This has been a month of very changeable weather – first dry and cool, followed by dry, hot and windy, and this week, heavy rain.

Continue reading →

Summer has arrived.    I never expect spring to be over so quickly but now, suddenly, the leaves are deep summer green, and we’re seeing summer butterflies and flowers.

Here’s the view from Hidden Oaks Point at the beginning of the month, and at the end.

 

Half way into spring – the view from Indian Grass Point on May 11.

 

My project for most of the month has been treating or pulling Garlic Mustard.  The season was very short this year – early spring was cold, so the plants didn’t grow big enough to spot until quite late;  then the weather got hot and they grew, flowered and made seeds within a few weeks.  I’ve had to give up on some big parts of the woods, but most places are looking better, with fewer GM plants and more spring flowers and ferns.

The ravine in Western Valley

 

Maple Ridge hillside

 

Last year we attached solar panels to our sound recorders so we wouldn’t have to change their batteries.  The only problem has been that the panels make good perches for birds – especially the bluebirds that nest nearby.

 

We finally came up with a solution that seems to help.

 

Spring leaves with early morning sun and a Barn Swallow

 

Eastern Tiger/Canadian Swallowtail.  (The only way to tell the difference between these two species at this time of year is to see the underside of the wings.)

 

For about a week the air was filled with the scent of Wild Plum blossoms.

 

Bee Fly on Serviceberry

 

Hoary Puccoon and Blue-eyed Grass

 

White Blue-eyed Grass – a variation on the more common blue form of this species.

 

Showy Orchis

 

Lupine and Golden Alexanders in the Narrows Prairie

 

Lupine

 

The blister beetles that eat flowers and seeds of legumes just appeared.  They seem especially fond of Lupine and White Wild Indigo.  Some years they eat every flower; some years only a few.  They’re native beetles, and the plants survive, but they don’t produce many seeds in big beetle years.

 

I’ve been seeing lots of Lunas this year.  This is the earliest I’d ever seen one – May 6.  One night I had at least 8 at my moth lights.

 

Here are a couple of other favorites from the moth lights.

Agreeable Tiger Moth

 

another view – showing its orange leggings

 

Eastern Panthea

 

White Furcula

 

Native flowers blooming near our house…Golden Alexanders, Wild Columbine and Prairie Phlox.

 

Wild Columbine

 

Bearded Iris in the yard of the old farmhouse

 

Juvenal’s Duskywing  on Hoary Puccoon

 

Jack in the Pulpit

 

Interrupted Fern

 

Gorgone Checkerspot

 

Wild Yam – a new discovery

 

Wood Betony – most of their flowers are light yellow like the ones on the flower stalk on the right.  We have these two-toned flowers in just a few places.

 

Indian Paintbrush

 

Summer in Twisted Oak Savanna

Spring is here!  Orioles and Grosbeaks are back, bugs are out, trees are budding.  The landscape still looks brown, but there are green leaves if I look closely, and spring flowers are blooming.  Continue reading →

March is a transition time – slow change from winter to spring.  Some days are wintry with cold and snow; some feel and smell like spring. Continue reading →

February was very cold with a few small snowstorms – until this week.  Suddenly warm temperatures and rain have arrived and now it feels like spring.  It’s still too early for real spring – there’s probably still some winter left.   But the snow is nearly gone and the ground is thawing. Continue reading →

January has mostly been very cold with almost no snow.   But last few days have been warm and the last two days it’s felt like spring.  There’s hardly any snow on the ground so we’ve been able to walk on the tops of our hills nearly every day. Continue reading →