5-31 Brown Snake

5-31
Brown snakes are a common but secretive species that prey on earthworms, slugs and snails. This one posed nicely for pictures. This is actually a Red-bellied snake. The diet is the same as the Brown snake's.
And Bristly Locust, an introduced species widely planted for erosion control and mine reclamation, is opening big, pink, pea-like flowers.
John

Red-bellied snake

Bristly Locust

5-30 Highbush Blueberries

5-30
The flowering of Highbush Blueberries is a hint of sweet juicy berries ripening late in July or August.
Aggressively invasive Multiflora Rose is flowering beautifully.
The American Copper butterfly, sometimes called the Flame Copper, is common in fields and on 'weedy' lawns.
John

Highbush Blueberries

Multiflora Rose

American Copper butterfly

5-29 Flax

5-29
Flax, a common Old World native, often crops up in areas seeded with wildflower mixes.
Chokeberry prefers low woods and swamps.
John

Flax

Chokeberry

5-28 Lesser Hop Clover

5-28 Lesser Hop Clover, White Clover and Red Clover are all starting to flower.
Eastern Black Swallowtails are among the butterflies that are airborne.
John

Lesser Hop Clover

White Clover

Red Clover

Eastern Black Swallowtail

5-27 Birdsfoot Trefoil

5-27
Birdsfoot Trefoil shines gold along roadsides and in fields.
Virginia Waterleaf favors rich damp woods.
Round-leaved Ragwort colors calcerous rocky areas.
John

Birdsfoot Trefoil

Virginia Waterleaf

Round-leaved Ragwort

5-26 Pineappleweed

5-26
Pineappleweed - so called because it emits an odor of pineapple when bruised - grows in barnyards, along roadsides and in fields.
Goatsbeard favors fields and waste places. Its flowers are open in the morning but close by midday.
Raspberries are flowering, a pale hint of the fruit to follow.
John

Pineappleweed

Goatsbeard

Raspberries

5-25 Mayapples

5-25
Mayapples are in flower. The 2 inch long yellow fruit they produce is edible.
One-flowered Cancerroot is said to be " a parasitic plant of woods and thickets." I find it in an old field.
Yellow Hawkweed is coloring waste places and un-mown lawns.
John

Mayapple flower

Mayapple leaves

One-flowered Cancerroot

Yellow Hawkweed

5-24 Hooked Buttercup

5-24
The hook covered seed heads of Hooke dButtercup give it its common name.
Early Azaleas are giving color and aroma to riversides and ledges.
Flowering Dogwood, a species now extremely rare in Vermont, is at its flowering peak,
John

fruit of the Hooked Buttercup

Early Azalea

Flowering Dogwood

5-23 Tartarian Honeysuckle

5-23
Tartarian Honeysuckle colors thickets and edge habitats. Daisies are opening in fields and along roadsides. Dame's Rocket which may flower white, pink or purple paints damp thickets and weedy areas. And Common Barberry adds a splash of yellow to the landscape.
Not one of these species are natives, but some have been naturalized for a long time.
John

Tartarian Honeysuckle

Daisies

Dame's Rocket

Common Barberry

5-22 Philadelphia Fleabane

5-22
Philadelphia favors open woods, fields and unmown lawns.
Low Running Blackberry likes old fields and thickets.
And Moccasin Flowers, AKA Ladies' Slippers, are most common in pine or oak woods.
John

Philadelphia Fleabane

Low Running Blackberry

Moccasin Flower

Moccasin Flower

5-21 Red Baneberry

5-21
Red Baneberry is flowering in thin woods and in roadside thickets. Pale Corydalis avoids competition by growing in recently disturbed soil and on almost soil-less boulders and ledges.
And a presumably healthy bat that I inadvertently scared off its day roost posed briefly before flying off.
John

Red Baneberry

Pale Corydalis

Bat

5-20 Wild Chervil

5-20
Fern-like leaves and loose umbels of small white flowers make identification of Wild Chervil easy. This invasive is colonizing both Route 5 and 30.
Bugle - an escape from cultivation- has colonized lawns and roadsides.
John

Wild Chervil

Bugle

5-19 Red Fox

5-19
Red Foxes that forage nocturnally most of the year forage diurnally when they have a den of kits to fee.
Fringed Polygala is flowering in moist woods and English Plantain favors laws, ditches and old fields.
John

Fringed Polygala

English Plantain

5-18 Morrow's Honeysuckle

5-18
One of the Honeysuckles, perhaps Morrow's Honeysuckle, is starting to flower in thickets and along field edges.
Starry False solomon's Seal favors sandy banks.
John

Morrow's Honeysuckle

Starry False Solomon's Seal

5-17 Clintonia

5-17
The yellow-green nodding flowers of Clintonia, AKA Bluebead Lily, are starting to open. This species favors wet areas.
Along the roadsides Wild Sarsaparilla's 3 groups of 5 leaflets overtop its 3 globular clusters of tiny greenish flowers.
John

Clintonia

Sarsaparilla

5-16 Kildeer

5-16
Kildeer are nesting. This one was feigning injury trying to lure us away from its nest.
And Turtles are on the move. this Snapper was crossing a nearby road and was assisted by two
passing motorists.
John

5-15 Herb Robert

5-15
Herb Robert is the first member of the Geranium family to flower and Pine Elfin butterflies are airborne! This one was nectaring on Garlic Mustard.
John

Herb Robert

Pine Elfin on Garlic Mustard