Skunk Cabbage

 Though not the most elegant plant in the forest... it is one of the more interesting.
It is the first to appear in the Northeast, flowering February to May. It is again an early source of pollen for bees. It is a little oasis during the still very cold months for bees. If it warms up enough to venture out of their hive, the bees can travel to this carrion smelling flower and nestle into the opening of the spathe to find a spadix that produces a temperature of around 70 degrees F. The bee is free to gather pollen in the spring like temperature of the Skunk Cabbage. Birds and frogs have been known to take advantage of its warmth also.
Thoreau wrote " If you are affected with melancholy at this season, go to the swamp and see the brave spears of Skunk Cabbage buds already advanced toward a new year."

Where I found it : In a swampy wet land not far from the river.

Colts Foot

 Here it is. I was able to go back in the woods with my camera to photograph my first find of the season. Colts foot first comes up without its leaves. They appear later in the spring. The leaves were used in the 19 century to make cough candies or cough drops as we call them. Colts Foot comes up so early that it is an important bee plant. It is an early source of pollen for the bees.

Where I found it : On an open path in the woods.

Colts Foot and Great Horned Owls

March 21 is early for my first flower of the season, but none the less, today, I came across Colts Foot growing on the path in the woods. I was thrilled as I didn't expect anything for another month...   I looked up when Colts Foot can be found in the East, it said as early as Febuary. Also .... I heard a Great Horned Owl hooting at 11:00 in the morning. I heard him three times. This was a special morning.