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

5-14 Thyme-leaved Speedwell

5-14
The tiny flowers of Thyme-leaved Speedwell may be either white or pale blue. I find them in my lawn.
This morning's wildflower foray produced one surprise: a black Eastern Coyote. This is a color phase that I had never before seen. As I watched several cows chased the coyote out of the field.
John

5-13 Canada Violets

5-13
Canada Violets are in flower. The backs of their petals are often tinged with violet. This species often flowers a second time in the fall.
Common Cinquefoil is also starting its flowering. There are about a dozen cinquefoils that can be found in this area.
John

5-12 Foamflower

5-12
Foamflower is living up to its name!
John

5-11 Goldthread

5-11
The white 1/2inch flowers of Goldthread rise above three lobed evergreen leaves. They can be seen in moist woods and bogs.
John

5-10 Downy Yellow Violets

5-10
Downy Yellow Violets are up i dry open woods and Pennsylvania Bitter Cress can be found in wet, often mossy habitats.
John

Downy Yellow Violet

Pennsylvania Bitter Cress

5-9 Golden Alexanders

5-9
Golden Alexanders is brightening roadsides and waste  places.
Common Winter Cress,AKA Yellow Rocket, flecks fields and ditches often in moist soils or disturbed places.
John

Golden Alexanders

Common Winter Cress

05-8 Golden Saxifrage

5-8
The tiny unobtrusive flowers of Golden Saxifrage, AKA Water Carpet, often cover shallow waters.
Creamy mounds of yellowish white flowers are key to identifying Red-berried Elder.
John

Golden Saxifrage

Red-berried Elder

5-7 Wood Betony

5-7
Wood Betony, AKA Lousewort, is starting to flower. The flowers can be wither yellow or red.
Invasive Japanese Barberry is also starting its flowering.
John

Wood Betony

Japanese Barberry

5-6 Ravens

5-6
Three Common Raven nestlings, still partially covered in pin feathers, wait impatiently for their parents to bring food. This nest is on a Townshend rock cut.
John

5-5 Germander Speedwell

5-5
Germander Speedwell - one of at least nine speedwells that can be found locally - is flowering.
John

5-4 Pin Cherry

5-4
Pin Cherry and Hobblebush are both starting their flowering.
The showy white flowers around the perimeter of the Hobblebush umbels are infertile. The little yellowish center flowers are fertile.
John

Pin Cherry

Hobblebush

5-3 Greater Celandine

5-3
The Eurasian invasive Greater Celandine is starting to flower.
Also seen: Milbert's Tortoiseshell butterfly
John

5-2 Painted Trillium

5-2
A single Painted Trillium was in the process of opening when I snapped its picture this morning.
Also seen: a Hummingbird!!
John

5-1 Blue Mustard

5-1 What is very likely Blue Mustard is flowering in an East Dummerston field. Blue Mustard has the potential to be very invasive.
Also seen: Rode-breasted Grosbeak
John