Red-winged blackbird

A sign of the coming spring is the red-winged blackbird appearing.  I usually start seeing them about the last week in February.  This is the first one I've seen this year.  Heard him as I was passing by and spotted him high in this silver maple tree. His silver maple tree was just about ready to start flowering.

 McCormick Road just south of Cherry Lane, Feb. 26, 2012.

Link to red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus):

Link to previous post on silver maple (Acer saccharinum):

Whitewater on Wabash River

The Wabash River shows some rare whitewater just downstream from Happy Hollow Creek.  The water is fast here and the river has to be high but not quite in flood stage to show this.

Picture taken Feb. 26, 2012.

Link to Wabash River levels:

Aplectrum hyemale at Celery Bog Park

Leaves of Aplecrum hyemale, or puttyroot orchid, at Scifres-Maier woods in Celery Bog Park.   This plant stays fairly inconspicuous until you're about on top of it.  I can never find it if go looking for it, even though it's been in this spot for years.  Today five leaves were visible, here are two.

Picture taken Feb. 26, 2012.

Link to previous post on Aplectrum hyemale at Celery Bog Park:

Packera glabella

Along the Wabash Heritage Trail, near the junction of Burnett's Creek with the Wabash River.  Packera glabella was common on this day in this wooded area which is prone to flooding.  Not much else was green and growing on the trail.  Picture taken Feb. 18, 2012.

Link to previous post on Packera glabella:

Link to Packera glabella:

Bald Eagles at Williamsburg Pond

Two bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) perched in the trees on the narrow strip of land between the Wabash River and Williamsburg Pond.  This is at latitude 40.426 N, longitude 86.898 W.

There are five bald eagles perched in the trees in this picture, four mature eagles and one immature.

The flower buds are starting to appear on the silver maple trees (Acer saccharinum).  A bald eagle flies above.

A couple of red-tailed hawks were circling overhead in this area before I spotted the eagles.   The eagles didn't seem to mind the presence of the hawks.  Two or three gulls were in the area too, landing on the thin ice of the pond.  Seagulls show up at this part of the Wabash River occasionally during the winter.

Pictures taken February 12, 2012.

Link to previous post on a bald eagle:

Link to Acer saccharinum flowers:

Red-tailed hawk on Purdue campus

This red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) finds a perch on a lamppost on Purdue's campus.  Pictures taken Feb. 7, 2012.

Link to another hawk on campus post:

Stellaria media and Veronica peregrina in January

Chickweed (Stellaria media) sprouting in the middle of winter.  The small sprouts surrounding the chickweed rosette are Veronica peregrina, another very common weed that will grow in the wintertime.  Picture taken January 28, 2012.  This is in a planter box at the corner of the State House, Indianapolis, near Washington St. 

Link to Stellaria media:

Link to Stellaria media:

Link to Veronica peregrina: