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
Beautiful clear air –
the glossy light-reflecting
greenness of the woods.
The sound of the wind
rustling the leaves is like the
rippling of a stream.
June 23, 1852
The sweet fragrance
of swamp pinks
fills all the swamps.
Every year to-day
the sweet fragrance of swamp-
pink now in its prime.
The nighthawks over
high open fields in the woods
squeaking and booming.
There is something in
the darkness and vapors that
arise from the head.
June 23, 2017
This is a decidedly dogdayish day, foretold by the red moon of last evening. June 23, 1860
Looking down on it through the woods in middle of this sultry dogdayish afternoon, the water is a misty bluish-green. June 23, 1853
There has been a foggy haze, dog-day-like, for perhaps ten days, more or less. To-day it is so cold that we sit by a fire June 23, 1854
A foggy, Cape-Cod day, with an easterly wind. June 23, 1859
The sunlight, even this forenoon, was peculiarly yellow, passing through misty clouds, and this afternoon the atmosphere is decidedly blue . . . First bluish, musty dog-day, and sultry. Thermometer at two only 85°, however, and wind comes easterly soon and rather cool. June 23, 1860
There has been a foggy haze, dog-day-like, for perhaps ten days, more or less. To-day it is so cold that we sit by a fire June 23, 1854
A foggy, Cape-Cod day, with an easterly wind. June 23, 1859
The sunlight, even this forenoon, was peculiarly yellow, passing through misty clouds, and this afternoon the atmosphere is decidedly blue . . . First bluish, musty dog-day, and sultry. Thermometer at two only 85°, however, and wind comes easterly soon and rather cool. June 23, 1860
Haze and sultriness are far off. The air is cleared and cooled by yesterday's thunder-storms. June 23, 1852
It is what I call a washing day, such as we sometimes have when buttercups first appear in the spring, an agreeably cool and clear and breezy day, when all things appear as if washed bright and shine June 23, 1852
and, at this season especially, the sound of the wind rustling the leaves is like the rippling of a stream, and you see the light-colored under side of the still fresh foliage, and a sheeny light is reflected from the bent grass in the meadows. June 23, 1852
From the Cliffs the air is beautifully clear, showing the glossy and light-reflecting greenness of the woods. June 23, 1854
The river too has a fine, cool, silvery sparkle or sheen on it. June 23, 1852
From the Cliffs the air is beautifully clear, showing the glossy and light-reflecting greenness of the woods. June 23, 1854
The river too has a fine, cool, silvery sparkle or sheen on it. June 23, 1852
You can see far into the horizon, and you can hear the sound of crickets with such feelings as in the cool morning. June 23, 1852.
It is a great relief to look into the horizon. There is more room under the heavens. June 23, 1854.
It is a great relief to look into the horizon. There is more room under the heavens. June 23, 1854.
Devil's-needles of various kinds abundant . . . thousands of devil's-needles of all sizes hovering over the surface of this shallow pond in the woods . . . I hear the rustling of their wings. June 23, 1853.
I see a young Rana sylvatica in the woods, only five eighths of an inch long. Or is it a hylodes ? — for I see a faint cross-like mark on the back and yet the black dash on the sides of the face. June 23, 1860.
I see a young Rana sylvatica in the woods, only five eighths of an inch long. Or is it a hylodes ? — for I see a faint cross-like mark on the back and yet the black dash on the sides of the face. June 23, 1860.
Take two eggs out of the oviduct of an E. insculpta, just run over in the road. June 23, 1858.
It is a pleasant sound to me, the squeaking and the booming of nighthawks flying over high open fields in the woods. . . .Often you must look a long while before you can detect the mote in the sky from which the note proceeds. June 23, 1851.
Hear of flying squirrels now grown. June 23, 1855
Disturb three different broods of partridges in my walk this afternoon in different places. . . . We are now, then, in the very midst of them. Now leading forth their young broods. June 23, 1854.
It is a pleasant sound to me, the squeaking and the booming of nighthawks flying over high open fields in the woods. . . .Often you must look a long while before you can detect the mote in the sky from which the note proceeds. June 23, 1851.
Hear of flying squirrels now grown. June 23, 1855
Disturb three different broods of partridges in my walk this afternoon in different places. . . . We are now, then, in the very midst of them. Now leading forth their young broods. June 23, 1854.
