Birch Bark

We walked part way up the road on Mount Holyoke this morning. Unusually, the gate was not open for cars, with a sign that it would open on May 16th. So we made the best of it.  Spring is much delayed, and a wintry feel hangs over the landscape. We saw very few birds--just chickadees and robins, with a couple of woodpeckers (likely downies). For my blip it as a choice between this closeup of a large birch tree  and one of several ferns breaking through the leaves with their fiddleheads.