Monarch on butterfly weed

Phenology is a science focused on observing and recording biological events from year to year and their relationships to the change of seasons and climate.

These are the “normal” phenology events we expect to see here and in the Madison area this month. We would love to hear about what you are seeing on the grounds of Holy Wisdom Monastery. Please comment on this post with what you are observing, where at Holy Wisdom and the date you observed the event.

July Phenology

“The tall grass prairie…. from the first greening of spring to the full ripening of autumn,
it is spangled by a vivid progression of flowers—a rainbow host that first enamels the
burned slopes of early spring and ends months later with great nodding blooms
that rise above a man’s head.” –John Madison, “Where the Sky Began”

July is usually the warmest and sunniest month of the year. Nesting season is over for most bird species, but not all. Colorful prairie flowers bloom profusely among green grasses. Peak month of activity for butterflies, moths, bees, beetles, bugs, crickets, grasshoppers, dragonflies, damselflies, spiders, and twinkling fireflies at night. There is so much to enjoy in July.

Following, are some of the happenings I have observed over the years.

Birds

• American goldfinch and cedar waxwing begin to nest in late June into July.
• Some species start second broods: cardinal, bluebird, house wren, mourning dove,
  house finch, indigo bunting, song and field sparrow, and a few others.
• Listen for parental calls and scolds and the noisy begging of fledglings.
• Nesting season is over for most species. They start to molt and sing less often
  during the day.
• However, I have heard the following sing very early in the morning: wood
  thrush, red-eyed vireo, indigo bunting, flicker, wood-pewee, and including those
  who have second broods.
• Swallows gather in flocks.
• A few warblers such as yellow, common yellowthroat, and Nashville begin to head
• Shorebirds start their southward migration.
• Red-breasted nuthatches often show up in July and leave.
• Female turkeys lead their flocks of young on foraging outings.
• Red-tailed hawks soar over the prairie.
• Great horned, barred and screech owl juveniles are able to fly now. They hunt on
  their own but continue to beg for food.

Plants

Timing of the July parade of flowers can vary from year to year due to a number of environmental conditions. I have noticed that some species bloom earlier or later between late June and early August. Some bloom for longer or shorter periods of time. They might be taller or shorter than normal.

Woodlands, savannas, and edges

• Plants in bloom include: purple Joe-Pye-weed, downy woodmint, pale Indian-
  plantain, tall bellflower, yellow giant hyssop, figwort or purple giant hyssop, figwort,
  woodland tick-trefoil, enchanter’s nightshade, white avens, lopseed, jumpseed,
  white snakeroot, stickseed, bedstraw species, native heal-all, tall or woodland
  thistle, thimbleweed, agrimony, spreading dogbane, woodland sunflower, the
  Susan’s—black-eyed (Rudbeckia hirta), cut-leaved coneflower, (R. laciniata), brown-
  eyed (R. triloba), tinker’s weed (horse gentian), yellow jewelweed, and bottlebrush

Prairie

• Controlled burns are an effective way to set back native invasive shrubs such as
  gray dogwood and sumac. Burns usually stimulate most forbs and grasses to
  flourish and bloom.
• Week after week the parade of prairie flowers include as many as 12 or more
  different species displaying yellow, purple, blue, white, pink, orange, and red blooms.

Yellow:

• yellow coneflower, Coreopsis palmata and C. tripteris, ox-eye sunflower,
  black-eyed, sweet black-eyed, and brown-eyed Susans, cup-plant, compass-plant,
  prairie-dock, rosinweed, evening primrose, Canada milk-vetch, cinquefoil species,
  saw-tooth sunflower, sneezeweed, stiff sunflower, hawkweed, giant St. John’s-wort,
  grass-leaved, early or Missouri goldenrod.

Purple:

• pale purple and purple coneflower, leadplant, purple prairie clover, monarda (beebalm), Liatris species, hoary vervain, germander, Canada tick-trefoil, ironweed, anise or purple hyssop, and purple milkweed.

White:

• rattlesnake master, wild quinine, Culver’s root, white prairie clover, white indigo, whorled milkweed, boneset, upland boneset, flowering spurge, pale-Indian plantain, mountain mint, marbleseed, New Jersey tea, Indian hemp, fleabane, bush clover, yarrow, thimbleweed, tall meadow-rue, water- hemlock, cowbane, and white sage.

Blue:

• Great Blue lobelia, harebell, blue vervain and a few last spiderwort.

