it was good to get back to normal Spring weather during the walk last Sunday after the frigid temperatures and snow of the previous weekend. Indeed, the day of our first joint walk along the canal this year was also the day of the Spring Equinox. There were signs of the changes that were to come.
Spring Beauty flowers were in the process of opening up in some spaces.
This is the first Virginia Bluebell that I have noticed this year.
This part of the towpath, between Sycamore Landing and Edwards Ferry, draws me in during the Winter and early Spring. The woods and trees have a certain character that comes out especially with the early morning sun behind our backs.
Our retreat into the woods last weekend was marred by an unfortunate discovery that we made as we were walking along the shore of the river near Edwards Ferry. A group of individuals had trashed the space after an evening of partying around a fire next to a river.
They did not bother to pick up their garbage. How irresponsible and out-of-touch does one have to be to not care about the damage you are doing? Why would you deliberately attempt to destroy the nature that you have just immersed yourself in and enjoyed? How self-centered do you have to be to only think about yourself and not the people who are coming after you?
By sheer coincidence, we did see some members of a volunteer cleanup crew who were going through the area looking for trash. We did alert them to the location of the garbage. We tried to do our little part in helping, by collecting a few of the empty cans that had been strewn all over the area into one location.
It looks like it is the time for the peak blooms for the Cherry Blossoms in the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC. The two cherry blossom trees in our yard are still changing.
This is also the time for dragonflies and butterflies. Here are some pictures. We saw a few different kinds of dragonflies, but I had a difficult time getting them in a position where they could be photographed properly. I was successful with this Common Whitetail male.
Interestingly enough, we saw a couple of dead frogs on on the trail. The sight was surprising enough for me to give a yelp and leap into the air on one occasion to avoid stepping on it.
This one is called Deptford Pink. It is a real tiny plant.
made their appearance beside the trail. The other flowers that I became familiar with when I started visiting the canal was the Fleabane. Those were also around in large numbers.
what I think is called False Solomon Seal,
and clover.
and Yellow Iris.
It would indeed be quite the coincidence if we happened on both False Solomon’s Seal and Solomon’s Seal during the same outing, but I am not completely confident about my conclusion.
In my mind, limited as it is in its capability to understand such things, the birds had nested close to each other on the tree for the night, had just woken up, and were getting ready for the activities of the day. You could see the early morning light hit the upper branches of the trees – to light up the birds, and to perhaps warm them up. I could not identify these birds. They looked like doves from this distance, but I could not confirm this in spite of some research.
This level of air traffic felt unusual, especially for that time of day, and for that day of the week. Most of the aircraft were small to medium size, and seemed to be on domestic flights. I could recognize the 
and I thought I had seen an Emirates aircraft earlier on when we were driving in. Based on what I noticed that morning, I get the impression that the international carriers have reduced the size of the aircraft that they are deploying for their flights. 
We had seen a Great Blue Heron in the same area during previous walks. This led us to consider the possibility that this was the same heron that we had seen before, and that the bird had somehow claimed this area as its territory. Fact of the matter is that we do not even know if herons are territorial and behave like this.
and the next moment our surroundings would be lit up brightly.
But the colorful specimen, although excited, seemed to be quite harmless. It was not frothing at the beak. It seemed to be following us with some purpose, and fortunately that purpose did not seem to include attacking human beings. I could tell by the look in its eye! Maybe it was expecting some food.
Not only that, there also seemed to be a different pipe leading out of the river towards the canal not too far from the pipe running through the culvert.
With some effort, and using a certain amount of skill that was newfound (and ultimately useless, may I add!), I managed to get the rooster back to the main trail. I could not have done it without the encouragement of the cheering squad.
It was not long into the walk before we spotted a bright blue bird flying across the trail in front of us. This was a bird that we do not normally see on the towpath. The color stood out amidst the green of the forest. The vibrance of its color was similar to the vibrance of 
One was curious as to the nature of the bird. I guessed that this was a male bluebird during its mating season. I was wrong! Later that day, we had a phone call with the kids on account of Mothers’ Day. I shared this picture with them. Jesse was quick to research this, even while we were talking. The bird in the picture above is called an 
Further along the trail, we came across some deer that were hanging out. These two appear to be having a conversation about the approaching humans. If you look carefully at the picture, you might also notice the cardinal (out of focus) on the trail in front of the deer.
The woods along the C&O canal are infested with a plant called garlic mustard. They are massively invasive, and show up once in two years. We have been seeing these plants during all our walks along the canal this year. Three or four years ago, I even took part in a cleanup effort along the towpath at a place called Carderock. I think controlling the spread of these plants is a losing effort.
Here is shot of the flowers of garlic mustard. This was part of my experimentation with the zoom lens to see if I could capture a picture which looked like one taken with a macro lens, i.e, taken with a lens that allowed you to take a picture from very close to the subject matter. At the time that I was taking this picture, I did not realize that there was an insect nectaring on the flowers.
Further along, we came across this Great Egret that took off at our approach. We saw it flying over the trees further along the trail.
We finally came across a real 
As usual, the air was filled with the sounds of the birds, occasionally mixed with those from the scurrying squirrels. There are certain sections of the trail where the birds are more plentiful. The woodpeckers, in general, make a very guttural sound. The trees can vibrate quite loudly when some of the woodpeckers hammer on their trunks. The woodpecker in the picture below is most likely a 
There were many flowers beside the trail as we approached Edwards Ferry.
These are fleabanes.
I myself did not walk all the way up to the river since I was busy changing the lens on the camera.
The parking lot at Edwards Ferry was quite full.
This 
The rest of the walk was completed with a renewed sense of purpose. We picked up speed in spite of the distractions of the park. We completed the walk in a reasonable amount of time. There were only a couple of cars in the parking lot by the time we got back shortly after 11am.
April 29, near Nolands Ferry.
May 6, near Rileys Lock.
We encountered quite a few fallen branches on the trail due to the aftereffects of the storm, and, being good citizens, we spent a significant bit of our time cleaning up the trail for those who were going to come after us. (We were not about to break any speed records that day.) And then there were the sections where we could do little to help, sections that would require professional equipment for cleanup.
We did encounter cyclists who must have had to carry their bikes over fallen trees.
and lock 25 are located
before turning back to return to our starting point.
and a picture of the chopped up pieces of a fallen tree that we saw beside the trail, a little too late for Valentine’s day.
We did about 7 1/2 miles of walking that morning. That is my story and I am sticking to it! 🙂
Splattered Brains 