Aa Book of the Seasons: May 3.

May 3.

Little peeping frogs

make a background sound not heard

unless you attend.

May 3, 1852

The moon is now full.

The air is liquid white light --

luminous moonlight.

May 3, 1852

May 3, 2020

5 a. m. — To Cliffs. A great brassy moon going down in the west. May 3, 1852

I heard the ring of toads at 6 a. m. May 3,1857

The white pine is beautiful in the morning light--the early sun light and the dew on it -- before the water is rippled and the morning song of the birds is quenched.  May 3, 1852

The wood thrush reminds me of cool mountain springs and morning walks. May 3, 1852

Partridges have been heard drumming.  May 3, 1858

Hear the first brown thrasher, — two of them.  They drown all the rest. He says cherruwit, cherruwit ; go ahead, go ahead; give it to him, give it to him. May 3, 1852

Plenty of birds in the woods this morning. The huckleberry birds and the chickadees are as numerous, if not as loud, as any.  May 3, 1852

As I approach the entrance to the spring path, I hear some chickadees phe-be-ing. One sings phe-e — be' be — be' be. May 3, 1857

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, 1854

Small pewee; tchevet, with a jerk of the head. May 3, 1855

  

Probably I heard the black and white creeper April 25th. I hear it and see it well to-day.  May 3, 1858

That oven-birdish note which I heard here on May 1st I now find to have been uttered by the black and white warbler or creeper. He has a habit of looking under the branches. May 3, 1852

The pine warbler is perhaps the commonest bird heard now from the wood-sides. May 3, 1857

The towhee finch is the loudest singer here now. May 3, 1852

Surveying the Bedford road. Hear the te-e-e of a white-throat sparrow. May 3, 1859

Hear of robins' nests with four eggs.  May 3, 1858

I hear of phoebes', robins', and bluebirds' nests and eggs. May 3, 1859

Ride to Flint's Pond to look for Uvularia perfoliate. May 3, 1858

In the woods near the Uvularia perfoliata, see and hear a new bird to me.  It surprised me by singing in a novel and powerful and rich strain. . . .It may be the white-eyed vireo.  May 3, 1858

Emerson says that Brewer tells him my "night warbler" is probably the Nashville warbler. May 3,1857

A butterfly one inch in alar extent, dark velvety brown with slate colored tips, on dry leaves. May 3, 1855

I see wood turtles which appear to be full and hard with eggs. May 3, 1854

Yesterday I counted half a dozen dead yellow-spotted turtles about Beck Stow's.May 3, 1854

I hear the soft, purring, stertorous croak of frogs on the meadow. May 3, 1857

In another pool, in Warren's meadow, I hear the ring of toads and the peep of hylodes, and, taking off my stockings and shoes, at length stand in their midst. There are a hundred toads close around me, copulating or preparing to. . . . You would hardly believe that toads could be so excited and active. When that nearest ringer sounded, the very sod by my feet (whose spires rose above water) seemed to tremble, and the earth itself, and I was thrilled to my spine and vibrated to it. . . .. A clear, ringing note with a bubbling trill. It takes complete possession of you, for you vibrate to it, and can hear nothing else. May 3, 1857

The little peeping frogs make a background of sound in the horizon, which you do not hear unless you attend. May 3, 1852

The nearest seemed to have his residence in my ear alone. It took such possession of my ear that I was unable to appreciate the source whence it came. May 3, 1857

Thermometer from 1 to 2 p. m., at 78°. Neighbors come forth to view the expanding buds in their gardens. May 3, 1857

There is a small dark native willow in the meadows as early to leaf as the S. alba, with young catkins. May 3, 1854

Anemone nemorosa near the ferns and the sassafras appeared yesterday. May 3, 1854

Some common cherries are quite forward in leafing; say next after the black. May 3, 1854

The Pyrus arbutifolia, of plants I observed, would follow the cherry in leafing. It just begins to show minute glossy leaves. May 3, 1854

Vaccinium Pennsylvanicum began to leaf yesterday. May 3, 1855

Young red maple leaf to-morrow; also some white birch, and perhaps sugar maple. May 3, 1855

Salix tristis is out to-day at least, perhaps yesterday, by what I may call S. tristis Path. May 3, 1857