Pink:

• common and swamp milkweed, biennial gaura, prairie or field thistle, Illinois tick-trefoil, nodding wild onion, and spreading dogbane.

Orange:

• butterfly milkweed, Turk’s cap lily, and jewelweed (Impatiens biflora).

Red:

• cardinal flower
• Take time to smell the sweet fragrance of monarda, common and swamp milkweed,
  the coneflowers, pale Indian-plantain, mountain mint, and roses.
• Have you noticed every year a different species will produce large patches of showy
  flowers? Then for several years those plants are scattered and fewer of them bloom?
  I do not know why. Perhaps they are annuals, biennials, short-lived perennials,
  or new plantings? What about fire, competition, a dry or wet year?

Introduced or invasive species

• Chicory, Queen-Anne’s lace, common daisy, pokeweed, crown-vetch, bird’s-foot
  trefoil, yellow and white sweet clover(Melilotus), hedgeparsley, leafy spurge,
  white campion, motherwort, creeping bellflower, common St. John’s-wort,
  bittersweet nightshade, Canada and bull thistle, non-native heal-all, wild parsnip, and

Insects

• July is the peak flight period of over 30 species of butterflies and skippers. They
  include: monarch, comma, wood nymph, Eastern tiger and black swallowtail,
  fritillary species, red-spotted purple, viceroy, crescent and checkerspot species,
  spring azure, Eastern tailed blue and other hairstreaks, red admiral, painted lady,
  clouded sulphur, cabbage white, silver spotted skipper and other skippers.
• The annual Madison Audubon (now Southern Bird Alliance) butterfly count is usually
  held around July 4.
• Moths are very numerous and active day and night. Some of my favorites are
  Virginia ctenucha, grape leaf folder, white-striped black (near or on jewelweed),
  tiny common black and white spring moth (host plant, black locust) and eight-
  spotted forester (host plant, Virginia creeper).
• Peak season for dragonflies and damselflies.
• Beetles can be seen everywhere. There are many kinds of lady, leaf, fungus, soldier,
  long-horned, and tiger beetles.
• The beautiful iridescent dogbane leaf beetle (Chrysochus auratus) can still be seen
  on Indian hemp and spreading dogbane. Do not confuse it with the Japanese
  beetle (Popillia japonica). They are also iridescent but have five with tufts of hair
  on the edge of their abdomen. They are native to Japan and No. China. They feed
  on over 300 plants and are quite destructive especially in July.
• Bugs such as milkweed, boxelder, stink, assassin, and many others are numerous.
• Listen for the rhythmic chants, trills, chirps, lisps, and tics of katydids, grasshoppers,
  and crickets. Bees buzz and hum. Cicadas make loud pulsating sounds. Snowy
  and black-horned tree crickets are my favorite insect musicians.
• At night, enjoy the blinking and twinkling of fireflies.

Arachnids

• Deer ticks seek blood meals and can transmit Lyme and other diseases.
• Chigger or harvest mite larvae cause extreme itching (stay on trails).
• Spiders are beneficial and beautiful. Take time to admire the creativity of spiders
  especially when their webs are covered with sparkling dew or raindrops. The
  yellow garden spider spins a beautiful, large, circular, vertical web. She often
  remakes it after a few days.
• Crab spiders are adorable. They do not spin webs, but sit on flowers and ambush
  their prey. Some change colors to match the flower.
• Jumping spiders are so cute. They do not spin webs. They have excellent eyesight
  and pursue their prey by jumping.

Mammals

• Many of the following youngsters are active: gray squirrel, chipmunk, raccoon,
  opossum, ground squirrel, woodchuck, coyote (at night), and all sizes of rabbits.
• Mole activity increases.
• Antlers of male deer (bucks) are reaching peak size and are in the pulpy, velvet
• Fawns still follow their mothers (does).
• Only a few bats can be seen at night. Sadly, there are fewer bats now due to the
  white-nose syndrome, a fungus that has killed millions of North American bats.

Other natural happenings

• Common elderberry shrubs bloom now. The white umbrella-like flowers fill the air
  with sweet perfume.
• Fragrant basswood flowers attract myriad insects especially buzzing bees.
• Buttonbush blooms and the small globes of white flowers attract many insects.
• The fragrant white water-lily blooms on ponds.
• Listen for the tremolo call of the gray and Cope’s tree frog. The green frog sounds
  like the plunking of a banjo. Bull frogs have a deep “jug-o-rum” call.
• Look for toads of all sizes.
• There is plenty of “healthy” native poison ivy.
• Mushrooms pop up after rainy periods.
• Migratory Bird Treaty was passed July 3, 1918.

