The year is but a succession of days,
and I see that I could assign some office to each day
which, summed up, would be the history of the year.
Henry Thoreau, August 24, 1852
The expanding leaves
all beautiful in the rain
covered with clear drops.
May 13, 1852
The woods freshest most
radiant, blooming beauty–
walking in the rain.
May 13, 1852
I doubt if we shall
at any season hear more
birds singing than now.
May 13, 1855
The meadows are lit,
tender yellow green willows,
elms' silver green fruit.
May 13, 1855
We float downriver
enjoying the June-like warmth
through still hazy air.
May 13, 1855
The fields are green now, and all the expanding leaves and flower-buds are much more beautiful in the rain, -- covered with clear drops. May 13, 1852
Each dewdrop takes the form of the planet itself. ... this delicate crystalline drop trembling at the tip of a fresh green grass-blade. The surface of the globe is thus tremblingly alive., May 13, 1860
It is a remarkable day for this season. You have the heat of summer before the leaves have expanded. The sky is full of glowing summer cumuli. There is no haze; the mountains are seen with perfect distinctness. May 13, 1860
A great many apple trees out. and probably some for two days.May 13, 1860 -- Apple in bloom. May 13, 1859
The amelanchiers are now the prevailing flowers in the woods and swamps and sprout-lands, a very beautiful flower, with its purplish stipules and delicate drooping white blossoms. The shad-blossom days in the woods. May 13, 1852
Saw an amelanchier with downy leaf (apparentlyoblongifolia) on the southeast edge of Yellow Birch Swamp, about eighteen feet high and five or six inches in diameter, —a clump of them about as big as an apple tree. May 13, 1855
Downy amelanchier just out at Lupine Bank. May 13, 1856
The Viola pedata and ovata now begin to be abundant on warm, sandy slopes. May 13, 1852
Only a part of the yellow birches are leafing, but not yet generally the large ones. I notice no catkins. One white birch sheds pollen. The white birches on the side of Ponkawtasset are beginning to show faint streaks of yellowish green here and there. May 13, 1855
The tender yellow green of birches is now the most noticeable of any foliages in our landscape. as looking across the pond from Lee's Cliff. The poplars are not common enough. The white birches are now distinguished simply by being clothed with a tender and yellow green. while the trees generally are bare and brown. — upright columns of green dashing the brown hillsides. May 13, 1860
The white birch with its golden tassels three inches long, hanging directly down, amid the just expanding yellowish-green leaves, their perpendicularity contrasting with the direction of the branches. Geometry mixed with nature. The catkins, beaten down by the rain, strew the ground., May 13, 1852
The brook in Yellow Birch Swamp is very handsome now — broad and full, with the light-green hellebore eighteen inches high and the small two-leaved Solomon’s-seal about it, in the open wood. May 13, 1855
Uvularias, amid the dry tree-tops near the azaleas. May 13, 1854
At Holden Swamp, hear plenty of parti-colored warblers (tweezer-birds) and redstarts. Uvularia sessilifolia abundant, how long? May 13, 1860
The Viola pedata and ovata now begin to be abundant on warm, sandy slopes. May 13, 1852
Only a part of the yellow birches are leafing, but not yet generally the large ones. I notice no catkins. One white birch sheds pollen. The white birches on the side of Ponkawtasset are beginning to show faint streaks of yellowish green here and there. May 13, 1855
The tender yellow green of birches is now the most noticeable of any foliages in our landscape. as looking across the pond from Lee's Cliff. The poplars are not common enough. The white birches are now distinguished simply by being clothed with a tender and yellow green. while the trees generally are bare and brown. — upright columns of green dashing the brown hillsides. May 13, 1860
Young Populus grandidentata just opening. May 13, 1854. The female Populus grandidentata, whose long catkins are now growing old, is now leafing out. The flowerless (male ?) ones show half-unfolded silvery leaves. Both these and the aspens are quite green (the bark) in the rain. May 13, 1852
The bass suddenly expanding its little round leaves. ---- May 13, 1854. The large bass trees now begin to leaf. May 13, 1855
The great red maples begin to leaf. May 13, 1854
The early willows now show great green wands a foot or two long, consisting of curled worm-like catkins three inches long, now in their prime. They present conspicuous masses of green now before the leaves are noticeable. May 13, 1858
The great red maples begin to leaf. May 13, 1854
The early willows now show great green wands a foot or two long, consisting of curled worm-like catkins three inches long, now in their prime. They present conspicuous masses of green now before the leaves are noticeable. May 13, 1858
A robin's nest, with young, on the causeway. May 13, 1853
Red wings are evidently busy building their nests. They are sly and anxious, the females. about the button-bushes. May 13, 1860
See two crows pursuing and diving at a hen-hawk very high in the air over the river. He is steadily circling and rising. While they, getting above, dive down toward him. passing within a foot or two. May 13, 1860
See two crows pursuing and diving at a hen-hawk very high in the air over the river. He is steadily circling and rising. While they, getting above, dive down toward him. passing within a foot or two. May 13, 1860
As we float down the river through the still and hazy air, enjoying the June-like warmth, see the first kingbirds on the bare black willows with their broad white breasts and white-tipped tails; and the sound of the first bobolink floats to us from over the meadows; now that the meadows are lit by the tender yellow green of the willows and the silvery-green fruit of the elms. May 13, 1855.
