4-25 Wild Oats

4-25 Sessile-leaved Bellwort, AKA Wild Oats, is flowering. John

4-24 Shadbush

4-24 Field edges, fence rows and river banks are whitened by the flowers of Shadbush. John

4-23 Spicebush

4-23 S

Spicebush is brightening swamps. Another name for this bush is "Horse Sugar." John

4-22 Kidney-leaved Buttercup

 4-22

Kidney-leaved Buttercups are in flower.

John

4-21 Garlic Mustard

 4-21

Both Garlic Mustard and Field Mustard are starting to flower.

John

Field Mustard

Garlic Mustard

4-20 Red Fox

 4-20

A nice healthy Red Fox crossed my lawn this morning and Trout Lilies, AKA dog-tooth Violets, flecked a nearby sunny ditch.

John

Trout Lily

4-19 Common Blue Violets

 4-19

Common Blue Violets, which may be either blue or white, often colonize lawns.

Wild Ginger is opening a few of its carrion-colored, ground-hugging flowers.

And, on my back lawn, an egg, proof that nesting season is getting underway!

John

Wild Ginger

4-18 Wild Columbine

 4-18

Wild Columbine is brightening sunny ledges and Bumblebee queens have been visiting our Andromeda bush! Dutchman's Breeches are up in rich woods sites.

John

Wild Columbine

Bumblebee queen

Dutchman's Breeches

4-17 Round-leaved Yellow Violets

 4-17

Round-leaved Yellow Violets are up in open woodlands. Field Pansies fleck idle cornfields while Blue Mustard mixes with the stubble of last year's corn crop.

John

Field Pansies

Blue Mustard

Round-leaved Yellow Violets

4-16 Trailing Arbutus

 4-16

Trailing Arbutus, AKA Mayflower, is flowering profusely. John

4-15 Marsh Marigolds

 4-15

Marsh Marigolds like to have their feet wet. John

4-14 Trillium

4-14

The red Trillium often referred to as "Stinking Benjamin" is starting to flower. Both Hobblebush and American Fly Honeysuckle are also opening.

In lawns Bluets and Gill-o'er-the Ground can be found.

John

Hobblebush

                                                                                   

Red Trillium

American Fly Honeysuckle

Bluets

Gill-o'er-the-Ground

 

4-13 Wild Strawberries

 4-13

Wild Strawberries, Field Pussytoes and Forsythia are among the flowering species I saw on my short walk today.

John

 4-11

Noreen saw Spring Beauties in the spring woods today!

John

3-30 Woolly Bear

 3-30

    A Woolly Bear, the caterpillar of an Isabella Tiger moth, was on the move today. There are two generations a year of Woolly Bears and this one obviously overwintered.

    And Shepherd's Purse is, in its very unspectacular way, starting to open flowers.

John

 

3-29 Daphne

 3-29

    Daphne, an escaped shrub, is starting to flower in thickets and along edges.

John

3-28 Big Night

 3-28

The Big Night has begun - wood frog and Spotted Salamander.

John

3-28 Phoebes

 3-28

    Phoebes are back and Ravens are nesting!

John

3-27 Dandelion

 3-27

    Whatever you think of them as wildflowers, weeds or vitamin rich pot herbs, Dandelions brighten places hostile to most other plants!

John

3-25

 3-25

    A lot of Painted Turtles were basking in the sun this afternoon, a Red Eft was out wandering and hordes of Snow Fleas, held up by surface tension, colored puddles a pale lavendar gray.

John

Snow Fleas

Red Eft

Painted Turtles

Beaked Hazelnut

 3-24

    
The tiny, brilliantly colored, female flowers of Beaked Hazelnut are opening in proximity to dangling male cones.

    Heard a Woodcock peenting in the field tonight.

John

Red Dead Nettle

 3-23

    Red Dead Nettle (AKA Purple Dead Nettle) is starting to flower as is Mouse-ear Cress. Both are introduced species.

    One Bloodroot also opened a flower today.

    Not pictured: Silver Maple flowers and a Mourning Cloak Butterfly. Early butterflies feed on tree sap, carrion and scat.

John

Red Dead Nettle

Mouse-ear Cress

Bloodroot

3-22

 3-22

Spring Whitlowgrass and Common chickweed are both flowering in idle cornfields. On sunny banks Myrtle is opening a few flowers.

John

Myrtle

 

Common Chickweed

Spring Whitlowgrass

Hepatica

 3- 21

Hepatica is in the process of opening a few flowers - in sunny, sheltered spots.

John

Colts Foot

 3-17

In the swamps a few Pussy Willows are open. Crocuses dot one neighbor's lawn, while Snow Drops brighten another. And Colt's Foot is up along a sunny roadside bank.

John

Pair of Eagles

 3-16

A pair of Bald Eagles made a meal of road-killed skunk in a field near my house.

John

Handicapped Black Cap Chickadee

 

A chickadee with paralyzed legs visits our deck every day.

You can see the right leg sticking straight out.

Notice the "toes" of the left leg, which the chickadee uses to hang on a branch, one-footed and usually upside down.

The chickadee scoots along on the deck like a double amputee in India, scooting along on a little board with tiny rollers. The chickadee flaps its wings to propel itself forward an inch or two.

Such compassion for this individual creature, whom i can identify as different from all the others.

submitted by Cheryl Wilfong