A matter of days

Sometimes change happens slowly. And then there are times like these. Three (3) days ago, the trees were still mostly bare, with just a hint of green, leafing out just starting. The main colours of our deciduous forests and wetlands were still browns and reds.

Baikie slough, April 15. Blue skies, brown grasses and trees. And the new salmonberry leaves.

Canada geese, Baikie slough

That was three days ago. This morning, all the trees and all the shrubs and all the vegetation at the side of the roads is green and dense, with no brown, no bare sticks to be seen. And my tulips are blooming.

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 A veces las cosas cambian lentamente, tan lentamente. Y otras veces, como ahora ... Hace tres (3) dias, los árboles caducifolios seguían pelados, con apenas un dejo de color verde, los primeros brotes de las hojas nuevas. Los colores principales en nuestros bosques y humedales eran todavía cafe y rojizo.

Eso fue hace tres dias. Esta mañana, todos los árboles, todos los arbustos, toda la vegetacón al lado de los caminos vestía un verde vivo, escondiendo completamente las ramas. No se veía por ninguna parte un árbol desnudo.

Y mis tulipanes han abierto sus flores.

Fotos: Aguas quietas al lado de la isla Baikie, con gansos canadienses, hace tres dias.

Early leaves

Green is bursting out all over. I walked down the Myrt Thompson trail, that follows a spit of land in the middle of the Campbell River down to the estuary.

The river breaks itself into several channels here. Low water today: sometimes it covers those grassy banks. I think the new leaves on the right are elderberry. They put out large leaves very quickly. A couple of black specks on the far shore (on the left) are a pair of eagles.

Red alder leaves and overwintering cones.

Willow catkins and baby leaves.

Looking downriver, out to the ocean and Quadra Island. And more new green leaves.

Green lights

The elderberries are budding.

Red elderberry, Sambucus racemosa, ssp. pubens

The flowers will be white, but for now, while they're in bud, they're tinged with pink. And the fruits, tiny drupes, will be bright red.

Background; logging slash, enlivened with the green lights of new elderberry and huckleberry leaves.

Tinies along the trail

The trees along the Ripple Rock trail are crowded, tall, twisty, and thickly draped in mosses. In the afternoon sunlight, the camera sees them as criss-crossing black silhouettes, with flaring yellow sunbursts. My eyes aren't any better. So I watch the path, instead.

First skunk cabbage bud of the year.

Frayed mushrooms on a log end.

Junco, thinking that if he doesn't move at all, I won't see him.

Moss sporophytes.

And on another, short, trail:

Green lights in the understory.

The trees are beautiful, but sometimes you can't see them for the forest.

Promises

These made me kneel in the mud on a Tyee Spit path.

Down in the dead grasses and stalks of winter, two pale umbrella mushrooms, and the first leaves of summer's weed crop: yarrow, draba, grass, and what is that cute 9-lobed one? One of the buttercups, maybe?
 

Two more mushrooms, grass, 9-lobes, and purple-fringed dead-nettle.

Greening up

I always love the greens of spring. Even in the rain. They're even better when I can stand inside in the dry, and just point the camera out the window.

The sap is running in my little maple tree. The brown stems winding through are the remains of an old honeysuckle.

New hydrangea leaves, a yummy, minty green at this stage.

A creek full of light

In Burns Bog, this time of year, the trees are not fully leafed out, and the leaves are still that cheerful springtime yellow-green. Although our path goes through deep shade, we walk under a glowing canopy. Down in the shadowed creek, a trickle of dark water traps and reflects the glory overhead.

Lone mallard in a patch of sky

Davies Creek, running along the outer edge of the bog, between ferny banks.

Stripes and trunks

Green zigzags

Patches

Vibrant greens