Enjoy your visit as you hike the trails through this beautiful and well-cared for land. And let us be grateful for the sister’s and for those who work to preserve and restore this precious land.

“To those who see…miraculous sights and envision all of the wonders hidden from the eye…. hear multitudinous sounds and listen to the symphony that silence brings.”  –Gwen Frostic, “To Those Who See”

Sylvia Marek

Sylvia Marek is a highly trained and experienced naturalist. She works for the University of Wisconsin Arboretum and is a first-rate birder.

Please share the biological events you notice while at Holy Wisdom Monastery below (remember to include what you see, where and when).

The post July phenology appeared first on Holy Wisdom Monastery.

Red-winged blackbird on white wild indigo

Phenology is a science focused on observing and recording biological events from year to year and their relationships to the change of seasons and climate.

These are the “normal” phenology events we expect to see here and in the Madison area this month. We would love to hear about what you are seeing on the grounds of Holy Wisdom Monastery. Please comment on this post with what you are observing, where at Holy Wisdom and the date you observed the event.

I have kept monthly phenology records for many years and the following are from my June entries.  Some events occur in late May also.

“Deep in the grasses of summer sing the lives I love.”
Theodore Roethke

June

June, a month of sweet birdsong, nest building, nestlings learning to fly, active young mammals, myriad insects and the sounds they make. Plants grow rapidly producing lush shades of green. Each week a dozen or more flowers bloom on the prairie adding bright colors to the landscape. Native shrubs and trees bloom. Fruits and seeds ripen. The summer solstice is June 21, the longest day and shortest night of the year. And, there is so much more for you to enjoy.

Birds

• Most of the spring migrants that breed farther north have passed through.
• Resident and summer visitors sing, mate, and raise young. Many of the following
  have nested here, at Governor Nelson Park and surrounding areas. Look for
  Robin, Chickadee, White-breasted Nuthatch, Tufted Titmouse, Blue Jay, House Finch,
  Mourning Dove, Woodpeckers (Downy, Hairy, Red-bellied, Red-headed, and Flicker),
  Swallows (Tree, Rough-winged, Bank, and Barn), Sparrows (Chipping, Field, Song,
  and Swamp), Warblers (Common Yellowthroat, Yellow, and Redstart), Bluebird, House
  Wren, Sedge Wren, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Towhee, Indigo Bunting, Flycatchers
  (Great Crested, Willow and Least), Vireos (Warbling and Red-eyed), Wood Pee-wee,
   Wood Thrush, Phoebe, Cedar Waxwing, Red-winged Blackbird, Scarlet Tanager,
   Kingbird, Oriole, Hummingbird, Red-tailed and Cooper’s Hawk, Mallard, Wood Duck,
   Killdeer, Crow, Turkey and of course, many more. Please add to my list and check
   eBird for what other birders have seen.
• Great Horned, Barred and Screech Owl young continue to beg and now practice
   flying.
• Goldfinch can be heard and seen but usually nest in late July.

Plants

Woodlands:

• Flowers can bloom a few weeks earlier or later than usual due to changing weather
   patterns.
• Peak bloom of native sun-loving spring flowers is over.
• Native flowers that usually bloom in late May and early June include: wild
   geranium, wild columbine, Virginia waterleaf, violets, Jack-in-the-pulpit, starry
   false Solomon’s seal, Solomon’s-plume, Solomon’s-seal, yellow and white avens,
   black snakeroot, enchanter’s nightshade, baneberry, bedstraws, sweet cicely,
   honewort, blue cohosh, jewelweed, and trillium.
• Introduced and ecologically invasives include: dame’s rocket, garlic mustard, greater Celandine poppy (Chelidonium magus).

Prairies and Savannas:

• June is a great month to enjoy the parade of floral beauty that will continue all
   summer and fall. Each week a dozen or more species will display their flowers
   creating a patchwork of lovely colors.
• Blue: lupine, spiderwort, pale spike lobelia, harebell, and blue-eyed grass.
• White: white wild indigo, penstemon digitalis, Culver’s root, strawberry, white
   prairie clover, flowering spurge, fleabane, yarrow, thimbleweed, tall meadowrue,
   cow parsnip, wild quinine, bedstraws, glade mallow, New Jersey tea, pale
   Indian-plantain, Indian hemp, and Canada anemone.
• Yellow: prairie or creamy wild indigo, golden Alexander, black-eyed Susan, tall
   and sulphur cinquefoil, St. John’s-wort, coreopsis, ox-eye (Heliopolis helianthoides),
   golden ragwort, yellow coneflower, rosin weed, pimpernel, evening primrose,
   puccoon, and yellow star grass.
• Purple: pale and purple coneflower, common milkweed, purple prairie clover,
   lead-plant, monarda, prairie phlox, hoary vervain, wild garlic, large-flowered
   beardtongue, and heal-all.
• Orange: butterfly milkweed and wood lily.
• Pink: roses, spreading dogbane, and swamp milkweed.

