Natural History and You - The President's Forum
by Dave Wagner


Spring is in the Air


Hiking up Gillespie Butte today I noticed a surprising number of flowers in bloom. Our spring has already begun here in town. The western bittercress (Cardamine oligosperma) began blooming around the third week of January. This little weed has its jump-start on the gardeners when most of them haven't even begun to read the seed catalogs. A couple of days ago we saw a parking strip filled with the white pinpoints of petals in opening buds of the spring whitlow grass (Draba verna). These little guys are crammed in by the thousands. These two little mustards are expected to bloom this early. Less expected were the English daisies and the pretty blue speedwell in a ditch.

Last week we took a train up to Seattle. The views out on the wetlands along the lower Columbia River were graced with row after row of hazelnuts hanging out their catkins. In large groupings they are positively exquisite! Tucked among the whips of willow branches blaze red branches of (what else!?!) red-stem dogwood. I think these are the prettiest.


Drawing by Kristen Munson


Around the first week of January the pine siskins and lesser goldfinches left the feeders in our yard for other parts. We have enjoyed their company in large flocks for most of the winter. Where did they go? That they went somewhere else tells us that end-of-winter changes are taking place. Now we have only the occasional American goldfinch coming to the thistle seed feeder along with a Townsend's warbler (pictured) coming to the suet. The latter is my candidate for the prettiest bird of winter.

The Mallards have paired off in the Delta Ponds and flocks of fat robins must be looking for nest sites soon. I can hardly wait for the call of the song sparrow! What's going on outside is too exciting to stay inside for long, especially to type. I hope that many members of the ENHS will join me on our early spring walk along Brice Creek on the 23rd of this month. The next day we can celebrate our Natural History pleasures at the Hilyard Community Center, in remembrance of friends now passed on.

Dave Wagner

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