18 April 2026

Seen this week. All photos are my own.

• The best wildflowers at Cedar Creek and Brush Creek (slideshow)
  • Yellow corydalis
  • Spring beauty
  • Dutchman’s breeches
  • Wake-robin in yellow and red
  • Eastern green violet (yes, it’s a violet)
  • False mermaid
  • Large-flowered bellwort
• Lilacs blooming in the city
• New leaves + what happens when there’s frostbite (slideshow)
  • First two leaves on red maple are smooth-edged and nothing like a maple
  • Poison ivy is leafing out
  • Ramps. It’s Ramp Festival time in West Virginia
  • American elm leaves at Schenley Park
  • Frostbite on the early leaves of Ohio buckeye in Frick Park
• Urban wildlife … literally outside my window.

Lilacs blooming in the city, 14 April 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

Urban Wildlife: Here’s what I saw, literally outside my window, in 10 minutes on Thursday 16 April.

That dot on Central Catholic High School’s cross is a red-tailed hawk. A pair is nesting within sight of the cross … but where?

Red-tailed hawk on Central Catholic cross, 16 April 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

Three deer crossed the street outside my window and grazed next to the sidewalk as cars drove by. When people approached on the sidewalk and started taking pictures and video, the deer walked away.

Three deer browsing on Ascension Church lawn, 16 April 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

How urban is their habitat? Very urban.

Where the deer were browsing on Ascension Church lawn, 16 April 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)