Trees, Shrubs, Brambles, and Vines:

• Many usually bloom in late May and in June.
• Trees: basswood and non-native black locust bloom. Their flowers are very fragrant.
• Shrubs: arrowwood, ninebark, common elderberry, staghorn sumac, fragrant sumac,
   dwarf honeysuckle, and the dogwoods (gray, silky, and red-osier).
• Brambles: blackberry and black raspberry.
• Vines: poison ivy, woodbine, bittersweet, and the very fragrant flowers of grape.
• Fruits: Juneberry, wild strawberry, blackcap raspberries, and the poisonous
   red elderberry.

Insects

• Monarch butterflies return from the South, lay eggs, and die. Their caterpillars
   fed on milkweed, pupate, emerge as adults, and start a new generation.
• Other butterflies to look for include tiger swallowtail, black swallowtail, spring
   azure,Eastern tailed-blue, fritillary, pearl crescent, painted lady, viceroy, hackberry,
   cabbage white, clouded sulphur, wood nymph, American copper, silver-spotted
   skipper, and many more.
• Giant silk moths emerge in mid-June usually at night. They mate, lay eggs, and
   live only a few days. Look for cecropia, promethia, polyphemus, and possibly the
   more rare luna.
• Smaller moth species are active both day and night. Tent caterpillars emerge from
   cocoons and devour leaves. They spin cocoons, pupate, and emerge weeks
   later as a small brown moth.
• The white-striped black moth is very small and one of my favorites. Look for the
   beautiful little moth especially near jewelweeds.
• Dragonflies hatch and patrol for mosquitoes and other insects.
• Look for grasshopper nymphs as well as adults.
• Field crickets chirp and a few katydids and cicada can be heard.
• There are many different kinds of active beetles, bugs, and bees. Look for June or
   May bugs, tiger beetles, ambush and stink bugs, ladybugs (beetles), aphids,
   leafhoppers, treehoppers, lovely lacewings, and many more.
• My favorite iridescent dogbane beetle (Chrysochus auratus) feeds only on
   Indian hemp or spreading dogbane. The beautiful shiny native “jewels” usually
   emerge in mid-June. Do not confuse them with Japanese beetles (Popilla
   japonica). They are also iridescent but have five white tufts of hair or spots
   on the edge of the abdomen. They are native to Japan and China and feed on
   over 300 kinds of plants! They emerge from underground near the end of June.
• Black, deer, and horse flies bite.
• Female mosquitoes feed on blood and are fed upon.
• Peak month to enjoy the blinking and twinkling of fireflies at night.

Spiders

• Spiderlings hatch. Orb weavers and their webs are quite small now.
• Jumping spiders and crab spiders are tiny and very cute.

Mammals

• June is a good time to look for the following curious, active, young mammals:
   gray squirrel, chipmunk, rabbit, raccoon, opossum, woodchuck, ground squirrel,
   skunk, mink, muskrat, fox, coyote, and mice.
• Spotted fawns follow does.
• Deer shed gray winter fur and grow a red-brown summer coat.
• Look for velvet-covered antlers on male deer.
• Bats are active at night catching insects.

Other Natural Events

• Listen for the calls of Cope’s and gray tree, leopard, and green frogs. Toads
   continue to “purrrr” and trill. Toad tadpoles are in various stages of development.
• Painted turtles lay eggs in soft soil.
• Several kinds of sedges bloom in June
• Needle, June, and blue-joint grass bloom. Ecologically invasive reed canary blooms.
• The following introduced or naturalized plants are in bloom especially on disturbed
   ground: white ox-eye daisy, chicory, goatsbeard, hawkweeds, and Queen Anne’s –
   lace. Ecologically invasives include wild parsnip, leafy spurge, yellow and white
   sweet clover (Melilotus sp.), and hedge-parsley.
• Ferns unfurl and are lovely.
• Conifers shed pollen.
• Cottonwood seeds in cottony down float through the air (reminds me of snow).
• After rainy weather look for the following mushrooms: destroying angel, shaggy
   mane, marasmius, bolete, Dryad’s saddle, sulphur or chicken of the woods,
   oyster, and more.