Bay-wings sang morning and evening . . . Its note somewhat like Come, here here, there there, —— quick quick quick (fast), — or I m gone. June 23, 1856.
A sparrow's nest with three fresh eggs in a hollow of a willow, two and a half feet from ground. The eggs have a much bluer-white ground than those I have, and beside are but slightly spotted with brown except toward the larger end. June 23, 1860.
A male redstart seen, and often heard. What a little fellow! June 23, 1858
Probably a redstart’s nest on a white oak sapling, twelve feet up. See young redstarts about. June 23, 1855.
White eggs taken from a hole in an apple tree eight feet from ground. . . the eggs of a downy woodpecker laid in a bluebird’s nest? June 23, 1856.
A black duck's nest a mere hollow on the top of a tussock, four or five feet within a clump of bushes forming an islet . . . Looked for the black duck's nest, but could find no trace of it. Probably the duck led her young to the river as soon as hatched. What with gunners, dogs, pickerel, bullfrogs, hawks, etc., it is a wonder if any of them escape. June 23, 1857 See also
That rather low wood along the path which runs parallel with the shore of Flint's Pond, behind the rock, is evidently a favorite place for veery-nests. I have seen three there. June 23, 1858.
White eggs taken from a hole in an apple tree eight feet from ground. . . the eggs of a downy woodpecker laid in a bluebird’s nest? June 23, 1856.
A black duck's nest a mere hollow on the top of a tussock, four or five feet within a clump of bushes forming an islet . . . Looked for the black duck's nest, but could find no trace of it. Probably the duck led her young to the river as soon as hatched. What with gunners, dogs, pickerel, bullfrogs, hawks, etc., it is a wonder if any of them escape. June 23, 1857 See also
That rather low wood along the path which runs parallel with the shore of Flint's Pond, behind the rock, is evidently a favorite place for veery-nests. I have seen three there. June 23, 1858.
In the case of the hermit thrush, wood thrush, and tanager's, each about fourteen feet high in slender saplings, you had to climb an adjacent tree in order to reach them. June 23, 1858
To-day there are three rather fresh eggs in this nest. Neither going nor returning do we see anything of the tanager, June 23, 1858.
Get an egg out of a deserted bank swallow's nest. June 23, 1858
The common cinquefoil (Potentilla simplex) greets me with its simple and unobtrusive yellow flower in the grass. June 23, 1851
Get an egg out of a deserted bank swallow's nest. June 23, 1858
The common cinquefoil (Potentilla simplex) greets me with its simple and unobtrusive yellow flower in the grass. June 23, 1851
Small rudbeckia. June 23, 1857
Veiny-leaved hawkweed, how long? June 23, 1858
Veiny-leaved hawkweed freshly out. June 23, 1859
My hat, whose lining is gathered in midway so as to make a shelf, is about as good a botany-box as I could have. June 23, 1852
My hat, whose lining is gathered in midway so as to make a shelf, is about as good a botany-box as I could have. June 23, 1852
The sweet fragrance of swamp pinks fills all the swamps. June 23, 1852
I every year, as to-day, observe the sweet, refreshing fragrance of the swamp-pink, when threading the woods and swamps in hot weather. It is positively cool. Now in its prime. June 23, 1853
There is something in the darkness and the vapors that arise from the head - at least if you take a bath - which preserves flowers through a long walk. June 23, 1852
*****
*****
June 23, 2018
Devil's-needles . . .hovering over the surface of this shallow pond in the woods . . .I hear the rustling of their wings. See June 19, 1860 ("The devil's-needles now abound in wood-paths and about the Ripple Lakes. Even if your eyes were shut you would know they were there, hearing the rustling of their wings as they flit by in pursuit of one another.")
Veiny-leaved hawkweed. See August 21, 1851 (" I have now found all the hawkweeds. Singular these genera of plants, plants manifestly related yet distinct. They suggest a history to nature, a natural history in a new sense.”)
The squeaking and the booming of nighthawks flying over high open fields in the woods. See June 7, 1858 ("The nighthawk sparks and booms over arid hillsides and sprout-lands."); June 15, 1852 ("The nighthawk squeaks and booms."); June 21, 1856 ("Nighthawks numerously squeak at 5 P. M. and boom.")
