![]() And as leaves begin to unfurl, look and listen for Scarlet Tanagers and Baltimore Orioles in the top of the canopy of mature oaks. ![]() There were also two tiny gypsy moth caterpillars just beginning to show the definitive dots that run along their back.Įarly in the spring when oaks are just beginning to break bud, catbirds normally are back. And dangling down from the tree on silken threads were several tiny instars of Ashen Pinion caterpillars and some other, as yet unidentified, caterpillars. Tiny creatures were crawling along twigs and leaf undersides that turned out to be yellow nymphs of some sort of tree hopper insect. But a closer look proved that we had just seen the tip of the iceberg. Holes from feeding insects, leaf shelters and galls were just a few things we noticed. Today my co-worker and I stopped to admire an oak and it became apparent that there was a lot of activity on its lower branches. So over the years I have learned to heed the words of Paul Simon- “ slow down, you move too fast… “ It is always a surprise to discover all the activity going on that I would have missed because of a failure to employ the railroad method of outdoor walking: ‘ stop, look and listen “. One of my favorite things to do is to take a lightweight three- legged folding stool out on hikes and sit down for a while in areas that show a promise of something good to come if I can simply wait a bit. Do you ever think about all the life going on around you- on plants, in the water and soil or whatever? Sometimes we just need to take a little time to stop and smell the roses ( I used to smell them as I ran by ) or spend some time looking a little closer at the world around us.
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