“I would like to enjoy the summer flower by flower.”
 Andre’ Gide

Holy Wisdom is a place I enjoy and love very much. My hope is that you will love it also and that you will discover things I have missed. –Sylvia Marek

Sylvia Marek is a highly trained and experienced naturalist. She works for the University of Wisconsin Arboretum and is a first rate birder.

Please share the biological events you notice while at Holy Wisdom Monastery below (remember to include what you see, where and when).

The post June phenology appeared first on Holy Wisdom Monastery.

Prairie smoke at Holy Wisdom Monastery

Phenology is a science focused on observing and recording biological events from year to year and their relationships to the change of seasons and climate.

These are the “normal” phenology events we expect to see here and in the Madison area this month. We would love to hear about what you are seeing on the grounds of Holy Wisdom Monastery. Please comment on this post with what you are observing, where at Holy Wisdom and the date you observed the event.

May

May is a month of peak migration for warblers, vireos, thrushes, flycatchers, sparrows and many others.  It is a month of cheerful birdsong, nest building, nestlings and fledglings.  The fragrance of flowers fills the warm air.  Tender leaves unfold and shade the ground.  The woodland show of sun-loving spring ephemerals (Dutchman’s breeches, etc.) is almost over. Broad-leaved, shade-loving flowers (mayapple, etc.) bloom next in woodlands.  The parade of native wildflowers begins to bloom on prairies.  Young mammals scamper about.  The chorus of frogs increases and American toads trill and ”purrrrr.”  Insects buzz, hum, dive, dart and flutter.  Fifteen hours of daylight to enjoy nature.

“When you first really see a bird you have your own life of adventure before you. You
become a member of an old and honorable clan formed by all those men and women
whom, in the past and present, have found in birds a kind of fulfillment and an
endless challenge.”
–Virginia S. Eifert

Resident Birds

• The following are incubating eggs or raising young: Chickadee, Cardinal, White-breasted Nuthatch, Mourning Dove, Blue Jay, House Finch, House Sparrow, the Woodpeckers, Turkey, Crow, Red-tailed and Cooper’s Hawk.
• Great Horned, Barred and Screech Owl nestlings leave their nests and can be seen branching often during the day.  Listen for their begging hissing calls.
• Bright Yellow male Goldfinches gather in loose flocks and warble sweet songs. They do not nest until July.

Early Migrants

• March and mid-April migrants such as Bluebird, Robin, Tree Swallow, Phoebe, Song Sparrow, House Wren, Red-winged Blackbird, Bald Eagle, Mallard, Geese, Woodcock and Sandhill Crane are also incubating or raising young.

May Migrants

• Many of the following arrive from the southern U. S., Central or South America: Warblers, Vireos, Flycatchers, Thrushes, Sparrows and many more.
• May is peak warbler migration. As many as 35 species of these brightly colored insect-eating birds can be observed in the Madison area.  Most warblers stay a few days or weeks, then travel north to nest. Some warblers that nest here include Common Yellowthroat, Yellow Warbler, Redstart Ovenbird, Prothonotary and an occasional Black and White Warbler.
• Other migrants that will spend the summer are nesting now: Chipping, Field, Lincoln’s, Swamp, and Clay-colored Sparrows, Dickcissel, Sedge and Marsh Wren, Catbird, Thrasher, Kingbird, Indigo Bunting, Baltimore and Orchard Oriole, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Great Crested, Least and Willow Flycatchers, Wood-pewee, Red-eyed and Warbling Vireos, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Eastern Towhee, Ruby Throated Hummingbird, Wood Thrush, Flicker, Red-headed Woodpecker, Kingfisher, Kestrel, Osprey, Grackle, Starling and of course, others.

Winter Visitors

• Most left in April. A few Juncos, Siskins, Purple Finch, White-throated and White-crowned Sparrows can be seen and heard. They will depart for northern breeding grounds by the end of May.
• For more information about birds, check my April phenology. Also, check eBird for reports from other birders.

Plants

• Plants can bloom earlier or later depending on changing weather patterns. It seems lately warmer and dryer conditions in winter has had an effect on earlier spring bloom times. Can you think of any other reasons?

