Trout lily

A trout lily by any other name...?

This early wildflower is also known as Faun lily, Adders Tongue, and Dogtooth violet, which is probably why botanists prefer the latin name Erythronium americanum. By any name, it was really popular with the bees and beetles at the Kalamazoo Nature Center yesterday afternoon.

Marsh Marigold

April 15 means income taxes but for me it's a reminder to go look for wildflowers around Kalamazoo. The marsh marigolds, Caltha palustris, were spectacular in the afternoon sun.

Cold

As I write this, it's -3° (-20° C) in Kalamazoo. Even the wildlife looks cold. Of course, its much colder on the other side of Lake Michigan.

Christmas tree

This afternoon, we cut our tree at our favorite tree farm.

Backyard wildlife

For some reason, we see more animals in the yard during the winter. I'm not sure if it comes from seasonal changes in their behavior or in ours. We've seen deer every morning this week and an opossum last night.

alfresco

Kalamazoo just had its first deep snow of the season.

Not so evergreen

Most conifers in Michigan are green year round. The Tamarack (Larix laricina) is the only one that loses its needles for winter. The brown needles remind me of an artificial tree I almost bought by mistake in Uruguay.

Kalamazoo is at the southern edge of this tree's range which extends to northern Canada. Historically, tamarack has been used for many purposes from ships to paper to decoys.