"The best place to study nature is in the field. The woods are great classrooms, and nature's great book is ever open before us. We may read from its pages, and no matter how much we learn, we find that we can still read more."
— John Burroughs
Directive 1: Put away your smartphones.
Early Sunday morning it was gray and overcast, a prelude to rain for most of the day. There were many new arrivals and I added a couple dozen species over the weekend to my non-existent 2024 list. I sure am glad I gave up eBirding, jibing some birders I walked past who were staring at their smartphones entering data. "You're doing it wrong — look up into the trees!" I said. They weren't really all that humored, briefly glancing up from their connectivity but then immediately going back to work.
Directive 2: Please stop doing this everywhere you bird ...
You know what you're doing? You're spreading Garlic Mustard, that's what. This invasive plant is so resilient it will still go to seeds despite being pulled out by its roots. If you're going to pull it, bag it, and remove it from the conservancy. Rainwater will wash the seeds off the paved trail, rapidly infecting more habitat. To be sure, there's so much Garlic Mustard at the Pheasant Branch Creek Corridor it's really a lost cause. Still, whenever I see the pulled plant littered along the trail, I think of a generic pseudo-naturalist/birder wearing a Tilley hat and think "Look at me, I'm helping!" But you're not.
Anyway, here comes May!
All images © 2024 Mike McDowell