Woodland Native Wildflowers

• Most true sun-loving spring ephemerals bloom before the canopy fills out with green leaves. Seeds are produced, food is stored in underground parts, and above ground parts die back. You might find a few Dutchman’s breeches, trout-lily and Virginia bluebells in bloom. The early show is almost over in the woodlands, but not just yet. Partial shade-loving broad-leaved plants bloom, set seed, and keep their leaves during the summer. This later floral display includes:  mayapple, jack-in-the-pulpit, wild geranium, wild ginger, wood phlox, wood and rue anemone, prairie and white trillium, bellwort, columbine, early meadowrue, Solomon’s plume, Solomon’s seal, starry Solomon’s seal, early buttercup, baneberry, blue cohosh, Virginia waterleaf, Canada, yellow, and other violets.

Prairie Flowers

• The parade of native flowers on prairies begins with pussy-toes, pasque flower, prairie smoke, wood betony, bird’s-foot violet, spiderwort, shooting star, golden Alexander, Canada anemone, penstemon digitalis, lupine, creamy baptisia, white baptisia, Black-eyed Susan, puccoon and ragwort, followed by many more throughout the summer.

Trees

• Trees that usually bloom in late April and during May are wild plum, serviceberry, chokecherry, black cherry, maple and oak species, blackhaw, hackberry, shagbark hickory, elm, box elder, aspen, cottonwood and conifers.
• Tiny flowers open and fragile leaves emerge. The woodland canopy becomes a palette of pastel pink, yellow, and green. During your walk, look up and observe the flowers, their pollinators and birds.

Shrubs

• Some of the following bloom in April but most in May.  Red-berried elderberry, fragrant sumac, snowberry, nannyberry, arrowwood, ninebark, pagoda, silky, and red-osier dogwoods, chokeberry (Aronia), and bladdernut.

Insects

• Butterflies that spent the winter in chrysalids now emerge.  Look for spring azure, common blue, pearl crescent, whites and sulphurs, and yellow and black swallowtails.
• Butterflies that overwinter as adults lay eggs and die include mourning cloak, comma and question mark. Look for the red admiral depositing eggs on nettles. American painted ladies can overwinter as an adult.  Most migrate south and when they return, the female lays eggs on pussy-toes and thistles, then dies.

Other Insects to Look for

• Queen bumblebees searching for a nursery nest to lay her eggs.  Also, solitary, sweat and honeybees.
• Ichnemun and other wasps such as mud dauber and paper wasp.
• May, deer, bee, flower and sweat flies.
• Ants enlarging their nests and tending aphids.
• Six-spotted and other tiger beetles. May beetles (June bugs) emerge.
• Grasshoppers hop and black field crickets chirp.
• Dragonflies dart and damselflies flutter.
• Leafhoppers have spines on their legs, and they leap. Spittlebugs are squat and hop. Spittlebugs overwinter as eggs and hatch in spring.  The tiny nymphs create and live in a foamy mass of bubbles.
• Tent caterpillars devour fresh leaves.
• Fireflies blink and twinkle at night in late May.
• Mosquitoes start to annoy and bite!

Mammals

• Newborn mammals include gray squirrel, rabbit, chipmunk, coyote, fox, mink, muskrat, raccoon, skunk, opossum, woodchuck and spotted fawns.
• Male deer (bucks) continue to grow velvet-covered antlers.
• Bats are active at night.

Other Happenings

• Migratory Bird Day (second Saturday in May).
• Great month to listen to Cope’s, Eastern gray, green and leopard frogs, and the trilling of American toads.
• Snakes and turtles bask in the sun.
• Earthworms are active at night and during rainy days.
• Mosses and ferns are all shades of green.
• Pennsylvania and Sprengelii sedges bloom.
• Mushrooms to look for:  chicken-of-the-woods, fairy rings, inky cap, Dryad saddle, oyster, morel and scarlet cup.
• Crabapples, apples and lilacs bloom and fill the air with sweet fragrances.
• Dandelions and creeping Charlie bloom attracting bees and other insects.
• Time to dig garlic mustard.
• TICK (bear, deer, black legged) season. Take precaution. Stay on trails and check after an outing.

And I leave you with the following:

“Feel the love of God; then..you will find a magic, living relationship uniting the
  trees, the sky, the stars, all people, and all living things; and you will feel a
  oneness with them”
–Paramhansa Yogananda

Sylvia Marek is a highly trained and experienced naturalist. She works for the University of Wisconsin Arboretum and is a first rate birder.

Please share the biological events you notice while at Holy Wisdom Monastery below (remember to include what you see, where and when).

The post May phenology appeared first on Holy Wisdom Monastery.