Out Again

 Photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

(Lots of Wild Turkey "gobbling in the distant landscape as I was photographing this scene.) 

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Out again, walking the hillsides and valleys south of the studio with the cameras; it feels good!  Its too bad spring and early summer are so fleeting; I love the subtle colors that later turn a full blown summer green.  You'll get chartreuses, yellows, ochres, rusts, siennas, and many unexpected in-betweens with the buds swelling and the emerging foliage.

 

"Ground Plum (Astragalus crassicarpus) 

Photograph © Bruce A. Morrison 

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I walked a new place and was pleasantly surprised to find some scattered patches of Ground Plum (Astragalus-crassicarpus) on some prairie remnant slopes.  I have found them on the Waterman Prairie near there but hadn't yet on private property.  Many times you'll still find "plums" from the previous year or remains of them but didn't this time...it made me pause and doubt the find but later verified the plants.  There is a large deer population here and I found a large nest of a Wild Turkey very close to some plants, so suspect they're being utilized as soon as they're available.

 

 Photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

(Wonderful woodland understory and early morning light!)

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There were many Wild Plums in bloom - very late this year due to the extended winter hanging on...most were less than dramatic however; I suspect from the heavy flush last year followed by hard drought.  Even the plums on our acreage have filled out to a more noticeably smaller degree.

The biggest surprise to me was the nice open woodland edges over a small ravine, very pleasant with the morning sun just breaking through the forms of Bur Oaks.

More walks...must have more walks this spring and summer!!!  Its nice to get out again.