Plants!

Leaf-out is upon us.  After such a long delay (compared with recent years), the leaves on the Norway Maples seemed to explode out of their buds last week, and now many of the native species have almost fully leafed out, too.  When the birding gets slow, we botanize, so here are a few of the species found on a weekend ramble around the west edge of Estabrook.

Poison Ivy can be readily identified by it's reddish stem/petiole and three-leafed structure, but at this time of year, the glossy sheen and amount of green can vary significantly.  The newest foliage can be almost all purplish red...

...while older plants take on a more uniform greenish hue:

The species grows both as a free-standing plant or bush and as a high-climbing vine.  If you see a trunk that looks like this, don't hug it!  That's a Poison Ivy vine climbing into the canopy.

Some other interesting trees that you might come across on the trails are Hophornbeam, whose flaky bark is accentuated by this photo:

Striped Maple, whose bark is green and (wouldn't you know) striped:

and American Chestnut, a species that was once the dominant large tree in eastern forests of North America but now only exists as small sprouts from the rootstock, dying after only about five years of growth.  An introduced blight from Asia decimated the trees above ground in the early 20th century, but the roots still survive, sending up shoots that eventually will succumb as well.  This photo shows a typical chestnut specimen in Estabrook.  The leaves are fairly easily identified by their elongated shape and deeply toothed edges.

Lastly, it is blooming time for some of our more spectacular wildflowers, including the Pink Lady's Slipper, an orchid highly prized for its large single bloom.  Keep your eyes peeled, and you just might see one, but please leave it there for a friend to find!