The common cinquefoil (Potentilla simplex) greets me with its simple and unobtrusive yellow flower in the grass. See June 18, 1855 (" I see a painted tortoise just beginning its hole; then another a dozen rods from the river on the bare barren field near some pitch pines, where the earth was covered with cladonias, cinquefoil, sorrel, etc. "); June 28, 1858 ("The erect potentilla is a distinct variety, with differently formed leaves as well as different time of flowering, and not the same plant at a different season. Have I treated it as such?") June 28, 1860 ("I meet to-day with a wood tortoise which is eating the leaves of the early potentilla")
Veery nests. June 18, 1858 ("A little boy brings me an egg of Wilson's thrush, which he found in a nest in a low bush about a foot from the ground.”); June 19, 1853 ("In the middle of the path to Wharf Rock at Flint's Pond, the nest of a Wilson's thrush, . . .. Two blue eggs. Like an accidental heap. Who taught it to do thus?"); June 19, 1858 (“boys have found this forenoon at Flint’s Pond one or more veery-nests on the ground. ”)
The tanager's nest of the 19th . See June 19, 1858 ("Two fresh eggs in small white oak sapling, some fourteen feet from ground. They saw a tanager near. (I have one egg.) ")
You had to climb an adjacent tree in order to reach them. See June 11, 1855("In order to get the deserted tanager’s nest at the top [of] a pitch pine which was too weak to climb, we carried a rope in our pockets and took three rails a quarter of a mile into the woods, and there rigged a derrick, by which I climbed to a level with the nest, . . . Tied the three tops together and spread the bottoms. “)
Probably a redstart’s nest . . .See young redstarts about./ A male redstart . . . What a little fellow! See June 6, 1855 ("On the Island I hear still the redstart—tsip tsip tsip tsip, tsit-i-yet, or sometimes tsip tsip tsip tsip, tse vet. A young male"); July 8, 1857 ("To Laurel Glen. . . . Hear apparently redstarts there, — so they must have nests near"); July 13, 1856 ("Saw and heard two or three redstarts at Redstart Woods, where they probably have nests ")
A black duck's nest a mere hollow on the top of a tussock.. See June 24, 1857 ("Melvin thinks there cannot be many black ducks' nests in the town, else his dog would find them");
The eggs of a downy woodpecker laid in a bluebird’s nest? Compare July 12, 1856 ("Apparently a bluebird's egg in a woodpecker's hole in an apple tree,”) See June 20, 1856 ("Walking under an apple tree . . .saw a hole in an upright dead bough, . . . the nest of a downy woodpecker”).
[The bay-wingn's] note somewhat like Come, here here, there there, —— quick quick quick. See May 12, 1857 (" I hear from across the fields the note of the bay-wing, Come here here there there quick quick quick or I'm gone . . . and it instantly translates me from the sphere of my work and repairs all the world that we jointly inhabit. It reminds me of so many country afternoons and evenings when this bird's strain was heard far over the fields, as I pursued it from field to field. . . As the bay-wing sang many a thousand years ago, so sang he to-night.")
Disturb three different broods of partridges. See June 27,1852 ("I meet the partridge with her brood in the woods."); June 27, 1860 (" just this side the Hemlocks, a partridge with her little brood.")
I see a young Rana sylvatica in the woods, only five eighths of an inch long. Or is it a hylodes ? — for I see a faint cross-like mark on the back and yet the black dash on the sides of the face. Compare September 12, 1857 ("There was a conspicuous dark-brown patch along the side of the [wood frog's] head, whose upper edge passed directly through the eye horizontally, just above its centre, so that the pupil and all below were dark and the upper portion of the iris golden"); August 10, 1858 ("I notice several of the hylodes hopping through the woods like wood frogs,. . . They are probably common in the woods, but not noticed, on account of their size, or not distinguished from the wood frog. I also saw a young wood frog, with the dark line through the eye, no bigger than the others. One hylodes which I bring home has a perfect cross on its back").
It is a great relief to look into the horizon/ Haze and sultriness are far off. See June 26, 1853 ("Summer returns without its haze. We see infinitely further into the horizon on every side, and the boundaries of the world are enlarged.")
The sweet fragrance of swamp pinks / every year. See June 18, 1853 ("At night sleep with both windows open; say, when the swamp-pink opens."); June 19, 1852 ("The swamp pink in blossom a most cool refreshing fragrance to travellers in hot weather.")
June 23, 2014
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, June 23
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/HDT23June
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