Spring Cattails to Study

This is our third season for studying our little patch of cattails. Actually, we are watching two different patches, one patch around the corner from our house and one on our regular walking trail. They both have sprung to life over the last few weeks.

Here is our winter entry: Winter Cattails.

The first spot....

This area is alongside the road and it has been easy to watch the cattails growth as we drive by a few times a week. We actually walked over to do our observations of the cattails so we could take our time and really look at them up close. Well, so much for getting up close. The grasses are about chest high and the ground is sloppy wet. The creek is running and everything is so green! We compared these photos with the ones we took in the winter and it is amazing how different the surroundings are for our little cattail patch.


Here I zoomed in with the camera a little so you can see the cattails but as far as getting close to examine them, no way. We will have to watch and see when the water levels go down and then make an update.


I took a 10 second video so you could here what we heard.....insects. If you read this entry in your email, you may need to click over to the blog to see the video.


The second patch is green and ankle deep in water, so muddy that none of us wanted to wade over to investigate further. We did hear some red-winged blackbirds and some robins near-by as we stopped to observe the cattail's leaves more closely.


There are quite a few growing and it seems like there are more now than when we started observing this patch in the autumn.


Here you can see the slippery mud alongside the walking trail. One thing we noticed this time is that there is a certain smell to this area, perhaps the mud has a particular odor but even just typing about it brings the scent back to mind. It is a peculiar smell and not unpleasant. Marshy growing things....if I had to pick a way to describe it.


We were treated to a reptile sighting on this walk. This sort of reptile does not bother me as much as the two rattlesnakes we saw on our walk last weekend. Rattlesnakes are a common snake in our area but I have rarely seen them out and about as we walk. Today though, this alligator lizard stopped scurrying along so I could take his photo.

Our journals are in the works but I wanted to get this entry up before this week's challenge posts. I have really enjoyed the entries lately and I want to thank all the families that faithfully post their nature study stories on Mr. Linky.

Have a great week!
Barb-Harmony Art Mom


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