Turkey Tracks, Spring Beauties and Peepers

Early one morning over the Easter weekend, I walked down towards the Choptank.  The woods was wet from rain, and a mist rose among the sweet gums and maples near the creek. With the fog and tall tree trunks, the scene was almost primordial as I headed downhill towards the distant sound of rushing water.

As I slowly moved towards the river, I began to hear the chirping of hundreds of Spring Peepers, those small frogs that announce the coming of warmer weather evry year.  With their calls echoing in my ears, I saw fresh turkey tracks coming out of the sandy uplands and heading down the dirt road towards the water.  I followed the tracks for a while before they veered left and off the track.  As I came level with the spot where the tracks left the road, an explosion of noise silenced the peepers, and made me jump.  A huge tom turkey had been crouched in the tall weeds at the side of the road and had burst from the brush to fly away.  We were about six feet apart when he took off, his huge wings beating rapidly until he cleared the tops of the tall trees in the wet woods.  I watched in awe as he flew out of sight through the leafless early spring trees.

I continued to walk towards the water, until the leaf litter was covered with a thick layer of spring beauties, those small delicate spring flowers that dot the lowlands on the eastern shore.  Individually, these little five-petaled flowers are barely noticeable. Taken in mass, however, thousands and thousands of blooms seem like a natural carpet on the forest floor.  A stood for a while to appreciate the way that these early spring plants can change the entire way the woods are viewed.

Right at the water's edge, A heard the scolding, buzzing calls of several blue-gray gnat-catchers over my head. I finally saw one of the little birds, acting like brightly colored wrens, twitching their tails as they flitted from branch to branch.

All of these scenes reminded me that winter was gone, and that we would soon have a mantel of green over our heads when all of the trees erupted with millions of leaves.  Soon, mosquitoes will fill the air, and the fly catchers will feast, as will the bats as they zig from one meal and zag to the next.

Of course, the turkeys are here year-round, but it seems the only time I every get a chance to really see them is in the spring, as they loose their caution and have less places to hide.

I can't say that I'll miss the Winter, with it's cold blasts of air and all of that wood to cut and haul.  I will miss Spring, though, as it quickly gives way to Summer.  I love the early spring sights and sounds, the cool mornings and the chance to again see things that I have missed since the previous year.