Predicting the fleeting bloom of spring ephemerals takes some work. A photographer friend had been scouting Messenger Woods in Lemont for the spring bloodroot bloom for a couple of weeks. Each bloom only lasts one day, so there’s only a small window of time to see them. It was with this goal that we met up last Monday. I wouldn’t describe myself as a flower photographer, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get out into the woods on this beautiful spring day.
Among the flowers we did find, carpets of Virginia Bluebells and clusters of Spring Beauties, was this busy chipmunk. He was happily foraging, returning to this log time and again to eat.
Along the creek with the Virginia Bluebells, migrating warblers flitted about picking insects out of the air. They were on a stopover, fueling to continue their journey north.
Also along the creek, I also watched a pair of courting Northern Flickers, following each other from tree to tree, putting on a fabulous display of fanned, yellow, tail-feathers and raised, red crests in their aim to impress.
While searching the trees for the tiny warblers, I spied this sun-kissed ruffled edge of fur protruding from the bottom of a notch high up in a tree. A sleeping raccoon content to ignore me traipsing below.
It’s hard to predict nature, despite our best efforts, and so we missed the bloodroot bloom. But what we found in the other blooming flowers and animals was even better.
Especially enjoyed seeing the Northern Flickers in courting mode 🙂