Keep Your Senses Open
There’s plenty to keep your sense awake when you take a walk around the Chik-Wauk Nature Center these days.
Although people have been finding ripe strawberries tucked away in sunny corners for nearly a month now, it seems berry season is truly upon us. Small ripe strawberries peep out from beneath large leaves along roads and buildings. These strawberries might be teeny babies of berries compared to the ginormous strawberries you find in groceries, but these wild berries seem to contain one of the most concentrated bursts of sunshine there is.
As you walk up the road towards Chik-Wauk, you’ll want to keep your ears peeled. In the Moose Pond just before Chik-Wauk’s driveway, frogs fill the woods with a croaky conversation. Near the bog, where the Rubaboo hiking trail begins, sparrows and warblers keep up a steady chorus of happy song. There are plenty of other winged creatures to observe along the Rubaboo trail too, like this lacy-winged dragonfly. The bugs haven’t been especially bad so far this summer, but we’re always happy to see this little bug-eater out in action.
As for wildflowers, the extremely early spring seems to have put the wildflowers ahead by a month. Last week, the twinflowers and dogbane sprung into bloom, as well as the roadside hawkweek and lupine. The wild roses are still in full bloom and they keep a lovely smell on the breeze now that the blooms on the lilac bush outside the museum have faded.
It doesn’t always feel as though there’s plenty of time to stop and smell the roses here at the museum. It can seem like all of our to-do lists are a mile-long before the big grand opening on July 4th! Still, at the end of the day, there’s always time to hike a trail or smell a wildflower, and soak up some of the peacefulness of this place.