A Book of the Seasons: April 30 (peepers, viburnum buds and leaf, gnats and swallows, blue horizons)

 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

April 30.

A pleasant little

green knoll north of the Turnpike

near the Lincoln line.

April 30, 1852

A rock to sit on –

large and inviting – which you

do not fear to crush.

April 30, 1852

I saw in the east

the modest pale cloud-like moon

just over the woods.

April 30, 1852

The scream of a hawk

over Holden woods and swamp.

Those two men with guns.

April 30, 1855

Early afternoon

a fresh cool wind from the sea –

a mist in the air.

April 30, 1856

That blue butterfly

fluttering over dry leaves

in the sunny wood.

April 30, 1859

April 30, 2013

Cattle begin to go up-country, and every weekday, especially Mondays, . . .Now many a farmer's boy makes his first journey, and sees something to tell of, — makes acquaintance with those hills which are mere blue warts in his horizon. April 30, 1860

I learn that one farmer, seeing me standing a long time still in the midst of a pool (I was watching for hylodes), said that it was his father, who had been drinking some of Pat Haggerty's rum, and had lost his way home. So, setting out to lead him home, he discovered that it was I.

The season advances by fits and starts; you would not believe that there could be so many degrees to it. If you have had foul and cold weather, still some advance has been made, as you find when the fair weather comes, new lieferungs of warmth and summeriness, which make yesterday seem far off. April 30, 1852

Now is the time to set trees and consider what things you will plant in your garden. April 30, 1852

This first off-coat warmth just preceding the advent of the swamp warblers (parti-colored, red start, etc.) brings them out. I come here to listen for warblers, but hear or see only the black and white creeper and the chickadee. April 30, 1859

The viburnum buds are so large and long, like a spear-head, that they are conspicuous the moment their two leafets diverge and they are lit up by the sun. They unfold their wings like insects and arriving warblers. These, too, mark the season well. April 30, 1859

The Viburnum nudum around the edge of the swamp, on the northern edge of the warm bays in sunny and sheltered places, has just expanded, say two days, the two diverging leafets being an inch long nearly, — pretty yellowish-brown leafets in the sun, the most noticeable leafiness here now, just spotting and enlivening the dead, dark, bare twigs, under the red blossoms of the maples. April 30, 1859

I observe to-day the bright-crimson  perfect flowers of the maple, — crimson styles, sepals, and petals (crimson or scarlet ?) . . . So much color have they. April 30, 1852

I notice under the southern edge of the Holden Wood, on the Arrowhead Field, a great many little birches in the grass, apparently seedlings of last year, and I take up a hundred and ten from three to six or seven inches high. They are already leafed, the little rugose leafets more than half an inch wide, or larger than any wild shrubs or trees, while the larger white birches have not started. I could take up a thousand in two or three hours. I set ten in our yard April 30, 1859

The elms are now generally in blossom and Cheney's elm still also. April 30, 1852

The larch plucked yesterday sheds pollen to-day in house, probably to-day abroad. April 30, 1857

A small willow some ten rods north of stone bridge, east side, bloomed yesterday. Salix alba leafing, or stipules a quarter of an inch wide; probably began a day or two. April 30, 1859

The early willow by Hubbard’s Bridge has not begun to leaf. This would make it a different species from that by railroad, which has. April 30,1855

Crowfoot and saxifrage are now in prime at Lee’s; they yellow and whiten the ground. April 30, 1855

Columbine just out; one anther sheds. April 30,1855

The sweet gale is in blossom. The female plants of the sweet-gale are rare here. The scales of the male catkins are "set with amber-colored resinous dots” April 30, 1852

I hear a wood thrush here, with a fine metallic ring to his note. This sound most adequately expresses the immortal beauty and wildness of the woods. I go in search of him. He sounds no nearer. On a low bough of a small maple near the brook in the swamp, he sits with ruffled feathers, singing more low or with less power, as it were ventriloquizing; for though I am scarcely more than a rod off, he seems further off than ever. April 30, 1852

I hear the first brown thrasher singing within three or four rods of me on the shrubby hill side in front of the Hadley place. This, I think, is the very place to hear them early, a dry hillside sloping to the south, covered with young wood and shrub oaks. April 30, 1856

