Purple haze

84 field sparrow
85 blue-gray gnatcatcher
(total on this date in 2006: 76)

APRIL 1, GRINDSTONE PARK, sunny, 65—Any day with a blooming redbud tree is a good day. I'd never seen one until I moved to Missouri, but now it's my favorite sign of spring.

Tent caterpillars are active again, though the ones I saw were garrisoned in their shelter.

At a stream-field edge I saw a possible least flycatcher but couldn't be sure. Flycatchers in the Empidonax genus (empids, for short) can only be distinguished by voice and other clues. If you're feeling masochistic, have a go.

In the woods I often nibble on grass stalks, and I would've believed one was hallucinogenic if not for the photographic evidence above.