Every butterfly by the trailside seems to spend at least some time nectaring in the wild gardens of dame's rocket. There are spicebush, pipevine, black, and tiger swallowtails feeding on the nectar of the aromatic flowers. So are silver-sided skippers and little blues and pearly crescents. And hummingbird moths. I see three of the bumblebee-sized moths and am surprised to see them this early in the year. At home we watch these pretty daytime moths in the heat of July and August when they feed on the tall butterfly bushes in our garden.                        The hummingbird moth is mostly olive-green with plum-red bands across its abdomen. When feeding on the nectar of flowers, it hovers like a hummingbird and its clear wings produce a similar buzz though softer than a hummingbirds'. Fascinated, I watch too long. A drink of water and a sandwich and then I walk faster.                       The witchity, witchity, witchity, witch song of the common yellowthroat cheers me on. A flash of wings and a warbler crosses the trail in front of me—yellow throat and underparts, olive back, bluish wings with white wing bars…aha, a blue-winged warbler. This is a rare bird for me. All the bluewings I have seen in my life can be counted on the fingers of one hand.                       The bluewing vanishes into the green spring leafery and as I come around a soft curve in the trail, a deer materializes and begins to graze on the grasses by the trailside. The wind is toward me so I keep on walking to within a hundred feet before the doe raises her head and gives me a good hard stare, as only whitetails can. Not overly impressed by what she sees, she is gone in several long leaps. Besides the deer, I see few signs of other mammals; several chipmunks and gray squirrels and the scattered fur of a cottontail. What ate the rabbit? A fox or great horned owl? Possibly. I like to believe it was that bobcat Joan saw right in this area. She saw it on the trail during the daytime and close enough to see the tufts on its ears! That bobcat is on my wish list.  [continue...]