Viola ovata is pretty common there. May 3, 1857

Viola cucullata, how long? May 3, 1856.  Viola cucullata. May 3, 1858

Ranunculus repens, abundantly out, apparently several days. May 3, 1858

A staminate balm of Gilead poplar by Peter’s path. Many of the catkins fallen and effete in the rain, but many anthers still red and unopen. May 3, 1856

The meadow-sweet begins to look fairly green, with its little tender green leaves, making thin wreaths of green against the bare stems of other plants (this and the gooseberry), - the next plant in this respect to the earliest gooseberry in the garden, which appears to be the same with that in the swamp. May 3, 1854

The ferns invested with rusty wool (cinnamomea?) have pushed up eight or ten inches and show some of the green leaf.May 3, 1854

I see at the Aquarium many of my little striped or barred breams. May 3, 1860

I have not heard any snipes boom for about a week, nor seen a tree sparrow certainly since April 30, nor F. hyemalis for several days. May 3, 1859

Evening. -- The moon is full. The air is filled with a certain luminous, liquid, white light. You can see the moonlight, as it were, reflected from the atmosphere. May 3, 1852

The clock strikes distinctly, showing the wind is easterly. There is a grand, rich, musical echo trembling on the air long after the clock has ceased to strike.  May 3, 1852

*****

I heard the ring of toads at 6 a. m. See A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The ring of toads

Emerson says that Brewer tells him my "night warbler" is probably the Nashville warbler.  Thoreau;s night-warbler  is likely the oven-bird making its flight call. According to Emerson the night warbler is "a bird he had never identified, had been in search of twelve years, which always, when he saw it, was in the act of diving down into a tree or bush.”  See note to May 19, 1858 (" Heard the night-warbler begin his strain just like an oven-bird! I have noticed that when it drops down into the woods it darts suddenly one side to a perch when low.")

Ride to Flint's Pond to look for Uvularia perfoliata. ...  It apparently will not bloom within ten days. See May 30, 1857 ("By the path near the northeast shore of Flint's Pond, just before reaching the wall by the brook, I . . .am surprised to find ... the Uvularia perfoliata, which I have not found hereabouts before. . . .. It is considerably past its prime “).  See also note to August 22, 1857 ("He says he found the Uvularia perfoliata on the Stow road, he thinks within Concord bounds.”)


Partridges have been heard drumming. See April 19, 1860 ("You will hear at first a single beat or two far apart and have time to say, "There is a partridge," so distinct and deliberate is it often, before it becomes a rapid roll."); April 25, 1854 ("The first partridge drums in one or two places, as if the earth's pulse now beat audibly with the increased flow of life. It slightly flutters all Nature and makes her heart palpitate."); April 29, 1857 ("C. says it makes his heart beat with it, or he feels it in his breast.")  See also A Book of Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, the Partridge

Heard the black and white creeper April 25th. I hear it and see it well to-day. See April 28, 1856 ("I hear to-day frequently the seezer seezer seezer of the black and white creeper, . . .”); May 4, 1858 ("I hear the weese wese wese of the creeper continually from the swamp. It is the prevailing note there.") See also A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, the Black and White Creeper

It may be the white-eyed vireo. See May 9, 1858 ("I am now inclined to think it the solitary vireo. . .it had a blue-slate head, and, I note, a distinct yellowish vent, which none of the vireos are allowed to have!! The sides of the body are distinctly yellow, but there is none at all on the throat or breast.")

Surveying the Bedford road. See July 1, 1858 (“I am surveying the Bedford road these days, and have no time for my Journal.”)

Hear the te-e-e of a white-throat sparrow. See May 4, 1855 (“Myrtle-birds numerous, and sing their tea lee, tea lee in morning. White-throated sparrows here”).  See also  A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the White-throated Sparrow

I hear of phoebes', robins', and bluebirds' nests and eggs.  See May 3, 1858 (“Hear of robins' nests with four eggs. ”)

I have not heard any snipes boom for about a week. See April 30, 1858 (“I hear no snipe.”); compare May 4, 1855 (“Snipes feeding in numbers on the 29th April.”). See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Snipe

Nor nor seen a tree sparrow certainly since April 30 nor F. hyemalis for several days. See May 4, 1855 (“Have not noticed robins in flocks for two or three days. See no gulls, nor F. hyemalis nor tree sparrows now. ”) See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Dark-eyed Junco;  A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Tree Sparrow

