First Wildflowers in CeVA

I think it always happens when you're not looking.

DH and I finally got around to pulling up the silt barrier around our little stream, when I looked down and saw some tiny pale blue flowers - bluets! First wildflower of the spring at our country house! I wanted to stop all work and get the camera, but I stayed at the task and took these pictures the next day. These were right down in the stream bed, but not submerged. There were only a few, and this tiny flower just happened to be the best picture, but not the best plant.

I've been watching some shrubs in the woods since last fall, hoping they might turn out to be blueberries. I think I'm correct that they're Vacciniums, but I haven't determined which species yet. They're scattered throughout the woods, but probably most numerous close to the stream. Some of the plants are tall, by which I mean over my head, say 6 feet. The flower buds were just starting to break a week ago, and yesterday a few flowers were open. There are some low-growing ones as well, which I believe are a different Vaccinium species, but those are still dormant.

There were some sedge-y things blooming next to the bluets, but not at all photogenic.

Still no fiddleheads. I know there are plenty of ferns, so I'll look again next weekend.

It was very birdy there this weekend too, but I didn't spend much time with the binoculars. The best bird of the weekend for me was seen on Sunday morning - a pileated woodpecker lazily working at the top of a dead tree. And I think the phoebes are very interested in using our house as a nesting spot. The previous weekend, I saw one checking out the ceiling fan on the front porch. This last weekend while I was sitting on the front porch a pair started to fly towards the porch and veered off when they saw me. A short time later something was rustling around in the gutters.