Leaf Out!
April sees the greening of the western Washington lowlands. With the waking of the trees comes the emergence and/or accelerated activity of so much animal life. Clouds of midges, flies and mosquitos feed swallows, while butterflies, bees and wasps feed at flowers. The voices and pheromones of birds fill the air as the urgent business of pairing, mating and nesting drives avian metabolisms into overdrive. The fruits of early-flowering plants are already forming by the end of the month as another wave of blooming unfolds. April here is a great month for birding and botanizing, and if you’re lucky you might encounter some snakes and lizards. Below I offer photographic evidence of my own such adventures.
Black Cottonwood, Red Alder and Bigleaf Maple leaf out in a riparian forest by the Snoqualmie River.
A pair of tree swallows (male in the top of the frame) enjoy a little rest together after a full morning of catching insects on the wing.
My first-of-year Black-throated Gray Warbler searches Red Alder leaves for caterpillars. Resident song birds like Robins, Song Sparrows, Bewick’s Wrens and Dark-eyed Juncos are already nesting when these migrants arrive in the latter half of April.
Audubon's Yellow-rumped Warbler male.
Unlike most wood warblers we have this species year round on the West Coast. They do become more conspicuous in spring though, both because of their bright breeding plumage and because of their courtship behavior.
Like all warblers they eat insects, but Yellow-rumped, which also includes the Myrtle form, are unusual in that they sally for flying insects. This behavior involves flying out from a perch to catch a flying insect then returning to their perch to eat it. Sallying is the fly catching behavior that gives Tyrant Flycatchers, Family Tyrannidae, their name. Most Wood Warblers, Families Parulidae and Peucedramidae, pick insects and arachnids from leaves, but Yellow-rumped Warblers are fly catching wood warblers!
While Audubon’s are common here we also get some Myrtle Yellow-rumped Warblers. This one is surrounded by the flowers and growing leaves of Bigleaf Maple. As I write the leaves are big and green, and baby samaras are emerging from the fading flowers.
Black Twinberry flowers summon hummingbirds to drink nectar and transfer pollen. This wetland shrub is a member of the honeysuckle family.
Saskatoon Serviceberry flowers feed bees, and their dark blue berries are enjoyed by many birds and mammals.
A Black-capped Chickadee searches a willow fruits for insects.
The fruits of this other willow nearby were bursting forth with their cottony, wind-borne seeds.
This baby Garter Snake was about the thickness of a pencil.
A Northern Alligator Lizard plays peekaboo with me.
If you don’t share my adoration for reptiles I trust this Canada Goose gosling will get your “cute!” response going.
That’s all for this time, my friends. If you’re reading this as an email please feel free to respond with any feedback, and if you’re on my website you can comment below. If you’re not getting my emails but would like to you can subscribe here: https://www.geraldlisi.net/
I hope that your spring is affording you some wild encounters, and their gifts of wonder and awe. Please take care of yourselves, each other, and the land you live on.