Surveying seemed a noble employment which brought me within hearing of this bird. I was trying to get the exact course of a wall thickly beset with shrub oaks and birches, making an opening through them with axe and knife, while the hillside seemed to quiver or pulsate with the sudden melody. Again, it is with the side of the ear that you hear. The music or the beauty belong not to your work itself but some of its accompaniments. You would fain devote yourself to the melody, but you will hear more of it if you devote yourself to your work. April 30, 1856

Cutting off the limbs of a young white pine in the way of my compass,. . . By the time I have run through to the Harvard road, I hear the small pewee’s tche-vet’ repeatedly.April 30, 1856

Measuring along the river just south of the bridge, I was surprised by the great number of swallows—white-bellied and barn swallows and perhaps republican — flying round and round, or skimming very low over the meadow. .There were a thousand or more of swallows, and I think that they had recently arrived together on their migration. April 30, 1856

I observed yesterday that the barn swallows confined themselves to one place, about fifteen rods in diameter, in Willow Bay, about the sharp rock. They kept circling about and flying up the stream (the wind easterly), about six inches above the water, — it was cloudy and almost raining, — yet I could not perceive any insects there. April 30, 1855


It is a day for many small fuzzy gnats and other small insects. Insects swarm about the expanding buds. April 30, 1859

Those myriads of little fuzzy gnats mentioned on the 21st and 28th must afford an abundance of food to insectivorous birds. Many new birds should have arrived about the 21st. April 30, 1855

There were plenty of myrtle-birds and yellow redpolls where the gnats were. . . .Hear a short, rasping note, somewhat tweezer-bird like, I think from a yellow redpoll. April 30, 1855 April 30, 1855

That interesting small blue butterfly (size of small red) is apparently just out, fluttering over the warm dry oak leaves within the wood in the sun. Channing also first sees them to-day. The moment it rests and closes its wings, it looks merely whitish-slate, and you think at first that the deeper blue was produced by the motion of its wings, but the fact is you now see only their undersides which thus [sic] whitish spotted with black, with a dark waved line next the edge. April 30, 1859

Hear a kingfisher at Goose Pond. April 30, 1857

As we stood looking for a bound by the edge of Goose Pond, a pretty large hawk alighted on an oak close by us. It probably has a nest near by and was concerned for its young. April 30, 1857

I hear from far the scream of a hawk circling over the Holden woods and swamp. This accounts for those two men with guns just entering it. What a dry, shrill, angry scream! I see the bird with my glass resting upon the topmost plume of a tall white pine. Its back, reflecting the light, looks white in patches; and now it circles again. It is a red-tailed hawk. The tips of its wings are curved upward as it sails. April 30, 1855

Hear again the same bird heard at Conantum April 18th, which I think must be the ruby-crowned wren. April 30, 1857

Red-wing blackbirds now fly in large flocks, covering the tops of trees—willows, maples, apples, or oaks—like a black fruit , and keep up an incessant gurgling and whistling, — all for some purpose; what is it? April 30, 1855

I see the black feathers of a blackbird by the Miles Swamp side, and this single bright-scarlet one shows that it belonged to a red wing, which some hawk or quadruped devoured. April 30, 1855

I find a Fringilla melodia nest with five eggs. Part, at least, must have been laid before the snow of the 27th, but it is perfectly sheltered under the shelving turf and grass on the brink of a ditch. The snow would not even have touched the bird sitting on them. April 30, 1858

I saw yesterday a large-sized water-bug; to day many in the brook; yesterday a trout; to-day shiners, I think. April 30, 1852

I hear now on various sides, along the river and its meadows, that low, stertorous sound, like that of the Rana halecina, – which I have heard occasionally for a few days. . . . It is exceedingly like the note of the R. halecina, yet I fancy it is some what more softly purring, with frequently a low quivering, chuckling, or inquisitive croak,  . . . I suspect it is the R. palustris, now breeding. April 30, 1858

Caught three little peeping frogs. When I approached, and my shadow fell on the water, I heard a peculiarly trilled and more rapidly vibrated note. It proved to be two coupled. They remained together in my hand. This sound has connection with their loves probably. April 30, 1852

A pleasant little green knoll north of the Turnpike near the Lincoln line. April 30, 1852

