Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus)

For several weeks now speckled maroon and green shoots have been poking up through the ice-covered swampy woods around my house.  Heat generated by the growing flower melts the overlying snow and ice.  Green leaves will soon appear.  All parts of the plant emit an acrid skunky smell.  These first green shoots can be eaten but as it contains high amounts of oxalic acid it must be prepared carefully first.  It has smooth leaves, unlike the more toxic False Hellebore (Veratrum viride) which has creased leaves.  The latter is highly toxic and will cause nausea, vomiting and serious cardiac effects.  I have yet to try skunk cabbage, the smell alone extinguishes my appetite. But I always welcome it as one of the first plants to flower in the spring.

 Springtime Musings

The American Robin has been obvious these days as I drive the roads around the pond. With the recent heavy snowfall covering up many of their feeding areas, they have had difficulty scrounging for food. They have been taking advantage of the areas along the roads where the plows have cleared soil free and worms can be found. Often thought as a harbinger of spring, Robins live year-round in Maine. More reliable a predictor of warm weather is the arrival of the Wood Duck. They nest in hollows of trees near the pond. The hollows in the trees are often carved out by Pileated Woodpeckers. A pair has been calling lately in the swamp around my home and I expect will be nesting soon.

A Robin searching for food below a crabapple. Crabapple trees provide a great source of food in the late winter and early spring.  

A Pileated Woodpecker feeding on a lichen-encrusted Red Maple in a swamp.

A Wood Duck feeding in the shallows sends out concentric ripples.