When it is as warm as it has been today, it’s easy to forget that spring has just started. Connor and I went for a hike up Indian River trail today. The alders and devil’s club are still bare while the salmonberries, blueberries and skunk cabbage are just starting to turn green. Even so, in the woods, there is enough green from the moss and evergreen trees that it is easy to imagine that it is mid-summer. Muskegs are never especially green, but when we arrived at the muskeg along the trail, I was struck by just how brown it was. It reminded me that winter is just barely passed and it may have yet to make its final appearance for this year.

Part of the forecast for today was “unseasonably warm.” It certainly was. Temperatures were in the mid-60’s. The warm weather is forecast to last through the weekend.

The winter wrens have a pretty loud voice for such a small bird. Their song is pretty long and complex sounding. I recorded one singing in front of the house the other day and have put up an audio file of it singing. (You may need to right click on the link to save it.)

It’s almost surprising how fast plants are producing new growth. This morning when I walked to work, it looked like the buds on the raspberry canes were just barely swelling open and by this afternoon there was an additional centimeter or so. The salmonberry blossoms are starting to open amongst the growing leaves when it was only a day or two ago that there was just a hint of leaves pushing out of the buds. The deerheart are showing up as many spikes that consist of rolled up leaves which will soon unfurl to cover the forest floor in green. Along the beach this evening there seemed to be far more seaweed then the last time I was there.