I saw unexpectedly . . . the blue mountains' line in the west (the whole intermediate earth and towns being concealed), this greenish field for a foreground sloping upward a few rods, and then those grand mountains seen over it in the background, so blue, — seashore, earth-shore, — and, warm as it is, covered with snow which reflected the sun. April 30, 1852

I like very well to walk here on the low ground on the meadow; to see the churches and houses in the horizon against the sky and the now very blue Mt. Wachusett seeming to rise from amid them. April 30, 1852

Hosmer's house and cottage under its elms and on the summit of green smooth slopes looks like a terrestrial paradise, the abode of peace and domestic happiness. April 30, 1852

On the hill behind Hosmer's, half an hour before sunset --The robins sing power fully on the elms; the little frogs peep; the woodpecker's harsh and long-continued cry is heard from the woods; the huckleberry-bird's simple, sonorous trill. April 30, 1852

Then when I turned, I saw in the east, just over the woods, the modest, pale, cloud-like moon, two thirds full, looking spirit-like on these daylight scenes. Such a sight excites me. The earth is worthy to inhabit. April 30, 1852

Here is a rock made to sit on, — large and inviting, which you do not fear to crush. April 30, 1852

*****

A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau The world can never be more beautiful than now.
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The first frogs to begin calling

A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Rana palustris Pickerel frog (Lithobates palustris)
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau The Blue Butterfly in Spring

A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, The Red Maple

A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, The hen-hawk

A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, the Red-wing in Early Spring

A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, the ruby-crowned or crested wren

A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, the Larch

A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, the “Small Pewee”

A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, The Field Sparrow

A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, the Song Sparrow (Fringilla melodia)

A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, April Moonlight

*****

Cattle begin to go up-country. See May 10, 1852 ("This Monday the streets are full of cattle being driven up-country, — cows and calves and colts."); May 6, 1855 ("Road full of cattle going up country.”); May 7, 1856 ("For a week the road has been full of cattle going up country.")

Standing a long time still in the midst of a pool watching for hylodes. See April 18, 1858 ("All that is required in studying them is patience"); and note to March 27, 1853 ("Stood perfectly still amid the bushes on the shore, before one showed himself; finally five or six, and all eyed me, gradually approached me within three feet to reconnoitre, and, though I waited about half an hour, would not utter a sound.")

The season advances by fits and starts. . . lieferungs of warmth and summeriness, which make yesterday seem far off and the dog-days or midsummer incredibly nearer. See April 25, 1854 ("The summer approaches by almost insensibly increasing lieferungs of heat, each awakening some new bird or quadruped or reptile.")

So much color have they. See April 29, 1856 ("How pretty a red maple in bloom (they are now in prime), seen in the sun against a pine wood, . . . they are of so cheerful and lively a color."); April 29, 1859 ("Those red maples are reddest in which the fertile flowers prevail.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Red Maple

The sweet gale is in blossom. Its rich reddish-brown buds have expanded into yellowish and brown blossoms, all male blossoms that I see. See April 13, 1860 ("– I go up the Assabet to look at the sweet-gale, which is . . . abundantly out at Pinxter Swamp."); April 22, 1855 ("The blossoms of the sweet-gale are now on fire over the brooks, contorted like caterpillars.") December 31, 1859 ("The oblong-conical sterile flower-buds or catkins of the sweet-gale, half a dozen at the end of each black twig, dark-red, oblong-conical, spotted with black, and about half an inch long, are among the most interesting buds of the winter. . . . The sterile and fertile flowers are not only on distinct plants, but they commonly grow in distinct patches. . . . It grows along the wet edge of banks and the river and in open swamps.")

