Deep Spring, May 10, 2024

Hello! New posts from my website haven’t happened for a long time, so thanks for reading. For the past nine or so months, I have been posting a weekly “photo-centric newsletter” on Instagram that focuses on the concept of microseasons and the minute seasonal details each week brings. With all the changes on social media these days, I’m starting to realize I should be keeping my posts here on my website. You’ll see that you can swipe through the slideshow above, which contains pictures and some text. I’m not sure exactly how this will work–we’ll see how it goes! In the meantime, feel free to leave a comment. Here is last Friday’s post, from May 10, 2024. Or you can view it on Instagram, as well. Thanks!

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We are in deep spring now—the green has settled in for good. The leaves are less translucent, more mature. It would be remiss to not discuss the sheer quantity of birds right now. I am not a good birder, because I am impatient and can’t sit still, but I think I have a decent handle on the regulars from many years of practice. There are some that are more dear to me than others for varying reasons, and I get a new favorite every now and then. This year’s favorite is the Louisiana Waterthrush, which is actually a warbler that is only passing through.

The other day, I went to go check on the fruit trees when I heard a few notes that I suddenly recognized–the Baltimore oriole! I love its fluting song and the unique pattern of inquisitive call notes that it chirps as it hops from high branch to high branch, eating buds and bugs.

Yesterday was the first night leaving the window open overnight–so glad to have the window open again–and in the morning there was another lovely sound: I was woken up by the wood thrush’s mysterious forest song. In my opinion, that’s one of the nicer sounds to wake up to.