Buds Bursting, and a Beaver!

This morning I walked from Chimney Rock Park to the northeast shore of Washington Valley Reservoir.

Washington Valley Reservior

The crabapples by the ball field will soon be flowering.

crabapple buds

The ash trees were blooming already. Ash is dioecious, so the whole tree is either male or female.  These flowers are male; you can see the anthers which release pollen on the wind.

male ash flowers

Ironwood was blooming, too. It has somewhat short male catkins (shown) and tiny, red-tipped female flowers on the same tree (monoecious).

ironwood catkin

Poison ivy’s new leaflets are even prettier than some flowers.

poison ivy

Lots of other new leaves:

grey dogwood?

hickory, maybe?

ash?

oak

hickory?

The distinctive shape of tulip tree leaves makes them easy to spot:

tulip poplar

These leaves quaked a bit like aspen, but turned out to be cottonwood, I believe:

cottonwood

You can see where maple-leaved viburnum got its name. It’s very crooked branches and two-foot height kept it from looking like an actual maple, though:

maple-leaved viburnum

Witchhazel still has the wooden bases of its winter flowers visible:

witch hazel

Japanese honeysuckle often makes oak-leaf shaped lobes on its lower leaves, particularly in shade:

Japanese honeysuckle

Something odd was up with the crown vetch, I have no idea what made some of its leaves white:

crown vetch with issues

Solomon’s seal is out, though not yet blooming:

solomon’s seal

But the highlight of the trip was my very first beaver. It made a loud noise with its tail, like someone dropping a large rock in the water. I spotted it swimming about 20 feet from me (and, of course, have a terrible camera for wildlife).

beaver!

end