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Anticipating the equinox. On March 14, as Saint Patrick’s Day and the vernal equinox approached, hardy insects were abroad and the first skunk cabbage flowers had opened.
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| TRR photo by Ed Wesely | |
| As the snow melts in seeps and other wetlands, skunk cabbage flowers are blossoming beneath rugged hoods—preparing for fly species that will pollinate them.
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| TRR photo by Ed Wesely | |
| My companion on the ice that day was a large winter stonefly that stopped to explore my index finger. The larvae are bottom dwellers; winged adults emerge in winter, crawling across the snow near local streams.
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| TRR photo by Barbara Yeaman | |
| Except for the Big Eddy at Narrowsburg, the Upper Delaware had fashioned channels from Hancock to Port Jervis. Walking across the ice to mid-river, on March 14, I drilled several holes and discovered that ice atop the Big Eddy was 13 inches thick.
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