4-19 Common Blue Violet, Round-leaved Yellow Violet, Earth Star

4-19 Both Common Blue Violet and Round-leaved Yellow Violets are opening.

And last fall's Barometer Earth Stars are still picture worthy. The rays of this fungus open when wet, close when dry. John

4-18 Wild Strawberry, Long-spurred Violet

4-18 One Wild Strawberry has opened a flower.

And, one Long-spurred Violet has followed suit! John

4-17 Spicebush, Field chickweed, Black Squirrel, Bear cubs

4-17 The flower clusters of spicebush are giving swampy areas a golden glow.

Agricultural fields and waste places are dotted with field chickweed with its five deeply cleft white petals.

a family member snapped a picture of a black phase Gray Squirrel.

A Black Bear sow with three tiny cubs crossed my path this AM although I only got two cubs in my somewhat blurry picture. John

4-16 Lesser Celandine, Mayflower, Bumblebee

4-16 Lesser Celandine, a farden escape, is starting its flowering.

On warmed ledges Mayflower, AKA Trailing Arbutus, nestles among its evergreen leaves.

This morning I watched honey bees in a patch of ground ivy and this afternoon I snapped a picture of a Bumble Bee. John

4-15 Trout Lilies, Small-flowered Crowfoot, Garter Snakes

4-15 Trout Lilies, AKA Yellow Adder's Tongue, opened to the sun today.

Small-flowered Crowfoot, AKA Small-flowered Buttercup, also flowering but much less noticeably.

And, a cluster of 4 Garter Snakes was basking on a sun warmed pile of leaves. John

4-14 Miterwort, Dutchman's -breeches, Fiddleheads

4-14 Both Miterwort and dutchman's-breeches are opening a few flowers.

and Fiddleheads ae lifting above the leaf litter. John

4-13 Red Trillium, Blue Cohosh, Scarlet Cup Fungi

4-13 Red Trillium, AKA Wake Robin, is starting its flowering.

Blue Cohosh is not far behind.

And Scarlet Cup fungi adds its own touch of color to the spring woods. John

4-9 Bluets

4-9 Bluets, AKA Quaker Ladies or Innocence, are popping up in my lawn. John

4-8 Spring Beauty

4-8 A few Spring Beauties opened today. John

4-4 Weevil

4-4 Tis morning a Weevil was wandering across te newly fallen snow. John

4-2 Marsh Marigold

4-2 This morning, in Newfane, Marsh Marigolds, AKA cowslips, had opened a flower.

3-31 Field Pansy, Bloodroot, better picture Painted Turtle

3-31 Field Pansy, an escape from cultivation, has opened numerous flowers.

Bloodroot opened a single flower this afternoon.

Also, a better Painted Turtle picture than I was able to provide yesterday! John

3-30 Wild Ginger, Painted Turtle

3-30 Wild Ginger has opened a few flowers but has not yet fully unfurled its leaves.

And, today, I saw Painted Turtles basking in the sunlight although not within range for a good picture. John

3-29 Gill-o'er-the-ground, Pussy willow

3-29 Ground Ivy, AKA Gill-o'er-the-ground and Creeping Charlie, has opened an occasional flower

And Pussy Willows have expanded slowly but noticeably. John

3-22 Early Saxifrage

3-22 Early Saxifrage is in flower. Look for it on sun-warmed ledges. John

3-20 Daphne, Ural False Spirea

8-20 Daphne flowers well before it leafs out.

Ural False Spirea leafs out long before it flowers. Both are alien escapes. John

3-12 Beaked Hazel, Hepatica, Black Vulture

3-12 The tiny crimson flowers of Beaked Hazel are opening.

An occasional Hepatica is in flower.

And a Black Vulture has joined the more common turkey vultures in the West River valley. John

3-10 Winter Cutworms

3-10 This morning the fresh snow was littered with the larvae of Large Yellow Underwing moths (Noctua pronuba). This European moth was accidentally introduced into eastern Canada in the late 1970's and has rapidly spread south and west. Its larvae are commonly referred to as "winter cutworms."

3-8 Dandelions, Red Dead Nettle, Chickweed, Myrtle

3-8 Today Dandelions were in flower at two locations.

Red Dead Nettle was just starting its flowering.

Waste places and agricultural fields were dotted with Chickweed.

And Myrtle was putting on a show on at least one sunny bank. John

3-3 winter fireflies, turkey vultures, crocuses

3-3 Today Turkey Vultures were circling over Black Mountain. Last year I first saw one on the 3rd. The year before that Feb. 28th. Winter Firelies were feeding on oozing Hickory sap. This is a fireless firefly species! And, in a neighbor's yard, crocuses were flowering. John