Saturday, April 30, 2011

3 Cool Things

It has been raining, raining, raining for days, but finally this evening the sun came out.  I  walked down the squishy path to the big rock at the edge of the meadow to check on the status of  the wildflowers. The bloodroot I planted last fall is blooming!  It is one of the very earliest wildflowers to bloom. I love how the leaves curl around, embracing the stem. If you pluck a leaf, the juice at the base of the leaf near the ground oozes out red - hence the name.  I hope this little cluster will expand our into the woods.
Last fall I planted one marsh marigold root, thinking it might be wet enough in the spring for it to survive. Well, this year it may be the only thing I planted there to survive - that spot is standing water this year. I expect to find tadpoles soon!
The third cool thing I found by the big rock was an owl pellet!  I have always been on the lookout for  an owl pellet, but this is the first one I have ever found. OK, if you think about it in a certain way, it is essentially like a hairball a cat coughs up, except that it is amazing because it came from an owl. You can see fur, fragments of bone, what looks like a beetle shell, and a claw in this pellet. Maybe I will dissect it. 

4 comments:

Rain said...

very interesting owl pellet-and to think most people would just overlook a delightful thing such as that!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

The flowers are so pretty. I've actually found a couple of owl pellets on my deck. It is kind of cool if you don't think about it being gross.

Teresa

Kimberly said...

lovely pictures!

i would totally dissect it. i remember doing it as a kid in school. we have owl in our big maple. now i'll have to look for pellets.

Bethany Ringdal said...

Marsh Marigolds are one of my all-time favorite flowers--they're all over at my camp. If you get more someday, they're excellent pressing flowers!