In mid-March, I installed my game camera at the edge of a vernal pool. I followed a game trail down to the water and found a nice open area where I’d hoped wildlife, like deer, foxes, and raccoons, would come down to drink. I did get quite a few shots of deer and raccoons, and a lot of very fast (and very blurry!) red squirrels, but I was most surprised by how many clips I got of American crows using…
To me, spring is one of the most exciting times of year in nature. It seems that just about every day there’s a new flower blooming, a new tree leafing out, a new bird arriving back (or passing through) from its wintering area, or a newly emerged insect. With respect to insects, over the last couple weeks I had been noticing two fairly common and unique looking flies around my yard. Both had jet black bodies with noticeable red legs…
Yesterday, March 20th, was the first day of spring. And with the warm temperatures and bountiful sunshine, it actually felt like spring this weekend (not always the case for the first few days of spring in New England). The black-capped chickadees have been loudly singing “spring’s here” all day. The plants in my yard seem to have gotten the memo too: the crocuses, snowdrops, and dandelions are blooming, and the hyacinths, daffodils, irises and day lilies are pushing out new…
That’s what Punxsutawney Phil said anyway. I say 6 weeks and 4 days, since the official first day of spring (the vernal equinox) is March 20th. In early March after we’ve had a few pleasant days and folks start remarking that “spring is here” I’m always the first one to chime in and remind them that winter (i.e., cold, snow, nor’easters, etc.) is not over yet. In fact, sometimes it refuses to go away even after the official first day…
With their dominance in our Cape Cod forests, it’s hard to miss the oaks unfurling their leaves and sending forth their flowers. Interestingly, what we see are the male flowers, which appear as obvious hanging catkins; the female flowers, on the other hand are much more difficult to observe with the naked eye, particularly from where we stand on the ground. However, it is much easier to overlook the spring emergence of some of our common understory trees, like sassafras…