P. M. — Boat to Nut Meadow.
MAY 18, 2015
Large devil’s-needle.
Sassafras well open. How long? Celtis will probably shed pollen to-morrow; shoots already an inch long. Sorrel pollen.
First veery strain.
Green-briar leafed several days. Veronica serpylli folia well out (how long?) at Ash Bank Spring.
See the yellow-legs feeding on shore. Legs not bright-yellow. Goes off with the usual whistle; also utters a long monotonous call as it is standing on the shore, not so whistling. Am inclined to think it the lesser yellow-legs (though I think the only one we see). Yet its bill appears quite two inches long. Is it curved up?
Observe a blackbird’s (red-wing’s) nest finished. At Clamshell a bay-wing sparrow’s nest, four eggs (young half hatched) -- some black-spotted, others not.
These last warmer days a great many fishes dart away from close to the shore, where they seem to lie now more than ever. I see some darting about and rippling the water there with large back fins out, either pouts or suckers (not pickerel certainly). Apparently their breeding-season arrived. Is not this where the fish hawks get them?
Rhodora; probably some yesterday. Black scrub oak pollen. Fir balsam pollen; say begins to leaf at same time.
The clump of golden willows west of new stone bridge is very handsome now seen from hill, with its light-yellowish foliage, because the stems of the trees are seen through it.
H. D. Thoreau, Journal, May 18, 1855
Tell tale, great yellow-legs. See May 31, 1854 ( "It acts the part of a telltale." "watchful, but not timid, ... while it stands on the lookout ... wades in the water to the middle of its yellow legs; goes off with a loud and sharp phe phe phe phe. ...")
The clump of golden willows west of new stone bridge is very handsome now seen from hill, with its light-yellowish foliage. See May 18, 1853 ("A singular effect produced by a mass of ferns at a little distance, some rods square, their light yellow green tops seen above the dark masses of their fruit. ")
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