5-22

Yellow Wood Sorrel, English Plantain and Bulbous Buttercup (shown) were flowering today.

High overhead a raven fledgling begged loudly as it pursued one of its parents across the sky.

And this American Copper butterfly worked the wild strawberry flowers.

John

5-21

Hairy Solomon's Seal (pictured), False Solomon's Seal, Wild Madder, Bugle (a garden escape), Robin's Plantain and Pink Azalea (pictured) all flowered either yesterday or today.

American Copper butterflies have emerged. A few warm days should bring a flood of lepidoptera over the coming week.

John

5-19

Today Herb Robert was starting to flower. And both pink and white varieties of Tartarian Honeysuckle - that aggressive alien invasive shrub - were bursting into bloom.

John

5-17

Clintonia AKA Bluebead Lily (pictured) is in flower. Also in flower are Downy Yellow Violet, Japanese Barberry, Wild Sarsparilla and Bog Chickweed.

John

5-14

Another wave of avian migrators have returned: Baltimore Orioles, Great Crested Flycatchers and Bobolinks.

In the woods, pink moccasin flower is starting to bloom.

John

5-12

On Black Mountain today early low blueberry, Striped Maple and Star Flowers were in bloom. At home the Common Cinquefoil flowers opened; last year's first cinquefoil was flowering on 4-30!

John

5-9

On the east side of town, Celandine was flowering today. Closer to home Cuckoo flower was open. And the Canada Violets (pictured) were a foot tall and far showier than I expect any violets to be.

John

5-8

Henbit, Rose Twisted-Stalk, Mountain Fly Honeysuckle, Wintergreen and Field Pennycress were in flower today.

Also, and new to me, Fringed Polygala AKA Gaywings, a member of the Milkwort family bloomed. As the picture shows, this is a truly unique little lifeform!

John

As I drove home from South Newfane, I slowed down getting on the South Newfane bridge and noticed hobblebush in bloom.

5-6

A few Elderberry bushes and cherry trees opened flowers today.

In shady ledgy sites, early saxifrage and columbine (both shown) were at their peak.

Black and White Warblers hitched round the trunks of riverside trees. And six-spotted green Tiger Beetles flew up the path ahead of me.

John

5-4

A male Ruby-throated Hummingbird visited our Andromeda bush this morning, ignoring the nearby feeder!

John

5-3

Ovenbirds and Common Yellowthroats accompanied me on my walk today.

Pennsylvania Bittercress and Garden Currants were both in flower. Kidney leafed Buttercup (not shown) were also starting to open.

And I put up my hummingbird feeder; any day now our Ruby-throated Hummer will be back!

John

5-2

One patch of squirrel corn was in flower this morning. I also snapped a picture of this fungus: a thick-stalked false Morel I would guess. Along a brook I scared up a Northern Water Thrush. It was an interesting walk, and by the time I got home my shoes were yellow with pine pollen.

John

5-1

Downy Serviceberry, aka Shed bush, and Marsh Marigold, aka Cowslips, both shown, were in flower today.

Also in flower were Golden Alexanders, Smooth Yellow Violet, Cypress Spurge, Dutchman's Breeches and Wild Oats.

Kingbirds and Yellow Warblers are back and I had a reliable report that a Baltimore Oriole was seen.

John

4-30

Today Trailing Arbutus and Dwarf Gingsing were in flower on Black Mountain.

While hiking there, I also found a new patch of Spotted Wintergreen, perhaps 10 plants. The world is full of surprises!

John

Add to that I saw elderberry, blood root, trillium and leeks in all their glory.

4-29

Pictures continued.

John

4-29

The flowering season is in high gear. Miterwort, wild ginger, blue cohosh, spring

beauties, wild starwberry, toothwort and hobblebush were among the species that I saw blooming for the first time today. See more pictures on next blog. John

I heard my first warbler- at least one that I can identify--the black throated green warbler.
I was in a meadow in Guilford and the sounds resounded. I could identify the yellow common throat, red-wing black bird, etc, but the wonderful moment was went a Canadian Goose flew only 30 feet overhead and I could hear the whir it made when its wings were flapping.

4-28

It was a day of heat, humidity and thunderstorms: growing weather. Bluets appeared in my lawn along with both white and purple violets. Wood anemone shone white in the woods where just days ago there was snow. And (in Brattleboro) Dutchman's Breeches were flowering.

The avian rolls also gained at least one new member: Gray Catbirds!

John

4-27

There was a massive influx of avian life swept north by the warm winds of the last 24 hours: blue-headed vireos, palm warblers, yellow-rumped warblers and house wrens among them.

Trout Lilies brightened the forest floor today. And Sweetleaf graced the swamps.

Tiny sky-blue butterflies danced and flitted over all.