What I have called the small pewee on the willow by my boat, See May 3, 1855 ("Small pewee; tchevet, with a jerk of the head."); See also 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. The first summer yellow- birds on the willow causeway. The birds I have lately mentioned come not singly, as the earliest, but all at once, i.e. many yellowbirds all over town. Now I remember the yellowbird comes when the willows begin to leave out. (And the small pewee on the willows also.)") and A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau,the “Small Pewee"

Small pewee; tchevet, with a jerk of the head See:

• 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. The first summer yellow- birds on the willow causeway. The birds I have lately mentioned come not singly, as the earliest, but all at once, i. e. many yellowbirds all over town. Now I remember the yellowbird comes when the willows begin to leave out. (And the small pewee on the willows also.)")
• May 2, 1853 "(Summer yellowbird on the opening Salix alba. Chimney swallows and the bank or else cliff ditto. Small pewee?")
• 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.")
• April 29, 1856 ("I hear the small pewee’s tche-vet’ repeatedly.")
• May 7, 1857 ("Small pewee.")
• May 5, 1858 ("Saw and heard the small pewee yesterday. The aspen leaves at Island to-day appear as big as a nine pence suddenly.")
• May 2, 1859 ("Small pewee and young lackey caterpillars.")
• May 8, 1860 ("The small pewee, how long.")

See also A Book of the Seasons: the "Small Pewee"

Some common cherries and Pyrus arbutifolia, etc. leafing. See geneally May 5, 1855 ("The trees and shrubs which I observe to make a show now with their green,. . .in the order of their intensity and generalness — gooseberry, both kinds . . . meadow-sweet . . . Choke-cherry shoots . . . Pyrus, probably arbutifolia, young black cherry,  . . . probably wild red cherry in some places, Salix alba with bracts, some small native willows, cultivated cherry") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Spring leaf-out.

The meadow-sweet begins to look fairly green. See April 24, 1860 ("The meadow-sweet and hardhack have begun to leaf."); May 4, 1852 ("The meadow-sweet begins to leave out")

There is a small dark native willow in the meadows as early to leaf as the S. alba, with young catkins. See May 2, 1855 ("That small native willow now in flower, or say yesterday, just before leaf.") See also April 24, 1855 ("The Salix alba begins to leaf. "); April 27, 1854 ("The Salix alba begins to leaf, and the catkins are three quarters of an inch long. "); April 29, 1855 ("For two or three days the Salix alba, with its catkins (not yet open) and its young leaves, or bracts (?), has made quite a show, before any other tree, —a pyramid of tender yellowish green in the russet landscape."); April 30, 1859 (Salix alba leafing, or stipules a quarter of an inch wide; probably began a day or two.")

I see wood turtles which appear to be full and hard with eggs. See June 10, 1858 ("Apparently the E. insculpta are in the very midst of their laying now."); June 20, 1853 ("I see wood tortoises in the path; one feels full of eggs.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Wood Turtlw (Emys insculpta)

Yesterday I counted half a dozen dead yellow-spotted turtles about Beck Stow's. See A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Yellow-Spotted Turtle (Emys guttata)

At the Aquarium. See  May 1, 1858 ("I see many minnows from three quarters to two inches long, but mostly about one inch. They have that distinct black line along each side from eye to tail on a somewhat transparent brownish body, dace-like, and a very sharply forked tail. . . . Is it not the brook minnow?"); April 27, 1859 ("Saw at the Aquarium in Bromfield Street apparently brook minnows with the longitudinal dark lines bordered with light"). See also March 29, 1854 ("poised over the sand on invisible fins, the outlines of a shiner. . . distinct longitudinal light-colored line midway along their sides and a darker line below it”); July 17, 1856 (“They have . . . a broad, distinct black band along sides (which methinks marks the shiner)"); December 11, 1858 (“a minnow — apparently a young shiner, but it has a dark longitudinal line along side ”); December 18, 1858 (“They are little shiners with the dark longitudinal stripe”)

The clock strikes distinctly, showing the wind is easterly. There is a grand, rich, musical echo trembling on the air long after the clock has ceased to strike. See April 18, 1852 ("An east wind. I hear the clock strike plainly ten or eleven P.M.") 

May 3.

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 © 2009-2021