Birthday presents

An early spring day in the field = the perfect birthday.

 The odd flowers of the Skunk Cabbage poke from the mud at the Beanery.

 A lone female Black Scoter (R) gets lots of attention from a group of males at Sunset Beach.

Glorious blue sky, here near the Nature Conservancy's Lizard Tail Swamp Preserve.

 A vernal pool along the power line, much fuller than it usually is at this time of year.

 Virginia Beardgrass, golden in the sun.

 An army of Dunlin on Avalon's beach.

 An American Bullfrog tadpole, thriving despite the chilly temperatures.

The end of a lovely day was spent watching Short-eared Owls hunting over Jake's Landing.

Grass

Before I met Mike, I never really appreciated the subtle beauty of the grasses, mostly because I suppose I had never really looked at them. They're particularly enjoyable at this time of year, when there is so little of botanical interest to look at. Surprisingly, there are more than 120 grass species scattered across Cape May County. They range in size from the dainty, fist-high Annual Meadow Grass to dense, towering clumps of bamboo. Many aren't native, and some of them -- like the Weeping Love Grass that's been planted all along the state's various highways -- are terribly invasive.

Switch grass, which has very open flower heads

Virginia Beardgrass, tall and columnar

Another species, which I don't know