Nature Notes: Tis the season of pollen and azaleas

I'm amazed at what a difference a week has made. We went from fairly cool wet weather to dry and hot.

All the pollen seemed to form and drop at once. The shot above is the lid to a recycle bin and I'm guessing birds formed the pattern which I'll call pollen art. The macro shot makes it stand out and the pollen was so thick it seeped into the grain of the thick plastic lid.

Even the iris (above) in my back yard had a fine dusting of pollen which I guess blew from the trees in the front yard.

My azaleas are beginning to bloom. I have a lot of varieties and some bloom in April while others are about a month behind the first ones.

I love my overgrown azaleas when they are in bloom. Some of them grow as tall as trees. Even the miniature ones spread out like crazy when left to their own devices.

The white flowers below are from my dogwood tree which is growing into the oak tree canopy. Just a week ago the oaks didn't have any leaves and now they are all leafing out.

The bird below almost looks like a statue to me. He was singing up a storm.

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