The Daily Bucket is a place where we post and exchange our observations about what is happening in the natural world in our neighborhood. Each note about the bugs, buds, and birds around us is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns of nature that are quietly unwinding around us.
We haven't been out a lot since coming back from Florida. We did manage a couple of morning walks this week. Almost all our favorite neighborhood routes go past the small storm water control pond a couple of blocks from us. We go out that way, or we come in that way. It's fun to see the changes in vegetation around the pond and also to spot the geese, ducks, occasional heron or kingfisher.
This week the fringe area around the pond showed a lot of plant growth, both right along and in the water, as well as in the grassy area around it. In the water's edge were plants with large, shovel-shaped green leaves, standing upright, points into the air. We haven't seen these before, or at least hadn't noticed them as being so densely packed along so much of the edge. No photos, unfortunately.
In the grassy area the weeds have grown thickly, tall and dark green. Again we haven't seen these before. The city has hardly mowed any common areas since there's been so little rain, so we suspect the plants have been ready all along and finally are taking their unimpeded turn.
A lot of wild cherry trees grow around us. We have one in our yard, damaged when the big limb came out of the locust tree Saturday with our sudden high wind. It was already damaged, but this didn't do it any favors. The photo above shows one near the pond, healthy and producing its cherries. The fruits are small, the size of the very end of my pinky finger. I tasted one of the ripe ones. It was not sweet, and the stone was a large proportion of the berry. It would be pretty hard to fill up on these cherries.
Growing right below the tree was something with the white berries in the photo below. The berries are the same size as the cherries, so at first I thought it was part of the cherry tree, and that the berries were not reddened yet. Jim pointed out the differences, though. The leaves of the cherry are a little glossy and finely serrated on the edges, while this tree has leaves that are matte, slightly wider proportionally, and not serrated.
He suspected, and we confirmed later, that it is a gray dogwood. It is more of a shrub than a tree, usually growing no more than six feet tall. The berries are always white, and it is considered invasive in some areas.
Besides the berries we noticed on our walks, we also spotted another hummingbird in our yard, after not seeing any for a few weeks. The video below was taken this week by someone we know in central Illinois. When you watch, you should use full-screen mode, and also change the quality (lower right, the left-most control) to HD for the best resolution. There could be buffering issues, so please be patient.
What is going on in your neighborhood? Let us know where you're located.