of scoffing down yummy fish and frogs.  They’re very hard to see among gravel and leaves and they opt for imitating dead sticks rather than skittering off like garter snakes. They’re harmless, of course, but can give you a turn when they swim up to you in the lake to see if you are edible or at least a floating log where they can bask. They happily swim miles from shore and dive ten feet down if there’s any prospect of a meal. I’m so pleased this one paused to smile for the camera.

Wild apple blossoms. These hardy, determined, twisted trees survive amidst tangled brush and crowd into fence rows. Their fruit is small, wormy, of variety gone rogue and often wildly delicious.

Find the heron. Great blue herons that fish in my pond prove the worth of their natural camouflage.

My swan family. Every year they return to the beaver pond to nest. This year they have seven cygnets and haven’t lost one. Experienced parents at work.

Backside of a toad I almost pureed with the lawn tractor. A very fat and squashy one with  lovely lumpy patterning on her back. She finally had to good sense to hop away.