SPIRIT OF SPRING

Some of my Spring observations, of this world and the Other -

Ajuga, American Beeches, American Crows, American Hornbeam American (Common) Toad, Ants, Bald Eagles, Barn Owls, Barred Owls, Big Brown Bats, Baltimore Orioles, Barn Swallows, Beavers, THIS IS Beebalm, Belted Kingfisher, Bee-Hawk Moths, Big Tooth Aspeh, Blackbirds, Black-and-white Warbler, Black Bear, Black-cap Chickadees, Black flies, Black Snakes, Black Vultures, Black Walnut, MY CHURCH Bluebirds, Bluets (Forget-me-Nots), Bluejays, Bobcats, Box Turtles, Broad-Winged Hawks, Brown Jack-in-the-Pulpits, Brown Snakes, Brown Trout, Bull Thistle, Bumblebees, Buttercups, Butternut trees, WHERE Caddisflies, Canada Mayflowers (Wild Lily-of-the-Valley), Captain butterflies, Carolina Wrens, Carp, Carpenter Bees (the little ones are their helpers), Cherry trees, Chickadees, Chipping Sparrows, Chokecherries, GOD IS ALL Common Cinquefoil, Club Moss, Coltsfoot, Common Dandelion, Common Flickers, Common Mullein, Compton's Tortoiseshell, Copperheads, Cottontail Rabbits, Coywolves, Crabapple, Craneflies, Crayfish, Crickets, Dame's Rockets, Dandelions, Daffodils, Deer Mouse, Deer Ticks, DeKay's Snakes, Dog Tick, Downy Woodpeckers, Dutchmen's Breeches, Dwarf Cinquefoil, Eastern Chipmunks, Eastern Cottonwood, Eastern Coyote, Eastern Hemlock, Eastern Mole, Eastern Screech Owls, Eastern Sycamores, False Solomon'S Seal, Fireflies, Fiddleheads, Fishers, AROUND ME , Forest Tent Caterpillars (FTC), misc. Fungi, Flowering Dogwood, Garlic Mustard, Garter Snakes, Gay Wings, Goldfinches, FLYING HIGH Goldenrods, Gray Birch, Grasshoppers, Great Blue Herons, Great Horned Owls, Green-Backed Herons, Green Frogs. Green, green and more green! Green Jack-ih-the-Pulpits, OVERHEAD Grey Birches, Grey Foxes, Grey Squirrels, Ground

Cedar, Gypsy Moths, Hay-scented Ferns, High-bush Blueberries, Honey Bees (a few, at least), Honeysuckles, Horsetails, House Finches, WINGS BRUSHING House Sparrows, Huckleberries, Indian Pipes (also called Dutchmen's Pipes), Long-stem Buttercups, Longtailed Weasel, Low-bush Blueberries (native), Mallards, Mallow, Red Maples, GENTLY Mayapple, Mayflies (not many this year), Meadow Voles, Merlins, Milkweed (with Monarchs soon to follow), Minks, Misc. Mosquitos, Mountain Laurels, Mourning Cloak butterflies, Mourning Doves, Multiflora Rose, Muskrats, New York ferns AGAINST (tapered at both ends - don't know whether they're coming or going), Non-biting (but very annoying) Midges, MY FACE Northern Cardinals, Northern Flying Squirrels, Northern Grackles, Northern Red Oak, Northern Slate-colored Juncos, AND BUZZING WILDLY Ospreys, Ovenbird, Painted Turtles, Partridgeberries, Paper Wasps, Perch, Peregrine Falcon, Phoebes, Pileated Woodpeckers, Ponderosa Pine, Poison Ivy, Purple Trillium, Pussy Willow, LOOPING Quaking Aspen, Queen Anne's Lace, Raccoons, Ravens, Red-backed Salamander, Red Cedar, Red Foxes, Redheaded Merganser, Red-Eyed Vireos, Red Maples, Red Oaks, Red-shouldered Hawks, AROUND ME Red-spotted or Eastern Newt (wiRed Eft stage), Red Squirrels, Red-tail Hawks, Redwing Blackbird, Robins, River Otter, OR GENTLY Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, Ruffed Grouse, Sassafras, Screech Owls, Sedges, Sensitive Ferns (yes, you have to watch· what you say around them), Shad blow, Shagbark, Sho Hickory, NIBBLING ON Short-tailed Shrew, Skunk Cabbage, Smooth Sumac, Snapping Turtles, Snowy Egrets, Song Sparrows, Sparrow Hawks, Spicebush, Spotted Salamanders, Spotted Sandpiper, Starflowers, MY

SUBMERGED TOES Stoneflies, Striped Maples ("Charmin of the forest"), Striped Salamanders, Striped Skunks, Sugar Maples, Sulphurs, GRANDFATHER ROCKS Tamarack (American Larch), Tiger Swallowtails, Timber Rattlesnake, Titmice, Tree-frogs (Spring Peepers), Treewort, Trout-lilies, Tuliptree, Turkey Vultures, Viburnums, SPEAK Viceroys, Violets (I'm non-violet myself), Virginia Opossums, Water Snakes, Water-striders, Whip-poor-wills, Whites, White Ash, White Birch, White-breasted Nuthatches, White Cedar, OF GOD White Oaks, White Pine, White-footed Mice, White-tailed Deer, White-throated Sparrows, Wild Azaleas, Wild Geraniums, Wild Parsnip, Wild Strawberry, Wild Turkeys, Wild Grapes, Willows, AND I LISTEN Wintergreen (not always green), Wisteria, Witch Hazel, Woodcock, Woodchucks, Wood Frogs, Woods Anemones, Wood Ducks, Wood Thrush, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, Yellow Birches, Yellow Violets (which is it, yellow or violet?). Must have missed something.

Thank you All for your support. Please have a great, safe Season. Hopefully, this incessant rain will give way to more sunshine, but let's all try to BE the sunshine, to help each other out, to try to love each other the best we can, while we can. We need to be the Light in what sometimes seems like a dark and scary world. We can do this.

Take Care,

"Ranger" Dave Holden (845)594-4863

Please look for hikes posted on my website

www.woodstocknytrails.com (wlnew header by Franco Vogt) and on Woodstock Trails

on Facebook and please visit rangerdaveholden on Instagram. Thanks again.