There are times when the forest ambiance is so still, so tranquil, not a sound is to be heard as we move quietly ourselves through its trails. Of course if you are attuned you hear the gentle murmur of the wind through the forest canopy, a murmur that can rise on occasion to the level of a head-splitting roar as though a train is passing through up there.

Then there are the various sounds that occasionally break the silence of the still forest; hearing the whistle of a hawk veering and wheeling overhead, the sublime song of a cardinal, that of a song sparrow, a robin, the busy chirping talk of chickadees and nuthatches, the businesslike caws of crows -- and sometimes out of the stillness the softly emphatic announcement of an owl with its drawn-out hoot informing the forest denizens that he is there, shiver in trepidation all ye residents of the deep forest, feathered and furred.

Pileated woodpecker-ravaged tree trunk

As though to challenge the primacy of that great winged predator, the largest of the woodpeckers that enter the forest to make it their own, when a pileated woodpecker with its vast range shrilly calls, its voice challenging that of a bluejay, one a forager the other a reaper of live insects drilling deep into the trunk of host trees to excavate and extract its bounty.

Yesterday afternoon as we forged our way through the rain-saturated woods in a light drizzle with Jackie and Jillie racing and leaping about before us -- all of us suitably rain-jacketed -- it was the call of a barred owl that stopped us short to listen as once and then again, it informed us of its presence. A sombre yet stirring sound that never ceases to impress us.

Trout lily foliage

We were taken by pleasant surprise to realize that trout lilies had arisen from the drenched soil of the forest floor, their characteristic single-spade-shaped foliage with its dappled colouring greeting us in one colony after another. It will take some time yet before the delicate dangling yellow flowers will appear on their frail stalks, but they will, before the deciduous trees are fully leafed out -- perhaps another several weeks.

We encountered several showpieces of fungal growth on old tree stumps, impressive in their shape and colour, some of the clumps arrestingly beautiful. In fact as well, the forest has begun to take on a strange appearance resulting from the constant inundations of rain, where in places mosses have grown so luxuriantly the trees festooned with them take on the aspect of a rain forest.

It was cool enough at 8C for us to be glad we'd thought to wear gloves against the cold, a cold far more insistent and penetrating in the woods than it ever is out on the street. Even Jackie and Jillie are still clad in light little pullovers to keep them cozy against the cold. Lest any doubt how cold, patches of ice in various parts of the ravine still remain, and they will, until we finally approach a continuing number of warmer days without rain.