It is a red-tailed hawk. See May 1, 1855 ("He [Garfield] climbed the tree when I was there yesterday afternoon, the tallest white pine or other tree in its neighborhood, over a swamp, and found two young, which he thought not more than a fortnight old,—with only down, at least no feathers,—and one addled egg, also three or four white-bellied or deer mouse (Mus leucopus), a perch, and a sucker, and a gray rabbit’s skin. . . . I found the remains of a partridge under the tree.”). See also March 2, 1856 ("I can hardly believe that hen-hawks may be beginning to build their nests now, yet their young were a fortnight old the last of April last year.”); March 15, 1860 ("These hawks, as usual, began to be common about the first of March, showing that they were returning from their winter quarters. . . . An easily recognized figure anywhere.”); March 23, 1859 (“. . .we saw a hen-hawk perch on the topmost plume of one of the tall pines at the head of the meadow. Soon another appeared, probably its mate, but we looked in vain for a nest there. It was a fine sight, their soaring above our heads, presenting a perfect outline and, as they came round, showing their rust-colored tails with a whitish rump, or, as they sailed away from us, that slight teetering or quivering motion of their dark-tipped wings seen edgewise, now on this side, now that, by which they balanced and directed themselves.”); April 22, 1860 ("See now hen-hawks, a pair, soaring high as for pleasure, circling ever further and further away, as if it were midsummer. . . . I do not see it soar in this serene and leisurely manner very early in the season, methinks"); April 30, 1857 ("a pretty large hawk alighted on an oak close by us. It probably has a nest near by and was concerned for its young.”); May 4, 1855 ("Red tail hawk young fourteen days old."). See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau ,The hen-hawk

It probably has a nest near by . See note to April 30, 1855 ( It must have a nest there.“)

Red-wing blackbirds now fly in large flocks, covering the tops of trees—willows, maples, apples, or oaks—like a black fruit. See March 16, 1860 ("They cover the apple trees like a black fruit.”); May 5, 1859 ("Red-wings fly in flocks yet."); see also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Red-wing in Early Spring

Hear a kingfisher at Goose Pond. See April 23, 1854 (“A kingfisher with his crack, — cr-r-r-rack.”); April 24, 1854 ("The kingfisher flies with a crack cr-r-r-ack and a limping or flitting flight from tree to tree before us . . .”)

Hear again the same bird heard at Conantum April 18th, which I think must be the ruby-crowned wren. See April 26, 1860 ("Hear the ruby-crowned wren in the morning, near George Heywood’s.”); May 6, 1855 ("Hear at a distance a ruby(?)-crowned wren, so robin-like and spirited. After see one within ten . . . feet of me as if curious. I think this the only Regulus I have ever seen.”); see also note to April 20, 1859 ("My ruby-crowned or crested wren”). See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau: the ruby-crowned or crested wren. and A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Winter Birds

I hear the first brown thrasher singing. See May 12, 1855 (“The brown thrasher is a powerful singer; he is a quarter of a mile off across the river, when he sounded within fifteen rods.”); May 13, 1855 ("Now, about two hours before sunset, the brown thrashers are particularly musical. One seems to be contending in song with another.")

Again, it is with the side of the ear that you hear. . . . you will hear more of it if you devote yourself to your work. See November 20, 1851 ("Hard and steady and engrossing labor with the hands, especially out of doors, is invaluable to the literary man and serves him directly. Here I have been for six days surveying in the woods, and yet when I get home at evening, somewhat weary at last, and beginning to feel that I have nerves, I find myself more susceptible than usual to the finest influences, as music and poetry. The very air can intoxicate me, or the least sight or sound, as if my finer senses had acquired an appetite by their fast."); May 12, 1857 (“Methinks I hear these sounds, have these reminiscences, only when well employed. . . I am often aware of a certain compensation of this kind for doing something from a sense of duty, even unconsciously.”); April 28, 1856 ("I am reminded of the advantage to the poet, and philosopher, and naturalist, and whomsoever, of pursuing from time to time some other business than his chosen one, — seeing with the side of the eye. The poet will so get visions which no deliberate abandonment can secure. The philosopher is so forced to recognize principles which long study might not detect. And the naturalist even will stumble upon some new and unexpected flower or animal.”); December 11, 1855 ("Beauty and music are not mere traits and exceptions. They are the rule and character. It is the exception that we see and hear. “); June 14, 1853 (“You see those rare sights with the unconscious side of the eye, which you could not see by a direct gaze before.”); November 18, 1851 ("A man can hardly be said to be there if he knows that he is there, or to go there if he knows where he is going. The man who is bent upon his work is frequently in the best attitude to observe what is irrelevant to his work.”)

