I Am Not Hamlet

Spring ephemerals began their yearly appearance during Holy Week. The lock-down had afforded me the opportunity to reacquaint myself with some species that I hadn't seen in several years. I allowed my time for wildflower viewing to be restricted to the weekends for far too many years. Time is gift so easily squandered, isn't it? The following photos were captured at Maybury State Park in Wayne County and Oakland County, MI (which incidentally contains the highest point in the Rouge River watershed). Pre-blooming trillium (probably Trillium grandiflorum ) Early stage of May-apple ( Podophyllum peltatum ) Blooming bloodroot ( Sanguinaria canadensis ) Cutleaf toothwort ( Cardamine concatenata )   More bloodroot ( Sanguinaria canadensis ) Hard to tell, but I think this is a wood frog. I haven't ID'd this one yet. Bueller?...Bueller? Anyone? Mourning cloak ( Nymphalis antiopa )

The following photos were taken on 10 April 2020 at Crosswinds Marsh in Wayne County, MI. That day was the first warm day this spring as evidenced by the insect and reptile activity. I had been to the marsh before, but I had only explored some of it by water as my son was earning his canoeing merit badge with his BSA troop there. I was impressed with the size of the property, though work is needed to rid it of massive amounts of phragmites and to a lesser extent, common buckthorn and autumn olive. The marsh only exists because when Detroit Metropolitan Airport expanded they drained some wetlands that were located on the proposed expansion. So, in a wise program of replacement, Crosswinds Marsh was created about 10 miles SE of the airport. Given that it was the Friday before Palm Sunday, and not expecting to have any palms for the celebration, I found many salixes growing around and cut about two dozen branches for their pussy willows in solidarity with the Eastern European tradi