John

4-26

When I got home at 4 pm there was a kettle of 13 hawks - mostly broad-winged - over my field. In an hour and a half I saw 121 raptors: 1 merlin, 1 red-tailed, 3 turkey vultures, 2 ospreys, 2 bald eagles, 2 peregrine, 69 broad-winged, 8 kestrels, 1 northern harrier, 4 red-shouldered, 6 Coopers, and 22 sharp shinned hawks.

The haze and heat that created the thermals to get the raptors aloft also triggered a dragonfly hatch.

John

4-25

This morning a few rather anemic looking Jack-in-the-Pulpit were flowering along a roadside seep with their feet in running water.

Nearby this Ranunculus - which I tentatively identified as Hooked Crowfoot - also flowered. The ranunculus clan, buttercups and crowfoot, includes about 101 species just in the northeast and north central states according to the Peterson's Field Guide! The differences are subtle!!

John

Mrs. Cardinal was gathering the peeling bark of Heptacodium (7 Sons Flower tree). This beautiful ornamental blooms in late September/October.

4-24

The spore bearing fertile stalks of Field Horsetail are up. The green "Horsetail" will come up later on a separate stalk.

And Chickadees were excavating a nest cavity in a rotten stub this morning working in shifts even as I took this picture.

John

4-22

Trillium is starting to open. This one - complete with pollinator - was alongside Camp Arden Rd.

And the first of the violets is open, the Round-leaved Yellow Violet. While tiny and obscure they are harbingers of violet species to come!

John

4-21

Daphne, a naturalized escape shrub, is starting to flower.

John

Wild leeks! A carpet of green at Putney School.
Blue cohosh unfolding.
Trillium budding.

Where's your favorite place to find wild leeks?
Email me at cheryl.wilfong at gmail.com

At Esther Falks there was a field (in the woods) of hepatica in bloom and the trout lily leaves are out. Catkins are bursting from poplars along 91

4-15

In the warmest of micro-climates a few Myrtle (AKA periwinkle, vinca minor) flowers can be found. Myrtle is an almost ubiquitous garden escape.

Ospreys are back. So are broad-winged hawks.

False Heleborine has thrust up 2 inches of green above the riverside mud.

And, I saw my first Bumblebee of the season today!

John

4-14

A few Hepatica blossoms are open!

John

4-11

Red Efts are out and about. I moved two off the road this morning. One Cabbage White butterfly was flying. Daffodils are starting to bloom. And, it's Tick season - one was crawling up on my sleeve today. So goes the season.

John

There are many sights that signify that spring is here. Last night I heard one of the first signs. The wood frogs were quacking in the vernal pool on the East-West Road near Black Mountain. We crossed Jefferson Salamanders and Wood frogs although an equal amount had been killed before we got to the site. However, many wood frogs had already made it and there was a cacophony of wood frog mating calls.

2-10

Bright yellow alien Colt's Foot bloomed today, just hours ahead of the native Bloodroot.

In a vernal pool near Camp Arden Rd. Wood Frogs were "quacking."

I saw my first Garter snake of the year - unfortunately it was roadkill.

And Angle-wined butterflies are flying. Angle wings which include commas, question marks, Milbert's Tortoiseshells and Mourning Cloaks overwinter as adults. The one I saw today was probably a Question Mark.

John

4-8

Tree swallows are back!!

John

4-7

Suddenly there are White-Throated Sparrows under my bird feeders.

And female Brown-headed Cowbirds have joined the males of that species. Cowbirds are brood parasitic. She will perch quietly in a tall tree observing where birds of other species nest. When the time is right she will lay her eggs in those nests. That is the extent of cowbird parenting.

John

4-6

This morning as I walked through the woods, Veeries and Hermit Thrushes - two species I had not been seeing earlier this spring - rolled ahead of me in a fluttery rusty-backed thrush wave.

John

4-5

This morning started with winds from the east and east-northeast.

Robins by the thousands, Blackbirds by the tens of thousands, geese, ducks, a pair of Loons - waves of birds were moving north with the storm. By 11 am the winds switched to NW, stalling out the migration. Along a quarter mile stretch of the West River eight to ten Phoebes bobbed and swooped. Fields were full of Robins and Flickers. At my feeders the Junco flock quadrupled and several Fox Sparrows joined them. Two Northern Harriers teetered and circled just above the trees. A Merlin powered through the wind. For the next two or three days I will be spotting new species that came north this morning: first sightings of the spring. Favorable wind brought today's pulse of migration north. Birds don't waste energy flying into a headwind. With the next south wind many of them will be gone.

John

4-1

The neighborhood mink hunted through my yard today sending the birds and squirrels into nervous fits. Unfortunately it refuses to pose for a picture.

John