The larch plucked yesterday sheds pollen to-day. See April 27, 1856 (The female flowers are now fully expanded and very pretty, but small. I think it will first scatter pollen to-morrow. ");April 29, 1855 ("The crimson female flowers are now handsome but small. ") and note to May 1, 1856 ("I judge that the larch blossomed ...”). See also A Book of Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Larch

Great number of swallows . . .flying round and round. See April 30, 1855 ("circling about and flying . . .about six inches above the water, — it was cloudy and almost raining”); April 29, 1854 (" The barn swallows are very numerous, flying low over the water in the rain.”)

I hear the small pewee’s tche-vet’ repeatedly. See e.g. May 3, 1854 ("What I have called the small pewee on the willow by my boat, — quite small, uttering a short tchevet from time to time.”); May 3, 1855 ("Small pewee; tchevet, with a jerk of the head.”); May 7, 1852 ("The first small pewee sings now che-vet, or rather chirrups chevet, tche-vet — a rather delicate bird with a large head and two white bars on wings.) See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau,the “Small Pewee" [Empidonax minimus]

The huckleberry-bird sings. See April 27, 1852 ("Heard the field or rush sparrow this morning (Fringilla juncorum), George Minott's "huckleberry-bird." It sits on a birch and sings at short intervals, apparently answered from a distance. It is clear and sonorous heard afar; but I found it quite impossible to tell from which side it came; sounding like phe, phe, phe, pher-pher-tw-tw-tw-t-t-t-t, — the first three slow and loud, the next two syllables quicker, and the last part quicker and quicker, becoming a clear, sonorous trill or rattle, like a spoon in a saucer.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Field Sparrow

I find a Fringilla melodia nest with five eggs. See June 14, 1855 ("A song sparrow’s nest in ditch bank under Clamshell, of coarse grass lined with fine, and five eggs nearly hatched and a peculiar dark end to them."); June 9, 1855 ("A song sparrow’s nest low in Wheeler’s meadow, with five eggs, made of grass lined with hair."); May 27, 1856 ("Fringilla melodia’s nest in midst of swamp, with four eggs, made partly of usnea; . . . eggs with very dark blotches"); May 31, 1856 (“A ground-bird’s nest (melodia or graminea.), with six of those oblong narrow gray eggs speckled with much brown at end. ") See also A Book of Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Song Sparrow (Fringilla melodia)

It is some what more softly purring, with frequently a low quivering, chuckling, or inquisitive croak. See May 23, 1856 ("The ring of toads is loud and incessant. . . .At the same time I hear a low, stertorous, dry, but hard-cored note from some frog in the meadows and along the riverside; often heard in past years but not accounted for. Is it a Rana palustris?"); May 8. 1857 ("It is an evening for the soft-snoring, purring frogs (which I suspect to be Rana palustris). . . . Their croak is very fine or rapid, and has a soft, purring sound at a little distance.") A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Rana palustris Pickerel frog (Lithobates palustris)

That interesting small blue butterfly fluttering over the warm dry oak leaves within the wood in the sun. See note to April 19, 1860 ("See the small blue butterfly hovering over the dry leaves")

To see the churches and houses in the horizon against the sky and the now very blue Mt. Wachusett seeming to rise from amid them. See December 27, 1853 ("The outline of the mountains is wonderfully distinct and hard, and they are a dark blue and very near. Wachusett looks like a right whale over our bow, plowing the continent, with his flukes well down.")

On the hill behind Hosmer's, half an hour before sunset --See May 17, 1853 ("Ah, the beauty of this last hour of the day — when a power stills the air and smooths all waters and all minds — that partakes of the light of the day and the stillness of the night")

Then when I turned, I saw in the east, just over the woods, the modest, pale, cloud-like moon, two thirds full, looking spirit-like on these daylight scenes. See June 30, 1852 (" Moon nearly full; rose a little before sunset. . . . At first a mere white cloud."); See also April 12, 1851 (" I realize that I may not see her again in her glory this night, that. . . the sun will have risen, and she will appear but as a cloud herself, and sink unnoticed into the west.")

April  29 < <<<<<  April 30. >>>>> May 1

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.

  April 7, 1853 

 

A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau,, I love you like I love the sky

A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau

A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, April 30

"A book, each page written in its own season,

out-of-doors, in its own locality.”

~edited, assembled and rewritten by zphx © 2009-2022