I saw a Fringilla hyemalis this morning and heard the golden robin, now that the elms are beginning to leaf, also the myrtle-bird’s tealee. May 13, 1855
Hear a warbling vireo. May 13, 1856
The air is filled with the song of birds, — warbling vireo, gold robin, yellowbirds, and occasionally the bobolink. The gold robin, just come, is heard in all parts of the village. I see both male and female. It is a remarkable difference between this day and yesterday, that yesterday this and the bobolink were not heard and now the former, at least, is so musical and omnipresent. May 13, 1855
Hear the yorrick. May 13, 1860 -- At the swamp, hear the yorrick of Wilson’s thrush; the tweezer-bird or Sylvia Americana. May 13, 1856
At the Kalmia Swamp, the parti-colored warbler. May 13, 1856 ----. At Holden Swamp, hear plenty of parti-colored warblers (tweezer-birds) and redstarts. May 13, 1860
Methinks I hear and see the tanager now. May 13, 1853
Hear the first catbird, more clear and tinkling than the thrasher.. May 13, 1855
At Corner Spring, stood listening to a catbird, sounding a good way off. Was surprised to detect the singer within a rod and a half on a low twig, the ventriloquist. Should not have believed it was he, if I had not seen the movements of his throat, corresponding to each note, -looking at this near singer whose notes sounded so far away. May 13, 1853
Hear the pe-pe and evergreen-forest note, also night-warbler. May 13, 1859
I saw a Fringilla hyemalis this morning and heard the golden robin, now that the elms are beginning to leaf, also the myrtle-bird’s tealee. May 13, 1855
Hear a warbling vireo. May 13, 1856
The air is filled with the song of birds, — warbling vireo, gold robin, yellowbirds, and occasionally the bobolink. The gold robin, just come, is heard in all parts of the village. I see both male and female. It is a remarkable difference between this day and yesterday, that yesterday this and the bobolink were not heard and now the former, at least, is so musical and omnipresent. May 13, 1855
Hear the yorrick. May 13, 1860 -- At the swamp, hear the yorrick of Wilson’s thrush; the tweezer-bird or Sylvia Americana. May 13, 1856
At the Kalmia Swamp, the parti-colored warbler. May 13, 1856 ----. At Holden Swamp, hear plenty of parti-colored warblers (tweezer-birds) and redstarts. May 13, 1860
Methinks I hear and see the tanager now. May 13, 1853
Hear the first catbird, more clear and tinkling than the thrasher.. May 13, 1855
At Corner Spring, stood listening to a catbird, sounding a good way off. Was surprised to detect the singer within a rod and a half on a low twig, the ventriloquist. Should not have believed it was he, if I had not seen the movements of his throat, corresponding to each note, -looking at this near singer whose notes sounded so far away. May 13, 1853
Hear the pe-pe and evergreen-forest note, also night-warbler. May 13, 1859
Also the oven-bird sings May 13, 1856
Now, about two hours before sunset, the brown thrashers are particularly musical. One seems to be contending in song with another. The chewink’s strain sounds quite humble in comparison. May 13, 1855
I doubt if we shall at any season hear more birds singing than now. May 13, 1855
The whole air too is filled with the ring of toads louder than heretofore. May 13, 1855
It is so warm that I hear the peculiar sprayey note of the toad generally at night. The third sultry evening in my chamber. A faint lightning is seen in the north horizon. May 13, 1860
They who do not walk in the woods in the rain never behold them in their freshest, most radiant and blooming beauty. May 13, 1852
The whole air too is filled with the ring of toads louder than heretofore. May 13, 1855
It is so warm that I hear the peculiar sprayey note of the toad generally at night. The third sultry evening in my chamber. A faint lightning is seen in the north horizon. May 13, 1860
They who do not walk in the woods in the rain never behold them in their freshest, most radiant and blooming beauty. May 13, 1852
If you make the least correct
observation of nature this year,
you will have occasion to repeat it
with illustrations the next,
and the season and life itself is prolonged.
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, May 13
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau
"A book, each page written in its own season,
out-of-doors, in its own locality."
~edited, assembled and rewritten by zphx © 2009-2023
https://tinyurl.com/HDT13May
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