Guard bird and a living fossil tree

As I approached the pond this morning, the Willet suddenly came hurtling through the air, flying directly at me. Only at the last moment did he alter course, zoom past and circle around ending up on his usual observation spot at the top of the dead cedar on the far side of the pond. I say 'the' Willet because I assume this is the same bird who greets me every morning by flying at me or by watching me from his guard post. But what is he guarding? Has he simply decided that the pond and the marsh area around is 'his' territory (I'm assuming that he's a male but even that is not certain). Or is there a nest, eggs and a sitting female somewhere near by?

With the late leaf emergence of the Tupelos, Black Walnut and locusts, the sprouting of the marsh grass and high tide bushes -- Baccharis (Groudsel-tree) and Ivo (Marsh Elder) -- and the final leafing out of the oaks along the marsh edge, the place is only just now achieving its full spring green. Fallen oak tassels are all over the place, sneeze-inducing pine pollen is in the air and, in addition to the other flowers mentioned in an earlier post, the Rubus blackberries and Black Cherry are blossoming along with clover, yellow cinquefoil and a few other things.

Outside of the woods, the most obvious floral event is the full bloom of the garden rhododendrons. But for my money, the best flower display belongs to the Big-leaf or 'Jurassic Park' Magnolia. This extraordinary flowering tree is presumably a garden escape but it is one of a number of southern and midwestern species that are, for worse or for better, flourishing here by themselves after arriving with human help. Although this off-beat magnolia is sometimes considered to be threatened in its original southern habitat and is supposed to be restricted to 'mesic' or moist habitats, our small woodland grove is thriving with the older trees covered with flowers and many new saplings sprouting underneath. My guess is that the habitat here is 'mesic' only because of the sea fog which has been plentiful this spring and perhaps has helped encourage this spring's record flowering. The giant leaves and huge, upright, messy, white dinosaur flowers are both considered the largest in the catalogue of native North American plants. Eileen Schwinn's nickname of 'Jurassic Park Tree' is not at all far-fetched botanically as the magnolia family is one of the oldest and most primitive of all the flowering plants (it is said that magnolias are fertilized exclusively by beetles because when they were among the first flowering plants and when they appeared bees had not yet evolved). The trees in our grove are at their flowering peak right now, with numerous flowers in every stage of development from unopened buds to stand-up flower bundles, to flowers whose petals/sepals are collapsing to reveal the pineapple-style fruit at the center.

Eric Salzman