Trip Report: Last Day of Winter Walk

On Saturday we were joined by a dozen people for a foraging walk. The sap of the river birches was flowing freely, and there were abundant edible greens before we were even out of sight of the parking lot. There were also many non-edible diversions along the way -- including a vernal pond with big masses of frog eggs, and the first blooming bloodroots of the season. Spring is here!

Our next walk is on April 23, to look for morels -- sign up soon, because it's sure to fill up!

What have you been seeing on the trails lately? Leave a comment and let us know. 

Here's a list of what we found. Asterisks are for ones we sampled; links are to posts on the Natural Capital.

River Birch sap is running!

Trees
River birch* (Betula nigra)
Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis)
Tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima)

Flowering

Bloodroot

Spicebush (Lindera benzoin)
Red maples (Acer rubrum)
Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis)
Skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus)
Lesser celandine (Ranunculus ficaria)
Speedwell (Veronica)
Deadnettle (Lamium)

Leaves
Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica)
Pennsylvania bittercress* (Cardamine pennsylvanica)
Chickweed* (Stellaria media)
Wild garlic/onion* (Allium)

Chickweed

Dandelion* (Taraxacum officinale)
Daylily (Hemerocallis)
Violet* (Viola sororia)
Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens)

Fungi
False morel (Gyromitra escuentla)
Very old chicken of the woods (Laetiporus sulphureus)

Animals
Frog eggs (probably wood frog - Rana sylvatica)
Lots of beaver sign (Castor canadensis)