It’s been a cool, extraordinarily wet spring in the Ozarks, and tree buds are just now starting to open up. Nevertheless, the southern breeding warblers are mostly in place; I personally had eight warbler species including Ovenbird, redstart, parula, yellow-throated, Kentucky, and Pine Warbler during the morning. Boreal breeders like Chestnut-sided Warbler haven’t quite started coming through yet.

Greg Swick tries to point out a Hermit Thrush for a crowd of eager observers. (Greg has posted his own account of the day: Red Bridge Round Up.) It was fun to see my old friends again. They call me a world traveler (which, I suppose, is true) and like to joke that they taught me everything I know (which is probably truer than they realize).

Lovely spring wildflowers bloomed among the rocks and trees. This is rue anemone.

And this is Trillium sessile (which I think sounds nicer than “toadshade”). Sessile means without a stalk, and as you can see, both the flower and the leaflets lack appreciable stalks and are nestled together. More wildflower photos are available in today’s gallery: Ozarks wildflowers.