Friday, April 12, 2024

Piedmont, early April

 A cloud of yellow butterflies, swallowtails, over the Yellow River. You can see such things in spring if you leave that comfortable chair.

Among the other sights:

• A red-tail hawk, big enough to be an eagle.

• Mountain laurel, Kalmia latifolia, just beginning to put out blooms.

• Carolina sweetshrub, Calycanthus floridus, a beautiful plant whose blooms look like the bud of a dark red rosebud on top of dusty red sunflower petals.

The Wise Woman found a feather from a barred owl on the trail. The next day, I found the remains of a small rat snake. People kill snakes indiscriminately, and I mourn when I find their carcasses. But this was the work of a surgeon who filleted the snake perfectly and cleaned every scrap of meat from the skin. I’d guess an owl.

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