The Daily Bucket is a place to catch your casual observations of the natural world and turn them into a valuable resource. Whether it's the first flowers of spring or that odd bug in your basement, don't be afraid to toss your thoughts into the bucket. Check here for a more complete description.
It would be nice to have a few mountains around, and really I'd love to live on water. My first trip through college was spent studying aquatic biology ("non-marine" as the diploma given me by the good folks at Murray State reminds me). I've always wished for that spot where I could wander down to the boat dock and at least skim the shore for the jelly balls of freshwater bryozoans or watch for the sleek shadows of paddlefish passing under the waves. However, at the moment I don't have either mountains or lakes handy.
What I do have is a steep little valley with a nice patch of woods. My "backyard" isn't a park, it's hardwood forest made a bit extra scraggly by the rampant undergrowth typical of edge community. In the summer my view often extends about ten feet, right into the dense leaves of an oak or elm. But through the winter I can see down the slope and across to the, um, not-quite-towering 850' ridge across the creek.
A couple of months ago, that view looked like this.
There's been some serious melting since then, but as of today, there's still no sign of flowers and/or leaves.
That little tree in the forefront of both images (the one with the dangling seed pods that are still attached after a snowy winter) is a red bud, which is usually the first thing to brighten my spring woods. No buds on the red bud just yet. One other thing you can see clearly in the second picture is some standing dead wood off to the right. That particular oak trunk is about 35' tall and has been standing there sans branches at least since we arrived at this spot ten years ago. We've lost another couple of large oaks since then, and my tendency is to leave them in place. For one thing, when you live in a log home, having something around to distract the woodpeckers seems like a good idea.
No particular wildlife observations to report. What's happening at your place?
Today's observations come from these locations
Share your own observations in comments, and I'll add a marker to the map. Please give a city and state (as close as you feel comfortable in providing). Green pins for observations mostly about plants, brown for animals, and blue for weather or other inorganic items. The letter at the center of each pin will be the first letter of the user who provides the data.